R7000P freeze, then boot and serial flash/install fails

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FlowControl
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 27 Jul 2018
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Fri Jul 27, 2018 20:31    Post subject: R7000P freeze, then boot and serial flash/install fails Reply with quote
Summary: installed Kong dd-wrt on a new Netgear R7000P, per directions at https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Netgear_R7000P, with no problems. After full configuration, all was fine and performance was impressive. Per logs, six hours later, the router froze; it failed to recover via reboots and hard resets. Using CFE and tftp, serial uploads of the Kong chk file and stock Netgear firmware are successful, the installs start but then fail some distance into the procedure.

I am seeking advice and recommendations on how to proceed. It does not matter whether I get back to stock or back to Kong, my first goal is to revive the router. Once there, I'll go back to working on dd-wrt and the cause of the crash. From what I have read, because I was unable to reflash from within dd-wrt due to the router freeze/crash, I assume it's a bootloader complication preventing the install of uploaded files.

I wanted to start with this basic inquiry in case I've missed glaringly obvious directions for recovery from a sudden crash of a Kong build. CFE logs are attached.


----- Details -----

Netgear R7000P (no version number on the label; FCC ID PY316200351)

Using a Win7 pc, with XP, 8 and 10 available on other boxes. About 15 devices on the network, including two 2.4GHz wireless access points.

Pre dd-wrt, the most recent Netgear firmware (R7000P-V1.3.1.44_10.1.23) was installed, fully configured and was operational. No known problems, but it was used for just an hour or so before proceeding to dd-wrt. No other firmware, custom or otherwise, was attempted prior to dd-wrt install.

Followed dd-wrt install directions at https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Netgear_R7000P by flashing dd-wrt.K3_R7000P.chk (Kong) and upgrading to dd-wrt.v24-K3_AC_ARM_R7000P.bin (Kong).

Saved a backup of cfe.bin.

Fully configured dd-wrt on the router as needed. WAN, wired and wifi performance and operations were all fine, no hiccups. All router lights on and normal.

I went away and came back eight hours later to find the network non-responsive and the router frozen.

When the router froze, lights on included power and WAN (both solid white), and wifi status ((.)) and WPS, both solid white. All other lights were off, whereas all lights were on during pre-freeze operation.

The router was rebooted, without success. After a couple of attempted reboots and hard resets (the latter yielding no router response), lights status had changed to one light only, wifi status ((.)) solid white.

Pings from a Win8.1 machine yielded intermittent TTL=100s at router boot.

Flash attempts at boot using tftp2.exe and Win tftp at router boot failed, for both the Kong chk file and the stock Netgear firmware file. The files appeared to upload, but with no apparent router status change. tftp2 would do so without yielding messages, and tftp would yield a fail message pointing at the server, clear as mud. I assume the installs were failing as found in serial recovery attempts below.

I used a Moyina USB to TTL FT232RL Adapter to continue via serial recovery.

Pinout was problematic. R7000P references are sparse. I assumed it would be the same as the R7000, via here

https://www.myopenrouter.com/article/how-debrick-or-recover-netgear-r7000-r6300v2-or-r6250-wi-fi-routers

and here

https://www.myopenrouter.com/imagelib/contentitem/52395/11d1def534ea1be0--4f661481-141fb6b637a--35b4-1765987023.jpg

This is not correct for this R7000P, which tested out as

[RxD] [TxD] [GND] [3.3]

as viewed from the front of the router. Once I got the pins straight, using PuTTY, I gained access to CFE via Cntrl-C. The accessing Win7 pc, connected to ethernet port 1 and the only device connected, was configured with

IP = 192.168.1.2
subnet = 255.255.2550
default gateway=192.168.1.1
preferred and alternate dns are blank

Antivirus off, firewall off.

Using Win tftp to flash.

Figuring that the recovery routes would be serial flashes of dd-wrt.K3_R7000P.chk (Kong) and/or Netgear stock R7000P-V1.3.1.44_10.1.23, I proceeded. Each flash attempt was preceeded by "nvram erase" and "reboot" commands in CFE.

Each file will upload, but the install breaks for each. Clearly there are logged errors, which are Greek to me. From the Kong chk file flash (log file attached),

-----
cannot open /dev/nvram
cannot open /dev/nvram
udevtrigger[367]: parse_config_file: can't open '/etc/udev/udev.conf' as config file: No such file or directory
.
.
.
External imprecise Data abort at addr=0x8a300000, fsr=0x1406, pc=0x7f45c620 lr=0x7f46575c ignored.
[Install froze at this point]
-----


and from the Netgear firmware flash (log file attached)


-----
insmod: bcm57xx.ko: no module by that name found
[Install froze at this point]
-----

I tried serial flashing the previous four Netgear firmware versions, to no avail - same "insmod: bcm57xx.ko...: error message."

