TP-Link TL-WA730RE

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 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 has ended in 2022.
19.07.10 was the last official build for 4/32 devices.

v1 front	v1 left angle	v1 right angle	v1 back

Warning!
This section describes actions that might damage your device or firmware. Proceed with care!

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 select openwrt.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.

Warning!
This section describes actions that might damage your device or firmware. Proceed with care!

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.bin from your PC to the device /tmp folder 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://192.168.1.254 with 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).

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

The bootloader is uboot with enabled ethernet network device. To access uboot console type quickly tpl if you see Autobooting in 1 seconds.

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

How to add tags

AR7240, 4Flash, 32RAM

ar7240 4Flash 32RAM

TP-Link TL-WA730RE

Supported Versions

Hardware Highlights

Installation

From OEM to OpenWrt firmware

From OpenWrt to OEM firmware

LuCI procedure

SSH/terminal procedure

OEM firmware debug shell with root privilege

Photos

Bootloader

Recovery

uboot + tftp

Tags