Fonera+ (FON2201) and Fonera 2.0g (FON2202)

The Fonera 2.0g is the successor of the Fonera+ offered by Fon. Its an Atheros AP51 reference design, features a two-port fast ethernet switch and a USB 2.0 host port. Fonera+ and Fonera 2.0g are based on same hardware design, former lacking USB and having less memory.

This model is not sold anymore and has been superseded by the RaLink SoC based Fonera 2.0n.

*Attitude Adjustment 12.09 dropped support for devices with 16 MB or less RAM, which includes FON2201.

Access to RedBoot is required for initial installation and recovery. The bootloader can be reached via serial cable or by Telnet on port 9000. Not all shipped units have RedBoot Telnet enabled by default, a serial cable might be required. While writing to flash, router will stop answering ping and you might lose Telnet connection. Leave ping running and reconnect Telnet when you receive an answer. Be patient as writing to flash takes several minutes.

You have to download two files, the .lzma kernel image and the .squashfs root filesystem image. You want the port from the atheros/ subdirectory, which was later renamed to ath25/.

The latest images for Fonera+ (FON2201) are:

• http://downloads.openwrt.org/backfire/10.03.1/atheros/openwrt-atheros-vmlinux.lzma
• http://downloads.openwrt.org/backfire/10.03.1/atheros/openwrt-atheros-root.squashfs

While for Fonera 2.0g (FON2202) you can get the current OpenWrt version:

• openwrt-15.05-ath25-vmlinux.lzma
• openwrt-15.05-ath25-root.squashfs

In the guides below you should change the filename prefix openwrt-atheros[...] to openwrt-15.05-ath25[...] when using current OpenWrt version.

• Connect the PC via ethernet to one of the Foneras ethernet ports, set the IP to 192.168.1.2, netmask 255.255.255.0
• Prepare a TFTP server on the PC, move openwrt-atheros-vmlinux.lzma and openwrt-atheros-root.squashfs to the TFTP directory
• Switch to the RedBoot prompt
• Set the Fonera IP address: ip_address -l 192.168.1.1/24
• Specify the TFTP server address: ip_address -h 192.168.1.2
• Create a clean partition table: fis init
• Download the kernel: load -r -v -b 0x80041000 openwrt-atheros-vmlinux.lzma or load -r -v -b 0x80041000 openwrt-ath25-generic-kernel.lzma
• Flash the kernel: fis create kernel
• Download the rootfs: load -r -v -b 0x80041000 openwrt-atheros-root.squashfs or load -r -v -b 0x80041000 openwrt-ath25-generic-squashfs-rootfs.bin
• Flash the rootfs: fis create rootfs
• Configure the boot parameters: fconfig
  • When prompted for the boot script, enter:
    fis load -l kernel exec
  • To enable Redboot telnet access, set “Local IP address” to 192.168.1.1 and “Local IP address mask” to 255.255.255.0
• Restart the device: reset

• Open RedBoot prompt with minicom and serial cable connection:
  minicom -b 9600 -D /dev/ttyUSB0
• Change serial speed to 115200 in RedBoot:
  baudrate -b 115200
• Change serial speed to 115200 in minicom:
  Crtl+a p
• Configure the boot parameters:
  fconfig
  • When prompted for the boot script, enter:
    fis load -l kernel exec
• Create a clean partition table:
  fis init
• Load the kernel via ymodem:
  load -m ymodem -r -v -b 0x80041000 openwrt-atheros-vmlinux.lzma
• Select kernel image openwrt-atheros-vmlinux.lzma via:
  Ctrl+a s
• Flash the kernel:
  fis create kernel
• Load rootfs via ymodem:
  load -m ymodem -r -v -b 0x80041000 openwrt-atheros-root.squashfs
• Select rootfs image openwrt-atheros-root.squashfs via:
  Ctrl+a s
• Flash the rootfs:
  fis create rootfs
• Restart the device:
  reset

• Download the Fon Flash application from http://www.gargoyle-router.com/download.php
• Make sure your Fonera device is powered down
• Start the fon-flash-gui application
• You may be asked for sudo authentication
• Select OpenWrt/Gargoyle for in Select Firmware Type dropdown.
• Select the network interface you have connected to your Fonera device in the Select Network Interface dropdown
• Use the Select Rootfs Browse button to select the openwrt-atheros-root.squashfs file
• Use the Select Kernel File Browse button to select the openwrt-atheros-vmlinux.lzma file
• Select the Flash Router Now! button.
• Power on the Fonera device
• A popup will appear when the firware has been successfully loaded.

