SonicWALL SonicPoint ACi (APL27-0B1)

multiple revisions of this device, use caution

abgn+ac (AC1750)
SonicPoint ACi wireless access point
Homepage	Product page
Wikipedia	SonicWALL
3rd Party Firmware
dd-wrt	Status Unknown
OpenWrt	Supported
Tomato any flavor	Incompatible
Gargoyle	Status Unknown
Platform
Brand • Model • Rev	SonicWALL SonicPoint ACi
Model Part Number	APL27-0B1
FCC ID	none specified
Type	access point
CPU1 Y	Qualcomm Atheros QCA9550
CPU1 Type	MIPS 74Kc
CPU1 Speed	720 MHz
Flash1 Chip	Brand? Model?
Flash1 Size	32 MiB 33,554,432 B <br />262,144 Kib <br />32,768 KiB <br />256 Mib <br />0.0313 GiB <br /> (SPI NOR)
RAM1 Size	256 MiB 268,435,456 B <br />2,097,152 Kib <br />262,144 KiB <br />2,048 Mib <br />0.25 GiB <br /> (DDR2)
RAM1 Chip	Brand? Model?
ETH chip1	Qualcomm Atheros QCA9550
Switch	Qualcomm Atheros QCA9550
Ethernet Port Count	2-1GbE-LAN
Wired Standard	IEEE 802.3i/3u/3ab
802dot11 OUI: none specified
Stock bootloader	U-Boot
Expansion IF types	Mini PCI, USB 2.0
Mini PCI slots	1
USB ports	1
USB Hub Compatible	Untested
PoE	802.3at, standard
Serial Port (UART)	yes, (115200 8N1)
Other
3rd Party Firmware Support	OpenWrt • (List | Dev | DLs)
Retail
Availability	End of Life
Radio 1
Chip1	Qualcomm Atheros QCA9550
Wireless interface OUI	none specified
Antenna Connector Type	none specified
MIMO status	3x3:3
Wireless Standard	IEEE 802.11b/g/n
802.11n	up to 450 Mbps
802.11g	up to 54 Mbps
802.11b	up to 11 Mbps
WiFi Operating Frequency	2.4 GHz
Radio 2
Radio2 module	unknown
Radio2 module IF	Mini PCI
Chip1	Qualcomm Atheros QCA9890
Wireless interface OUI	none specified
Antenna Connector Type	none specified
MIMO status	3x3:3
Wireless Standard	IEEE 802.11a/n/ac
802.11ac	up to 1300 Mbps
802.11n	up to 450 Mbps
802.11a	up to 54 Mbps
WiFi Operating Frequency	5 GHz
CPU1 brand Radio1 chip1 brand Radio2 chip1 brand SonicWALL SonicPoint ACe (APL26-0AE) Qualcomm Atheros Qualcomm Atheros Qualcomm Atheros SonicWALL SonicPoint ACi (APL27-0B1) Qualcomm Atheros Qualcomm Atheros Qualcomm Atheros SonicWALL SonicPoint-N DR (APL23-081) Cavium Atheros Atheros

For a list of all currently documented Qualcomm Atheros (QCA) chipsets with specifications, see Qualcomm Atheros.

For a list of all currently documented SonicWALL devices with specifications, see SonicWALL.

• 450 Mbps - 3SS 2.4GHz 802.11n (40MHz chan.),

• 1300 Mbps - 3SS 5GHz 802.11ac (80MHz chan.) = AC1750 class

Overview

See also: Dell SonicPoint ACi (APL27-0B1)

Flashing OpenWrt

On the OpenWrt ToH (techdata entry)

Target: ath79
Subtarget: generic
Package architecture: mips_24kc
Supported Since Commit
Support started version: 25.12.0
Current supported version: 25.12.1

LAN Hardware: Qualcomm Atheros QCA8334
LAN Comment: PoE on lan1
WLAN Hardware: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9550, Qualcomm Atheros QCA9890
WLAN Comment: 2.4Ghz 3x3 MIMO, 5Ghz 3x3 MIMO
Installation method(s):
see git-commit
Recovery method(s):
see git-commit

git • >>

ath79: add support for Dell SonicPoint ACi APL27-0B1 Dell/SonicWall APL27-0B1 (marketed as SonicPoint ACi) is a dual band wireless access point. Very similar to already supported APL26-0AE, which all antennas are external, while this variant has internal antennas. End of life as of 2022-07-31. Specification SoC: QualcommAtheros QCA9550 RAM: 256 MB DDR2 Flash: 32 MB SPI NOR WIFI: 2.4 GHz 3T3R integrated 5 GHz 3T3R QCA9890 oversized Mini PCIe card Ethernet: 2x 10/100/1000 Mbps QCA8334 port labeled lan1 is PoE capable (802.3at) USB: 1x 2.0 LEDs: LEDs: 6x which 5 are GPIO controlled and two of them are dual color Buttons: 1x GPIO controlled Serial: RJ-45 port, SonicWall pinout baud: 115200, parity: none, flow control: none Before flashing, be sure to have a copy of factory firmware, in case You wish to revert to original firmware. Installation 1. Prepare TFTP server with OpenWrt sysupgrade image and rename that image to "ap135.bin". 2. Connect to one of LAN ports. 3. Connect to serial port. 4. Hold the reset button (small through hole on side of the unit), power on the device and when prompted to stop autoboot, hit any key. The held button can now be released. 5. Alter U-Boot environment with following commands: setenv bootcmd bootm 0x9F110000 saveenv 6. Adjust "ipaddr" (access point, default is 192.168.1.1) and "serverip" (TFTP server, default is 192.168.1.10) addresses in U-Boot environment, then run following commands: tftp 0x80060000 ap135.bin erase 0x9F110000 +0x1EF0000 cp.b 0x80060000 0x9F110000 $filesize 7. After successful flashing, execute: boot 8. The access point will boot to OpenWrt. Wait few minutes, until the wrench LED will stop blinking, then it's ready for configuration. Notes By default no power is provided on USB port, so attached USB devices won't enumerate. To change that enable regulator with: echo "enabled" > /sys/devices/platform/output-usb-vbus/state To disable power write "disabled" to the same file. Ther regulator state will reset on reboot, consider running this command on hotplug event or add it to /etc/rc.local. The hotplug event should look like this: if [ "${PRODUCT}" = "1d6b/2/606" ] && [ "${ACTION}" = "add" ]; then echo "enabled" > /sys/devices/platform/output-usb-vbus/state fi Place it in /etc/hotplug.d/usb/10-usb-power. Known issues Initramfs image can't be bigger than specified kernel size, otherwise bootloader will throw LZMA decompressing error. Switching to lzma-loader should workaround that.