MR6550 full firmware ported over to mr6500- anyone want to beta test it ???

[Rich Hathaway]

So I got a mr6550 for a few days (I already had to send it back to the owner)
But I had it long enough to pull what I needed to make a build from it, I loaded it successfully
on a mr6500 and it ran without issue, got service, and overall looked good.
I do not have time to test much, if a couple of you guys are interested in testing it
hit me up and I'll load one up for you, only a couple testers needed, it should run on other builds as well but I cannot say this to any certainty, yet...
This should be a much easier way to enable the rest of the bands on these models than doing it by filesystem, efs, and rfnv.

[athlon1119]

Hello, Rich Hathaway. I am from China and I have MR6450-100EUS. I want to beta test it to open the N79 frequency band. Is your firmware model MR6550-100PAS or MR6550-100APS?

[Rich Hathaway]

Someone ask me in a pm what bands the 6550 has enabled, a quick google search will tell you
MR6550-100PAS – United States & Canada (Unlocked)
Model MR6550-100PAS
5G Technology Sub-6GHz+mmWave
5G Bands 2/5/7/12/14/25/29/30/38/41/48/66/71/77/78/260/261
4G Technology LTE CAT20
4G Bands 1/2/3/4/5/7/12/13/14/25/26/28/29/30/40/41/46/48/66/71

[w1lliam]

Hi Rich,

One question, what would happened when flashed MR6500, now is becoming MR6550, upgrade its FW later? Is it still remained as "MR6550" or the upgrade path will be broken going forward?

Regards,
William

[Rich Hathaway]

I disabled updates so nothing will happen

[wildstyle01]

Hi Rich, Gabe here. I would like to test your new fw on my MR6500. Thanks,

[cybrnook]

I’d be open to helping you test as well. Just let me know what I need to do to.

[zzzshinzzz]

hope you will teach us how to do it. I really need to add some necessary bands on my 6500

[Rich Hathaway]

I have a dozen betas already, we dont want to over-do in case there is something wrong with it, which I highly doubt, but you never know.
I made it along factory lines and only modified the update address so it cannot connect and update, everything else is factory 6550, if there is any issues it will likely be because of overwrite of the efs and userdata parts, but we will know soon.

[Watson306]

Hi Rich,
Is this something you could help me with if it opens up the bands?

[Rich Hathaway]

sure

[Watson306]

sure

Without the need to send it to you?

I have done a bit more since we last spoke - I have managed to dump all of the mtdblock files onto my laptop - if its any use?

[Rich Hathaway]

No, I do not need them, but yes it is a mail-in-only service because of the type of load it is, it cannot be done over network, it would take a couple of days to complete and likely would not run to completion uninterrupted which would mean you would have to send it in to be recovered anyways. So might as well just send it and alleviate the possibility of borking it.

[bobxsherman]

Hi Rich, I see you have enough beta testers already. But I am also interested in help upgrading my mr6500 for n41,n71. TIA

[Watson306]

No, I do not need them, but yes it is a mail-in-only service because of the type of load it is, it cannot be done over network, it would take a couple of days to complete and likely would not run to completion uninterrupted which would mean you would have to send it in to be recovered anyways. So might as well just send it and alleviate the possibility of borking it.

I have PM'd you Rich

[syahrulxy91]

I have a dozen betas already, we dont want to over-do in case there is something wrong with it, which I highly doubt, but you never know.
I made it along factory lines and only modified the update address so it cannot connect and update, everything else is factory 6550, if there is any issues it will likely be because of overwrite of the efs and userdata parts, but we will know soon.

greeting sir, can i know what is the status of flashing mr6550 onto mr6500 until now? is it working properly? any comments from beta tester would highly aprreciated..if this working properly, i would need your help to do the flashing..

[Rich Hathaway]

Yes so far so good but its only been a few days, give it some time for proper testing

[cybrnook]

@Rich Hathaway checking to see if you got my PM from earlier.

[bcrens7]

Just patiently waiting for the release. I’m excited for this.

[JeffWDH]

Once this is tested will you be releasing it for everyone? Thanks!

[Metal]

Will you be updating this thread when you're ready to roll this out to end users?
I'm in Michigan and would like to send you my locked MR6500

[JayS1N]

Hi Rich, I’m very curious to see how development goes with this as I just received an Att Sim unlocked MR6500 which I’ll be planning on using with Tmobile in the near future (I’ll need those bands unlocked for TMO)

I will likely be another person here amongst the list of eager individuals waiting for your progress update.

[Rich Hathaway]

Still testing this I will update this thread when there is solid news that is confirmed, right now all I can say is it is loading and running with no problems on the 6500 and the 6400

[waldoinc]

Hey Rich, hopefully the testing is going as expected
I am interested as well, got a ATT unlocked 6500 as well hoping to get the rebooting issue resolved.
Running it on Fi, when it stays active

[Rich Hathaway]

Rebooting issue? How often does yours reboot?

