Ubiquity Nanostation M2 With Firmware 5.5.6 – Error Flashing Hotspotsystem 5.5

[Anonymous]

My brand new Ubiquity NanoStation M2, delivered from factory with firmware 5.5.6 is not recognizing the Hotspotsystem 5.5 firmware as valid, shows an error.

Downgrading to the 5.5 ubiquity firmware seems not possible and provides the same error message.

The lowest firmware I was able to flash has been version 5.5.2.

Any hint to get the Hotspotsystem firmware active in my NanoStation M2?

[stevehars]

Hello,

We are aware of this, and have been working on a hotspot firmware.

We’ll have a working solution to resolve this problem in a few days time.

Thank you for you patience.

Regards,

Steve Hars,

Hotspotsystem.com

[Anonymous]

Hello,

we now have a firmware which can be used on newer Ubiquiti devices. Please open a new Help Desk ticket for more information.

[Anonymous]

Did you ever get this working? I’m also having troubles with my Nanostation M2. It looks like ubiquity has disabled the option to downgrade to lower versions of the firmware on some Ubiquiti hardware with specific MAC addressses, and since the hotspotsystem works from an older version, it throws an error. Even if you use the TFTP method the device isn’t reachable after flash.

Hotspotsystem’s solution is to install openwrt firmware but after many attempts I still can’t get it working. I think its a combination of issues: this is a new process and support responders have english as their second language… plus its probably a bad time of the year.

Anyway, here ( http://i.imgur.com/UpXpWFk.gif ) is my support thread in hopes that another user with experience in ubiquiti hardware can guide me.

So far I would rate hotspot system’s support team very poorly. I’m not an expert, but come on – the whole point of not setting up my own solution was to make this whole process fast and easy. It hasn’t been either 🙁

[Anonymous]

Hello,

you are absolutely right.

1. Ubiquiti stopped their SDK program recently which means we cannot make an updated AirOS firmware anymore. We were forced to looking up an alternative solution. While our initial OpenWRT solution is working easily on multi port routers, it has problems on routers with only one port. We are still working on a version which works seamlessly on routers which only has one port.

2. Our existing special AirRouter is still working on the majority of Ubiquiti routers, Ubiquiti has just started to sell versions which prevents downgrading to our version.

3. We only had 4 business days from 21th, December last year which slowed down the process.

4. We could tell you that we are not ready and we don’t support your version of router yet. But we wanted to give you a solution that’s why we sent you manual instructions, unfortunately without little success. You are saying our support was poor, but we tried to solve the situation instantly. Probably it was not a good idea.

I agree that the whole process would be easy and seamless, and in the majority of cases it is. For example Mikrotik doesn’t even require a firmware upgrade as the router is capable of providing the hotspot in its own firmware. The same is true with cradlepoint. Newer dd-wrt versions are stable and easy to install. I’m sure that in a few weeks, newer Ubiquiti models will work seamlessly with our new firmware. Unfortunately new circumstances require new solutions, and development requires time.

Sorry for the inconvenience that this has caused to you.

[Anonymous]

I have been my family’s support tech for as long as I can remember. Doing it full time like you guys do, that would drive me crazy! So you have my sympathies 🙂 But having said that…

1. & 2. Bit of background for other Ubiquiti users: Hotspotsystem is not the only provider dealing with this issue. See this thread on the Ubiquiti forums: http://community.ubnt.com/t5/airOS-SDK-Custom-Development/Disclaimer-warning-mandatory-read/m-p/86617 “some operators were caught using illegal channels (not because of the SDK, but building your own firmware would certainly make that easier) and UBNT had to make some changes to satisfy the FCC”.

I have the Nanostation M2 – it has a secondary port, but I’m assuming you mean as compared something like

3. Yep, realise it’s an issue only with some newer Ubiquiti routers. But you have been aware of the issue for some time and there is no mention of it on any of the official documentation. I purchased the Nanostation after reviewing your site, and specifically this page: http://www.hotspotsystem.com/supported-devices

“Most Recommended

Ubiquiti hotspot solution is stable, easy to install which makes them a top choice.”

It might be an idea to include a warning to others on that page that some Ubiquiti devices are currently a work in progress.

3. Worst timing, I know! Even just a small note to say you were going to be away would have been really helpful (maybe on the knowledge base sidebar?). Not having any response for days and days is really frustrating.

4. I actually liked that you gave me the opportunity to try out a beta firmware process. I was okay with that! I feel like we nearly got there… it just felt like the instructions you gave were what let the process down. Were you using a different language of openwrt and then retranslating into english rather than using the exact english words? I’m used to following instruction guides for this type of thing but in this case, they weren’t clear enough.

I totally understand. You guys have a hard job support so many different types of hardware. But communication is key! On 30th December I asked:

“Also… I assume this is using the OpenWrt firmware (I thought you might overwrite it at the end or something with the original ubiquiti software) – I much prefer the other interface of AirOS (or whatever ubiquiti calls it). Do you guys have an ETA for v5.5.6?”

… which never got answered. Knowing what your plans were would have been helpful.

Thanks for your time.

[Anonymous]

I’ve the same problem with an ubiquiti AirRouter with AirOS 5.5.6 from factory…

I’ve downgraded rightly to the AirOS 5.3.6 (http://www.ubnt.com/eula/?BACK=/downloads/XN-fw-internal/v5.3.6/XM.v5.3.6.14295.120904.1243.bin) but there are no posssibilities to use the hotspostsystem modified firmware…