Vodafone Huawei HG556a OpenWrt Dumb Access Point

jt72

If you have replaced your old Vodafone Huawei HG556a router with something new, you can still put it to good use. Why not extend the reach of your Wifi through your house by turning it into an Access Point.

I'm pretty sure you can do all of this with the stock firmware, but it's also an introduction to running OpenWrt.

Assumptions:

• New Router doing DHCP
• You have a method for connecting the Ethernet ports of the New Router and the HG556a. Ethernet cabling through your house or HomePlug setups would be the way.
• PC with direct connection for upgrading the HG556a. Set a static IP of 192.168.1.2 if you can.
• HG556a with IP address of 192.168.1.1

1. Download firmware hg556a_backport_12.09-luci.zip from http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/huawei/hg556a under the Firmware mods section and unzip it. The firmware file inside is openwrt-HW556-squashfs-cfe.bin the one we want.

2. Disconnect the HG556a from all network connections except for the PC you're using, which must be directly connected to one of the Ethernet ports. It might be useful to load up the page from the next step first.

3. Install the firmware using the "OEM easy installation" method described here: http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/huawei/hg556a

4. Once booted, the system has the following configuration
- IP address 192.168.1.1 assigned
- web browser available at http://192.168.1.1
- username is root, no password is set
- telnet is possible on 192.168.1.1
- wifi disabled



5. Browse to 192.168.1.1 and click login. Go to password configuration and type in a new password, and click save and apply at the bottom of the page. You should see a "Password successfully changed!" message at the top of the screen.

6. Click on the Network tab and choose to edit the LAN interface.



Set up the IP address settings of the device. This is where configurations may vary. In my case, my network is 192.186.1.0/24, and I already have a router using 192.168.1.1. When I reconnect the HG556a to my LAN I need it to use a different IP address than the one it has now. I use Static, 192.168.1.254, set DNS to 8.8.8.8 (Google) and set the gateway to 192.168.1.1. Towards the bottom of the page, choose to Disable DHCP for this interface. Make these settings appropriate for your network.

The DNS settings and gateway settings are just for your HG556a. You could set a DHCP lease reservation on your main router for your HG556a and not have to set up static addressing.



Be sure to click "Save and Apply"

7. Connect the HG556a to your router via Ethernet, and keep your PC connected to the HG556a. Set your laptop to obtain its IP address by DHCP. Get a command prompt and type ipconfig /all and ensure you're getting your DHCP address and it is coming from the main router and not the HG556a.

8. Connect to the NEW ip address of the HG556a. http://192.168.1.254 in my case. You'll have to log in with your new password.

9. Test your network setup by going to the Network tab and clicking on Diagnostics. Ping openwrt.org by clicking the green arrow next to Ping.



10. Enable your Wifi by going to Network tab and clicking Wifi. Click the Enable button.



11. Using a laptop or other device, connect to the Open (INSECURE) OpenWrt network. If you are using the same laptop as you were setting up the HG556a with, disconnect the Ethernet cable. You should get a DHCP address from your main router and be able to access the internet.

12. Advanced - change the Wifi settings to what you want. Set the country code to IE - Ireland to get up to Wifi channel 13 instead of channel 11 (US). When you're done, be sure to click save and apply.

I make mine so the ESSID is the same as my main router, but the channel is not over lapping. Set the security type and password to be the same as your main router. This way, your wireless devices SHOULD hop between your routers seamlessly.

13. Disable the Firewall by going to System tab and choosing Startup and changing Firewall from Enabled to Disabled.

References:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=78345995
http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/huawei/hg556a
http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/recipes/dumbap

m4rkiz

there is also r39180 available for this router http://ubuntuone.com/2qGRoaBRhIPFn2eRZrl8Fa


anyone had luck with creating ethernet wan?

jt72

I had not tried at all to do an Ethernet WAN. I'd be curious to hear your results. How'd you hear about that build BTW?

bodysoda

Hi there,

I am kind of stuck with a brick router. I can ssh to the router. however LUCI doesnt work for me. when I try https://192.168.1.1, I get page cannot be displayed. Can someone help me how to install the LUCI on the openwrt.

jt72

Not all images come with luci installed. The easiest way for me was to install the image I linked in the first post. Which version do you have installed?

m4rkiz

\etc\config\network file for WAN on LAN4

config interface 'loopback'
   option ifname 'lo'
   option proto 'static'
   option ipaddr '127.0.0.1'
   option netmask '255.0.0.0'

config interface 'lan'
   option ifname 'eth0.1'
   option type 'bridge'
   option proto 'static'
   option ipaddr '192.168.1.1'
   option netmask '255.255.255.0'
   option ip6assign '60'

config switch
   option name 'eth0'
   option reset '1'
   option enable_vlan '1'

config switch_vlan
   option device 'eth0'
   option vlan '1'
   option ports '0 1 2 5t'

config switch_vlan
   option device 'eth0'
   option vlan '6'
   option ports '3 5t'

config interface 'wan'
   option proto 'dhcp'
   option ifname 'eth0.6'

same config file, ready to restore, will overwrite current \etc\config\network https://www.dropbox.com/s/colsiao62gnt3cd/hg556a_vlan_wan.tar.gz

latest r39304usb firmware (with usb, transmission, and support for lots of usb wifi cards etc.) https://www.dropbox.com/s/7fwd3r8xavn9qs8/r39304usb.openwrt-HW556-squashfs-cfe.bin

