Running OpenWRT on the Plusnet Hub One (& BT Home Hub 5a)

[#1]

I've just taken delivery of a second HH5A which I will be doing as soon as my new glasses are ready (damn soldering!)

I was going to bring four wires to an external connector this time but perhaps I'll just do 3 like on my last one and leave boot_sel2 off and just briefly short it with a ground probe that one time that it's needed before closing the case up.

[#2]

I would definitely only solder the TX and RX points and a ground point to a 3pin header. It's what I've done with all mine since I broke my first one and haven't had any issues.

[#3]

I am planning to have a go at this as soon as I can find the time (or my round tuit arrives).Thanks for all the pointers and information, I will definitely be following the instructions carefully.

Has anyone doing this got PlusNet TV working on a LEDE  HH5? I presume I need to install the kmod-bridge and igmpproxy  packages and edit the config files as per https://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/udp_multicast

But it would be nice to know if someone had done it and could post the relevant config  parameters for Plusnet.

Or does it work - out of the box?

[#4]

I'm not familiar with ins and outs of Plusnet TV, but would it be same as BT's Youview offering?

https://openwrt.ebilan.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=220

https://openwrt.ebilan.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=132

[#5]

Thanks, 

I have seen both responses - "It works out of the box" and "here are the complex configuration steps it takes"

I was hoping one of the PlusNet users who had tried LEDE was also a PlusNet TV user ad could confirm either that

"it works out of the box"

"here is my configuration that works"

But if not I will give it a go.

[#6]

Hi All

Just wanted to say that after my second attempt of installing LEDE onto a hh5a, I was successful. I did indeed brick my first attempt, however for the second attempt I followed the advice Krazeh gave by not soldering a wire onto the boot_sel2 solder point. Instead I soldered a wire to a ground point on the hh5a, and then just held the other open end of the wire on the boot_sel2 point, literally just holding the open end wire on the point for about a second during powering up the hh5a, and hey presto, LEDE installed first time. I was also struggling to get to grips with using tftpd32 software on my previous attempt, for some reason it just wouldn't upload the install image no matter what I tried. So instead I used Solarwinds tftp server software, which worked first time. Happy days! Thanks to all for your help and advice so I was able to get this done.

Just one question about LEDE itself, are there any guides on how to use it that someone could point me in the direction of please? I'm particularly interested in whether I can use the unlocked hh5a as a bridge modem, and how to set it up for that. I did have a ECI modem running OpenWRT sometime ago, but as it was only a modem I didn't need to configure anything. Any help / advice would be appreciated, thanks!

[#7]

https://openwrt.ebilan.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=163

Read chapter 9.8 of the install guide PDF.

https://openwrt.ebilan.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=145

[#8]

Thanks for that info Bill, much appreciated and very useful!

[#9]

Quick question... I have a hub with a LEDE snapshot firmware on it from about 2 weeks ago. I want to put the stable one onto it. How should i do this?

I see 3 options

1. just use the LuCi system->firmware screen to flash a new firmware image
2. repeat the install steps via the serial, using the procedure I described in post 242 (but without step 0 - flashing the BT firmware - hopefully!)
3. like option 2 but with pre-flashing the BT firmware (please, hopefully not this option!)

I don't care about config preservation - i want to start vanilla - like a factory reset with new firmware.

ps. If there is a cli version of option 1 then that would be great: log in over ssh and flash. Yes, this would be the best way if it can be done...

Thanks much appreciated.

[#10]

You should be able to just flash a new firmware image, either by using LuCi or the 'sysupgrade' command through SSH. Pretty certain that would still be the case, even if you were downgrading the firmware version. In any event, if it goes wrong you can fix it by connecting over serial and going with option 2.

If you don't want to keep your current config and are flashing through SSH, you need to add the '-n' flag when running sysupgrade. Otherwise it will keep your config.

Although, can I ask why you're wanting to downgrade? I've not run a 'stable' version of LEDE at any point, I just build my own snapshots when there's a change/addition relevant to the HH5A or the packages I run on it. Never had any issues with uptime or stability.

[#11]

fwiw, chapter 4.3 of the install guide PDF basically covers what @Krazeh has stated.

https://openwrt.ebilan.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=145

[#12]

Thanks for the answers.

@Krazeh I want to downgrade to a stable so that I can install packages without pain. I am not doing anything that warrants the latest snapshot and I know stable works because I have set up a second hub with the latest stable and it's fine. My first hub attempt was with the snapshot but as soon as I went to install anything I couldn't because of kernel mismatch problems. I don't have a reason to need the latest snapshot so I thought sticking with stable would be best for my needs at the moment.

[#13]

Argh.....

Help....

I'm trying to do this, can someone please tell me what files I need.

The instructions suggest different files to the ones online! I used

U-boot.asc found here https://downloads.lede-project.org/snapshots/targets/lantiq/xrx200/u-boot-bthomehubv5a_ram/

but which file should I tftp?

I can't even get the tftp to work, all I get is T T T T T????

my computer can ping 192.168.1.1 and it looks like the TFTP program is working

Any help appreciated.

Confused.

R

[#14]

@RRM that indicates that the hub cannot see the tftp server.

The hub by default looks for the tftp server at 192.168.1.2 I think (recalling from memory) so your machine must have that IP for it to work. or you can change the settings on the hub. You can verify on the hub what it is using:

BTHOMEHUBV5A # printenv

look for "serverip" the IP of your computer running tftp server and "ipaddr" the ip of the hub.

If you want, you can change the address on the hub. See my post #242. Also that post details the files that I used successfully and where I obtained them.

[#15]

Hi,

thanks for the information.

I thought the messaging when running the TFTP server and me clicking allow would allow the program to work. Checked the firewall settings, TFTP was blocked. Once I changed that it loaded the file very quickly. I am now trying to back up the firmware.

I will have a look back at your earlier post. To be honest, this is all a bit of a mis-mash. I've been reading different instructions and details from lots of places and the file names have all changed.

So far I have done what I think is one dump to a USB drive, the file size is only 130560Kb, which according to the details is too small??? So trying again on another pen drive. My dump was interrupted by a message stating, "

248.180805] device eth0 entered promiscuous mode
[  248.380981] eth0: port 4 got link

when my laptop running the TFTP server went to sleep! I have the serial USB connected to my PC. All running Windows.

Thanks