Alcatel HH40V

1. → Obtain firmware
2. → Install OpenWrt
3. → Latest OpenWrt release

It is possible to install OpenWrt from the web interface without opening the device. This requires some manual work, but has proven to work fine.

What you will need:

• HH40V booted and connected via Ethernet to a computer
• Linux on the computer with a recent Python 3 installation (Windows/macOS untested)
• The script from https://gist.github.com/andyboeh/d295c80a57d62379b926640762f3d5dd saved as “enable_sshd.py”

Steps to install OpenWrt:

1. Take a configuration backup of your HH40V and save it as “configure.bin”
2. Run the script: python enable_sshd.py configure.bin
3. Restore the configuration using the newly created file “configure.bin_mod.bin”

This enables access to SSH on the HH40V. The installation now continues via SSH/SCP.

1. Reboot and log in via SSH - User “root”, password “oelinux123”
2. Transfer the OpenWrt -factory.bin image to the router: scp -O -o HostKeyAlgorithms=ssh-rsa -o KexAlgorithms=diffie-hellman-group1-sha1 -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null openwrt-ath79-generic-alcatel_hh40v-squashfs-factory.bin root@192.168.1.1:/tmp
3. Transfer the following script named “upgrade.sh” to the router: scp -O -o HostKeyAlgorithms=ssh-rsa -o KexAlgorithms=diffie-hellman-group1-sha1 -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null upgrade.sh root@192.168.1.1:/tmp
4. On the router, make the file executable: chmod +x /tmp/upgrade.sh
5. Run the script with the new firmware to install as parameter: /tmp/upgrade.sh /tmp/openwrt-ath79-generic-alcatel_hh40v-squashfs-factory.bin
6. Wait for the router to upgrade and to boot into OpenWrt

Contents of /tmp/upgrade.sh

#!/bin/sh
 
IMAGE_NAME="$1"         
 
if [ ! -e ${IMAGE_NAME} ]; then
  echo "Image file not found: ${IMAGE_NAME}"
  exit 1                
fi                      
 
. /lib/upgrade/common.sh
 
fw_setenv bootcmd "bootm 0x9f150000"
 
kill_remaining TERM              
sleep 3                          
kill_remaining KILL              
 
run_ramfs mtd write ${IMAGE_NAME} firmware
sleep 2
reboot -f

carry out the following points after you have installed openwrt

1. find the interface name for the RNDIS-dongle

• connect device via ssh
• run command:

   dmesg | grep RNDIS

  • output is something like :

    • [   13.125657] rndis_host 1-1:1.0 usb0: register 'rndis_host' at usb-1b000000.usb-1, RNDIS device, 1a:1a:1a:1a:1a:1c

  • for more details take a look at Use RNDIS USB Dongle for WAN connection

2. go to OpenWrt-Web-Gui

https://192.168.1.1/cgi-bin/luci/admin/network/network

2.1. setup interface: wan

• Protocol: DHCP client

• Device: usb0

2.2 Save and Apply

To restore stock, you need a system image. Unfortunately, you can't backup without disassembling and soldering serial headers. However, a firmware upgrade can be downloaded from https://alcatelfirmware.com/alcatel-onetouch-hh40v. Look for the file Firmware/DownloadImage/uprade_hh40v_all.tar.gz. Inside, you will find the file “sysupgrade/firmware-system.bin”. This firmware-system.bin can be installed via TFTP recovery. The TFTP recovery also resets any U-Boot variables so it will boot normally.

1. Power off the device
2. Put firwmare-system.bin to your TFTP server
3. Configure a static IP of 192.168.1.112
4. Hold the buttons “Power” and “WPS” and plug back the power
5. Keep holding for about 10 seconds, until U-Boot has booted
6. Once transfer is completed, the system starts flashing, this takes some time
7. Ultimately, you are back to stock

→ port.serial general information about the serial port, serial port cable, etc.

How to connect to the Serial Port of this specific device:
Insert photo of PCB with markings for serial port

Until the media namespace is created, the following website contains more precise description: https://www.aboehler.at/doku/doku.php/projects:hh40v

Linux/OpenWrt on the Alcatel HH40V

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