Aceex/Jetway AR11 ADSL Router
These routers were supplied by my ISP, Force 9, to people requesting a wires-only ADSL startup pack with a router. Not that you'd know it, however, as there is nothing to indicate manufacturer or model number on either the packaging box or the router itself. This proved something of a problem when I managed to configure the router in such a way that I not only locked myself out of having internet access, but I also locked myself out of both the telnet and http interface to the router configuration screens!
Here, then, is the way to reset one of these routers back to factory defaults if you've managed to be daft enough to lock yourself out.
Firstly you need the serial cable that comes with the router. Connect this between your PC and the router. Now turn off the router.
While the router is still off, fire up Hyperterminal, or some other terminal emulation software. Create a new connection with the following settings:
- Connect using: Direct to com1 (or com2, com3, etc)
- Bits per second: 115200
- Data bits: 8
- Parity: None
- Stop bits: 1
- Flow control: None
Once you've done that, connect it. Yes, the router should still be off at this point. Once Hyperterminal tells you that it's connected, then you can turn on the router, and the configuration menu should appear. Press the space bar to get into the standard menu and from there is an option to reset the router to factory defaults. Yay, mission accomplished!
It's vital to ensure that the router is off whilst you set up and connect your terminal program, as it will not respond to a new connection once it's already booted up. This small piece of information took me a good couple of hours of frustration to work out, so I hope that by putting the details down here it'll save someone else the same aggro!
For the record, here is a link to the Aceex AR11 ADSL Router official website. Wow, an update: someone recently emailed me to say that the above link no longer works. However Aceex seem to have put together a slightly better set of support pages and the correct link is now here. However most people will most likely be interested in the support pages which have, amongst other things, the manual for the router and firmware updates available for download. They also have two AR11 models now -- the AR11/2 and the AR11/9. Mine is an AR11/2 although I suspect that some or all of the information here would apply to the other one, too. I've also noticed that another Taiwanese company, Jetway, seems to be selling the exact same product, even down to the AR11 designation. They same to have even less information available than Aceex!
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There seem to be very few technical details about these routers generally available on the internet. I know they use an Alcatel MTK150 chipset internally, because that's what the router reports when queried. However that's not particularly useful either, as a Google search for Alcatel MTK150 doesn't actually return any results! This chipset appears to be based around a 48MHz Motorola MPC850 CPU which is a general-purpose comms chip.
Hunting around on various websites, I've come across references to an Alcatel MTK-20150 ADSL chipset which may or may not be the one used by the Aceex router. It's also hard to get full details as Acatel seem to like locking their customers into NDAs.
Apart from the basic manual that comes with the router, and which is also available for download from the Aceex website address mentioned above, about the only other documentation I have found to help with setting up this router comes from my ISP. Although they only supplied this as their default router for a couple of months in 2002, they still have the documentation available (alternatively it's available as a PDF document). The information in this is obviously specific to setting up the router to connect to F9 but could be easily adapted for any other ISP. Note that although the documents say "Alcatel Router" setup guide that simply refers to the chipset and these are the correct guides for the AR11.
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Well much to my surprise, this seems to have become one of the most-accessed pages on this site, probably because in recent weeks the AR11 has been for sale at ridiculously low prices in the UK, and because there seems to be very little other information about it out there. I'm always looking to increase and improve the details I've got on this page so if you have any feedback, tips, or criticisms (!) please email me at ar11.router[_At_]deepsea.force9.co.uk. Thanks!
