[Commotion-discuss] CW Firmware on a Ubiquiti Picostation M2HP

Sat Apr 9 12:43:53 EDT 2016

Hi Nicolas,

5GHz products with the firmware locks actually started appearing last
year.  It's been in the past few months where some 2.4GHz products now have
locks.  I.e. not just UBNT.

My guess about Ubiquiti M2 products is that the firmware locks possibly
aren't there yet for all products sitting on distributors' shelves.  I.e.
purchase one unit from a particular supplier to try out, and then follow up
with purchasing the remainder once tested successfully (while also ensuring
the distributor ships you units from the same lot).

Nevetheless, do still try downgrading the version of AirOS on the
Picostation you have, i.e. to v5.5.10.  That would be the easiest to do
right away.  Also, when flashing OpenWRT or CW, be sure you are using the
"bullet" image instead of "nano".

The UBNT Bullet M2 radios likely would have the same risk of uncooperative
firmware as the Picostations.  They actually share the same stock firmware.

On Sat, Apr 9, 2016 at 8:33 AM, Nicolas North <star at nikksno.io> wrote:

> Hi Ben
>
> Thank you so much for your help
>
> I understand. I’ve heard of this ridiculous news before but hadn’t
> imagined it was already being applied to actual products.
>
> Another user was suggesting using ubnt bullets on 2.4GHz band which from
> your message I seem to understand are still possibly untouched by these new
> absurd regulations.
>
> Has anyone had any recent experience with ubnt bullet M2HP on cw firmware?
>
> If the first one worked do you think it would make sense to purchase all
> of them now to avoid the risk of them getting locked in-factory in future
> batches? I was planning on a gradual rollout but if this is the point we’ve
> gotten to I guess it would make sense to pay for everything upfront.
>
> If anyone can give me confirmation I will start the project tomorrow. I
> absolutely want to start this and now feel like we’re running out of time.
>
> Thank you all so much for your help!
>
>
> Nicolas
>
>
>
> From: Ben West <ben at gowasabi.net> <ben at gowasabi.net>
> Reply: Ben West <ben at gowasabi.net>> <ben at gowasabi.net>
> Date: 5 Apr 2016 at 18:35:07
> To: Nicolas North <star at nikksno.io>> <star at nikksno.io>
> Cc: commotion-discuss <commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net>>
> <commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
> Subject:  Re: [Commotion-discuss] CW Firmware on a Ubiquiti Picostation
> M2HP
>
> Please be aware Ubiquity is gradually rolling out updates to their stock
> firmware that will block flashing 3rd party firmware like Commotion
> Wireless (and by extension OpenWRT and DD-WRT).  Right now such locks are
> in place on new 5.8GHz gear (e.g. Nanostation M5's), and possibly they will
> start appearing on 2.4GHz gear.  The reasons for these locks are quite
> specious (in my opinion), and they were spurred by recent FCC decisions,
> about which you can read here:
> https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Save_WiFi/Individual_Comments
>
> Current versions of OpenWRT and DD-WRT may be to work around such locks,
> e.g. DD-WRT loading while OpenWRT does not, but Commotion Wireless itself
> will lag behind the latest version of OpenWRT by some margin.
>
> A common recommendation I've read to work-around such locks is to first
> downgrade the stock AirOS firmware to an older version, e.g. v5.5.10, and
> from there flash Commotion Wireless.
>
> Again, do please note underlying issue is that the radio manufacturer
> themselves are beginning to lock out anything but their own stock
> firmware.  The extent to which such locks have been implemented appears to
> vary from product to product (e.g. certain things are locked on new
> Picostations which aren't locked on Nanostations or Rockets), but
> downgrading the stock firmware and then flashing to 3rd party is a common
> recommendation I've read.
>
> Long term outlook, unfortunately, is that OpenWRT and DD-WRT eventually
> will be barred entirely from all wifi products that operate on 5.8GHz band,
> along with some 2.4GHz products too.  Generally, this is applies only to
> the USA, but many device manufacturers are implementing the locks
