Home › Forums › Wireless Routers & Modems … › ASUS › Converting DSL-AC68U to RT-AC68U for use as AiMesh Node – Solved
Tagged: AiMesh DSL to RT
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Patryk Pabo.
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January 8, 2019 at 5:17 pm #1873
I’m sure there were a series of posts on the old forum about hacking a DSL-AC68U to make it into an RT-AC68U. Sadly those posts are lost and not cached on Google searches.
I believe that RT firmware can be loaded using the recovery process. Does the standard Asus RT firmware work on the DSL or is a Merlin version needed.
The aim is to use the DSL as an AiMesh node, hence the conversion to being an RT. I believe that after loading the RT firmware the DSL needs it’s ID changing. Does anyone have the commands needed to change the ID?
Thanks in advance.
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This topic was modified 2 years ago by
Six.
January 8, 2019 at 5:43 pm #1874Enjoy ;) Either ASUSWRT or RMerlin firmware will work.
Note: backup original config as this maybe needed to convert back to DSL-AC68U if needed.
RMerlin (ASUSWRT-Merlin) Firmware and the ASUS DSL-AC68U (PPPoE)
Regarding Product ID: 2 options both of which I have never tried, and if you try, at your risk ;-)
1) Backup config from DSL-AC68U after it has been flashed. then via an hex editor, change router name to RT-AC1900, so new name has same number of character as original name and then load .cfg file to router and see if this does the trick ?
OR
2) Telnet to Flashed DSL-AC68U running RT Firmware (RMerlin is best and change variables as appropriate below)
Code:
nvram set cfg_device_list=”<RT-AC68U>192.168.1.1>38:2C:4A:CA:D1:B8>0″
nvram set dms_friendly_name=”RT-AC68U-D1B8″
nvram set computer_name=”RT-AC68U-D1B8″
nvram set productid=”RT-AC68U”
nvram set lld2d_hostname=”RT-AC68U”
nvram set asus_device_list=”<3>RT-AC68U>192.168.1.1>38:2C:4A:CA
:D1:B8>0>asus>255.255.255.0>1″
nvram set wps_modelnum=”RT-AC68U”
nvram set daapd_friendly_name=”RT-AC68U-D1B8″
nvram set wps_device_name=”RT-AC68U”
nvram set odmpid=”RT-AC68U”Let us know how this goes and good luck?
In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom (J.G.Ballard).
January 8, 2019 at 7:47 pm #1875Trying to post a guide to what I’ve done so far, keep hitting a xxxxx protection issue.
This post edited by UK Sentinel (Admin) to remove security related detail
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This reply was modified 2 years ago by
UK Sentinel. Reason: Security Detailed removed
January 8, 2019 at 7:47 pm #1876Thanks for the above, I found the same list of commands after a huge amount of digging elsewhere.
Need to confirm that router can find the AiMesh Node later on (main router currently in use).
Part One:
Steps taken so far:
Download and unzip latest RT-AC68U firmware from asus.com
Download, unzip and install Recovery Tool from asus.com
Factory resest DSL-AC68U
Put DSL-AC68U into Recovery Mode by holding reset while powering on and waiting for flashing power LED.
Connect to DSL-AC68U with ethernet cable and manually set IP to 192.168.1.10 and gateway to 192.168.1.1.
Run Recovery Tool, browse to find RT firmware and upload.
Wait for 5 – 10 mins.
Reboot when instructed to.
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This reply was modified 2 years ago by
Six.
January 8, 2019 at 7:49 pm #1877Part Two:
Connect to the router which at this point will still identify as DSL-AC68U despite running RT-AC68U firmware.
Goto Administation>System and enable Telnet.
Telnet onto the router.
Enter:
nvram show
Select the output and cut and paste it into a text document as a backup.
January 8, 2019 at 7:49 pm #1878Part Three:
Find the entry for cfg_device_list and copy the MAC Address and replace in both instances of XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX below
Replace XXXX with the last 4 digits of the Mac Address
Enter:
nvram set cfg_device_list=”<RT-AC68U>192.168.1.1>XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX>0″
nvram set dms_friendly_name=”RT-AC68U-XXXX″
nvram set computer_name=”RT-AC68U-XXXX″
nvram set productid=”RT-AC68U”
nvram set lld2d_hostname=”RT-AC68U”
nvram set asus_device_list=”<3>RTAC68U>192.168.1.1>XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX>0>asus>255.255.255.0>1″
nvram set wps_modelnum=”RT-AC68U”
nvram set daapd_friendly_name=”RT-AC68U-XXXX″
nvram set wps_device_name=”RT-AC68U”
nvram set odmpid=”RT-AC68U”nvram commit
Then reboot your router, it should now identify as an RT-AC68U and allow you to select the option to use it as an AiMesh Node.
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This reply was modified 2 years ago by
Six.
January 8, 2019 at 7:50 pm #1879Guess it doesn’t like long posts.
January 8, 2019 at 8:28 pm #1882Guess it doesn’t like long posts.
Yes, xxxxx is a struggle sometimes (but designed to stop spammers inserting very long messages or sql injection type attack’s which I am plagued with at the moment from China and Ukraine), thanks for steps and hopefully all good your end ;-)
In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom (J.G.Ballard).
January 8, 2019 at 9:18 pm #1886OK this is not working at present, trying to find out why the nvram set commands won’t survive the AiMesh enabling reboot.
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This reply was modified 2 years ago by
Six.
January 8, 2019 at 10:10 pm #1888OK this is not working at present, trying to find out why the nvram set commands won’t survive the AiMesh enabling reboot.
Did you change the dms_friendly_name etc. to match you routers MAC Address last two octets ?
Also, try ‘nvram+commit’ – worth a try?
In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom (J.G.Ballard).
January 8, 2019 at 10:56 pm #1891Yes I caught the dms_friendly_name change, just didn’t change it in the posts yet.
nvram+commit?
January 9, 2019 at 8:21 am #1893Yes I caught the dms_friendly_name change, just didn’t change it in the posts yet. nvram+commit?
Try ‘nvram+commit’ at the end rather than ‘nvram commit’ I noticed a few posts yesterday using this alternative?
In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom (J.G.Ballard).
January 9, 2019 at 12:13 pm #1894Finally done it. Need to work through the steps before I can share.
AiMesh set up and running nicely.
January 9, 2019 at 12:16 pm #1895Finally done it. Need to work through the steps before I can share. AiMesh set up and running nicely.
;-)
In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom (J.G.Ballard).
January 10, 2019 at 10:19 pm #1908Note: backup original config as this maybe needed to convert back to DSL-AC68U if needed.
I had a little play with my DSL-AC68U after flashing it with ASUS RT-AC68U Stock Firmware
As above, I followed your steps 1 and 2 and then just entered the following commands via PUTTY (Telnet)
nvram set odmpid=”RT-AC68U”
nvram set asuscpeodmpid=”RT-AC68U”
nvram set asuscpecommit=1
nvram commit
and hey presto, a DSL-AC68U that looks and acts as a True RT-AC68U with AiMesh (Node) option ;-)
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UPDATE: Command should be………….
nvram set odmpid=”RT-AC68U”
nvram set asuscfeodmpid=”RT-AC68U”
nvram set asuscfecommit=1
nvram commit
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This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by
UK Sentinel. Reason: Update Section Added
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