ChillifireHotspotRouterInstallationGuideMikrotikRouterboard Version12.

09

This guide is valid for Mikrotik 4xx, 75x, 91x, 95x, 2011 models

ThisguidedescribeshowtoloadChilliWRTonaMikrotikrouterandrunitnatively.
Atthetimeofwritingthefollowingmodelsaresupported:
Routerboard411,411A,411AH,411U
Routerboard433,433AH,433UAH
Routerboard450,450G
Routerboard493,493AH
Routerboard750,750GL,750UP
Routerboard751G2HnD,751U2HnD
RouterboardRB911G2HPnD,RB911G5HPnD
RouterboardRB912UAG2HPnD,RB912UAG5HPnD
RouterboardRB951G2HnD,RB951Ui2HnD
RouterboardRB2011iLIN,RB2011iLRM,RB2011iLSIN,RB2011UiASIN,RB2011UiASRM,
RB2011UiAS2HnDIN
OtherRouterboardsarecurrentlynotsupported.However,thereisthepossibilitytorunChilliWrt(whichis
basedonOpenWrt)torunthisfirmwareonavirtualserverusingMikrotiksMetarouter
(http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Metarouter)

ChillifireHotspotRouterInstallationGuideMikrotikRouterboard Version12.09

Whatyouneed:
Hardware
1) Anullmodemserialcable(Female/Female)
2) AssumingyourcomputerdoesnothaveitsownmaleserialRS232port,youneedaRS232(DB9)toUSB
convertercable
Software
3) ChillifirefirmwareforinitialflashoftheMikrotikrouter
http://support.chillifire.net/downloads/chillifiremikrotikinitramfs.elf
4) Puttysoftwaretoaccesstherouterviaserialconsole(Windowsinstallerputty*installer.exe
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html
5) Tftpd32softwaretoloadtheinitialfirmwareontherouter(standardeditioninstaller
http://tftpd32.jounin.net/tftpd32_download.html)
6) tftpd32.inifilefromoursupportwebsiteonhttp://support.chillifire.net/downloads/tftpd32.ini
(optional,butmakesthingseasierforyou)

ChillifireHotspotRouterInstallationGuideMikrotikRouterboard Version12.09

Preparations
1) Downloadputtyandinstallonyourcomputer.
Connectyourcomputerviathenullmodemcable
(andusbcableifyourcomputerhasnoserialport).
Setuptheconnectionwith115200baudrate,8data
bits,1stopbit,noparityandnoflowcontrol.Inour
exampletheserialportisonCOM3,butthismay
varyfromcomputertocomputer.
2) IfunsurewhichcomportgotoWindowscontrol
panelsdevicemanagertocheckwhichCOMports
areactive.

3) ClickonOpen,andthenpoweruptherouter.
4) Whenyougetthismessagepressanykeytostopthe
bootprocess.Bequick,therearejusttwoseconds
beforetherouterstartsbooting.

5) Youwillseethismainmenu.Pressi

ChillifireHotspotRouterInstallationGuideMikrotikRouterboard Version12.09

6) Youwillseetheboardinformationasfollows.Note
downtheeth1MACaddress.Itis00:0C:42:53:F0:71
inthisexample.Thismacaddressisrequiredfor
thenextprocessstep.
Pressanykeytocontinue.
7) Youwillbebackatthemainmenu.
Pressp(Bootprotocol)
Press2(dhcp)
8) Youwillbebackatthemainmenu.
Presso(Bootdevice)
Presse(ethernet)
9) Youwillbebackatthemainmenu.

10) Nowitistimetopreparethetftpserver.Installtftpd32onyour
computer.Replacethefiletftpd.iniwiththeoneyoucandownload
fromourwebsite.Theimportantthingtocheckis
a. thatthecorrectfilepathisinthere,wherethefileyouwantto
useforbootingtherouterboardisactuallylocated
(C:\Downloadinourexamplefile)thecorrectfileischillifire
mikrotikinitramfs.elf
b. andthatyouupdatethemacaddressthatpointstotheip
address192.168.12.101toreflectthemacaddressyouhave
recordedinstep6above.
11) Oncethatisdone,startthetftpd32program
Note:Inthecaseofissuesyoucanswitchonalogfacilityinthe
settings.Audperrorusuallymeansthefilecannotbefound.Inthat
casemakesurethecorrectfileisreallyintheC:\Downloadslocationor
adjustfilenameorpathaccordingly.

