TP-LINK Deco M4R v2

multiple revisions of this device, use caution

abgn+ac (AC1200)
AC1200 Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi System
Wikipedia	TP-Link
3rd Party Firmware
dd-wrt	Status Unknown
OpenWrt	Supported
Tomato any flavor	Incompatible
Gargoyle	Status Unknown
Platform
Brand • Model • Rev	TP-LINK Deco M4R v2
FCC ID	TE7M4R
Board ID	1803142WNR-1.0
Type	wireless system, mesh node
CPU1 Y	Qualcomm Atheros QCA9563
CPU1 Type	MIPS 74Kc
CPU1 Speed	750 MHz
Flash1 Chip	Winbond Model?
Flash1 Size	16 MiB 16,777,216 B <br />131,072 Kib <br />16,384 KiB <br />128 Mib <br />0.0156 GiB <br /> (SPI NOR)
RAM1 Size	128 MiB 134,217,728 B <br />1,048,576 Kib <br />131,072 KiB <br />1,024 Mib <br />0.125 GiB <br />
RAM1 Chip	Zentel A3R1GE40JBF-8F
ETH chip1	Qualcomm Atheros QCA9563
ETH chip2	Qualcomm Atheros QCA8337N
Ethernet Port Count	1-1GbE-WAN 1-1GbE-LAN
Wired Standard	IEEE 802.3i/3u/3ab
802dot11 OUI: none specified
Stock bootloader	U-Boot
Expansion IF types	none specified
Power	12 VDC, 1.2 A
Connector type	barrel
Flags: Wave2, MU-MIMO, DFS (master)
Other
3rd Party Firmware Support	OpenWrt • (List | Dev | DLs)
Retail
Availability	End of Life
FCC approval date	19 October 2018
Country of manuf	China
Radio 1
Chip1	Qualcomm Atheros QCA9563
Wireless interface OUI	none specified
Antenna Connector Type	none specified
MIMO status	2x2:2
Wireless Standard	IEEE 802.11b/g/n
802.11n	up to 300 Mbps
802.11g	up to 54 Mbps
802.11b	up to 11 Mbps
WiFi Operating Frequency	2.4 GHz
Radio 2
Chip1	Qualcomm Atheros QCA9886
Wireless interface OUI	none specified
Antenna Connector Type	none specified
MIMO status	2x2:2
Wireless Standard	IEEE 802.11a/n/ac
802.11ac	up to 867 Mbps
802.11n	up to 300 Mbps
802.11a	up to 54 Mbps
WiFi Operating Frequency	5 GHz
FCC ID TP-LINK Deco M4R TE7M4R
CPU1 brand Radio1 chip1 brand Radio2 chip1 brand TP-LINK Deco M4R Qualcomm Atheros Qualcomm Atheros Qualcomm Atheros TP-LINK Deco M4R v2 Qualcomm Atheros Qualcomm Atheros Qualcomm Atheros TP-LINK Deco M4R v4 MediaTek MediaTek MediaTek TP-LINK Deco M9 Plus v1 Qualcomm Qualcomm Qualcomm TP-LINK Deco P7 v1.x Qualcomm Qualcomm Qualcomm

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

For a list of all currently documented TP-LINK devices with specifications, see TP-LINK.

• 300 Mbps - 2SS 2.4GHz 802.11n (40MHz chan.),

• 867 Mbps - 2SS 5GHz 802.11ac (80MHz chan.) = AC1200 class

Overview

"1803142WNR-1.0 Rev1.0sp1" is silkscreened on the main board.

Flashing

Flashing OpenWrt

On the OpenWrt ToH (techdata entry)

Target: ath79
Subtarget: generic
Package architecture: mips_24kc
Support started version: 22.03.0
Current supported version: 25.12.1

LAN Hardware: Qualcomm Atheros QCA8337N
WLAN Hardware: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9563, Qualcomm Atheros QCA9886
WLAN Comment: MIMO 2x2:2 on both bands
Installation method(s):
see git-commit
Comment:
v1 & v2 use the same image, v2.6, v2.8, v3 unknown, v4 has separate image

git • >>

ath79: add support for TP-Link Deco M4R v1 and v2 This commit adds support for the TP-Link Deco M4R (it can also be M4, TP-Link uses both names) v1 and v2. It is similar hardware-wise to the Archer C6 v2. Software-wise it is very different. V2 has a bit different layout from V1 but the chips are the same and the OEM firmware is the same for both versions. Specifications: SoC: QCA9563-AL3A RAM: Zentel A3R1GE40JBF Wireless 2.4GHz: QCA9563-AL3A (main SoC) Wireless 5GHz: QCA9886 Ethernet Switch: QCA8337N-AL3C Flash: 16 MB SPI NOR Flashing: The device's bootloader only accepts images that are signed using TP-Link's RSA key, therefore this way of flashing is not possible. The device has a web GUI that should be accessible after setting up the device using the app (it requires the app to set it up first because the web GUI asks for the TP-Link account password) but for unknown reasons, the web GUI also refuses custom images. There is a debug firmware image that has been shared on the device's OpenWrt forum thread that has telnet unlocked, which the bootloader will accept because it is signed. It can be used to transfer an OpenWrt image file over to the device and then be used with mtd to flash the device. Pre-requisites: - Debug firmware. - A way of transferring the file to the router, you can use an FTP server as an example. - Set a static IP of 192.168.0.2/255.255.255.0 on your computer. - OpenWrt image. Installation: - Unplug your router and turn it upside down. Using a long and thin object like a SIM unlock tool, press and hold the reset button on the router and replug it. Keep holding it until the LED flashes yellow. - Open 192.168.0.1. You should see the bootloader recovery's webpage. Choose the debug firmware that you downloaded and flash it. Wait until the router reboots (at this stage you can remove the static IP). - Open a terminal window and connect to the router via telnet (the primary router should have a 192.168.0.1 IP address, secondary routers are different). - Transfer the file over to the router, you can use curl to download it from the internet (use the insecure flag and make sure your source accepts insecure downloads) or from an FTP server. - The router's default mtd partition scheme has kernel and rootfs separated. We can use dd to split the OpenWrt image file and flash it with mtd: dd if=openwrt.bin of=kernel.bin skip=0 count=8192 bs=256 dd if=openwrt.bin of=rootfs.bin skip=8192 bs=256 - Once the images are ready, you have to flash the device using mtd (make sure to flash the correct partitions or you may be left with a hard bricked router): mtd write kernel.bin kernel mtd write rootfs.bin rootfs - Flashing is done, reboot the device now.