HackRF Portapack / SD Card Setup / Firmware Update / DFU Recovery

The HackRF Portapack is an impressive  handheld SDR transceiver capable of emulating   wireless remotes, tracking airplanes, decoding  wireless data and a lot more if you've just   received your Portapack you'll need to do  a few things to take full advantage of its   capabilities or if you're having problems  with your device this video might be helpful if you haven't watched my introduction  video on the HackRF Portapack watch that first this   video is for those of you who need to set your  HackRF Portapack up for the first time or having   troubles flashing the firmware onto the device the  video is divided into chapters to make it easier   to point people to the part that's relevant to  their situation chapter one basic information   the currently actively developed firmware for  the HackRF Portapack is called Mayhem since the   HackRF Portapack project is open source there  are several different Hardware manufacturers and   several slightly different variants available  there are some devices that are not supported   by the Mayhem firmware so check with the GitHub  Wiki to make sure you get a supported device the   HackRF Portapack is actually made from two  separately available circuit boards although they   can also be purchased as an assembled device  which is probably what you want the HackRF   board is originally designed to be used on its  own with SDR software on a computer connected   through USB the Portapack board adds a screen and  controls and enables HackRF to be used on the   go the assembled Portapack H2 devices comes  with a battery and a built-in charging circuit   to turn on your HackRF Portapack press  the rotary encoder once to turn it off press it   twice the battery level is indicated by four LEDs  surrounding the rotary encoder charge the battery   by plugging in a USB charger if you plug into a  computer it will take a very long time to charge   while charging the device will automatically  turn on and cannot be turned off until you unplug it when you get your HackRF Portapack  it most likely will come with some version   of Mayhem already installed but it probably  won't come with an SD card and you need an SD   card with the correct files on it to use a lot of  the features of the Portapack I'll get back to   how to set up your SD card for the first time in  chapter three of this video first I will cover   how to update your Portapack if you've already  previously set up your SD card and have an working   install of Mayhem on it that you just want to  update to the latest firmware version chapter   2 Mayhem hub web interface Mayhem Hub is a web  interface available at hackrf.app used for   controlling a HackRF Portapack connected with a  USB cable in the bottom left corner of the screen   of your Portapack is displayed what firmware  version of Mayhem is currently installed you   will need to be running firmware version 2 .0 or  nightly n_240114 or newer to use the Mayhem Hub if   you're running an older version of the firmware or  if you haven't set up your SD card yet skip ahead   to chapter 3 with Mayhem hub you can control your  HackRF Portapack and see a preview of the   screen you can upload and download files from it  you can run serial commands and you can update the   firmware of the device to update the firmware  scroll down and click on the manage firmware   button here you can choose if you want the stable  firmware release or if you want to try the   latest bleeding edge nightly firmware build simply  click one of the buttons and the Portapack will be   automatically updated and the new applications  will be loaded into the apps folder as well chapter three set up SD card and use  Flash utility if you've just received your   HackRF Portapack and you haven't yet set  up an SD card for it maybe you're using an   older version of Mayhem that isn't working with  Mayhem Hub or Mayhem Hub just isn't working for   you then this is what you need to do go to the  Portapack Mayhem GitHub and on the right side   you will see where it says releases click the  latest version here scroll to the bottom where   it says assets then click on the item that  says Mayhem V and the version number copy to   SD card do not download the files by cloning  or downloading the GitHub repository because   that folder does not contain the needed adsb map  for plane tracking you only get that if you download   from the releases page you now need to format  your SD card as a fat 32 device unzip the file   you've downloaded it contains a bunch of folders  named adsb AIS apps and so on all of these need to   be copied to the root of the SD card especially  the apps folder is important since many of the   applications on the Portapack are located within  this folder and will not appear if you don't have   an SD card inserted with this folder on it once  the files have been copied over you take your SD   card and insert it into the Portapack and turn  it on it can be a bit difficult to get the SD card   in and out if you don't have long fingernails so  I suggest using the stylus to make it easier in   the bottom left corner of the screen is displayed  what firmware version of Mayhem that is currently   installed if this version number matches the  version number of the files you've downloaded   to the SD card then you should now see that all of  the applications are available and you can start   using your Portapack if the version numbers  do match but you still do not see the missing   applications try using a different SD card and  make sure you formatted it as fat 32 and that   you've correctly put the folders in the root of  the SD card if the version numbers do not match   then the