LoadChilliWRTontheRouterboard
12) Connectyourcomputertoporteth1ofyourrouter
ChillifireHotspotRouterInstallationGuideMikrotikRouterboard Version12.09

13) GiveyourcomputerafixedIPaddressof192.168.12.100
14) Gobacktotheserialconsoleonputtyand
Pressx
onthemainmenu.Thesystemwilllookforthefiledefinedinthetftpd32.iniinthepathdefinedin
there.Fortheconnectiontohappentherouterhastoreceiveanipaddresslike192.168.12.101,for
whichthemacaddressassignmentyouhavemadebeforeisrequired.Whatyouwillseewillbe
somethinglikethis(andmore):
ChillifireHotspotRouterInstallationGuideMikrotikRouterboard Version12.09

15) Thetransferofthefirmwareonlytakesafewseconds.Thebootwilltakesometime,andwhen
finished,youcanpresstheenterkeyontheserialconsoleandyouwillseetheOpenWrtsignature:

16) Nowthatyouknowtheflashworks,weneedto
replacethetemporaryChilliWrtimagewitha
permanentonethatwillbestoredontherouter,
whichwillnotbelostonreboot.
Todosoyoucanreboot,pressakeytostopthe
bootprocesssoyouarebacktothemainmenuof
step5.Topreparetheroutertoaccepta
permanentimage,
Presse
thentypeyesandpressentertoformattheNand
partition.
Youwillbebackatthemainmenu

ChillifireHotspotRouterInstallationGuideMikrotikRouterboard Version12.09

17) Pressxtoreboottherouterwiththe
chillifiremikrotikinitramfs.elffile,untilthe
Openwrtsignatureisback(pressenterto
gettheOpenWrtsignature).
18) Nowconnecttheeth1porttotheinternet.
Type
/etc/init.d/networkrestart
PressEnterwhentheprocesscometoan
end,togetthecommandpromptback.Type
pingsupport.chillifire.net
tocheckyouhaveaccesstotheinternet.If
not,checktheinternetconnectiontothe
routerstation.

19) Ifyougetapingresponse(likeinthescreenprint,youarereadytoloadthefinalfirmwareimage.
Type:
a. wget2nandhttp://support.chillifire.net/downloads
Note:Ifyougetthemessagetmp/wget2nandalreadyexists,type
rmR/tmp/wget2nand
andpressenter.Correctthewget2nandcommandandtryagain

20) Thesystemwilluploadtwofilesandproceedtocopyfilesintonand.
21) Whenfinished,youwillbeaskedtoreboot.

ChillifireHotspotRouterInstallationGuideMikrotikRouterboard Version12.09

Type
reboot
andstoptherebootprocessbypressinganykeywithintwosecondstoarriveattheRouterboards
mainmenu.
22) Fromthemainmenu
Presso
Pressn
Pressx
Therouterwillrebootagain,butnotfromthechillifiremikrotikinitramfs.elffilebutusingtheChilliWrt
filewehavesavedintotheRouterboardsNandstorage.Whenfinsihedbootingandpressingenter,you
willseetheOpenWrtfirmwaresignatureagain.

YOUAREDONE!

PS:TheChillifirefirmwareincludestheath9kwirelessdriver,whichcanhandlke802.11bgnwireless
networkcardsinthe2.4and5GHzspectrum.WhiletheRouterboardswithbuiltinnetworkcards
shouldbecovered,thoseboardswithoutafixedwirelesscardbutPCIslotstofitanypossiblewireless
card,mayormaynotbesupportedbytheath9kdriver.Beforepurchasingwirelesscardstoaddto
yourrouterboard,enquireonforum.openwrt.orgwhetherthePCIcardinquestionissupported.
Atheroschipsetbasedwirelesscardshavethebestoddsofbeingsupportedbythesedrivers,however,
therearealotmorewirelessdriversavailablefromtheOpenWretsiteonwww.openwrt.orgsite.

PPS:Ifthisisalltoohardandyoudonotmindthewaitandshippingcosts,youcanorderapreloaded
routerboardfromus.Pelaseenquireonhttp://support.chillifire.netforprices.

ChillifireHotspotRouterInstallationGuideMikrotikRouterboard Version12.09

FlashprocessforMikrotikrouterswithoutserialinterface(75xSeries)
ConfiguretheTFTPandDHCPServer(WindowsUsers)
1. DownloadapatchedTFTPDversion
Downloadtheprogramfromherehttp://support.chillifire.net/downloads/tftpd32_mikrotik.zip
andsampleconfigurationfilesforTFTPD32arehere:http://support.chillifire.net/downloads/tftpinis.zip
ThefirstarchivecontainsanexecutablefilethatyoushouldrunasaTFTPD32replacement.Backgroundforwhy
thisisrequiredlookhere:https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=161843#p161843andfollowingtwo
posts
2. Continuewithsteps10and11ofPreparationssectionabovethencontinuehere
3. ToperformtheramdiskflashuseinstructionsbelowBootingtheRamdiskImage

