Did I brick this device?

[BRS Chief Scientist]

I tried using the default upgrade process for Packet Squirrel to attempt to install a custom ROM I built using the OpenWRT Image Builder because I found the Reference Board I believe is used by Packet Squirrel within the options to build to using that image builder.

Now it won't start at all. A simple flash in the LED when I plug it in is all I get.

Did I brick this device?

[BRS Chief Scientist]

I bought 3 packet squirrels to test with, thinking that I could use the OpenWRT Image Builder to build something custom instead of what comes in it, out of the box, so to speak. Tried the update. Didn't work when I followed the upgrade path detailed in the pages of online documentation. No go.

Having tried the USB method, I then tried placing the bin file in /tmp and running the upgrade command directly. No go.

So I tried a custom ROM bin file I created using the OpenWRT Image Builder, didn't flash from USB, so I tried the Manual Method, as I did with the stock upgrade bin file currently available for download to the public on the Hak5 downloads page. Just one day old when I downloaded it and I'm thinking this has surely got to work. No go, although it did proceed, as though the sysupgrade command command had been successful.

Then the screen went black. The Packet Squirrel only flashes a couple of quick times then goes out, and never has it booted since.

Can I get a dev team member to address this, please?

No noobs allowed to reply.

None of us actually have time for questions to our questions, that aren't a direct answer to the question at hand.

[Cap_Sig]

5 hours ago, BRS Chief Scientist said:

I bought a packet squirrel

Would have a better chance of someone seeing this posted in the correct thread: https://forums.hak5.org/forum/94-packet-squirrel/

5 hours ago, BRS Chief Scientist said:

So I tried a custom ROM bin file I created using the OpenWRT Image Builder, didn't flash from USB, so I tried the Manual Method, as I did with the stock upgrade bin file currently available for download to the public on the Hak5 downloads page. Just one day old when I downloaded it and I'm thinking this has surely got to work. No go, although it did proceed, as though the sysupgrade command command had been successful.

Then the screen went black. The Packet Squirrel only flashes a couple of quick times then goes out, and never has it booted since.

If the device is in arming mode will not boot there is a chance it is bricked.  Have you tried the recovery method? https://docs.hak5.org/hc/en-us/articles/360010554753-How-do-I-reset-the-device-or-recover-its-firmware-

It is not a good sign if you are not able to do a firmware recovery as this is more or less a final effort to recover a device after firmware/software issues.  Hopefully a firmware recovery will allow access to the device running Hak5 firmware.

[Cap_Sig]

5 hours ago, BRS Chief Scientist said:

Seems that there is no means to edit/correct a post from this side.

Also just fyi, you can edit a post by using the "Edit" option located at the bottom left of your post.  You must be logged into the forum to do so.

[BRS Chief Scientist]

@Cap_Sig Thanks for your time and reply. Had I looked down further on the page when first I came to the forum, I would have seen that thread, but I first scoped on "Questions", and began to post, in haste... and I have since found the thread you mentioned. Can an admin move this post there?

I will try the suggested method from the link you supplied, but have had some troubles with the USB being recognized even in the other two without using the internal USB format command suggested as a workaround in other threads related to the Packet Squirrel. I already tried the method suggested, but I may have been having issues with the USB formatting. The first five times failed on a simple upgrade to 3.2

I will test that one of the others I purchased will flash back to the recovery, then use that stick to attempt the suggested recovery on the PS with starting issues, then report back.

Of the 3 that I bought, #3 flashed to the current upgrade available on the website, so seems reasonable to use that one.

And... Thanks for the hint about how to edit. I have seen so many interfaces, that it still surprises me when sometimes I still don't know where to find a thing. How do I edit the other items that make up my profile, such as picture, description below my pic, and footer content? I realize that q is entirely out of scope, but it's something else I cannot seem to find. In fact, this time, the edit function wasn't yet available to me.

[BRS Chief Scientist]

Of the three PS I bought, 1 & 3 have upgraded, but 2 is still acting like a tiny brick.

Formatting the USB from the device, worked, but never flashed the PS at reboot.
Formatting the USB in a Linux system to ext4 never flashed the PS at boot.
Formatting the USB in a Win7Pro laptop to NTFS, worked, but wasn't until the third time tried, that it  flashed the PS at boot.

All tests were performed with the single stick that worked to flash PS #3 initially.

My assumption is that the PS simply isn't recognizing the file I was using for some odd reason, the first two times tried on NTFS formatted USB.

Why? I can't be sure. Maybe someone else is.

[Cap_Sig]

Thanks for all the details.

First, you can edit your profile info by clicking on your account name at the top right of the web page and going to account settings. 

As for why you are still having trouble with #2 packet squirrel, I'm going to suggest you post about the issue in the correct forum thread.  I have some experience with the device but am by no means an expert.  

If it will not do a firmware recovery still then this is not a good sign.  It is possible all the failed updates has bricked.  Hopefully another user will have insight on the issue and be able to help resolve it.

[BRS Chief Scientist]

I would move this but there doesn't seem a function available to me for that...

so as I have asked in an edit of another post,

"Can an admin move this to the correct section please"

so I don't have to start this post from scratch just because I found the "Questions channel" before I found a specific place to post about Packet Squirrel matters??