[waldoinc]

Very Sporadically. Between 5 min to 1 hour. I have reset the device along with changing what power settings are available. Thankfully I am using this as a fall back device for my home network.

[Rich Hathaway]

dmesg it so you can see what is going on

[cohomology]

@Rich Hathaway Hi I just registered to reply to this thread in order to see if you can help me flash the mr6500 I have. Unfortunately it is already on the updated firmware and I don’t have openmep. Please DM me on where to mail the device and how I can pay you, PayPal or Venmo. Thanks.

[waldoinc]

I was finally able to get root access to the device, not really seeing anything that jumps out at me. I should probably just DM, instead of trying to troubleshoot in this thread

[cohomology]

I was finally able to get root access to the device, not really seeing anything that jumps out at me. I should probably just DM, instead of trying to troubleshoot in this thread

Can you please write up a guide, I really want to get root access too.

[Watson306]

@Rich Hathaway
How's it looking in terms of testing?
And if no issues as yet - how long do you think before you will consider carrying out changes to other devices?

[cgigate]

So I got a mr6550 for a few days (I already had to send it back to the owner)
But I had it long enough to pull what I needed to make a build from it, I loaded it successfully
on a mr6500 and it ran without issue, got service, and overall looked good.
I do not have time to test much, if a couple of you guys are interested in testing it
hit me up and I'll load one up for you, only a couple testers needed, it should run on other builds as well but I cannot say this to any certainty, yet...
This should be a much easier way to enable the rest of the bands on these models than doing it by filesystem, efs, and rfnv.

Great job. I am glad to test your firmware

[hotellonely]

dmesg it so you can see what is going on

Hi Rich I'm very interested to become a beta tester. However due to being newly registered, I'm not able to dm you .

Keen to see where its going as I'm travelling out Australia soon so it would be nice to have all the bands

Current status:
MR6500 - Telstra, Australian ver.
Telnet Root: yes with #
Firmware: NTGX65_12.01.41.00

[Mezzy]

@Rich Hathaway , I apologize for getting off subject, but I've got an MR6500 that occasionally reboots and/or freezes, and will not update firmware. After reading through some of your posts, perhaps I'm lucky that it hasn't updated.

Unfortunately, the device will not function in "Performance" mode, and it is primarily used as a fixed modem for my home network.

Being a new member to the forum, I'm unable to PM you.

Do you have any advice on how to mitigate my issues?

As you're probably aware, NetGear is absolutely worthless as when it comes to getting help. I've scoured their support forums and found very little advice, and what I have found suggest trying to force the update by removing the SIM and enabling data offloading.

If you have a few moments to respond, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'd love for this to be a reliable device.

Thanks!

[Rich Hathaway]

I have all the betas I need at the moment.
To update this thread, the 6550 loads and runs fine on 6500 and most of the features one would want
work, such as, it is unlocked, the AT&T branding is gone, the menus reflect the 6550 firm, bands are working but it wants to keep using the 6500 bands still even though the bitmasks have changed, the userrw and cust parts still need work to reflect the 6550 device, I need to get a 6550 here that I can destroy, I only say that because it may happen.
it seems the 6550 is somewhat rare.


@ Meezy
what do you mean "it will not function in "Performance" mode" you mean it won't get service or?

[syahrulxy91]

I have all the betas I need at the moment.
To update this thread, the 6550 loads and runs fine on 6500 and most of the features one would want
work, such as, it is unlocked, the AT&T branding is gone, the menus reflect the 6550 firm, bands are working but it wants to keep using the 6500 bands still even though the bitmasks have changed, the userrw and cust parts still need work to reflect the 6550 device, I need to get a 6550 here that I can destroy, I only say that because it may happen.
it seems the 6550 is somewhat rare.


@ Meezy
what do you mean "it will not function in "Performance" mode" you mean it won't get service or?

Hi Rich,
My modem still cannot pick up 5G bands after flash the 6550 firmware..only 4G bands. Do i need to wait for your newly build firmware ? or there is any way to fix it? .waiting for your reply

[c3dr1c]

New to this forum so unable to DM. While I'm new to the topic my background includes RE, including IoT devices. Was looking to acquire an used MR6500 (one showed up on Facebook market place near me). Happy to do some testing with Beta firmware @Rich Hathaway and see if I can contribute some valuable feedback.

[Rich Hathaway]

Yes this is a constant work in progress because so little is known about 5g hacking currently, what band are you needing to pickup?

[bruceleeroy]

@Rich Hathaway

Just picked up an MR6500 and unfortunately it’s on the 12.0.x firmware. I am patiently waiting to see your work on the MR6550 firmware but I am worried I will never be able to reflash my firmware. In your opinion, is it inevitable that one day 12.0.x owners can reflash their MR6500?

[syahrulxy91]

Yes this is a constant work in progress because so little is known about 5g hacking currently, what band are you needing to pickup?

My country uses these bands for 5G
700 MHz (b28)
3.5 GHz (n78)

So i need these bands to work properly..

btw in the BAND REGION setting only has two options
1. 4G + 5G
2. 4G only..

can you reply in Skype to sort this out?