ConfiguretheTFTPandDHCPServer(LINUXUsers)
4. ConfigureyournetworkInterface
ThenetworkinterfacetowhichtheRouterboardisconnectedmusthaveauniqueIPwithaDHCPrunningonit.
Tomakedebuggingeasier,itisusuallyagoodideatodirectlyconnecttheRouterboardtoyourNICwithoutother
devicesinvolved.
ConfiguretheInterfacewithinthesubnet192.168.1.0/24(OpenWRTsdefaultsubnet)buttrytoavoid
192.168.1.1(OpenWRTsdefaultIP).Ihaveused192.168.1.2.
5. InstallDHCPandTFTPServers
YouwillneedaDHCPServertoassignanIPaddresstotheRouterboardfortheflashprocess.Also,theDHCP
servertellstheboardwhichfiletouseasimage.Frankly,thetftpServerisresponsibletoprovidetheimagefileto
theRB.
OnUbuntuLinux,Ihaveusedthesepackages:
apt-get install dhcp3-server atftpd
6. ConfiguretheDHCPServer
TheDHCPServerdoesnotneedmuchconfiguration.Iusethefollowingas/etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf:
allowbooting;
allowbootp;

subnet192.168.1.0netmask255.255.255.0{
range192.168.1.10192.168.1.200;
}
ChillifireHotspotRouterInstallationGuideMikrotikRouterboard Version12.09

hostrouterboard{
hardwareethernet00:0c:42:XX:YY:ZZ;
fixedaddress192.168.1.100;
nextserver192.168.1.2;
filename"openwrtar71xxnandvmlinuxinitramfs.elf";
}
7. YoumaywanttomodifytheIPrangetomatchyoursubnet,thehardwareethernetMACaddressofyourrouter
board,thenextserveraddressofyourtftpserverandthefilenameoftheramdiskimagethatshouldbebooted
overthenetwork.
8. ConfiguretheTFTPServer
Edit/etc/default/atftpstoavoidrunningthedaemonoverinetd.Myfilelookslikethis:
USE_INETD=false
OPTIONS="tftpdtimeout300retrytimeout5mcastport1758mcastaddr239.239.239.0255mcastttl1maxthread10
9. Youcansee,thatthetftpserverwilllookforimagefilesin/tftpboot.Eitherchangethisdirectoryorcopythe
OpenWRTramdiskimage(openwrtar71xxnandvmlinuxinitramfs.elf)to/tftpboot.
cpbin/ar71xx/openwrtar71xxnandvmlinuxinitramfs.elf/tftpboot
10. Applythechangedconfiguration
/etc/init.d/dhcp3serverreload
/etc/init.d/atftpdreload

ChillifireHotspotRouterInstallationGuideMikrotikRouterboard Version12.09

BootingtheRamdiskImagewithoutserialcable
ThepurposeofthisstepistohavearamdiskversionofOpenWRTrunningontheRouterboard.Thisisagoodbasisforour
flashingprocessandcanalsobeusedtotestimageswithoutflashingthem.Thisinvolvesthefollowingsteps:
1. ConnectingtheRouterboard
Connectport1oftheRouterboardwiththeEthernetportthatyourDHCPandTFTPserverlistenson.
2. BoottheRouterboard
NowpressandholdtheRESbuttonoftherouterboardandconnectpower.BothLEDs(PWRandACT)willbe
constantlyon,keeppressingthebutton.AftersomesecondstheACTLEDstartsflashing,keeppressing.After
somemoreseconds,theACTLEDturnsoff,nowyoucanstoppressingthebutton.Theboardwillnowtryto
obtainanIPaddressviaDHCP/BOOTPandthendownloadandboottheramdiskimage.Youcanseethisactivity
bylookingattheappropriatelogfiles:
tailf/var/log/daemon.log/var/log/messages
3. Youshouldseesomethinglikethis:
May2713:21:26tkdhcpd:BOOTREQUESTfrom00:0c:42:XX:YY:ZZviaeth1
May2713:21:26tkdhcpd:BOOTREPLYfor192.168.1.101torouterboard(00:0c:42:XX:YY:ZZ)viaeth1
May2713:21:26tkatftpd[26400]:Servingopenwrtar71xxnandvmlinuxinitramfs.elfto192.168.1.101:33321
4. Sitandwaituntil192.168.12.1(or192.168.1.1ifyouareusingagenericOpenWrtramdiskimage)startsreplying
topings.Nowyoucanlogintotheboardusingtelnet(sshloginisnotpossible,sincenopasswordissetasofyet).
telnet192.168.12.1
(ortelnet192.168.1.1ifyouareusingagenericOpenWrtramdiskimage)