Nashua R139.00 "Deal"

@Ghost02: If the router can be reflashed then you should be able to purchase bandwidth from most ISPs. Take a look at the 1GB Telkom All Access account which includes 10GB of local for R79 or prepaid rollover bandwidth from Web Africa or Axxess at R70 per Gig or the 3GB for R125 offer from Cybersmart.

This is not directly related but I also found this wiki on installing Linux on the 7300G which might be of interest. There are some notes about router recovery after a faulty flash.
http://dgym.homeunix.net/mediawiki/index.php?title=Linux_on_the_Billion_BiPAC_7300G
The telnet username/password support:33B659r49A8d does not appear to be recognised with the standard Billion firmware that I am using currently.
 
Yotch said:
This is not directly related but I also found this wiki on installing Linux on the 7300G which might be of interest. There are some notes about router recovery after a faulty flash.
http://dgym.homeunix.net/mediawiki/index.php?title=Linux_on_the_Billion_BiPAC_7300G
The telnet username/password support:33B659r49A8d does not appear to be recognised with the standard Billion firmware that I am using currently.
Click to expand...

@Yotch: Great find with that site. I've been fiddling around with the firmware source recently and this site gives me some insights :) The support username only works when the /etc/passwd file doesn't exist, which isn't the case on the default firmware image. This can be seen from the source.

If you upload the 1234567.img image, my guess is it doesn't contain a /etc/passwd file and therefore the hard-coded support and admin usernames work.

This is quite exciting! :D Just having a proper shell on this router will mean endless possibilities!
 
JohnsonCT said:
This thread might be dead, but I thought I'd mention I managed to flash my Billion 7300G from NashuaMobile with the latest firmware from billion.com.au without any problems. I'm splitting local and international traffic using PPPoE relay too.

Not sure what everyone's carrying on about? If you're really keen, you can download the firmware source and flash your router with custom firmware even.
Click to expand...

Johnson I think you may need to explain in a little more detail how you managed to flash your Nashua Billion 7300G router.

I just went into the interface on my web browser and tried to upgrade to two different firmware versions, PCRange-7300GA-V1.36-698-80.3_sso_billion.afw (which was from the website link you gave) and Nology-7300GA-V1.32-b_sso_billionsa.afw (which was firmware I gto from the Billion website.

Both of these started "upgrading" via the interface and then popped up a message saying "Error : Wrong firmware" or something to that effect, and then went on to restart the router with it's original Nashua firmware. I also tried doing to "emergency reset" before doing a firmware upgrade and it made no difference.

Please be so kind as to explain how you got this to work as no one else seems to be able to....

Thanks
 
@JohnsonCT: Good to hear that you have been able to successfully reflash your router. Let us know if there are any incompatibilities or problems with the Australian firmware and also regarding the extra Linux capabilities.

How long have you had the router? Do you still have a copy of the original locked firmware? Any idea of the locked firmware version number? Maybe it might be possible for those that are struggling to install this locked version first before upgrading to the new firmware if the new firmware still fails to load.
 
Despite all the well documented cons keep in mind that you get 1 GB unshaped access for R139pm which includes the 384kbps ADSL line rental and (ISP locked) WiFi modem.

Telkom ADSL line rental alone >> R152pm.
 
Yotch said:
@JohnsonCT: Let us know if there are any incompatibilities or problems with the Australian firmware and also regarding the extra Linux capabilities.

How long have you had the router? Do you still have a copy of the original locked firmware? Any idea of the locked firmware version number?
Click to expand...

@Yotch, LancelotSA: To be honest, I didn't even realise there were all these problems of ISP locking. When I upgraded my firmware, I just downloaded the latest from the billionsa.com (1.32) and flashed that with no problem. I then discovered the Australian site which seems to have more current firmware, so I downloaded the latest version (1.36) from there and loaded that using the web interface without doing anything special.