[njh3409]

Any reported issues with the tester? Is the flash service ready for other MR6500 devices? Does it matter what firmware version is install to start with? Thanks

[Rich Hathaway]

This is working without issue running on any mr6xxx device but enabling bands is still having some trouble there are a couple of us working on it.

[chavezbh2o]

Greetings Everyone,
I am here because I purchased a couple of used ATT NETGEAR MR6500's and I am looking to update the firmware for them. I am having overheat issues and I am sure the firmware for both are fairly old.(10.4.22.00 and 10.1.47.00) any help that can be offered would be greatly appreciated.
I am a contractor in Iraq and getting things from the US is a major pain.
Again thank you very much.

[Hogwild]

If you're running them off AC power, have you tried removing the batteries in them? Some of the MR series overheat when the batteries are left in, but less so when they're removed. I don't know if that applies to the 6500 series, but it would be an easy thing to test.

[empyrials]

i'm new here, however i'd love to test this firmware. I have a new to me 6500 on 12.01.48.00 I'd love to be able to change the imei as i have on my 5200, & enable telnet.

[Watson306]

This is working without issue running on any mr6xxx device but enabling bands is still having some trouble there are a couple of us working on it.

Hi @Rich Hathaway,
Any update on the progress of enabling bands?

[Rich Hathaway]

I am waiting on another 6550 to arrive here to continue this work, I do not have this model on hand right now

[geek130]

I'm in, I just installed an old firmware from a MR6550 to my MR6500. Trying to get it unlocked using sierrakeygen but it seems the codes generated by the script aren't working.

[yujili]

This is working without issue running on any mr6xxx device but enabling bands is still having some trouble there are a couple of us working on it.

I'm on firmware 10.01.21.00.

SDX65 modems should be able to handle most bands, or at least the ones I'm trying to "activate". I've been working on it for a few hours and I'm assuming your group is not using the AT commands. I've been trying to add the bands manually and force enabling them. However, I cannot figure out the structure of the command.

Is it safe to assume you are working on modifying the firmware?

[hotellonely]

This is working without issue running on any mr6xxx device but enabling bands is still having some trouble there are a couple of us working on it.

I'm on firmware 10.01.21.00.

SDX65 modems should be able to handle most bands, or at least the ones I'm trying to "activate". I've been working on it for a few hours and I'm assuming your group is not using the AT commands. I've been trying to add the bands manually and force enabling them. However, I cannot figure out the structure of the command.

Is it safe to assume you are working on modifying the firmware?

It's quite different this time. This time the branded modems REMOVED the bands from its code so that you cannot simply enable it back like older models. Thus they need to figure out a way to flash back the full band code to the modem first. And it's not written in the normal firmware that is easy to deal with. It's a separate system. That's why Rich says that he needs more time and another 6550 to figure out what to dump out from the 6550 and what to dump into other models.

[yujili]

It's quite different this time. This time the branded modems REMOVED the bands from its code so that you cannot simply enable it back like older models. Thus they need to figure out a way to flash back the full band code to the modem first. And it's not written in the normal firmware that is easy to deal with. It's a separate system. That's why Rich says that he needs more time and another 6550 to figure out what to dump out from the 6550 and what to dump into other models.

It is not likely that SDX65 chip set disabled the bands. Likely it is a firmware limitation by netgear, therefore we can write the bands back into the code for the older firmware.

It's weird that netgear used their man hours to lock down their software.

I currently have a 6550 Modem as well trying to dump stuff from.

[roaminggnome]

I got a 6550 with FW 12.01.13.00 2023/04/03, older than anything leaked. It's moddable.

[train21]

Hello I have an AT&T MR6500 modified to have the IMEI of an iPad. I see you have rolled the firmware over from the MR6550 and I wanted to do that to get T-Mobile Bands as I have a business tablet plan I want to put into the hotspot. My firmware is on NTGX65_10.04.22.01. I am really only interested in just getting all the network bands unlocked since Netgear and AT&T decided to lock down this device to it's full potential.

[brettgavin]

Hi Rich, new member, so I can't dm. I'm interested in your services to update fw and change imei. Happy to run whichever latest version you have. I have an ATT 6500. Is there specific contact information you prefer to use to communicate about this? Thanks

[Rich Hathaway]

kcphonestores@gmail.com

[iamfanghan]

Hi Rich, I'm a new member and unable to dm. I'm interested in your services to update fw and change imei. Happy to run whichever latest version you have. I have an ATT 6500. Is there specific contact information you prefer to use to communicate about this? Thanks

[Rich Hathaway]

its right above your post

[Watson306]

Hi Gents,
How's the testing going?

[brettgavin]

Hi Rich,

I’m shipping out the three units today. They should arrive with you tomorrow.

One of the model numbers has DSP at the end. Does that matter for your process? I can’t find anything online about that specific model.

Thanks,
Brett