4GEE Wifi Rebranded Alacatel Linkzone Cat 12 - GSM-Forum

revaido · 07-24-2021, 17:53

Hi,

My kids have been using a 4GEE Wifi device in the UK on EE which appears to have had a firmware corruption during an update and it's only booting up to the driver for ADSU restore and not working.

The details are on the sticker are:

Model: 4GEE Wifi
Type: EE120-2AE8GB3
Made In China
04 012 HKB

I've messaged Alcatel Europe to see if they can fix but does anyone have access to the ADSU package for this device please?

There are no other obvious details on the package - I've tried connecting to the COM port it presents in Windows to see if it will give any more data but nothing yet.

I've tried pressing the reset button underneath the device while holding power but it hasn't done anything.

It seems to have some warranty type black stickers underneath so I haven't opened those yet to see if it has a UART port that would reveal why it won't boot while I wait to see if it needs service.

Thanks in advance for any help

revaido · 07-24-2021, 19:13

I couldn't resist cracking it open and there are the following markings on the PCB if they help:

MW12-V0.4
BAB1M3000DC1

And on the other side:

SBA1M300001E
XWLE 02 B
I BKB 0098
D10

revaido · 07-25-2021, 22:08

I managed to get into a root ADB Shell on the device, just doing some digging to try and work out what is wrong with it but seems the internal model number for these is MW120 in the firmware.

revaido · 07-26-2021, 14:31

OK got it, it was a corrupted UBIFS rootfs on mtd15.

Two ubifs volumes were on mtd15 (rootfs & usrfs) and the rootfs mapping to /system was corrupt.

I ran the following two commands to test pulling the data from ubi1_0 and then flashing it back.

cat /dev/ubi1_0 > backuptest
ubiupdatevol /dev/ubi1_0 backuptest

That reflashed the device - I've got a feeling it was turned off too quickly after an update which corrupted the ubifs.

It's now come up for the first time and has a hardcoded username and password so my next job is trying to crack those (it's more fun that just pressing the reset button

)

**Brka** · 07-31-2021, 20:42

Very interesting research,

since there are no flash files (yet) on TCL factory support (or i can't find them)
for EE branded MW12x [PID: EE120-2*E8GB3]
(they call it "WIFI12" on suport)

i managed to get download image for MW12VK with unbranded dashboard,
if you wanna play with it, i can upload somewhere ...

b.r.
Alex

seaniboy · 08-21-2021, 19:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brka

Very interesting research,

since there are no flash files (yet) on TCL factory support (or i can't find them)
for EE branded MW12x [PID: EE120-2*E8GB3]
(they call it "WIFI12" on suport)

i managed to get download image for MW12VK with unbranded dashboard,
if you wanna play with it, i can upload somewhere ...

b.r.
Alex

That would be great. The EE firmware like their EE firmware on Netgear M2 is shockingly bad on both devices.

**Brka** · 08-27-2021, 21:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by seaniboy

That would be great. The EE firmware like their EE firmware on Netgear M2 is shockingly bad on both devices.

Download

b.r.
Alex

revaido · 08-31-2021, 08:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brka

Very interesting research,

since there are no flash files (yet) on TCL factory support (or i can't find them)
for EE branded MW12x [PID: EE120-2*E8GB3]
(they call it "WIFI12" on suport)

i managed to get download image for MW12VK with unbranded dashboard,
if you wanna play with it, i can upload somewhere ...

b.r.
Alex

Thanks Alex I just saw your post!

I put some findings up on Github including changing the credentials once they had been changed - it's been a great device and I've used it quite a lot since fixing it. Well the kids have, and it's been great!

I can't actually post the link as don't have enough posts here yet but it's all up there - as you say the internal name it uses when doing software updates is MW120VB-2XE1000, I've got the URLs on Github too it checks etc.

userboy · 04-23-2022, 01:15

Hi Revido could you please tell me name of your github page

07-24-2021, 17:53	#1 (permalink)
revaido Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 6 Member: 472182 Status: Offline Thanks Meter: 1	4GEE Wifi Rebranded Alacatel Linkzone Cat 12 Hi, My kids have been using a 4GEE Wifi device in the UK on EE which appears to have had a firmware corruption during an update and it's only booting up to the driver for ADSU restore and not working. The details are on the sticker are: Model: 4GEE Wifi Type: EE120-2AE8GB3 Made In China 04 012 HKB I've messaged Alcatel Europe to see if they can fix but does anyone have access to the ADSU package for this device please? There are no other obvious details on the package - I've tried connecting to the COM port it presents in Windows to see if it will give any more data but nothing yet. I've tried pressing the reset button underneath the device while holding power but it hasn't done anything. It seems to have some warranty type black stickers underneath so I haven't opened those yet to see if it has a UART port that would reveal why it won't boot while I wait to see if it needs service. Thanks in advance for any help

07-31-2021, 20:42	#5 (permalink)
Brka Moderator Join Date: Jun 1999 Location: Serbia Age: 48 Posts: 8,206 Member: 163 Status: Offline Thanks Meter: 7,784	Very interesting research, since there are no flash files (yet) on TCL factory support (or i can't find them) for EE branded MW12x [PID: EE120-2E8GB3] (they call it "WIFI12" on suport) i managed to get download image for MW12VK with unbranded dashboard, if you wanna play with it, i can upload somewhere ... b.r. Alex __________________ Always press THANKS button if my post was helpful!* Please DO NOT send me PM's for help, You can ask for help on forum Do not post THANKS posts - use thanks button ! ALWAYS use SEARCH button before posting!

07-24-2021, 19:13	#2 (permalink)
revaido Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 6 Member: 472182 Status: Offline Thanks Meter: 1	I couldn't resist cracking it open and there are the following markings on the PCB if they help: MW12-V0.4 BAB1M3000DC1 And on the other side: SBA1M300001E XWLE 02 B I BKB 0098 D10

07-25-2021, 22:08	#3 (permalink)
revaido Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 6 Member: 472182 Status: Offline Thanks Meter: 1	I managed to get into a root ADB Shell on the device, just doing some digging to try and work out what is wrong with it but seems the internal model number for these is MW120 in the firmware.

07-26-2021, 14:31	#4 (permalink)
revaido Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 6 Member: 472182 Status: Offline Thanks Meter: 1	OK got it, it was a corrupted UBIFS rootfs on mtd15. Two ubifs volumes were on mtd15 (rootfs & usrfs) and the rootfs mapping to /system was corrupt. I ran the following two commands to test pulling the data from ubi1_0 and then flashing it back. cat /dev/ubi1_0 > backuptest ubiupdatevol /dev/ubi1_0 backuptest That reflashed the device - I've got a feeling it was turned off too quickly after an update which corrupted the ubifs. It's now come up for the first time and has a hardcoded username and password so my next job is trying to crack those (it's more fun that just pressing the reset button )

04-23-2022, 01:15	#9 (permalink)
userboy Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 3 Member: 886047 Status: Offline Thanks Meter: 0	Hi Revido could you please tell me name of your github page