> universally, regardless of country where the device is sold.
>
> On Tue, Apr 5, 2016 at 6:42 AM, Nicolas North <star at nikksno.io> wrote:
>
>> Hi there!
>>
>> Thank you so much for your reply.
>>
>> This is an important problem as the picostations are great in terms of
>> coverage / price ratio. I’m now looking at other ubiquiti devices but the
>> antennas for the ubnt rocket cost more than the rockets themselves. I’m
>> trying to figure out how much larger the range would be with rockets + omni
>> antennas.
>>
>> Could I ask you which devices you’ve switched to or are planning to
>> switch to given the impossibility of using picostations with cw firmwares
>> at the moment?
>>
>> Do other cw-supported devices have the same reliability, quality and
>> price as ubiquiti devices?
>>
>> I have to cover all houses [meaning the inside of houses in practically
>> every room with decent signal] inside a living complex 120 meters wide and
>> 100 meters long with lots of exterior spaces. The APs would all be on
>> rooftops no higher than two storeys above the ground. I’m thinking of
>> sticking with 2.4GHz for now as it reaches better inside houses.
>>
>> Thank you again and thanks to all who’d like to share some advice for
>> this project! :)
>>
>>
>> Nicolas
>>
>>
>>
>> From: d***@***.net
>> Reply: d***@***.net
>> Date: 3 Apr 2016 at 19:59:34
>> To: Nicolas North <star at nikksno.io> <star at nikksno.io>
>> Subject:  RE: [Commotion-discuss] CW Firmware on a Ubiquiti Picostation
>> M2HP
>>
>> We have a small mesh project we're working on here in Vermont, U.S.A.  We
>> have found that we are unable to install Commotion on recent models of
>> Ubiquiti Picostation. Commotion says others have found that Picostation
>> version v5.6.x and above is incompatible with Commotion, but that probably
>> it wouldn't load at all rather than not being configuarable as in our case.
>> Anyway, we aren't going to buy anymore Picostaions. Maybe this relates to
>> your problem.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: "Nicolas North" <star at nikksno.io>
>> Sent: Sunday, April 3, 2016 11:41am
>> To: commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>> Subject: [Commotion-discuss] CW Firmware on a Ubiquiti Picostation M2HP
>>
>> Hi everybody!
>>
>> I’m looking to start a mesh network here in Milano [Italia] where I live
>> and I need some help :)
>>
>> I have a ubiquiti picosta tion m2hp that I can’t get to work with the cw
>> openwrt firmware.
>>
>> I downloaded the factory image from the website and followed the
>> guide but after I uploaded the new firmware from the airmax web interface
>> and after the pico rebooted it only had the power and network lights on and
>> seemed to create no network at all: it didn’t provide any dhcp so I tried
>> to connect to it manually by setting ip address and netmask on my macbook
>> and trying all kinds of stuff but I had no success.
>>
>> I tried it the tftp way then but it failed with a 512 "firmware check
>> failed" error code. So I tried flashing three different pure openwrt
>> firmwares onto it but it kept failing with the same code.
>>
>> I tried ddwrt out of curiosity and it works perfectly.
>>
>> I was never able to get it back to airmax thought: tftp doesn’t fail but
>> after it reboots it gets stuck in a 20 second bootloop and even after power
>> cycling it it keeps restarting and never becomes reachable. Do you think I
>> could try at least reverting it to airmax from the ddwrt web interface?
>>
>> I have tried compiling openwrt from scratch specifically with the ath9k
>> drivers but after three hours of compilation it still fails via tftp with
>> the same error.
>>
>> I’m using the bullet image as instructed.
>>
>> The pico is brand new so I don’t want to open it and void the warranty.
>>
>> What can I do to fix this?
>>
>> Thank you very much in advance!
>>
>>
>> Nicolas
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Commotion-discuss mailing list
>> Commotion-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/commotion-discuss
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Ben West
> http://gowasabi.net
> ben at gowasabi.net
> 314-246-9434
>
>

-- 
Ben West
http://gowasabi.net
ben at gowasabi.net
314-246-9434
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