Pirelli DRG A226G / A226M

Prebuilt images from downloads.openwrt.org, from 18.06.2 up to and including 19.07.3, will not work: Those images hang at boot. → Fixed

→ Install OpenWrt (generic explanation)

To install OpenWrt you have to stop the system loading through the serial console. To do that you need a serial adapter/converter (that convert TTL +3.3V of router serial console to RS232 (+/-12V) or USB). I suggest to use USB serial converter!! Don't even try to go further without a serial adapter!!

You can buy USB serial converter adapter on Ebay (find CP2102 chipset), e.g. USB serial adapter based on Silicon Labs CP2102 (Ebay)

The firmware is based on OpenRG, I don't know how to backup this firmware. Continue at your risk!!!

You can try bcm63xx#dump.the.flash. It isn't a firmware backup but a whole flash backup --- danitool 2013/01/23 15:23

We need a way to backup it first.

1. You need to setup a tftp server on some host (I can suggest to use dnsmasq for this) to serve the firmware image to the router.
2. Now just download the latest stable image image for A226M
3. Poweron the router - Stop the boot process: Through the serial console and a terminal program (like Hyperterminal, Putty portable, Teraterm) setup as 115200, 8 bit data, no parity bit, 1 stop bit, poweron the router and press any key to stop the system loading.
4. Flash the new firmware via TFTP: I suggest to rename the firmware file downloaded as firmware.bin. Now you have to use the flashimage command to load the openwrt image, please don't use the f command. If you configure (with command c) the host ip address you can avoid it in the flashimage argument.

   CFE> flashimage
   
        eg. flashimage [hostip:]compressed_image_file_name
   or
        es: flashimage 192.168.1.100:firmware.bin
   or
        es: flashimage firmware.bin   

5. That's all, the device will automatically reboot and openwrt will be there
6. After the flashing of new firmware the router will reboot.

• Using dnsmasq:

  dnsmasq -d --enable-tftp --tftp-root=`pwd` -p 0 #from the directory where firmware is previously downloaded

  where the 192.168.1.100 is your server tftp

• You can use also TFTP server like tftp32. Install tftpd32 and put the firmware file (I suggest to rename it as firmware.bin) in the same folder where you installed tftpd32.

The OpenWrt image may be rejected due to wrong CRC in kernel.

Boot detail with crc error:

*** Press any key to stop auto run (1 seconds) ***
Auto run second count down: 0
Trying to boot from previous MAIN image (0x65dba394) ...
Code Address: 0x65DBA394, Entry Address: 0x1970acf7
SGP - Flash Kernel Address: 0xBE020100
SGP - ulImgCrc : 0xD656A53B  
SGP - Tag->kernelLen: 0x0011FF00
SGP - Flash Kernel Address: 0xBE020100
Linux kernel CRC error.  Corrupted image?
SGP - Tag Kernel crc : 0xD656A53B - calculated: 0x9D91518A 
SGP - Decompression Kernel length: 0x91669AEE pucSrc: 0xBE02010C
Trying to boot from previous RECOVERY image (0x80010000) ...
Code Address: 0x80010000, Entry Address: 0x80010000
SGP - Flash Kernel Address: 0xBE560100
SGP - ulImgCrc : 0x80DF5773  
SGP - Tag->kernelLen: 0x001B008C
SGP - Flash Kernel Address: 0xBE560100
SGP - Tag Kernel crc : 0x80DF5773 - calculated: 0x80DF5773 
SGP - Decompression Kernel length: 0x0000001C pucSrc: 0xBE56010C
Decompression OK!
Entry at 0x80010000

To fix it, execute the command mtd fixtrx linux after the first boot.

The serial port is J10, on the left of the switch chip, see photos

Serial connection parameters are 115200 8N1

NB: A short circuit between pins RX and TX at power up puts the device in a recovery mode with IP 192.168.1.1 from where a new firmware can be uploaded. OpenWrt binaries are refused, though, because of invalid CRC.