I've had the router for about a month. I don't recall what version the original firmware was and I don't have a copy of it. My bootrom version is 1.06 and hardware version is TRENDCHIP TC3162, however this is probably the same for all routers of this model.

I downloaded a different firmware version (1.35) from the Australian site to see if it would make a difference, but everything loaded fine.

Regarding compatibility, the Australian firmware seems 100% compatible. The default VPI / VCI settings are the same and all that I had to do was enter my ISP username/password to get it working. As I mentioned earlier, I can sign on to my @nashuaisp.co.za account as well as an @openweb.co.za local only account and use PPPoE relay.

I've been trying to compile the 1.35 firmware source, but haven't had any luck so far. Cross-compiling is a nightmare. I loaded the precompiled firmware file (1234567.img) that comes with the source and I was able to log in to my router using the support account, which gave a busybox shell. This was great, but for some reason the router froze whenever I connected with a wireless client which is a deal breaker for me. :mad: So I'm going to try my best to compile the firmware source and see if the resulting image works properly. I'll let you know.
 
Does Anyone know someone With ADSL from Nashua??

There service reali sucks
I applied almost 2 moths ago have my router, im still not connected
 
@JohnsonCT: Thanks for the update on the Linux firmware. Let us know if you can get it to work just as reliably as the normal Billion firmware.

Any thoughts on why your router can be reflashed while others not? Can you remember if you changed any of the router settings before you reflashed with Version 1.32 software? Did the router come preconfigured with the Nashua username and password or did you type this in yourself?
 
Yotch said:
@JohnsonCT: Thanks for the update on the Linux firmware. Let us know if you can get it to work just as reliably as the normal Billion firmware.

Any thoughts on why your router can be reflashed while others not? Can you remember if you changed any of the router settings before you reflashed with Version 1.32 software? Did the router come preconfigured with the Nashua username and password or did you type this in yourself?
Click to expand...

@Yotch: I certainly changed some settings like SSID, wireless security settings and password, although I doubt that this would have any effect. My username wasn't entered when I first got it. I had to do that myself.

I know they didn't have stock when I ordered and I was chasing them up to deliver, so perhaps they rushed it and didn't get a chance to flash it with their own variation of the firmware? I actually asked a Billion SA tech if the NashuaMobile routers were ISP locked and he said that they were.

I'm interested to know what sort of errors people get when typing different ISP usernames in or when flashing with different firmwares. I find it really strange that you can't load whatever firmware you want with the emergency recovery mode. I don't think NashuaMobile, or anyone, would be able to change the emergency firmware that gets loaded. I suppose you could flash the chip if you had access to a programmer for it. But that would be a lot of effort. :(

With regards to the custom firmware: I'm working on it. Just a note... this isn't special linux firmware. It is the source of the same firmware that comes standard with the router, i.e. the router runs on linux normally :D. The retarded CLI telnet interface just gives the illusion that it runs something proprietary. Billion actually got caught out running GPL code and not releasing the source: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/903816.html.
 
JohnsonCT said:
I'm interested to know what sort of errors people get when typing different ISP usernames in
Click to expand...
Under PPPoE the Username consists of two fields where the second field has only got two drop-down choices. Both of those point to "@...nashuaisp.co.za"
 
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johnsonct - you got your router on this nashua deal?
 
jjv said:
Under PPPoE the Username consists of two fields where the second field has only got two drop-down choices. Both of those point to "@nashuaisp....."
Click to expand...

What happens when you set your username and password manually using the telnet interface?

Try this:
  1. Telnet to 192.168.1.254 (or your router's IP)
  2. Enter user: admin, pass: (yourpass)
  3. type: wan proto pppoe userpass (username) (password) [note: this command can be abbreviated as: w p p u]
where (username) is [email protected].

For this to work, your telnet access to your router must be enabled (Configuration->Advanced->Device Management). When I do this, I get some rubbish debug output, but it does change the username and password. Let me know if this works. :D
 
JohnsonCT: Great work on unlocking these routers so far (and what luck you had getting an unlocked router)!

