TRB140 is not updateable

Networking Solutions
1

We have following problem with some of our TRB140 modules:

For some modules the update fails either via webinterface or via commandline/sysupgrade. Within the webinterface there is no errormessage displayed but after rebooting, the system still has the old firmware installed. When upgrading via sysupgrade we get some more information - we think it has something to do with one of the “mods” listed below:

root@Teltonika-TRB140:~# sysupgrade -n -v /tmp/TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin
Tue Aug 31 22:41:57 UTC 2021 upgrade: Image signature not present
Mods found: motorcomm_phy trb143 econet_phy quectel_embargo
Tue Aug 31 22:41:58 UTC 2021 upgrade: Commencing upgrade. Closing all shell sessions.
Connection to 192.168.2.1 closed by remote host.
Connection to 192.168.2.1 closed.

> ssh root@192.168.2.1
root@192.168.2.1's password:
BusyBox v1.34.1 (2021-08-31 22:20:08 UTC) built-in shell (ash)
   ____        _    ___  ____
  |  _ \ _   _| |_ / _ \/ ___|
  | |_) | | | | __| | | \___ \
  |  _ <| |_| | |_| |_| |___) |
  |_| \_\\__,_|\__|\___/|____/
 ---------------------------------
   Teltonika TRB1 series 2022
 ---------------------------------

root@Teltonika-TRB140:~# cat /etc/version
TRB1_R_00.07.02.3

The only way to update the module is by adding the “force” parameter (-F):

> scp -O .\TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin root@192.168.2.1:/tmp
> ssh root@192.168.2.1
root@Teltonika-TRB140:~# sysupgrade -T -v /tmp/TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin
Tue Aug 31 22:56:12 UTC 2021 upgrade: TRB1_R_00.07.05.4
OK
OK
Mods found: motorcomm_phy trb143 econet_phy quectel_embargo

root@Teltonika-TRB140:~# sysupgrade -F -n -v /tmp/TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin
Tue Aug 31 22:57:16 UTC 2021 upgrade: Image signature not present
Mods found: motorcomm_phy trb143 econet_phy quectel_embargo
Tue Aug 31 22:57:17 UTC 2021 upgrade: Commencing upgrade. Closing all shell sessions.
Connection to 192.168.2.1 closed by remote host.
Connection to 192.168.2.1 closed.

> ssh root@192.168.2.1
root@192.168.2.1's password:
BusyBox v1.34.1 (2023-11-07 13:33:48 UTC) built-in shell (ash)
    ____        _    ___  ____
   |  _ \ _   _| |_ / _ \/ ___|
   | |_) | | | | __| | | \___ \
   |  _ <| |_| | |_| |_| |___) |
   |_| \_\\__,_|\__|\___/|____/
-----------------------------------
     Teltonika TRB1 series 2023
-----------------------------------
   Device:     TRB140
   Kernel:     5.4.251
   Firmware:   TRB1_R_00.07.05.4
   Build:      d48a3687a6
   Build date: 2023-11-07 15:44:58
-----------------------------------

Finally when using the test parameter (-T) the .bin file is manipulated in a way that the image signature gets corrupted. In our opinion this should not happen when using a test command (this can also be seen in the first example):

> scp -O .\TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin root@192.168.2.1:/tmp

> ssh root@192.168.2.1
root@Teltonika-TRB140:~# sha256sum /tmp/TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin
457d5a683e775138ac3eb309a7f39ba3e6e748380d6aef503732de2302538769  /tmp/TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin

root@Teltonika-TRB140:~# sysupgrade -T -v /tmp/TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin
Tue Aug 31 22:52:54 UTC 2021 upgrade: TRB1_R_00.07.05.4
OK
OK
Mods found: motorcomm_phy trb143 econet_phy quectel_embargo

root@Teltonika-TRB140:~# sha256sum /tmp/TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin
939b3cd72f8180c8bde40ca798e47d1616c9f8bea700f40592ccabe5a85e7455  /tmp/TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin

root@Teltonika-TRB140:~# sysupgrade -T -v /tmp/TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin
Tue Aug 31 22:53:14 UTC 2021 upgrade: Image signature not present
Mods found: motorcomm_phy trb143 econet_phy quectel_embargo

I would like to ask the following questions:

  • Why does the test command modify the image file?

  • What does the mods “motorcomm_phy trb143 econet_phy quectel_embargo” mean?

  • Why doesn’t the update work via webinterface or when using the sysupgrade command without the parameter -F?

  • Does the parameter -F can be used in this case? Manual tests of the module afterwards didn’t result in any problems.