Jtag port is J9 near the SoC and the minipci socket, see photos

It seems to be a mips e-jtag 14 pin connector with columns swapped (used from the other side?).

CPU Chip ID: 00000110001101011000000101111111 (0635817F)

I used the JTAG port with urjtag, just use the svn version. Useful info on "Neuf Box 4 JTAG"

You should probably try the Open On-Chip Debugger

Install OpenWrt on this router

To have a better match with DRG A226M functions, I suggest you to use it with the following network configuration. Using the interneal editor vi, check and edit /etc/config/network file.

For more info read switch config. To be reviewed

config interface loopback                                                       
        option ifname   lo                                                      
        option proto    static                                                  
        option ipaddr   127.0.0.1                                               
        option netmask  255.0.0.0                                               
                                                                                
config 'switch' 'eth1'                                                          
   option 'enable'      '1'                                                     
   option 'enable_vlan' '1'                                                     
   option 'reset'       '1'                                                     
                                                                                
config 'switch_vlan' 'vlan0'                                                    
   option 'vlan'       '0'                                                      
   option 'device'     'eth1'                                                   
   option 'ports'      '0 1 2 5t'                                               
                                                                                
config 'switch_vlan' 'vlan1'                                                    
   option 'vlan'       '1'                                                      
   option 'device'     'eth1'                                                   
   option 'ports'      '3 5t'                                                   
                                                                                
config interface lan                                                            
        option ifname   eth1.0 
        option type     bridge                                                 
        option proto    static                                                  
        option ipaddr   192.168.5.1                                             
        option netmask  255.255.255.0                                                                                                  
                                                                                
config 'interface' wan 
    option 'ifname'  'eth1.1'                                                   
    option 'proto'   'dhcp'

To have the led matching DRG A226M features, using the internal editor vi edit the /etc/config/system file. Add:

config 'led'
	option 'sysfs'		'power:red'
	option 'trigger'	'heartbeat'

config 'led'
	option name		lan
	option 'sysfs'		'usr1:red'
	option trigger netdev
	option 'dev'	'eth1.0'
	option mode 'rx tx'

config 'led'
	option name		wan
	option 'sysfs'		'usr2:red'
	option trigger netdev
	option 'dev'	'eth1.1'
	option mode 'rx tx'

The OpenWrt firmware don't provide by default webui. just telnet interface. To configure the modem through the web interface you should install WebUI (like Luci). To do that you can follow the instructions

OpenWrt - Install WebUI (Luci)

opkg update
opkg install luci

opkg update
opkg install kmod-rt61-pci

Reboot system to activate WiFi.

2016-09-25 12.09 works correctly, 15.05.01 suffer of https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/18228 on my device. (dpeddi)

A226m has a Le88266 VoIP chip onboard providing 2x FXS ports (= 2x ports you can connect analog phones to in order to make calls leveraging VoIP). This functionality is not natively available in OpenWrt, it requires additional drivers. There is an opensource project, called bcm63xx-phone https://github.com/pgid69/bcm63xx-phone, providing these drivers, and I managed to compile and make it work on this router in combination with Asterisk, tested on both Attitude Adjustment and Barrier Breaker. The developer of the driver directly tested it on a Huawei box, but it also works on A226M. There is no ipk package available at the moment, so you need to compile your own .ipk's package or include them in the image of openwrt. Once you do this, you will be able to connect an analog phone to the FXS ports and leverage it in combination with a cheap VoIP service provider.

If you choose to compile the .ipk's and try to install them on a ready-available openwrt image form repository, be aware that opkg might complain about kernel version not being exaclty the same. Just force installation and it should work. I was able to make phone calls originating from an analog phone connected to the A226M and routed to a VoIP provider using SIP signalling and Asterisk as call manager.

• Pirelli A226M - User manual (italian)- PDF

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