I'm working on my Billion BiPAC 7401VGP M-Web locked router.

Could you offer any help on how to dump the firmware from these routers?
 
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psivius said:
JohnsonCT: Could you offer any help on how to dump the firmware from these routers?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by dump? If you mean replace, then my only guess would be to try the emergency recovery procedure, which involves powering on the unit with the reset button pressed and then pointing your browser to 192.168.1.254. Check your manual first as this might be different for the 7401. Note that wireless doesn't work when in recovery mode.

Make sure you've got the correct firmware image available before you do this as your router might be out of action until you upload the new firmware. I have an idea that this might not work as LancelotSA has said. You could try my aforementioned telnet method of changing your ISP username and password and let me know if that works.
 
JohnsonCT: Thanks for the response.

I will definitely try the Telnet method (would be the easiest) and get back to you.

Sorry I was not very clear about my request. Dumping refers to extracting the firmware from the locked router to a file on the hard disk.
 
So any updates from others who have managed to flash the Nashua Billion 7300G router?

I have given up trying until someone comes up with a better suggestion.... thanks
 
If nobody is having any luck with using telnet (from IE type telnet://192.168.1.254 (enter) user/pass admin/admin wan proto pppoe userpass (username) (password)) or SNMP as mentioned previously in this thread then here is some information that I've compiled regarding the feasibility of flashing the Billion 7300G using a JTAG cable.

Here is a reference design for a Trendchip TC3162 based router which shows the pinouts for the JTAG signals or possibly header if this is included on the 7300G PCB.
http://bu1.taicom.com.tw:8080/Server/rd/Web_rd/%B1M%AE%D7%2FTrendchip%2Ftcb3162l-e02-v22b.pdf
Look for the JTAG pinouts on the lower left side of the TC3162 on Sheet 1 (TDI #26, TDO #29, TMS #30, TCK #31), the JTAG enable jumper J400 on Sheet4 and also the header pinouts on Sheet 5 J510 header (#3, #5, #7, #9). You may need to solder in a suitable header if one has not been installed on the 7300G PCB (see the HairyDairyMaid Instructions for details) alternatively you may need to make connections to traces or components that are connected directly to the relevant pins on the LQFP (not directly to the chip!). This picture shows the idea although hopefully one can improve on the soldering.
http://rs381tl3.rapidshare.com/files/91817089/P1010053.JPG

Look at the HairyDairyMaid Instructions for details on how to construct a suitable cable paying careful attention not to exceed the maximum cable length.
http://www.zero13wireless.net/wireless/APs/JTAG_Tools/HairyDairyMaid_WRT54G_PDF.pdf

Unfortunately this JTAG programmer was designed specifically for Broadcom MIPS based processors but it may also work for Trendchip MIPS based processors. If not you may need to modify the source. Unfortunately there does not appear to be much information available on the Trendchip TC3162 but you could also look in the source code for information about the onboard flashing routines of the 7300G at the Australian Billion site. This link might also be useful and also Google.
http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=11038

If you can get the software to function the idea would be first to backup the cfe.bin, nvram.bin, kernel.bin and wholeflash.bin files and then to look for certain names or passwords to see that the backup procedure is working correctly. Take a look at this link for ideas on how to read the contents.
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=896070
You could then start by attempting to rewrite just the username and password in the nvram.bin file.

More information on JTAG cables
http://wiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/Customizing/Hardware/JTAG_Cable

In the case of the locked Billion 7401VGP, this is based on the Globespan/Conexant Argon 432 chipset which does not apparently support JTAG programming. You could look at Post #6 in this link for ideas on how to replace the firmware. Just remember that this recovery process using the serial console cable could possibly brick the router.
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=616770&pid=589175228&st=0&#entry589175228
 
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In my experience NM has been a rip off of note and this only further solidifies my belief!
 
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