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[antoniotrkdz]

Hi All!

I just signed to this forum.
I got a TD-W8980 and I would like to crossflash it with the TD-W9980 firmware as I just upgraded my home to fibre (talktalk).
I am a bit confused so could any of you good guys be so kind to post a step by step guide on how to do it?
It doesn't need to be a super detailed guide, just a list of the logical steps to take, I think it would be beneficial for others (noobs) like me also.
I am using Debian GNU/Linux.
Thanks!


**/  NOTE by Admin / **
hatrix2006 has kindly made a video using information from this thread and uploaded it to YouTube - Crossflash TP-Link TD-W8980 to TD-W9980

[vs1]

I just finished crossflashing W8980 to W9980.

Look at picture [1] of the top part of the case and without causing damage use a plastic opening tool to free the back clip and the rest of the case should loosen.

Look at OpenWRT W8970 wiki page [2] for J7 serial header info. The square pad is 3.3V then it's GND, RX, TX. It also tells about press t to break into U-Boot and the serial username/password is admin/1234.

My W8980 factory oem firmware is 0.6.0 1.5 v000e.0 Build 140408 Rel.49241n. I created a backup of the flash (8MB) using U-Boot and putty logging:

sf read $(loadaddr) 0 0x800000
md.b $(loadaddr) 0x800000

I used the crc32 command to checksum the image in ram:

crc32 $(loadaddr) 0x800000

I cut the hex dump from the putty log and converted it to a binary image using xxf -r and used the tftp command to load the binary image into memory and verified it's checksum.

I used TP-Link's web interface Firmware Upgrade to update the router to the W8980 140627 firmware [3] so you should probably do that too. I did it so I could compare the contents with the flashed image to find out what to cut to flash the W9980 firmware using U-Boot. Also I just noticed the website and zip file say 140627 but the firmware in the zip is 140701, not that it matters though.

Download the W9980 140613 firmware [4] and use a Hex Editor to cut the first 0x20200 bytes and you should end up with a file size of 0x7a0000 bytes (TP-Link header is 0x200 and U-Boot etc is 0x20000). Setup a TFTP server on your PC. To load the cut image into memory and flash it via U-Boot:

tftp cut_image.bin
sf erase 0x20000 0x7a0000
sf write $(loadaddr) 0x20000 0x7a0000

Make sure you don't make a mistake to erase below 0x20000 (ie. don't do 3 zeros instead of 4) otherwise you could brick your router.

When the flashing is complete you should reboot the router and login to the web interface. It'll say there is an internal error but you can fix that by doing a factory reset (System Tools -> Factory Defaults).

We haven't updated to the W9980 U-Boot yet but you can do so by downloading the latest W9980 firmware update (140819) from TP-Link's Download page [5] but I haven't gotten that far yet.

[1] http://static.techarena.it/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/TP-Link-TD-W8980-Foto-16.jpg
[2] http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/td-w8970
[3] http://uk.tp-link.com/resources/software/TD-W8980_V1_140627_UK.zip
[4] http://uk.tp-link.com/resources/software/TD-W9980_V1_140613.zip
[5] http://uk.tp-link.com/support/download/?model=TD-W9980&version=V1#tbl_j

[antoniotrkdz]

Thanks a lot for the time you spent putting together this guide!

[kitz]

Hi vs1 & welcome.

Thanks for putting together and sharing your guide on how to crossflash the TD-W8980 to the TD-W9980.  Ive split this thread as it deserves its own topic

[vs1]

Thanks.

I used the web interface to upgrade to W9980 140819. I have it connected to a faulty broadband line and the connection speed is slightly different compared to 140613. It's also reporting the upstream line attenuation for the first time:

    Upstream   Downstream
Current Rate (Kbps)   9999   18000
Max Rate (Kbps)   22894   79709
SNR Margin (dB)   12.7   22.8
Line Attenuation (dB)   18.3   17.5

[kitz]

also reporting the upstream line attenuation for the first time

Upstream attenuation is one of the items that they fixed at my request.  One of the other bug that should also have been fixed in that same version is the downstream Max rate now updates correctly.

connection speed is slightly different compared to 140613

I believe they did some tweaking to the bit loading and bit-swap.  Bit swap should now be more efficient and the SNRm slightly more stable. 

[vs1]

Good job. The upstream line attenuation was a very nice surprise.

[Fuli]

Hello,
I just want to say that crossflash instructions are very clear and so my TD-W8980 is now a TD-W9980 with the latest firmware 140819.
But I'm disappointed to see that the router is not supporting the IPoA in VDSL mode.
Since my french ISP is using IPoA do you know if it is possible to patch manually a configuration file to enable this support ?
An example of manual patch is given  here (in french): http://zwindler.wordpress.com/2013/11/17/configurer-le-thomson-789vn-en-vdsl2-sur-ligne-free-degroupee/

[kitz]

Hi Fuli and welcome


Im afraid I cant speak for a TD-W8980 thats been cross-flashed.... as mine are OEM TD-W9980 which supposedly support IPoA

PPP over ATM (RFC 2364)
PPP over Ethernet (RFC2516)
IPoA (RFC1577/2225)
PVC - Up to 8 PVCs

Perhaps one of the guys who have cross-flashed will be able to give more info.

[Fuli]

Hi kitz

(thanks for the move of the post)
Even after the crossflash modem supports IPoA. The issue is that it is supported only for ADSL2+ link but not for VDSL.
That is quite stupid since VDSL is only a kind of line bandwidth optimization and have nothing (except maybe some small change) with ATM stack. So that IPoA stack should work the same on VDSL.
Sorry my fault. VDSL supports PTM instead of old ATM. I suppose I should ask my ISP if PTM is well used for VDSL and what is the correct VLAN ID.

If I found nothing to solve that in the near future, I think I will test openWRT for W8970.
(my current status now: trunk doesn't compile on my system, and it seams that 5GHz Wifi is not working yet)

[kitz]

Im afraid I dont know.   

I do know that the firmware that has recently been released is aimed for TD-W9980 which has only just come on to the market in the UK.
Since we dont have IPoA vdsl in the UK it may be that its been omitted.   Whether there is a way you can create some sort of new interface yourself I dont know sorry. 

[atunguyd]

Hi, I see that TP-Link have added firmware 140925 on their website for the 9980 - anyone flashed this into their 8890 and verified if it still works?

There is no change log for the update. For some reason I cannot register on the official TP Link forum can maybe someone here who is registered ask what the changes are?

[kitz]

I havent, and I'd rather not put the TP-link on atm because Ive recently had some line instability issues, so its not the best time for me to be testing anything atm.

I have written to my contact at TP-link to see if he has any details. 
The last I heard was on the 21st of Sept when they said they were looking at providing more detailed  line stats, adding UK ISPs to the vdsl quick setup and improving the media server - their quote "I believe next version will be much better."

[atunguyd]

Thanks - I am not sure if I should try this new frimware - I secretly fear they might add something that prevents the 8980 HW from running the 9980 FW

[zhadoom]

Thanks - I am not sure if I should try this new frimware - I secretly fear they might add something that prevents the 8980 HW from running the 9980 FW

The 8980 and 9980 hardware is exactly the same. The only way of blocking this crossflash is disabling the cfe/u-boot capability of flash the spi memory.

Edit. Just tested the new firmware with my 8980@9980. It works fine.