(use google translate http://foro.seguridadwireless.net/openwrt/openwrt-en-huaweig-hg556a/ for biggest thread about this router that i found, spanish)

Dexter1979

Hi there,

I have a HG556a Ver.C but I can't seem to do the turtotial. I keep getting a "Fatal error during image uploading." error no matter what image I try. Anybody have any idea what this could be?

henryporter

Dexter1979 wrote: »

Hi there,

I have a HG556a Ver.C but I can't seem to do the turtotial. I keep getting a "Fatal error during image uploading." error no matter what image I try. Anybody have any idea what this could be?

You need to make sure that you are connected to the router with an Ethernet cable, and that your computer can access the router on the same subnet eg if the router is 192.168.1.1 then have your computer IP as 192.168.1.20 (or some other number than 20). Then hold the restart button, turn off the router, turn back on while still holding the restart button for 10 seconds. After that try to access the router IP again, you should get a different screen for uploading openwrt

spuddy

Thanks for posting the tutorial, very helpful. I see in the meantime that hg556a_backport_12.09-luci.zip has disappeared and been replaced with

Attitude Adjustment backport (12.09):
hg556a_backport_12.09.zip

Has luci been removed?
Anyone have a copy of the previous luci file?

highlydebased

spuddy wrote: »

Thanks for posting the tutorial, very helpful. I see in the meantime that hg556a_backport_12.09-luci.zip has disappeared and been replaced with



Has luci been removed?
Anyone have a copy of the previous luci file?

I used this one it contains luci http://www.mediafire.com/download/lw4x9167pqplc8y/r39304usb.openwrt-HW556-squashfs-cfe.bin

I've been trying to get this working all day- have it installed but the network config is stumping me. The actual other router won't assign IP addresses as it's supposed to- I think I'm not ticking the right boxes in the "interfaces" section of the openwrt. I set a static ip, gateway to ip of main router, wifi on etc. Any suggestions?

spuddy

highlydebased wrote: »

I used this one it contains luci http://www.mediafire.com/download/lw4x9167pqplc8y/r39304usb.openwrt-HW556-squashfs-cfe.bin

I've been trying to get this working all day- have it installed but the network config is stumping me. The actual other router won't assign IP addresses as it's supposed to- I think I'm not ticking the right boxes in the "interfaces" section of the openwrt. I set a static ip, gateway to ip of main router, wifi on etc. Any suggestions?

Cheers, that worked a treat. To get internet access, as a temporary measure, I connected it to the existing wireless connection in client mode. This works, but I want a physical connection, so will explore further. If I succeed I'll let you know, but quite impressed so far.

ScumLord

I dumped that router a long time ago, mine was overheating something rotten up to the point it killed itself. I'd be wary that they're simply dangerous after seeing the heat discolouration coming out of the heat vents on the back of mine. It looked like a little fire broke out and that was before it actually stopped working.

Before using it and putting it in a quiet corner of the house make sure it's not overheating or it could be a fire hazard.

zagmund

henryporter wrote: »

You need to make sure that you are connected to the router with an Ethernet cable, and that your computer can access the router on the same subnet eg if the router is 192.168.1.1 then have your computer IP as 192.168.1.20 (or some other number than 20). Then hold the restart button, turn off the router, turn back on while still holding the restart button for 10 seconds. After that try to access the router IP again, you should get a different screen for uploading openwrt

"a different screen" - those three words gave me the solution after about 2 hours of reboots, attempts to image, new images, new reboots, etc . . .

For anyone else who is trying this, the thing to realise is that if you are doing this through the Vodafone branded interface you are doing it wrong. What you need is just a plain text screen (which you get after holding down the reset button as outlined in the instructions) which asks for the image location and has a button on it to carry out the upgrade.

If you try this through the Vodafone interface then the upgrade will fail - presumably because it checks to see if this is an official Vodafone image

My problem was that I mustn't have been holding it for long enough or something because every time the device powered back up I got back into the Vodafone stuff.

z

lsjmhar

Hi

If anyone is still on this thread I could do with some help. I have set a static ip for my laptop and connect the hg556a. I hold the restart button and plug in power cord. I hold the restart button for 12 seconds and then let go. I then type 192.168.1.1. but the browser will not connect.

I have disconnected the wifi so my main router is not interfering with the laptop (otherwise the browser opens my zyxel router settings page).

This is not working for me at all yet I am following all the instructions.

Does anyone know what could be wrong?

jt72

What are your ip address settings?

Can you ping 192.168.1.1?

