Linksys

01Flash AJKFi

Three stages: OpenWrt 22.03.6, one typed command, then AJKFi. A PC and an SSH window are needed.

1. Stage 1 - OpenWrt 22.03.6. Hold Reset for 10 seconds. Cable from your PC to a LAN port, not the Internet port. Open http://192.168.1.1 → Manual configuration → Login (password admin) → Connectivity → Manual → choose the OpenWrt 22.03.6 file → Start. It restarts into OpenWrt on http://192.168.1.1, no password, Wi-Fi off - stay on the cable.
2. Stage 2 - one command. SSH to root@192.168.1.1 and run:
   fw_setenv kernsize 500000
   Then reboot. Once per router, ever. This tells the bootloader to read a 5 MB kernel instead of 3 MB; without it AJKFi will not start. Read the first warning below before you type it.
3. Stage 3 - AJKFi. At http://192.168.1.1: System → Backup / Flash Firmware → Flash new firmware image. Choose the AJKFi file, untick Keep settings, tick Force, flash. It comes back on http://10.0.0.1:8080.

02Activate

1. Plug in the internet. Put your internet cable into the router's WAN socket. The router needs to reach us once to collect its licence.
2. Open the admin page. Connect to the Wi-Fi called AJK PISOWIFI, then open http://10.0.0.1:8080. Sign in with admin / admin.
3. Activate. Open System. If you sent us your Account ID when you bought, press Check In Now and the licence arrives by itself. If you were given a licence code, type it in instead. The page shows Licensed when it is done.

No licence yet? Buy one online or message us.

03Set the admin password

1. Change admin / admin. Go to Settings → Admin Account and set your own password. Anyone connected to your Wi-Fi can reach this login page, so do it before the machine goes out.
2. Put the dashboard on your phone. Open http://10.0.0.1:8080 on your phone. Android (Chrome): menu ⋮ → Add to Home screen. iPhone (Safari): Share → Add to Home Screen. It gets the AJKFi icon and opens straight to the Dashboard.
3. Open it from anywhere (Cloud Remote). Sign in at ajkfi.com, open My machines and press Remote - the dashboard opens already signed in, from anywhere with internet (AJKFi 3.55 or newer, Lite 1.4 or newer). Give the machine a name there with Rename. Remote can be switched off on the router under Network → Cloud Remote.

04Name your Wi-Fi

1. Name your customer Wi-Fi. Network → Wireless. Rename AJK PISOWIFI to your shop name. Leave it open - customers pay at the portal, not with a password. Name it before you open: the name cannot be changed while a customer with running time is connected.
2. Add a hidden Wi-Fi for the coin slot. On the same page, under Add Another SSID, add a second SSID on the 2.4 GHz radio, tick Hidden, and give it a password - required, the coin slot will not join a Wi-Fi without one. 2.4 GHz matters: the coin slot board cannot see 5 GHz.

05Connect the coin slot

1. Flash the board. Easiest: open ajkfi.com/flash (the ESP8266 Online Flasher) in Chrome or Edge on a computer, plug the board in with a USB data cable and press Connect and flash - choose New board for a new one, Update for one already in service (it stays paired with the router). Or use PyFlasher or NodeMCU Flasher: 115200, DIO, erase yes on a new board, no when updating. From coin slot 2.5 on, later updates come from the router: Settings → Coinslot Hardware → Update coin slot.
2. Pair it with the router. On the router tap Pair coin slot in Settings → Coinslot Hardware, then power the board. A coin slot 2.9 or newer finds the router by itself: within about a minute the router shows Paired - no phone, nothing to type. Then set the lock to Active HIGH in Settings → Coinslot Hardware → Coin acceptor wiring and tap Save to coin slot. Older board, or two machines pairing at the same time: join the board's own Wi-Fi AJKFi-Coinslot-Setup from a phone, pick the coin slot Wi-Fi, type its password, set the lock mode to Active HIGH and press Save & connect.
3. Wire it. Three wires from the coin acceptor to the ESP8266 board: COIN to D6, SET (the lock wire) to D7, and GND to GND. The ground wire is not optional - without it the coin slot counts coins that were never inserted. The 12 V adapter runs the acceptor and the board together through the base board's DC socket.

   

4. Test it and put it in the box. Insert a real coin through the portal and watch it appear. Then drop a coin without tapping INSERT COIN: it must come back out - if it is taken, switch the lock the other way in Settings → Coinslot Hardware → Coin acceptor wiring on the router and tap Save to coin slot (coin slot 2.4 + AJKFi 3.45 or newer; older boards: on the board's setup page, hold its FLASH button 3 seconds). If coins go in but no time is credited, try the coin signal (D6) setting there the other way. The wires do not change. Then mount everything in the box and test one more coin. Swapping in a new board later: tap Pair new coin slot in Settings → Coinslot Hardware first.

06If it will not start

1. The power trick - this board cannot be bricked by a bad image. Switch it on and wait 10 seconds. Switch it off and wait 5 seconds. Do that three times. The bootloader gives up on the broken slot and starts the other one instead. No cable, no opening the case.
2. What you land on. Whatever was in the other slot - after stage 1 that is the Linksys firmware, and after stage 3 it is the OpenWrt 22.03.6 from stage 1, on http://192.168.1.1. From there you can simply flash the AJKFi file again. Keep the 22.03.6 file: it is the way back into a router that will not boot AJKFi.
3. Going back to Linksys for good. AJKFi has no OpenWrt page and no SSH of its own, so there is no way to do this from the router once AJKFi is running and the spare slot has been written over. Message us and bring it in - it is a few minutes on the bench.
4. Anything else. Message us on Facebook with a photo of the label and tell us which stage you reached. A second wrong step is what turns a fixable router into a repair job.

Stuck? Message us on Facebook with the model and a photo of the label before trying anything else - a second wrong step is what turns a fixable router into a repair job.

Get help Printable version

07The other routers