Modem Firmware
From BE Usergroup Technotes
Contents |
BEBox Modem Firmware:
Cases when Firmware upgrade is required:
- 1. If the modem is with Orange PWR light then this indicates that the firmware is not functioning properly and the modem is waiting for fresh firmware to be uploaded in order to start working properly.
- 2. If the modem is with another Firmware not approved by BE
- 3. If the modem is not working properly and you have been advised to Upgrade it by the usergroup or the BE support team.
- 4. Or you feel like it :D.
Prerequisites
- BEBox
- Ethernet LAN Connection to BeBox
- The latest BE firmware file and updater program (flasher)
- We recommend that you save your config file as a reference here but it is not advised to restore older configs onto newer firmware.
Updater Program
Modem Firmware Update Tool: http://www.beusergroup.co.uk/downloads/TGUPGv7201.zip (used to be called TG_UPGRADE.ZIP, in the video / screenshots below)
Firmware Files
587v2
Latest firmware for the 587v2: (Be_TG587nv2_R842R_AJ_08092010_1001.zip (sign in to BE as this is a protected download) / "Be TG587nv2 R842R AJ.bin" )
Identifies as "Software Release: 8.4.2.R"
585v7
Latest firmware for the TG-585v7: (be_tg585v7_8277_jz_v2v_18112010_0933.zip) (sign in to BE as this is a protected download) / "Be TG585v7 8277 JZ V2V 18112010 0933.bin" ) Identifies as "Software Release: 8.2.7.7"
NOTE: PPTP vpn fix will not work if you restore a configuration that was backed up from 8.2.23.0
585v6
Latest firmware fre for the TG-585v6 can be found on this page
780
Latest firmware fre for the 780WL can be found on this page
716
Latest firmware fre for the 716 can be found on this page
Note:
ALL PREVIOUS FIRMWARE SETTINGS WILL BE LOST! The new Beta firmware has a major security update in that the login details have changed to USER=>"Administrator" and PASSWORD=>the S/N found on the bottom of the router.
On the rare occasions that the firmware upgrade the wizard fails to detect the BeBox after a factory reset, you may need to force upgrade mode.
Problems
Q: My firmware update gets to 18-20%ish and then fails? Why?
A: Three things can cause this. First you can only update over LAN cable, you cannot update the BEBox over wireless. Second firewall software such as Windows Firewall or McAfee etc.. can block the upgrade tool so it fails. Third trying to flash the wrong firmware onto the wrong device can also cause this, i.e. Trying to flash the 585v7 firmware onto a 780WL BEBox etc.
Q: Feature X is BROKEN!!! Why? (For example, I can no longer VPN).
A: The two usergroup hosted 585v7 firmwares are generally more reliable than the older 7.x firmware. Bugs / problems should be noted over at the BE forum.
Q: I don't seem to be able to get an IP from the router and cannot find the router using the firmware upgrade tool.
A: Try forcing an IP address on your network adapter and trying the firmware update again.
Windows
Windows 7: Compatibility mode required!
Either use the instructions below or follow this video.
This step isn't a requirement but if you have issues upgrading the firmware try setting a Local Static IP on your computer.
Step 1 - Downloading the Firmware
To download the "Release" firmware from our website please login to the member center with your Member ID and Password which will open your personal Member area, then look for “Support” link then look for “BeBox” and download the firmware for your modem. We currently have 3 models-- SpeedTouch 716, 780 and 585, also download the templates if you use anything other than a 585v7 or 587nv2.
Step 2 - Upgrading the firmware
Extract the files from TG_UPGRADE.ZIP into a folder. Also make sure that the firmware file is downloaded, extracted and ready to be used. [in the screenshot the person has two different firmware files].
Double click on the setup file that you have extracted.
Click on Upgrade your Thomson Gateway.
Click Next.
The firmware tool will search for your BeBox.. If you have multiple routers on your network it may show two (as per the screenshot) or more results. Click on the correct one and press next.
It may ask you for the username and password. Unless you have changed it the username will be Administrator and the password will either be nothing (leave the box blank) or the serial number on the bottom of your BeBox - For example CP0850SFZRE. Then click OK.
Click Have Disk and navigate to the file of the firmware you want to install on the BeBox.
Click Next.
The firmware upgrade will start. This WILL take a few minutes so please wait for it to get to 100% before power cycling or unplugging anything or the BeBox.
You are done! (The "Go to the configuration interface" option does not work, leave it unticked).
Mac
Follow "Step 1 - Downloading the Firmware" for windows.
There is a Mac version of the Thompson firmware updater for the BeBox located here http://beusergroup.co.uk/downloads/mac_updater_090909.zip
Then follow the windows instructions for the GUI changing path names to suit.
If that doesn't work the Linux instructions below will point you in the right direction for doing a bootp / tFTP upload of the firmware.
Linux
Follow "Step 1 - Downloading the Firmware" for windows. Backup the BeBox configuration.
