AJKFi · AJK Computer Repair Services

Linksys: set up your PisoWiFi

EA8300 · Three stages: OpenWrt 22.03.6, one typed command, then AJKFi. A PC and an SSH window are needed.

Firmware 3.84.1 · coin slot 2.9 · guide of 2026-10-29 · Negros Oriental, Philippines

Six steps
  1. Flash AJKFi
  2. Activate
  3. Set the admin password
  4. Name your Wi-Fi
  5. Connect the coin slot
  6. If it will not start

1. Flash AJKFi

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

EA8300

Stage 1. This exact version, uploaded in the Linksys page. A newer OpenWrt file here will not start.

File
openwrt-22.03.6-ipq40xx-generic-linksys_ea8300-squashfs-factory.bin
Size
8,782,080 bytes
Check code
f128bd3081217cfc7bd8a09c532ba0c0

Stage 3. Flashed from the OpenWrt page, after the command in stage 2.

File
AJKFi-LINKSYS_ea8300_pisowifi-v3.84.1-factory.bin
Size
16,910,336 bytes
Check code
89263f33ef4ad180ebb0b7e8e87690a2

Download this model's files: ajkfi.com/download/fw-ea8300
Everything in that folder is for this router and no other. Always take the highest version number in it.

Three radios on this one

One 2.4 GHz and two 5 GHz. The first 5 GHz reaches channel 64 and below, the second channel 100 and above, so between them they cover the whole band. All three come up as AJK PISOWIFI by themselves.

  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.
Stage 2: a space, never an equals sign

It is fw_setenv kernsize 500000. Typing fw_setenv kernsize=500000 stops the router starting in a way no button fixes - it needs the case opened and a serial cable. Copy and paste it if you can. This is the only step on this router that cannot be undone.

This image has not been flashed on a real EA8300 yet

It is built and every check on it passed, but no router has run it. Do your first one where you can watch it, not on a machine already out earning. If it does not start, step 06 brings it back - this board keeps a second firmware slot, so a bad image is recoverable without opening anything.

Stage 1 must be 22.03.6, not a newer OpenWrt

A newer OpenWrt file in the Linksys page will not start: its kernel is bigger than the 3 MB the bootloader reads until stage 2 fixes that. Use the file named above and nothing else.

Keeping the Linksys firmware? Decide before stage 3

The router holds two firmware slots and moves to the other one each time you flash. The Linksys firmware survives stage 1 in the spare slot, and stage 3 writes over it. After that, going back means bringing it to us.

Still showing the old version after a flash?

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + R on a computer (or clear the browser cache on a phone) - the browser may be showing the old pages it saved.

2. Still old? The router was updated online before, and flashing through Breed does not clear those saved update files, so they hide the new firmware. Do System → Factory reset once, then activate again. (Flashing from OpenWrt with Keep settings unticked clears them by itself.)

2. Activate

  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.

3. Set 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.

4. Name 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.

5. Connect the coin slot

Flashing the coin slot board
Serial port, firmware file, 115200, DIO, erase, then Flash.
  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.
    Coin slot wiring
    Red and black go to the base board's DC socket with the 12 V adapter. White is COIN to D6. Yellow is SET, the lock wire, to D7. Ground must be shared.
  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.

6. If 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.