applications will be grayed out because the  applications on the SD card can only run on the   firmware version they are specifically made for  and you will have to update to that firmware to   do this simply navigate to the utilities menu on  the Portapack and select The Flash utility you   will now be presented by the contents of the  firmware folder on the SD card and by default   the files you've downloaded will contain the  release version binary of the firmware which   you can select on this screen to install it  will take a few seconds and the device should   reboot and you should now be able of using  your hacker with Portapack and all of its applications chapter 4 flashing through  USB if you are for some reason unable to   use the build-in flash utility on the Portapack  here's what to try next this guide assumes that   you're using Windows go to the Portapack  Mayhem GitHub and on the right side you will   see where it says releases click the latest  version here scroll to the bottom where it   says assets download the file named Mayhem V  and the version number firmware unip the file   and open the folder at this point you need to  pluck your hacker with Portapack into your   computer using a USB cable when you plug in  your Portapack the version of Mayhem that   is already installed should be booting up  just like when you turn it on normally if   Mayhem isn't installed or not working at all  Jump Ahead in this video to chapter 5 about   dfu recovery but for now we will assume that  Mayhem is working on the Portapack navigate   to the menu item called HackRF and press it  and click yes on your computer you can now run   the file named flash_portapack_mayhem.bat  and press any key to begin the process once the   process has finished unplug the USB cable and the  Portapack should now reboot into a working Mayhem   firmware if you manage to successfully install  the firmware remember that you still need to   copy over the SD card files from the releases  page as explained in chapter 3 especially the   apps folder to make sure that you have the  correct version of the apps installed if the   update cannot connect to your device and you're  sure that it is plugged in and in HackRF   mode try a different cable where you might need to  install the driver which is included in the driver folder chapter 5 dfu recovery if all else  has failed so far don't worry it is basically   impossible to software break the HackRF because you can always do a DFU recovery even   if you don't have a working install of Mayhem  on the device this is how this guide assumes   that you're using Windows go to the Portapack Mayhem GitHub and on the right side you   will see where it says releases click the latest  version here scroll to the button where it says   assets download the file named Mayhem V and the  version number firmware unzip the file and open   the folder unplug and turn off your Portapack on the top of the Portapack there are   two buttons the one closest to the middle is the  DFU button hold down this button while plugging   your Portapack into the computer using a USB  cable the green LED on the top should light up   but the screen should remain black now run  the dfu_hackrf_one.bat file from the firmware   folder that you've downloaded previously press  any key to begin the DFU process for now just   ignore any warnings that you might get do not  disconnect the Portapack once the procedure is   done while the Portapack remains connected now run  flash_portapack_mayhem.bat and press any key   to begin the process once this is finished  unplug your Portapack and it should reboot   into a working Mayhem firmware if you manage to  successfully install the firmware remember that   you still need to copy over the SD card files  from the releases page as explained in chapter   3 especially the apps folder to make sure that you  have the correct version of the apps installed if   it doesn't work try installing the driver located  in the driver folder or try using a different USB cable chapter six other troubleshooting  hopefully you should by now have a fully   functioning HackRF Portapack but if you are  experiencing unstable behavior or some apps are   not working as they're supposed to there's  still a couple of things that you could try   if you experience the screen turning off when  transmitting this actually isn't a bug but a   feature it's called stealth mode and is toggled  by pressing the little detective icon in the top   bar if you want to avoid accidentally enabling  this feature go to settings user interface and   here you can choose what icons are shown or  hidden in the top bar the portter pack has   a small real time clock button cell battery  on it that keeps not only time but also some   settings variables difference between firmware  versions of this persistent memory might cause   issues you can reset the persistent memory by  navigating to settings and selecting P memory   management here you can select reset P memory  to defaults another thing you can try is to   update the cpld chip on the hackrf I won't go  through this procedure in this video as it is a   bit more involved and it will require you to set  up an environment for running the hackrf command   line tools you can read how to do this along with  other troubleshooting guides on the Mayhem GitHub Wiki I hope this video has been helpful in getting  your hacker with portter pack up and running but   if you're still having problems come on over to  the Mayhem Discord and we will try and help you there

Channel: sn0ren

Views: 16,934

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Id: qM7Q9IidK2o

Length: 12min 4sec (724 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 05 2024