Mercury M301

This device is NOT RECOMMENDED for future use with OpenWrt due to low flash/ram.
DO NOT BUY DEVICES WITH 4MB FLASH / 32MB RAM if you intend to flash an up-to-date and secure OpenWrt version (18.06 or later) onto it! See 4/32 warning for details.

1) This device does not have sufficient resources (flash and/or RAM) to provide secure and reliable operation.
This means that even setting a password or changing simple network settings might not be possible any more, rendering the device effectively useless. See OpenWrt on 4/32 devices what you can do now.

2) OpenWrt support for this device will end after 2019.
19.07 will be the last official build for 4/32 devices. After 19.07, no further OpenWrt images will be built for 4/32 devices. See OpenWrt on 4/32 devices what you can do now.

Hardware is similar TP-Link TL-MR3040 v1, but intended for PRC.

A portable router with an onboard 2000mAh rechargeable_battery. It provides 150MBit/s 802.11bgn wireless connectivity, one Fast Ethernet port as well as two USB ports (of which one only offers power but no data connection).
Note: Many of these routers are marketed as a “3G travel router” but none actually include a 3G modem - the marketing term rather means that the OEM firmware supports a certain range of USB 3G/4G modems because it contains the drivers! Ignore that, because with OpenWrt ANY router with USB supports 3G hardware…

Althought M301 and MR3040 seem similar on the outside, there are differences:

M301 is chinese only
Case slightly different
Only one bi-color LED:
- green under GPIO control
- red indicates battery low, or charging in progress

Brand	Model	Version	Current Release	OEM Info	Forum Topic	Technical Data
Mercury	M301	1	17.01.5			View/Edit data

Model	Version	SoC	CPU MHz	Flash MB	RAM MB	WLAN Hardware	WLAN2.4	WLAN5.0	100M ports	Gbit ports	Modem	USB
M301	1	Atheros AR7240	400	4	32	Atheros AR7240	b/g/n	-	1		-	1x 2.0, 1x mini-USB (power)

SoC: Atheros AR9331 rev1
802.11 b/g/n 150Mbps
Powered via mini-USB (5V) or Li-ion Battery included (3-4 hours)
Only 94g

Model	Version	Current Release	Firmware OpenWrt Install	Firmware OpenWrt Upgrade	Firmware OEM Stock
M301	1	17.01.5	https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/17.01.5/targets/ar71xx/generic/openwrt-17.01.5-ar71xx-generic-tl-mr3040-v1-squashfs-factory.bin	https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/17.01.5/targets/ar71xx/generic/openwrt-17.01.5-ar71xx-generic-tl-mr3040-v1-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin

→ Install OpenWrt (generic explanation)

As with most TP-Link Routers this one can be flashed using the TP-Link Webinterface.

Connect to the M301 router via Ethernet cable at IP address 192.168.1.1
login to the router's web GUI (default login/password: admin / admin)
overwrite the factory firmware by installing the openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-mr3040-v1-squashfs-factory.bin like a regular firmware update.
Wait for the progress bar to finish twice (the device will reset itself in the process)
proceed with basic configuration as with any fresh OpenWrt install.

Note that some software uses 192.168.0.1 and some software uses 192.168.1.1.

How to configure LEDs in general, see the LED section in the led_configuration.

The M301 has 1 bi-color LED:

LED name	LED color	LED print	Internal name	Trigger
LED	Red		N/A (fixed supply)	N/A
LED	Green		tp-link:green:3g

FastEthernet, 1NIC, 1WNIC, no switch, Serial, integrated, 802.11bgn, AR9331, ath9k, 1Ant, 32RAM, 4Flash, MIPS, MIPS32, 24k, AP121, rechargeable battery

fastethernet 1nic 1wnic no switch serial integrated 802.11bgn ar9331 ath9k 1ant 32RAM 4Flash mips mips32 24k ap121 rechargeable battery

Mercury M301

M301 and TL-MR3040 differences

Supported Versions

Hardware Highlights

Installation

Method Using Web GUI (Recommended)

LEDs

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