i'm interested in upgrading my Archer C8 V1 myself so i guess it would be good practise to make a backup first
i don't know how to make a EPROM Dump - do you have a link how to ?
you must to desolder the flash memory from the board. do you have the tools ?
also, you need to have a spi writer/reader 3.3v ( raspberry pi or other )
Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2020 21:30 Post subject: Re: Tp-link Archer C8 - bricked
Hi,
epyshor
Have you managed to fix that C8?
Can you send me a full dump if you have please?
Preferably with the stock firmware on it.
I have screwed up my boot loader too.
Why do you have to desolder it?
Can you not read write the flash on the board?
Can I just solder wires on the legs without removing the chip?
what happens if you connect to the router via lan cable and run wireshark?
Can you see any output looking for tftp?
Hi
I've been playing cowboy style desperately trying to revert dd-wrt to stock. I have tried a few things and at one point the router has a stock Archer C9 firmware on it that actually was working (I only briefly tested it though) but I kept playing around trying to make it a C8 again and finally I have killed it.
At the moment there is a different CFE on the device than originally. Don't ask me how it got there
Through serial terminal I can see the CFE starts its thing but halts with a message:
Waiting for reset button release...
I have managed to throw the wrong CFE on it as it looks and it expects a different hardware with the reset button on a different pin hence it thinks something is holding the reset button.
And I'm lucky the factory fitted smoke has not been released yet.
CTRL+C doesn't cancel the booting process because the CFE halts before it gets there.
I have a save of my original CFE but there is no jtag header on the motherboard and I couldn't find much info how to trace the PCB for possible solder points.
Wireshark shows no signs of life either.
So yeah I think I'll have to get a flash dump from someone or buy another router.
I have played around with the C8 a lot to figure out a way of reverting it to stock without the need of taking the router apart and here is what I found working.
PLEASE NOTE! Flashing the bootloader can BRICK your router and the only 2 ways of recovering (JTAG or flashing chip with external programmer) they both involve taking it apart and a lot of headache. It is also not recommended to flash the CFE bootloader through SSH/telnet/webGUI and this is the very thing we are going to do here! Although this worked for me it may not going to work for you so DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK!
3. You need to run some terminal commands and you have 3 ways of doing that:
- SSH connection
- Telnet connection
- through ddwrt webGUI ( Administration-> Commands )
The first command saves the current CFE from your router and the following 3 will flash the new one.
Be sure include the ; at the end of each line as the webGUI has a bug. Without the ; it will mess up the commands.
(192.168.?.??? is the tftp server IP address)