Julien LutranandClaude Fable 5
ae82d9f682
Seafile's block store wedged the fs walker for 12h in an lstat preemption/EINTR livelock on the live pool; coverage moves to the incus leg reading the sdb replica. Restore test + cron are the remaining steps of the data leg. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
194 lines
7.7 KiB
Markdown
194 lines
7.7 KiB
Markdown
# Archer C7: upgrade OpenWrt 19.07.4 → 25.12.5
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> **Outcome (2026-08-20):** upgrade done (flashed clean per this doc).
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> The USB-tether flapping survived the new kernel → root cause is the
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> C7's USB port lacking charging current (phone dropped off the bus
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> whenever it drew charge). **WAN is now the phone's Wi-Fi hotspot**:
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> 2.4 GHz `radio1` in STA mode → interface `wwan` (`phy1-sta0`, in the
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> wan zone), phone on a mains charger. `usbwan` stays configured for a
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> future powered-USB-hub wired option. Post-flash gotcha: fw4 compiled
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> NAT for `eth0.2` only while `usbwan` was down at reload time — LAN
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> had no internet until `service firewall restart` with the WAN
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> interface up.
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Home router **TP-Link Archer C7 v5** (`tplink,archer-c7-v5`, target
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`ath79/generic`, 16 MB flash / 128 MB RAM) at `192.168.0.2`, running
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OpenWrt 19.07.4 (2020, kernel 4.14, EOL since 2022). Target release:
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**OpenWrt 25.12.5** (kernel 6.12.94, firewall4/nftables, `apk` package
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manager instead of `opkg`).
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Context (2026-08-19): after a reboot the router came up with **dnsmasq,
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firewall and odhcpd disabled** (missing `/etc/rc.d/` symlinks — no DHCP,
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no NAT). All three were restarted and re-enabled, but the incident plus
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the EOL release motivated this upgrade. A fresh flash also rules out
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any other overlay damage.
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Current setup worth knowing:
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- **WAN = OPPO phone (SM8350) USB-tethered** on `usb0` via RNDIS
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(`kmod-usb-net-rndis`), interface `usbwan`, DHCP from the phone
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(10.205.61.0/24). The ethernet WAN port is unused — the ISP box at
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`.1` is dead, which is also why the router LAN IP is `.2`.
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- SSH: `ssh -i id_rsa_claude root@192.168.0.2` (key at perso repo root;
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19.07's dropbear needs
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`-o HostKeyAlgorithms=+ssh-rsa -o PubkeyAcceptedAlgorithms=+ssh-rsa`
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from a modern OpenSSH; 25.12 won't)
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- DNS: dnsmasq forwards everything to **blocky** at `192.168.0.254`
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(`noresolv` + `server=192.168.0.254`), and DHCP option 6 hands blocky
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directly to clients
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- Wi-Fi: 5 GHz only (`radio0`, ch 36, VHT80, SSID `HOME`, WPA2-PSK);
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2.4 GHz radio disabled
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- 7 static DHCP leases (see script below)
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- Only user-installed packages on 19.07: `kmod-usb-net-rndis` + deps
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## Prerequisites (done 2026-08-19)
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- [x] Config backup: `sysupgrade -b` → `~/code/perso/backup-archer-c7-20260819.tar.gz`
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(laptop; contains Wi-Fi PSK and dropbear host keys — never commit)
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- [x] Firmware `openwrt-25.12.5-ath79-generic-tplink_archer-c7-v5-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin`
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downloaded, **sha256 verified** (`f15b16b3…`) against the release
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`sha256sums`, staged in `~/code/perso/archer-c7-upgrade/` and on
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the router at `/tmp/` (`/tmp` is RAM — gone after any reboot,
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re-`scp` if needed)
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- [x] **Offline driver packages** staged in `~/code/perso/archer-c7-upgrade/`:
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`kmod-mii`, `kmod-usb-net`, `kmod-usb-net-cdc-ether`,
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`kmod-usb-net-rndis` (all `6.12.94-r1.apk`). Critical: the phone
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tether is the only WAN and the RNDIS driver is **not** in the
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default image, so after flashing the router has no internet to
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install it from — it must be `scp`'d in.
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## Upgrade
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**Do not keep settings across this jump** (19.07 → 25.12 spans the
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fw3→fw4 and network-syntax migrations). Flash clean with `-n` and
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reconfigure with the script below.
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You need the **laptop on ethernet** to a LAN port: the fresh image
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boots at `192.168.1.1` with Wi-Fi disabled.
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```sh
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# on the router — image already in /tmp, verify then flash
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sha256sum /tmp/openwrt-25.12.5-ath79-generic-tplink_archer-c7-v5-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin
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# expect f15b16b36df7fce8a5cf1302320fdb428c3bb6fbc2949a4858afa257f4f364a2
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sysupgrade -n -v /tmp/openwrt-25.12.5-ath79-generic-tplink_archer-c7-v5-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin
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```
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The router reboots (~3 min, don't power-cycle). Then from the laptop
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(ethernet, DHCP gives a 192.168.1.x address):
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```sh
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# passwordless root at first boot — set a password and install the key
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ssh root@192.168.1.1 # no password
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passwd
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mkdir -p /etc/dropbear && exit
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scp ~/code/perso/id_rsa_claude.pub root@192.168.1.1:/etc/dropbear/authorized_keys
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# push the offline RNDIS drivers
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scp ~/code/perso/archer-c7-upgrade/kmod-*.apk root@192.168.1.1:/tmp/
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```
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## Reconfigure
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Run on the router. Single source of truth for the whole config;
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`<wifi-psk>` is in the backup tarball (`etc/config/wireless`).
