Openwrt on Westell 7500

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Picked up a Westell 7500 for around USD$12.5, and decided to try to put Openwrt on it.

What works after flashing Openwrt:

Wireless

Ethernet

Here are the steps (not for the faint of heart):

1. Solder headers for jtag and serial console as shown here [1]

2. Obtain a modified tjtag here [2]. Compile it under your OS to get the tjtag_w7501 binary. I used ubuntu 64-bit.

3. Connect a jtag cable to the jtag headers on the Westell 7500. I used a parallel Wiggler. Connect a serial cable between pc and Westell as well.

4. Backup the original firmware by executing this command: >sudo ./tjtag_w7501 -backup:custom /window:1e000000 /start:1e000000 /length:400000 /swap_endian /bypass /instrlen:5 /wiggler

5. Do step 4 twice and make sure the backed up files are the same. Reboot the Westell by power on/off in between backups to be safe.

6. Flash a generic cfe to the Westell by doing:

>cp 6358.bin CUSTOM.BIN >sudo ./tjtag_w7501 -flash:custom /window:1e000000 /start:1e000000 /length:10000 /swap_endian /bypass /instrlen:5 /wiggler

7. Reboot the Westell by power on/off. You should see the bootloader in serial console. Choose 96358VW2 for your board, number of mac addresses 11, the rest default would be ok.

8. Flash the Openwrt firmware to the Westell by doing:

>cp openwrt-96358VW2-generic-squashfs-cfemod.bin CUSTOM.BIN >sudo ./tjtag_w7501 -flash:custom /window:1e000000 /start:1e010000 /length:3f0000 /swap_endian /bypass /instrlen:5 /wiggler

This will take a while, like ~50mins on my PC.

9. If all is done correctly, you should see Openwrt booting in the serial console.

10. The ethernet chip BCM5325 is tied to gpio 5 and is pulled low on boot, putting the BCM5325 in reset. So ethernet won't come up after boot, do the following at the Openwrt prompt:

>echo 5 > /sys/class/gpio/export >echo out > /sys/class/gpio/gpio5/direction >echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio5/value

This should bring the BCM5325 out of reset. Then do the following to load switch-robo again:

>insmod switch-robo

Ethernet should work after that. Telnet to the Westell and have fun.

Notes:

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