Anything else connected to the HG556a?

lsjmhar

jt72 wrote: »

What are your ip address settings?

Can you ping 192.168.1.1?

Anything else connected to the HG556a?

Cheers for response jt72. I sorted the problem. I needed a static ip at 192.168.1.100, anything else won't work. I was just giving my laptop a static ip through my router so the hg556a wouldn't allow access.

Once I set thelaptop to 192.168.1.100 eveything went smoothly and installed openwrt in 2 minutes. Will build a good network now.

Apogee

Can anyone link to a recent image of OpenWRT for the HG556a which has in-built wifi and usb support?

Also, has anyone any experience getting 3G USB dongles to work via OpenWRT?

dmac2006

Thanks jt72!
I found this old VF router, and flashed OpenWRT on it now, using it as an Access Point for the Basement. Thanks a lot for the details instruction, very informative and works perfectly.
Darren.

jt72 wrote: »

If you have replaced your old Vodafone Huawei HG556a router with something new, you can still put it to good use. Why not extend the reach of your Wifi through your house by turning it into an Access Point.

I'm pretty sure you can do all of this with the stock firmware, but it's also an introduction to running OpenWrt.

Assumptions:

• New Router doing DHCP
• You have a method for connecting the Ethernet ports of the New Router and the HG556a. Ethernet cabling through your house or HomePlug setups would be the way.
• PC with direct connection for upgrading the HG556a. Set a static IP of 192.168.1.2 if you can.
• HG556a with IP address of 192.168.1.1

1. Download firmware hg556a_backport_12.09-luci.zip from http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/huawei/hg556a under the Firmware mods section and unzip it. The firmware file inside is openwrt-HW556-squashfs-cfe.bin the one we want.

2. Disconnect the HG556a from all network connections except for the PC you're using, which must be directly connected to one of the Ethernet ports. It might be useful to load up the page from the next step first.

3. Install the firmware using the "OEM easy installation" method described here: http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/huawei/hg556a

4. Once booted, the system has the following configuration
- IP address 192.168.1.1 assigned
- web browser available at http://192.168.1.1
- username is root, no password is set
- telnet is possible on 192.168.1.1
- wifi disabled



5. Browse to 192.168.1.1 and click login. Go to password configuration and type in a new password, and click save and apply at the bottom of the page. You should see a "Password successfully changed!" message at the top of the screen.

6. Click on the Network tab and choose to edit the LAN interface.



Set up the IP address settings of the device. This is where configurations may vary. In my case, my network is 192.186.1.0/24, and I already have a router using 192.168.1.1. When I reconnect the HG556a to my LAN I need it to use a different IP address than the one it has now. I use Static, 192.168.1.254, set DNS to 8.8.8.8 (Google) and set the gateway to 192.168.1.1. Towards the bottom of the page, choose to Disable DHCP for this interface. Make these settings appropriate for your network.

The DNS settings and gateway settings are just for your HG556a. You could set a DHCP lease reservation on your main router for your HG556a and not have to set up static addressing.



Be sure to click "Save and Apply"

7. Connect the HG556a to your router via Ethernet, and keep your PC connected to the HG556a. Set your laptop to obtain its IP address by DHCP. Get a command prompt and type ipconfig /all and ensure you're getting your DHCP address and it is coming from the main router and not the HG556a.

8. Connect to the NEW ip address of the HG556a. http://192.168.1.254 in my case. You'll have to log in with your new password.

9. Test your network setup by going to the Network tab and clicking on Diagnostics. Ping openwrt.org by clicking the green arrow next to Ping.



10. Enable your Wifi by going to Network tab and clicking Wifi. Click the Enable button.



11. Using a laptop or other device, connect to the Open (INSECURE) OpenWrt network. If you are using the same laptop as you were setting up the HG556a with, disconnect the Ethernet cable. You should get a DHCP address from your main router and be able to access the internet.

12. Advanced - change the Wifi settings to what you want. Set the country code to IE - Ireland to get up to Wifi channel 13 instead of channel 11 (US). When you're done, be sure to click save and apply.

I make mine so the ESSID is the same as my main router, but the channel is not over lapping. Set the security type and password to be the same as your main router. This way, your wireless devices SHOULD hop between your routers seamlessly.

13. Disable the Firewall by going to System tab and choosing Startup and changing Firewall from Enabled to Disabled.

References:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=78345995
http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/huawei/hg556a
http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/recipes/dumbap

bonzodog2

Apogee wrote: »

Can anyone link to a recent image of OpenWRT for the HG556a which has in-built wifi and usb support?

Also, has anyone any experience getting 3G USB dongles to work via OpenWRT?

dmac2006 wrote: »

Thanks jt72!
I found this old VF router, and flashed OpenWRT on it now, using it as an Access Point for the Basement. Thanks a lot for the details instruction, very informative and works perfectly.
Darren.

I am using one of these plus a Huawei E3372 4G USB modem, running ROOter firmware (LEDE plus some scripts)