ZyXEL NBG-419N v1 / WAP3205 v1

The NGB-419 has 16MB flash and 32MB RAM. Installation of 19.07.4 is possible and runs well.

NOTE: These informations refer to the WAP3205 NOT WAP3205 v2 which seems to have different hardware!

The board is the same one used on the NBG-419N, but has 2 Ethernet ports instead of 4 LAN + 1 WAN. (and has no WiFi on/off switch)

The images for the NBG-419N are compatible with the WAP3205, as they have same hardware internally.

NOTE: When configuring the switch or VLANs, currently OpenWrt lets you setup or tag 5 ethernet ports since internally there are 5 ports on the switch, but only 2 are wired to physical ports!

→ Install OpenWrt (generic explanation)

The prefered method is to build the image by yourself. See toolchain. Select Ralink RT288x/RT305x as Target System and RT305x based boards as Subtarget in make menuconfig. If you dont like to build the image by yourself, download the OpenWrt image as shown above.

Unfortunately, the firmware cannot be installed by factory web configuration utility. Someone may try to build the sources from ftp://opensource.zyxel.com/NBG-419N to check what is needed for it.

Follow the manual for installing OpenWrt via TFTP: generic.flashing.tftp

Open the case, connect a TTL-to-RS232 converter cable (not the standard serial cable!) - see port.serial. You can also use a USB to TTL Serial Cable. See image below for connection.

Port speed is 57600, 8 databits, no parity, 1 stopbits, both hardware and software flow control must be disabled. The router sometimes does not power on when serial cable is connected, so you have to try some times or make the serial connection after powering on.

If you miss the bootloader (U-Boot) prompt, wait until ZyXEL Linux boots and issue halt or reboot. When you see U-Boot prompt, press 2:

Please choose the operation:
 1: Load system code to SDRAM via TFTP.
 2: Load system code then write to Flash via TFTP.
 3: Boot system code via Flash (default).
 4: Entr boot command line interface.
 6: To emergency.
 9: Load Boot Loader code then write to Flash via TFTP.

You choosed 2

Put ...ramips-rt305x-nbg-419n-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin to your TFTP server root (usually /var/lib/tftpboot on Linux) and start the TFTP server. U-Boot did not like such a long file name, so rename ...ramips-rt305x-nbg-419n-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin to for example openwrt.bin. Connect one of the router's LAN ports and TFTP server to the same LAN.

Then press Y and enter IP for your device, TFTP server and firmware image file name:

  2: System Load Linux Kernel then write to Flash via TFTP. 
  Warning!! Erase Linux in Flash then burn new one. Are you sure?(Y/N)
  Please Input new ones /or Ctrl-C to discard
    Input device IP (192.168.1.1) ==:
    Input server IP (192.168.1.10) ==:
    Input Linux Kernel filename (openwrt.bin) ==:

U-Boot should sucessfully flash and then boot the new firmware image.

Its recommended to flash the same sysupgrade firmware file once again with the build in OpenWrt updater and to not save the settings. The TFTP in U-Boot sometimes mess up few parts in the firmware.

Note: Flash size is (wrongly) identified as 16MB in 19.07.4; it is only 4MB.

Note: This will void your warranty!

• To remove the cover simply remove the two screws on the bottom. Then just open it to the front.
• The board itself has no screws.

The are 4 pins on the board:

1. RX
2. GND
3. TX
4. 3V3

→ port.jtag general information about the JTAG port, JTAG cable, etc.

How to connect to the JTAG Port of this specific device:
Insert photo of PCB with markings for JTAG port

The bootloader used in this unit is U-Boot. It is available through the serial interface with the settings: 57600/N/1