Help!, I’ve just re-flashed my NB5 via the web interface, now it doesn’t work.

First, don’t panic. It’s not the end of the world.

Second, check if the ETH/ACT LED lights and stays on. If it does, this tends to suggest both the NB5’s kernel and filesystem was successfully loaded. If you have configured your NB5 to a different IP, try opening a browser to the factory default address 192.168.1.1 (This may require a change of subnets).

If however your modem appears to be lifeless, it could be an ideal time to make use of the ADAM2 FTP server. The ADAM2 FTP server is part of the bootloader resident in mtd2. It is the first thing loaded when the NB5 starts, and opens a FTP server for 5 seconds before booting the linux kernel (provided the “autoload” environment variable be present (default)).

Reboot your modem and immediately open a ftp connection to 192.168.1.1. (The IP address 192.168.1.1, is the default address for the NB5 and is obtained from the my_ipaddress environment variable. This is independent of the IP address set in the NB5’s web configuration interface.)

C:\>ftp 192.168.1.1
Connected to 192.168.1.1.
220 ADAM2 FTP Server ready.
User (192.168.1.1:(none)): adam2
331 Password required for adam2.
Password:
230 User adam2 successfully logged in.

As there is a small window of time when the ADAM2 FTP server listens after a reboot, you may need to make several attempts before a successful connection is made.

Once successfully logged in using the username and password of adam2, the following standard FTP command are available to reload new firmware and modify environment variables :

USER	PASS	RETR	TYPE	STOR	P@SW	PASV	SYST	PORT	QUIT 	ABOR	GET	PUT	RECV

The ADAM2 FTP server also introduces the following non-standard commands :

REBOOT		Reboots Modem          
UNSETENV	Deletes Environment Variable Entries 
SETENV		Set Environment Variables
GETENV		Gets Environment Variables 
MEDIA		Selects FLSH or SDRAM

Before new firmware can be uploaded, the FTP client must be set to binary mode and the bootloader set to store images in FLASH. Prefix non-standard FTP commands with quote, if your client doesn't understand them.

ftp> bin
200 Type set to I
ftp> quote MEDIA FLSH
200 Media set to FLSH.

Now begin to upload the images. If you intend to load manufacturer's firmware from Netcomm, use the non "upgrade" files. These files do not have the "TI" checksum appended to the end of the file. First we upload the filesystem.

ftp> put nsp.annexA.img "fs mtd0"
200 Port command successful.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for file transfer.
226 Transfer complete.
ftp: 1433600 bytes sent in 10.88Seconds 131.83Kbytes/sec.

then the Linux Kernel,

ftp> put ram_zimage_pad.ar7rd.nsp.squashfs.bin "kernel mtd1"
200 Port command successful.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for file transfer.
226 Transfer complete.
ftp: 524288 bytes sent in 4.25Seconds 123.36Kbytes/sec.

and last, the configuration file.

ftp> put config.xml "cfg mtd3"
200 Port command successful.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for file transfer.
226 Transfer complete.
ftp: 29592 bytes sent in 0.22Seconds 132.46Kbytes/sec.

Once done, issue the REBOOT command to reset the router and load your new firmware.

ftp> quote REBOOT
221-Thank you for using the FTP service on ADAM2.
221 Goodbye.
Connection closed by remote host.

If the 550 environment variable not set. error appears when an attempt is made to upload the firmware, it is possible the environment variables are corrupt or missing. The ADAM2 ftp server includes GETENV, SETENV, and UNSETENV commands to work with the variables. First, check for the existence of mtd0, mtd1, mtd2 & mtd3 variables. They should appear as :

ftp> quote GETENV mtd0
mtd0        0x90090000,0x901f0000
ftp> quote GETENV mtd1
mtd1        0x90010000,0x90090000 
ftp> quote GETENV mtd2
mtd2        0x90000000,0x90010000 
ftp> quote GETENV mtd3
mtd3        0x901f0000,0x90200000

If they are missing or different, you will need to re-initialise them using the following commands :

ftp> quote SETENV mtd0,0x90090000,0x901f0000
200 SETENV command successful
ftp> quote SETENV mtd1,0x90010000,0x90090000
200 SETENV command successful
ftp> quote SETENV mtd2,0x90000000,0x90010000
200 SETENV command successful
ftp> quote SETENV mtd3,0x901f0000,0x90200000
200 SETENV command successful

and attempt to upload the firmware again.

If your new filesystem/kernel doesn’t work and you don’t know why, or you are unable to resuscitate your patient using the ADAM2 FTP server it may be time to pop inside and do some debugging with the ADAM2 Bootloader.