Some Fonera+ units don't have Redboot telnet access enabled by default, however it can be enabled by preforming the following steps:

• Flash a beta developer edition of a firmware onto the Fonera, developer builds have ssh enabled.
• Flash a firmware that is able to write to the Redboot configuration partition, enter:

  ssh root@192.168.10.1
  cd /tmp
  wget ftp://downloads.linwin-solutions.com/hxcwyxwr/fonera_openwrt/FON2202_2.2.5.0_Flipper_RedBootC_VoteGOP.image
  uci set registered.fonreg.dev=1
  uci commit
  tar cvzf sysupgrade.tgz /etc/passwd /etc/group /etc/dropbear /etc/samba/smbpasswd /etc/samba/secrets.tdb /etc/config/firewall /etc/config/upnpd /etc/config/umtsd /etc/config/registered /etc/config/gdata /etc/config/facebook /etc/config/flickr /etc/config/mountd /etc/config/fon /etc/config/ddns /etc/config/wizard /etc/pureftpd.pdb /etc/pureftpd.passwd /etc/config/luci_dlmanager /etc/config/twitter /etc/config/firewall
  mtd -j sysupgrade.tgz -r write FON2202_2.2.5.0_Flipper_RedBootC_VoteGOP.image image
  reboot

• Once your Fonera has rebooted, flash a Redboot configuration partition that has telnet enabled:

  ssh 192.168.10.1
  cd /tmp
  wget ftp://downloads.linwin-solutions.com/hxcwyxwr/fonera_openwrt/out.hex
  mtd -e "RedBoot config" write out.hex "RedBoot config"
  reboot

• While your fonera is booting up, you should have about 10 seconds to telnet into 192.168.1.254 on port 9000 to access the Redboot console.

If you have already installed OpenWrt and like to reflash for e.g. upgrading to a new OpenWrt version you can upgrade using the sysupgrade utility. It is important that you put the firmware image into the ramdisk (/tmp) before you start flashing.

• Browse to http://192.168.1.1/cgi-bin/luci/mini/system/upgrade/ LuCI Upgrade URL
• Upload openwrt-atheros-combined.squashfs.img file to LuCI
• Wait for reboot

• Login as root via SSH on 192.168.1.1
• Use the following commands to upgrade.

cd /tmp/
wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/latest/atheros/openwrt-atheros-combined.squashfs.img
sysupgrade /tmp/openwrt-atheros-combined.squashfs.img

• If sysupgrade does not support this router, you have to reflash via Redboot.

FON2201 PCB front

FON2201 PCB back

Note: This will void your warranty!

• Remove the both screws under the front rubber feet
• Gently tear off the top cover

The serial pins are located on the left side of the PCB.

 ________________________
/   [ eth ] [ eth ] [usb]
|      _________         |
|     |         |        |
|     | 88E6060 |        |
|[VC] |_________|        |
|[TX]                    |
|[RX]   ________         |
|[GD]  |        |        |
|      | AR2315 |        |
|      |________|        |
\________________________/

Serial ports settings are 9600@8n1.

The default network configuration is:

Because the FON2201/FON2202 has a build-in VLAN switch, unlike the FON2100. Connecting a VLAN trunk is a little different than usual. If you for example connect a trunk to the LAN port (eth0.1), then to access VLAN 5 on the trunk, you need the specify the device eth0.1.5 - Not eth0.5.

This practice is called double VLAN tagging. It usual requires that the MTU is lowered with 4 bytes. This is however not necessary on the FON2201/FON2202.

There is only one button, reset, at the bottom of the device.

The USB host controller suffers from a hardware bug, it will crash if a USB 1.1 device is attached. A workaround is putting a powered hub between the USB host and the device.

The picture above shows an annotated photo of Fonera+ (FON2201) PCB. Regarding antennas' connections it is quite similar to FON2200. The major difference being that the connections are inverted. On FON2201 antenna 1 is connected to the PCB etched antenna and antenna 2 to the stock external antenna. Therefore, in order to replace the etched antenna by an external one, you can follow the instructions for FON2200 but applying them on antenna 1 output.

How to add tags

Fonera+ (FON2201)

Fonera 2.0g (FON2202)