ZTE MF289F

It's a 4G Cat.20 router used by Vodafone Italy (called Vodafone FWA) and Vodafone DE\T-Mobile PL (called GigaCube).

Modem is a MiniPCIe-to-USB based on Snapdragon X24, it supports 4CA aggregation.

There are currently two hardware revisions, which differ on the 5Ghz radio:

AT1 = QCA9984 5Ghz Radio on PCI-E bus 4×4 MIMO

AT2 = IPQ4019 5Ghz Radio inside IPQ4019 2×2 MIMO like 2.4G

None at this time.

1. Place OpenWrt initramfs image for the device on a TFTP in the server's root. (This example uses Server IP: 192.168.0.2)

2. Connect serial console (115200,8n1) to serial connector GND (which is right next to the thing with MF289F MIMO-V1.0), RX, TX (refer to this image: https://ibb.co/31Gngpr).

Solder the pin-header into the 3 holes we are interested in and then proceed to connect them as follows:

GND = ground (will go directly to the same PIN of the TTL 2 USB adapter)

RX = will go to the TX PIN of the TTL 2 USB adapter

TX = will go to the RX PIN of the TTL 2 USB adapter

Once everything is connected, I recommend connecting the serial port FIRST and then the router power supply, open PuTTY program and configure the COM port installed by the TTL 2 USB adapter (you can find it via Device Manager\COM Ports ) and set speed to 115200.

3. Connect TFTP server to RJ-45 port (WAN/LAN1).

4. Stop in u-Boot (using ESC button) and run u-Boot commands:

  setenv serverip 192.168.0.2
  setenv ipaddr 192.168.0.1
  set fdt_high 0x85000000
  tftp openwrt-ipq40xx-generic-zte_mf289f-initramfs-fit-zImage.itb
  bootm $loadaddr
  

(Please keep in mind that openwrt configures the WAN/LAN port as Wan by default so you might need to switch ports, I had been stuck on this step in the past)

5. Please make backup of original partitions in your computer, just in case you want to revert to stock, specially mtd16 (Web UI) and mtd17 (rootFS). Use /tmp as temporary storage and do:

WEB PARITION BACKUP

  cat /dev/mtd16 > /tmp/mtd16.bin
  scp /tmp/mtd16.bin root@YOURSERVERIP:/
  rm /tmp/mtd16.bin

ROOT PARITION BACKUP

  cat /dev/mtd17 > /tmp/mtd17.bin
  scp /tmp/mtd17.bin root@YOURSERVERIP:/
  rm /tmp/mtd17.bin

6. Login via ssh or serial and remove stock partitions (default IP 192.168.0.1):

  ubiattach -m 17

(This can return an error, if ubi was attached before or rootfs part was erased before.

  ubirmvol /dev/ubi0 -N ubi_rootfs

(It could return error if rootfs part was erased before ubirmvol /dev/ubi0 -N ubi_rootfs_data (Some devices do not have it)

7. Download and install image via sysupgrade -n (either use wget/scp to copy the mf289f squashfs-sysupgrade.bin to the device's /tmp directory)

  sysupgrade -n /tmp/openwrt-...-zte_mf289f-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin

(Sometimes it could print ubi attach error, but please ignore it if process goes forward.)

1. Place mtd16.bin and mtd17.bin initramfs image for the device on a TFTP in the server's root directory. (This example uses Server IP: 192.168.0.2)

2. Connect serial console (115200,8n1) to serial console connector (refer to the pin-out from above).

3. Connect TFTP server to RJ-45 port (WAN/LAN1).

4. rename mtd16.bin to web.img and mtd17.bin to root_uImage_s

5. Stop in u-Boot (using ESC button) and run u-Boot commands:

This will erase RootFS+Web:

  nand erase 0x1000000 0x800000
  nand erase 0x1800000 0x1D00000

This will restore RootFS:

  tftpboot 0x84000000 ${dir}root_uImage_s
  nand erase 0x1800000 0x1D00000
  nand write $fileaddr 0x1800000 $filesize

This will restore Web Interface:

  tftpboot 0x84000000 ${dir}web.img
  nand erase 0x1000000 0x800000
  nand write $fileaddr 0x1000000 $filesize

After first boot on stock firwmare, do a factory reset. Push reset button for 5 seconds so all parameters will be reverted to the one printed on label on bottom of the router

→ generic.sysupgrade

cd /tmp
wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/XXX/xxx.abc
sysupgrade /tmp/xxx.abc

cd /tmp
wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/XXX/xxx.abc
mtd write /tmp/xxx.abc linux && reboot

Like stated on → generic.debrick you could simply follow the installation instructions of flashing and upgrading openwrt (no need to touch the partitions if they are already correct for openwrt, so follow only step 1, 2, 3, 4 & 7)

→ failsafe_and_factory_reset

→ Basic configuration After flashing, proceed with this.
Set up your Internet connection, configure wireless, configure USB port, etc.

The default network configuration is:

The ZTE MF289F has the following buttons:

---- datatemplatelist dttpllist ---- template: meta:template_datatemplatelist cols : Brand, Model, Versions, Device Type, Availability, Supported Since Commit_git, Supported since Rel, Supported current Rel, Unsupported, Bootloader, CPU, Target, CPU MHz, Flash MBs, RAM MB, Switch, Ethernet 100M ports_, Ethernet Gbit ports_, Comments network ports_, Modem, VLAN, WLAN 2.4GHz, WLAN 5.0GHz, WLAN Hardwares, WLAN Comments_, Detachable Antennas_, USB ports_, SATA ports_, Comments USB SATA ports_, Serial, JTAG, LED count, Button count, Power supply, Device Techdata_pageid, Forum topic URL_url, wikidevi URL_url, OEM Device Homepage URL_url, Firmware OEM Stock URL_url, Firmware OpenWrt Install URL_url, Firmware OpenWrt Upgrade URL_url, Comments_ filter : Brand=ZTE filter : Model=MF289F filter : Supported since Rel=22.03.3

Front:
Insert photo of front of the casing

Back:
Insert photo of back of the casing

Backside label:
Insert photo of backside label

Note: This will void your warranty!

Main PCB:
Insert photo of PCB

→ bootloader

None so far.

Space for additional notes, links to forum threads or other resources.

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