FYI: The modules were not used before, but they have been in our warehouse for more than 1-2 years.

best regards,
Jürgen

3

Hello,

Thank you for your questions. I understand your concern and have created a ticket for our developers regarding your issue, so we can provide more accurate answers. I will let you know as soon as I receive their feedback.

Thank you for your patience.

Best regards,

4

Hello,

I received a feedback from our developer regarding your questiins:

The older FW upgrade process used to extract signature data from the firmware, that’s why you can see Image signature not present messages when re-running the upgrade command with the same firmware file.

That’s just an info message, it shows what HW modifications the target image supports, this acts as a check for incompatible hardware. In your case it passed the checks.

WebUI uses the same upgrade command (without -F). It seems to fail somewhere internally, unfortunately connections are dropped just before the upgrade process, so it’s not possible to say why it fails.

Using force -F can soft-brick the device, though it’s still recoverable via bootloader with fastboot. If the device boots/is reachable and mobile communication works, then everything should be fine. HW checks could fail because of unsupported hardware, but since these came with old firmware (7.2.x) HW should be supported with newer FWs.

Additionally, could you please launch /usr/libexec/validate_firmware_image /tmp/TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin twice and share the output from both commands?

Best regards,

5

Hello Marija,

thank you for your response. Unfortunately I’ve updated all of my modules with the “-F” command already, so I’ve to search for other modules with the same behavior before launching the validate_firmware_image command. I’ll be back when I’ve more infos!

Best regards,
Jürgen

6

Hello Marija,

trying to reinstall the version also results in the same problem - here is the output of the command:

before running the update command (sysupgrade -n -v /tmp/TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin):

root@Teltonika-TRB140:/tmp# /usr/libexec/validate_firmware_image /tmp/TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin
Failed to parse message data
{
        "hw_mods": "",
        "tests": {
                "fwtool_signature": false,
                "fwtool_device_match": false,
                "fwtool_last_error": "14"
        },
        "valid": false,
        "hw_support": false,
        "forceable": true,
        "allow_backup": false,
        "is_downgrade": true,
        "password_warning": false
}
root@Teltonika-TRB140:/tmp# /usr/libexec/validate_firmware_image /tmp/TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin
Failed to parse message data
{
        "hw_mods": "",
        "tests": {
                "fwtool_signature": false,
                "fwtool_device_match": false,
                "fwtool_last_error": "14"
        },
        "valid": false,
        "hw_support": false,
        "forceable": true,
        "allow_backup": false,
        "is_downgrade": true,
        "password_warning": false
}

after running the update command (sysupgrade -n -v /tmp/TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin):

root@Teltonika-TRB140:/tmp# sysupgrade -n -v /tmp/TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin
Tue Nov  7 13:59:33 UTC 2023 upgrade: Image signature not present
Tue Nov  7 13:59:33 UTC 2023 upgrade: Image metadata not present
Tue Nov  7 13:59:33 UTC 2023 upgrade: Use sysupgrade -F to override this check when downgrading or flashing to vendor firmware
Tue Nov  7 13:59:33 UTC 2023 upgrade: Firmware metadata not found
Failed to parse message data
Tue Nov  7 13:59:33 UTC 2023 upgrade: Firmware is not supported by this device
This firmware is unsupported by hardware
Image check failed.
root@Teltonika-TRB140:/tmp# /usr/libexec/validate_firmware_image /tmp/TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin
Failed to parse message data
{
        "hw_mods": "",
        "tests": {
                "fwtool_signature": false,
                "fwtool_device_match": false,
                "fwtool_last_error": "14"
        },
        "valid": false,
        "hw_support": false,
        "forceable": true,
        "allow_backup": false,
        "is_downgrade": true,
        "password_warning": false
}
root@Teltonika-TRB140:/tmp# /usr/libexec/validate_firmware_image /tmp/TRB1_R_00.07.05.4_WEBUI.bin
Failed to parse message data
{
        "hw_mods": "",
        "tests": {
                "fwtool_signature": false,
                "fwtool_device_match": false,
                "fwtool_last_error": "14"
        },
        "valid": false,
        "hw_support": false,
        "forceable": true,
        "allow_backup": false,
        "is_downgrade": true,
        "password_warning": false
}

best regards,
Jürgen

7

Hello,

Thank you for providing the outputs.

For further investigation, we will need some sensitive information, such as files from your router. I have sent a form to the email address you used to register on the forum. Once you complete it, I will contact you privately. When filling out the form, please use the ticket ID “15491”.

Best regards,

8

This topic was automatically closed after 60 days. New replies are no longer allowed.