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```sh
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#!/bin/sh
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set -eux
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# RNDIS drivers (offline — phone tether is the only WAN)
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apk add --allow-untrusted /tmp/kmod-mii-*.apk /tmp/kmod-usb-net-6*.apk \
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/tmp/kmod-usb-net-cdc-ether-*.apk /tmp/kmod-usb-net-rndis-*.apk
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# --- network: keep the generated switch/bridge config, change only what we need
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uci set network.lan.ipaddr='192.168.0.2'
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uci set network.usbwan=interface
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uci set network.usbwan.proto='dhcp'
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uci set network.usbwan.device='usb0'
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uci commit network
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# --- firewall: usbwan joins the wan zone (zone[1] = 'wan' in the default config)
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uci add_list firewall.@zone[1].network='usbwan'
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uci commit firewall
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# --- dhcp/dns: forward to blocky, hand blocky to clients, static leases
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uci set dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].noresolv='1'
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uci add_list dhcp.@dnsmasq[0].server='192.168.0.254'
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uci add_list dhcp.lan.dhcp_option='6,192.168.0.254'
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add_host() {
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uci add dhcp host >/dev/null
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uci set dhcp.@host[-1].mac="$1"
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uci set dhcp.@host[-1].ip="$2"
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uci set dhcp.@host[-1].name="$3"
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uci set dhcp.@host[-1].dns='1'
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}
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add_host 'F4:5C:89:BE:C1:C3' '192.168.0.20' 'LAPTOP719974'
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add_host '10:66:6A:87:A1:49' '192.168.0.254' 'blocky'
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add_host '10:66:6A:C8:E1:0A' '192.168.0.5' 'jellyfin-server'
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add_host '10:66:6A:FF:59:1C' '192.168.0.6' 'jellyfin-client'
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add_host '10:66:6A:85:20:B7' '192.168.0.11' 'privoxy'
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add_host '10:66:6A:55:9F:10' '192.168.0.7' 'transmission-bt'
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add_host '50:9A:4C:20:D9:2B' '192.168.0.21' 'patate'
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uci commit dhcp
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# --- wifi: 5 GHz AP as before, upgraded to WPA2/WPA3 mixed; 2.4 GHz stays off
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uci set wireless.radio0.channel='36'
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uci set wireless.radio0.htmode='VHT80'
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uci set wireless.radio0.disabled='0'
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uci set wireless.default_radio0.ssid='HOME'
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uci set wireless.default_radio0.encryption='sae-mixed'
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uci set wireless.default_radio0.key='<wifi-psk>'
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uci set wireless.default_radio0.network='lan'
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uci commit wireless
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reload_config
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/etc/init.d/network restart
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```
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The LAN IP change kicks you off; reconnect at `192.168.0.2` (plug the
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phone back in for WAN).
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## Verify
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```sh
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ssh root@192.168.0.2
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ifstatus usbwan | grep -E 'up|address' # up:true, 10.205.61.x
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ping -c2 8.8.8.8 && ping -c2 openwrt.org # WAN + DNS via blocky
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nft list chain inet fw4 srcnat_wan # masquerade on usbwan
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ls /etc/rc.d/ | grep -E 'dnsmasq|firewall|odhcpd' # all enabled
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```
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Then from a LAN client: renew DHCP (expect 192.168.0.100–249, DNS
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`.254`), check internet, check the static leases land on their IPs.
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## Known issue: 5 GHz `ath10k-ct`
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The C7 v2/v5 has a long-standing 5 GHz issue with the default
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`ath10k-ct` driver: `SWBA overrun on vdev 0` log spam plus client
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drops under some loads. **Only if it shows up**, swap to the non-ct
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driver (needs working WAN, or pre-download the same way as the RNDIS
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apks):
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```sh
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apk del kmod-ath10k-ct ath10k-firmware-qca988x-ct
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apk add kmod-ath10k ath10k-firmware-qca988x
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reboot
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```
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## Recovery
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If the flash bricks: C7 v5 has TFTP recovery — hold **Reset** while
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powering on, router pulls `ArcherC7v5_tp_recovery.bin` (the OpenWrt
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**factory** image renamed to that) from a TFTP server at
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`192.168.0.66`. Factory image is in the same release directory as the
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sysupgrade one.
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## Post-upgrade cleanup
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- Delete `/tmp` copies (automatic on reboot)
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- Keep `~/code/perso/backup-archer-c7-20260819.tar.gz` until the new
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setup has survived a reboot + a few days
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- `~/code/perso/archer-c7-upgrade/` can go once the RNDIS drivers are
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installed and Wi-Fi is confirmed stable (or keep the apks in case of
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a re-flash)
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