You will need the tcpd package, this includes these tools:
tftpd
bootpd
On Ubuntu Linux (and probably other Debian based systems) you need packages bootp and tftpd:
sudo apt-get install bootp tftpd
I also used tcpdump to check that the firmware is uploaded. This is a long winded version with lots of output so you can see if (and where) any errors occur.
- 1. Open two terminals.
- 2. We need a static local IP address 192.168.1.10 will do
- this can be set via the command below or use your systems network manager.
ifconfig ethX 192.168.1.10
Turn off any autoconfiguration using DHCP to avoid the IP address being released as you reboot the BeBox.
- 3. In the first run this command:
sudo tcpdump
- if you have more than one NIC you will have to use the "-i ethX" flag.
- 4. Connect the bebox via ethernet cable, without the DSL cable connected.
- you will probably see ARP traffic in the first terminal as the BeBox and the PC talk.
- 5. In the second window we will need to setup the DB file for bootp.
- edit this file "/etc/bootptab" file
sudo nano /etc/bootptab
- The file need to contain the line
bebox:ha=001122334455:ip=192.168.1.254:sm=255.255.255.0:bf=/tmp/be_llu_tg585v7_r82y1_v2v_fw.bin
- where 001122334455 = the MAC code from the bottom of the BeBox (in this case it would be "00:11:22:33:44:55" on the bottom of the BeBox
- and /tmp/be_llu_tg585v7_r82y1_v2v_fw.bin is the full path to the firmware (limit of 1024 chars)
On Ubuntu Linux the default configuration expects the firmware files to be in /srv/tftp/ directory. Use of other directories will result in an "Access violation" error enforced by the in.tftpd program.
- 6. In the second window run the command:
bootpd -d4 &
- this will start the bootp server in debug mode so we can see the BeBox request the firmware
- 7. in the same terminal run the command (*see not for Debian):
sudo /usr/sbin/in.tftpd
- This starts the tFTPd server in the forground (on openSUSE I could not get the transfer to start using tftpd via xinetd)
- 8. Press the factory reset button on the back of the BeBox while powering the BeBox off then back on.
- Keep holding the reset button in until the Power LED turns from Red to Orange - Terminal two should show something like this:
bootpd: info(6): recvd pkt from IP addr 0.0.0.0 bootpd: info(6): bootptab mtime: Sun Aug 30 20:52:06 2009 bootpd: info(6): request from Ethernet address 00:1F:9F:45:F7:44 bootpd: info(6): found 192.168.1.254 (bebox) bootpd: info(6): requested path="" file="CANT-P" bootpd: info(6): bootfile="/tmp/be_llu_tg585v7_r82y1_v2v_fw.bin" bootpd: info(6): vendor magic field is 99.130.83.99 bootpd: info(6): sending reply (with RFC1048 options) bootpd: info(6): setarp 192.168.1.254 - 00:1F:9F:45:F7:44
- Terminal one something like:
02:48:53.907841 IP 0.0.0.0.bootpc > 255.255.255.255.bootps: BOOTP/DHCP, Request from 00:1f:9f:45:f7:44 (oui Unknown), length 300 ... 03:00:40.549510 IP che.57056 > 192.168.1.254.spytechphone: UDP, length 5473 03:00:40.549560 IP che > 192.168.1.254: udp 03:00:40.549642 IP che > 192.168.1.254: udp 03:00:40.549768 IP che > 192.168.1.254: udp 03:00:40.638948 IP 192.168.1.254.spytechphone > che.57056: UDP, length 4 ...
- The BeBox will reboot on its own after about 1 min Do Not Turn It OFF While It Is Updating The Firmware Wait for all the lights to turn green again.
- 8. Clean up
- In the first terminal press [ctrl]+c to kill tcpdump - In the second type "killall in.tftpd" and killall bootp" to kill the two server that we were running
Notes
The linux firewall will probably have to be off or the interface set as local/internal
If the first terminal has output similar to this:
14:22:21.507005 IP 192.168.1.254.spytechphone > che.tftp: 58 RRQ "/tmp/be_llu_tg585v7_r82y1_v2v_fw.bin" octet blksize 14:22:22.506995 IP 192.168.1.254.spytechphone > che.tftp: 58 RRQ "/tmp/be_llu_tg585v7_r82y1_v2v_fw.bin" octet blksize ...
Then the firmware is not being sent to the BeBox. Things to look into are the firewall config, if the firmware reply is on the same NIC, that tftpd is running.
Debian: it looks like in.tftpd has to be run via inetd. This applies to *ubuntu as well, which starts in.tftpd automatically from /etc/inetd.conf, and also specifies /srv/tftp as the firmware directory.
This method does not keep your config. If you have made changes then you will need to back them up and try to restore them via the BeBox's web GUI at http://192.168.1.254/cgi/b/bandr/?be=0&l0=1&l1=1&tid=BACKUP_RESTORE
Misc
Converting firmware file names to the firmware numbers reported by the routers is done as follows
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
For example "Be TG585v7 R82N0 V2V.bin" would show as "Software Release: 8.2.23.0" when installed on the router.
