Linksys E8450

The Linksys E8450 is a Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) router. This router is based on MediaTek MT7622 SOC and a MT7531 switch. As of 2022, it is supported by a snapshot release of OpenWRT.

I purchased this switch on sale from Amazon for $109 CAD in mid 2022.

OpenWRT

Installing OpenWRT

If you are installing OpenWRT from the stock Linksys firmware, please refer to the instructions outlined at: https://github.com/dangowrt/owrt-ubi-installer

The steps that I used to install OpenWRT are as follows:

1. Power on the device, navigate to http://192.168.1.1.
2. Decline the terms and conditions and quit the setup wizard
3. Login as 'admin' / 'admin'
4. Go to Administration -> Firmware Upgrade
5. Upload openwrt-mediatek-mt7622-linksys_e8450-ubi-initramfs-recovery.itb (Not the installer)
6. Once the device reboots, you should be able to see OpenWRT at 192.168.1.1
7. SSH to OpenWRT and back up the flash.

# cd /dev
# for part in mtd[0123] ; do dd if=$part of=/tmp/$part; done

Copy the resulting mtd files to your computer in case you ever need it.

1. Reboot the router. I had to power cycle the device a few times before it stopped going into OpenWRT.
2. Back on the original Linksys firmware, upload the UBI based installer openwrt-mediatek-mt7622-linksys_e8450-ubi-initramfs-recovery-installer.itb.
3. Once the device reboots, you should be able to see OpenWRT at 192.168.1.1
4. Upgrade the OpenWRT firmware using the UBI sysupgrade file. Go to System -> Flash Firmware, under "Flash new firmware image", upload openwrt-mediatek-mt7622-linksys_e8450-ubi-squashfs-sysupgrade.itb.
5. Once the device reboots, you should see OpenWRT again.

Upgrading OpenWRT

If you installed OpenWRT using the steps above (ie. OpenWRT with the UBI filesystem converted), you'll upgrade the system via OpenWRT using a UBI-enabled sysupgrade file. For example: openwrt-22.03-snapshot-r19451-2726c8c315-mediatek-mt7622-linksys_e8450-ubi-squashfs-sysupgrade.itb.

Note that you'll lose any installed packages once you do this upgrade. If you have any specific kernel modules or programs installed, you'll have to reinstall them again. The configs however should remain persistent.

Bad flash errors

The router recently started stalling. Luci doesn't respond and WiFi connections don't work.

Checking on the kernel dmesg logs show that some sectors are failing to write:

[355545.032552] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 256 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 32 prio class 0
[355545.045135] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 264 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 31 prio class 0
[355545.056711] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 272 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 30 prio class 0
[355545.068156] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 280 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 29 prio class 0
[355545.079640] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 288 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 28 prio class 0
[355545.091038] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 296 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 27 prio class 0
[355545.102418] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 304 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 26 prio class 0
[355545.113821] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 312 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 25 prio class 0
[355545.125211] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 320 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 24 prio class 0
[355545.136592] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 328 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 23 prio class 0
[355545.155734] Buffer I/O error on dev mtdblock2, logical block 32, async page read
[355545.164051] Buffer I/O error on dev mtdblock2, logical block 32, async page read
[355545.172324] Buffer I/O error on dev mtdblock2, logical block 32, async page read
[355545.180307] Buffer I/O error on dev mtdblock2, logical block 32, async page read
[355545.188286] Buffer I/O error on dev mtdblock2, logical block 32, async page read
[355545.196255] Buffer I/O error on dev mtdblock2, logical block 32, async page read
[355545.204253] Buffer I/O error on dev mtdblock2, logical block 32, async page read
[355545.213419] Buffer I/O error on dev mtdblock2, logical block 32, async page read
[355545.221699] Buffer I/O error on dev mtdblock2, logical block 32, async page read
[355545.231766] Buffer I/O error on dev mtdblock2, logical block 32, async page read

And the kernel logs just continue erroring with the Buffer I/O error message.

For some reason, /sbin/rpcd -s /var/run/ubus/ubus.sock -t 30 was using 25% CPU. Killing it brought back Luci?

/dev/mtdblock2 really can't be read:

root@linksys:/# dd if=/dev/mtdblock2  of=/tmp/x conv=noerror
dd: /dev/mtdblock2: I/O error
dd: /dev/mtdblock2: I/O error
dd: /dev/mtdblock2: I/O error
dd: /dev/mtdblock2: I/O error
dd: /dev/mtdblock2: I/O error
...

root@linksys:/# dmesg
[149324.472780] print_req_error: 3434 callbacks suppressed
[149324.472788] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 256 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 26 prio class 0
[149324.489773] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 264 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 25 prio class 0
[149324.501309] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 272 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 24 prio class 0
[149324.513110] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 280 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 23 prio class 0
[149324.524642] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 288 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 22 prio class 0
[149324.536136] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 296 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 21 prio class 0
[149324.547439] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 304 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 20 prio class 0
[149324.558870] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 312 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 19 prio class 0
[149324.570155] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 320 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 18 prio class 0
[149324.581596] blk_update_request: I/O error, dev mtdblock2, sector 328 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x84700 phys_seg 17 prio class 0
[149324.604720] buffer_io_error: 3425 callbacks suppressed
[149324.604728] Buffer I/O error on dev mtdblock2, logical block 32, async page read

Updated from OpenWRT 22.03-SNAPSHOT to 22.03.0 but still can't read mtdblock2. No USB devices are mounted.

See also

• https://openwrt.org/toh/linksys/e8450