Table of Contents
TP-Link TL-WA730RE
Supported Versions
| v1 front | v1 left angle | v1 right angle | v1 back |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
Hardware Highlights
Installation
From OEM to OpenWrt firmware
- Download with PC -factory.bin as shown above and rename it to
openwrt.bin. - On a device with an OEM firmware, open the configuration utility (default
http://192.168.1.254) and select “System Tools”, “Firmware Upgrade”, “Browse” to selectopenwrt.bin, “Upgrade”. Similar to original firmware upgrade instructions from user guide and FAQ (http://www.tp-link.com/en/download/TL-WA730RE_V1.html#FAQs).
- On the following window select “OK”.
- After the automatic reboot (takes a few minutes) and configuring your PC IP address manually (between 192.168.1.2/24 and 192.168.1.254/24), OpenWrt LuCI is reachable via http://192.168.1.1 with defaults. See First Login for more details.
From OpenWrt to OEM firmware
- Download OEM stock firmware TL-WA730RE_V1_100921 from http://www.tp-link.com/en/download/TL-WA730RE_V1.html#Firmware on PC, unzip and rename bin file to
tplink.bin. - Power on device and connect to PC with network cable.
- Use LuCI or SSH/terminal procedure.
LuCI procedure
- On PC log in to the LuCI web interface of device (default
http://192.168.1.1). - Select “System”, “Backup / Flash Firmware”, at “Image” use “Browse” to select firmware file “tplink.bin”, “Flash image...”.
- LuCI shows MD5 checksum of the file and select “Proceed”.
SSH/terminal procedure
- Upload the renamed firmware image
tplink.binfrom your PC to the device/tmpfolder with for example WinSCP. - Revert back to original firmware by using sysupgrade in terminal:
sysupgrade /tmp/tplink.bin
- After using the LuCI or SSH/terminal procedure, there is an automatic reboot (takes a few minutes). By configuring your PC IP address manually (between 192.168.1.1/24 and 192.168.1.253/24), the device configuration utility is reachable via
http://192.168.1.254with factory defaults. Information can also be found in the original manuals and FAQs (http://www.tp-link.com/en/download/TL-WA730RE_V1.html#FAQs).
OEM firmware debug shell with root privilege
There is a hidden debug shell with root privilege in the OEM firmware (TL-WA730RE_V1_100921).
- Link: default
http://192.168.1.254/userRpmNatDebugRpm26525557/linux_cmdline.html - User: osteam
- Password: 5up
Photos
Bootloader
The bootloader is uboot with enabled ethernet network device. To access uboot console type quickly tpl if you see Autobooting in 1 seconds.
Recovery
uboot + tftp
You can do recovery using uboot and tftp. Prepare a tftp server at 192.168.1.100 containing openwrt-15.05.1-ar71xx-generic-tl-wa730rev1-squashfs-factory.bin.
erase 0x9f020000 +0x3c0000 tftpboot 0x81000000 openwrt-15.05.1-ar71xx-generic-tl-wa730rev1-squashfs-factory.bin cp.b 0x81000000 0x9f020000 0x3c0000 bootm 0x9f020000