PSP bootloader source code

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svectors
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PSP bootloader source code

Post by svectors » Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:02 am

I would like to get the source code (as much as possible) for the PSP bootloader (any and all versions). From what I understand, the source code was in a file provided by Linksys called

WAG54GV2_V1.00.19.tgz

That file used to be available, years ago, on the Linksys ftp server. But that server address has long gone. All the links to copies of that file that I have found on the net do not work anymore. I am sure there are many people who downloaded it all those years ago and I would like to find someone willing to share it with me.

I have several Netgear DG834G v3 modem routers which all use the ADAM2 bootloader. One of those is a DG834GSP v3 which is a variant made for Australian Optus customers which has 8M of flashrom and 32M of SDRAM ie double the memory of the 'standard' DG834G v3 units. I would like to make that version my development/test system.

I would like to replace ADAM2 with the PSP bootloader. I believe that using a PSP binary from another modem+router wont work for the DG834GSP v3.

Anyone out there who can help? Routertech member "orgelgut" on the magical mystery tour perhaps?
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Re: PSP bootloader source code

Post by svectors » Sun May 01, 2016 1:49 am

I was fortunate to get a copy of the PSP bootloader source code — Marco Vedovati kindly went through some of his archives and found the PSP bootloader source code that was in WAG54GV2_V1.00.19.tgz.

I still do not have the file WAG54GV2_V1.00.19.tgz — every repository that I could find reference to is gone or has deleted it. I have no doubt that there are people with this file sitting in their personal archives.
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Re: PSP bootloader source code

Post by thechief » Sun May 01, 2016 1:54 pm

Try searching on the "WayBack Machine" - web.archive.org/
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Re: PSP bootloader source code

Post by mstombs » Mon May 02, 2016 11:24 am

Got to question why? That Linksys bootloader probably 12 years old, and you want to use it for a newer Netgear? The newest bootloader sources I have seen were in Acorp GPL, even binary compatible with some Netgear referenced here:-

http://dliapp.wizhut.com/blog/?p=84

Which links back to the file still hosted here!

NB: The firmware also needs to be built for the specific bootloader - flash organization and env var style different!
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Re: PSP bootloader source code

Post by svectors » Mon May 02, 2016 2:24 pm

To "thechief"::
-------------------
I have made use of the WayBack machine for all the websites that used to have the file I was after. But as you will know, the wayback machine does not archive everything and unfortunately, it seems that is true for all the previous repositories of WAG54GV2_V1.00.19.tgz. I tried emailing people that did or might have had the file. I did get a reply from Marco who did give me a copy of the PSP bootloader source code which really was the part I am interested in.


To "mstombs"::
---------------------
My first post (the subject of this thread) covers what I am trying to do. The DG834GSP which is the router I want to do the development work on is about 8 years old. I guess you are wondering why I want to work on an old modem router.
The DG834GSP V3 (in Australia) is a double memory (flash and SDRAM) variant of the standard DG834GV3 and that makes it good for development and end use unit. Pros and cons for this modem-router:

The pros:-
*it does a good job of line signal conditioning.
*I have the schematic diagram for it.
*Its low on power consumption (6.3 W).
*internal heat management is OK in standard form and I believe that can be easily improved
*good reliability
* good possibility to expand memory even further than 32M SDRAM and/or 8M flashrom
*Like just about everything else the TNET7200 is wrapped up in NDAs but the internals of the TNET7200 SoC seems, from what I coud tell when I looked, much more visible/deducible than other chips from other manufacturers.

The cons:
*ethernet speed is only 100bps but thats fast enough for me almost all of the time.
*802.11g is fast enough for me most of the time.

I think its still a very good useful modem-router. If newer equipment would be more transparent in engineering documentation than older equipment then I would upgrade.

I did find that website that you referenced quite some time ago and I found many others in my searches for information on the TNETD7200/TNETD7300 and also to try get the PSPbootloader sources.
You might want to check your whirlpool account. You have PM(s) on that account.
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Re: PSP bootloader source code

Post by thechief » Tue May 03, 2016 2:13 pm

The first thing I would advise is to get functional JTAG and serial console cables. Messing with bootloaders can cause very bad bricks that can only be recovered with JTAG.
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Re: PSP bootloader source code

Post by svectors » Tue May 03, 2016 4:15 pm

I expect things to go wrong so its agreed that I need JTAG facilities. I think I will have to use the parrallel port for this & have an adapter that supports the different parallel adapter design versions. The MTDs are backed up and I have two of every version of the DG834Gxxx that I intend to do work on. One of each version will be quarantined as the "control". I will be getting a TTL level serial cable for the consol. So far, I have not found anyone who can say whether the JTAG TAP controller supports not just boundary scan actions but debug operations also. It would not surprise me at all that the TNETD7200 supports on chip debugging via JTAG but it seems that, as is the case with so many manufacturers, the details of the command opcodes or the data registers were not released/leaked or discovered. If someone has discovered how to do on chip debugging on the TNETD7200 and has worked out how to control that from GDB then that would be a big help.
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Re: PSP bootloader source code

Post by dani4444 » Mon Nov 28, 2016 1:05 am

Hi, I also got a copy from Marco. It seems it has a couple of missing files outside the buildroot but they aren't important afteral, and can be found elsewhere.

I successfully built a binary, but unfortunatelly it didn't work on my AR7 (TNETD7200) router. I also tested bootloaders from other routers that I found in this forum and elsewhere, some work others doesn't.

I would say this pspbootloader source code is only valid for TNETD7300 SoCs, well maybe also others referenced in the code, but not TNETD7200. Probably the TNED7200 SoC has some minor differences for the CPU initialization that the code doesn't take in account. Probably some changes are needed at least for the TNETD7200, no idea if somebody tested it with a TNETD7300 SoC.

Regards
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Re: PSP bootloader source code

Post by thechief » Mon Nov 28, 2016 10:39 am

dani4444 wrote:I successfully built a binary, but unfortunatelly it didn't work on my AR7 (TNETD7200) router. I also tested bootloaders from other routers that I found in this forum and elsewhere, some work others doesn't.

I would say this pspbootloader source code is only valid for TNETD7300 SoCs, well maybe also others referenced in the code, but not TNETD7200. Probably the TNED7200 SoC has some minor differences for the CPU initialization that the code doesn't take in account. Probably some changes are needed at least for the TNETD7200, no idea if somebody tested it with a TNETD7300 SoC.

Regards
I don't think that this is about SOCs. There are several issues that can prevent your binaries from working. First, you have to identify correctly the manufacturer of the flash chip (AMD? Intel? Atmel? (Atmel may be AMD-compatible)). Secondly, the values for the MTD partitions need to be correct for the firmwares that you wish to install. Thirdly, the correct settings have to be enabled for the flash size and ram size, etc. Edit: Furthermore, you need to know the size of the bootloader partition. Mostly, it is 64kb - but there are some 128kb bootloader partitions.

Simply compling the sources without seeing to these (and possibly several other) things will not suffice. Good luck!
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Re: PSP bootloader source code

Post by dani4444 » Mon Nov 28, 2016 10:53 am

thechief wrote:
dani4444 wrote:I successfully built a binary, but unfortunatelly it didn't work on my AR7 (TNETD7200) router. I also tested bootloaders from other routers that I found in this forum and elsewhere, some work others doesn't.

I would say this pspbootloader source code is only valid for TNETD7300 SoCs, well maybe also others referenced in the code, but not TNETD7200. Probably the TNED7200 SoC has some minor differences for the CPU initialization that the code doesn't take in account. Probably some changes are needed at least for the TNETD7200, no idea if somebody tested it with a TNETD7300 SoC.

Regards
I don't think that this is about SOCs. There are several issues that can prevent your binaries from working. First, you have to identify correctly the manufacturer of the flash chip (AMD? Intel? Atmel? (Atmel may be AMD-compatible)). Secondly, the values for the MTD partitions need to be correct for the firmwares that you wish to install. Thirdly, the correct settings have to be enabled for the flash size and ram size, etc.

Simply compling the sources without seeing to these (and possibly several other) things will not suffice. Good luck!
Sure, but I already checked those variables twice to match my router specs. But no life, no output at the serial console, and JTAG software hangs the next time I want to flash if not executed inmediately. So I assume it's a problem with the CPU initialization, migth be related with clocks since this part seems to be different across both TNED7x000 SoCs. At the code it seems the serial port starts showing output after setting CPU clocks.

Of course it could also be a problem anywhere, like with the serial port itself. In the Openwrt code it states that TNED7200 has only 1 UART whereas TNETD7300 has two, is this true?
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Re: PSP bootloader source code

Post by thechief » Mon Nov 28, 2016 11:09 am

I don't know about the UARTs; but do a grep for "7200" in your source tree, and you will probably find that the 7200 is catered for.
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Re: PSP bootloader source code

Post by thechief » Mon Nov 28, 2016 11:39 am

dani4444 wrote:Sure, but I already checked those variables twice to match my router specs. But no life, no output at the serial console, and JTAG software hangs the next time I want to flash if not executed inmediately. So I assume it's a problem with the CPU initialization, migth be related with clocks since this part seems to be different across both TNED7x000 SoCs. At the code it seems the serial port starts showing output after setting CPU clocks.
It is claimed in this post that the bootloader 1.4.0.4 for the Acorp W422G works. If so, then all you need is bootloader 1.4.0.x for the TNETW1350A wireless devices (some of which are available somewhere in this forum). That is of course for a device with 4mb flash and 16mb RAM. Whether it will work with a device with 8mb flash and 32mb RAM is another matter.
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Re: PSP bootloader source code

Post by dani4444 » Mon Nov 28, 2016 1:52 pm

thechief wrote:I don't know about the UARTs; but do a grep for "7200" in your source tree, and you will probably find that the 7200 is catered for.
No results returned when I search for the string "7200" in the source code.

First I must say that right now I'm only interested on running Linux OS in my router, the original OS was ZynOS (vxworks based?). Probably for installing Openwrt with a bare system since the flash is only 2 MB size. I just want to have this device with Linux to play with GPIOs, I have schematics of the board and I can locate them easily.

The bootloader 1.4.0.4 for the Acorp W422G works in my router, well mostly. The switch doesn't work, it turns out that the reset# pin at the SoC is tied to GPIO5, and pulled down by default. To pull it out of reset I must set GPIO5 in high state, and the better way is put a bit of code in the PSP sourcecode.

Of course I can also flash the firmware via JTAG, terribly slow, or put a pullup resistor on the RST# at the switch, but it would be nice having a working bootloader with ethernet connectivity without additional mods.

BTW this is more for learning about embedded systems than installing RouterTech or recovering the router. I have plenty of routers more powerful than this one. But I wanted to play a bit with AR7 devices, and this router brought me a good opporunity.

I will take another look at the sourcecode, might be there is some magic bit somewhere for making the bootloader work.
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Re: PSP bootloader source code

Post by thechief » Mon Nov 28, 2016 3:06 pm

dani4444 wrote:The bootloader 1.4.0.4 for the Acorp W422G works in my router, well mostly.
Check your PM ...
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