I tried serial flashing d-wrt.v24-K3_AC_ARM_R7000P.bin (Kong), which I understood would probably not work, and it did not. It stops during the install process, searching for "vmlinuz" from 192.168.1.2.

Along the way, I tried again by adding "nvram commit" commands prior to uploads for both the Kong chk file and the Netgear firmware, and results did not change.

In the background, I am keeping in mind general router owner comments out there - some have reported that standard Netgear firmware upgrades are "bricking" R7000Ps, and often the owners are simply walking the routers back to where they were purchased and moving on.

Any suggestions, recommendations or guidance about how to proceed will be greatly appreciated.



CFElog_NetgearFirmware_chkFlash.txt
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 Filename:  CFElog_NetgearFirmware_chkFlash.txt
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CFElog_Kong_chkFlash.txt
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 Filename:  CFElog_Kong_chkFlash.txt
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<Kong>
DD-WRT Guru


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Posts: 4339
Location: Germany

PostPosted: Fri Jul 27, 2018 22:57    Post subject: Re: R7000P freeze, then boot and serial flash/install fails Reply with quote
FlowControl wrote:
Summary: installed Kong dd-wrt on a new Netgear R7000P, per directions at https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Netgear_R7000P, with no problems. After full configuration, all was fine and performance was impressive. Per logs, six hours later, the router froze; it failed to recover via reboots and hard resets. Using CFE and tftp, serial uploads of the Kong chk file and stock Netgear firmware are successful, the installs start but then fail some distance into the procedure.

I am seeking advice and recommendations on how to proceed. It does not matter whether I get back to stock or back to Kong, my first goal is to revive the router. Once there, I'll go back to working on dd-wrt and the cause of the crash. From what I have read, because I was unable to reflash from within dd-wrt due to the router freeze/crash, I assume it's a bootloader complication preventing the install of uploaded files.

I wanted to start with this basic inquiry in case I've missed glaringly obvious directions for recovery from a sudden crash of a Kong build. CFE logs are attached.


----- Details -----

Netgear R7000P (no version number on the label; FCC ID PY316200351)

Using a Win7 pc, with XP, 8 and 10 available on other boxes. About 15 devices on the network, including two 2.4GHz wireless access points.

Pre dd-wrt, the most recent Netgear firmware (R7000P-V1.3.1.44_10.1.23) was installed, fully configured and was operational. No known problems, but it was used for just an hour or so before proceeding to dd-wrt. No other firmware, custom or otherwise, was attempted prior to dd-wrt install.

Followed dd-wrt install directions at https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Netgear_R7000P by flashing dd-wrt.K3_R7000P.chk (Kong) and upgrading to dd-wrt.v24-K3_AC_ARM_R7000P.bin (Kong).

Saved a backup of cfe.bin.

Fully configured dd-wrt on the router as needed. WAN, wired and wifi performance and operations were all fine, no hiccups. All router lights on and normal.

I went away and came back eight hours later to find the network non-responsive and the router frozen.

When the router froze, lights on included power and WAN (both solid white), and wifi status ((.)) and WPS, both solid white. All other lights were off, whereas all lights were on during pre-freeze operation.

The router was rebooted, without success. After a couple of attempted reboots and hard resets (the latter yielding no router response), lights status had changed to one light only, wifi status ((.)) solid white.

Pings from a Win8.1 machine yielded intermittent TTL=100s at router boot.

Flash attempts at boot using tftp2.exe and Win tftp at router boot failed, for both the Kong chk file and the stock Netgear firmware file. The files appeared to upload, but with no apparent router status change. tftp2 would do so without yielding messages, and tftp would yield a fail message pointing at the server, clear as mud. I assume the installs were failing as found in serial recovery attempts below.

I used a Moyina USB to TTL FT232RL Adapter to continue via serial recovery.

Pinout was problematic. R7000P references are sparse. I assumed it would be the same as the R7000, via here

https://www.myopenrouter.com/article/how-debrick-or-recover-netgear-r7000-r6300v2-or-r6250-wi-fi-routers

and here

https://www.myopenrouter.com/imagelib/contentitem/52395/11d1def534ea1be0--4f661481-141fb6b637a--35b4-1765987023.jpg

This is not correct for this R7000P, which tested out as

[RxD] [TxD] [GND] [3.3]

as viewed from the front of the router. Once I got the pins straight, using PuTTY, I gained access to CFE via Cntrl-C. The accessing Win7 pc, connected to ethernet port 1 and the only device connected, was configured with

IP = 192.168.1.2
subnet = 255.255.2550
default gateway=192.168.1.1
preferred and alternate dns are blank

Antivirus off, firewall off.

Using Win tftp to flash.

Figuring that the recovery routes would be serial flashes of dd-wrt.K3_R7000P.chk (Kong) and/or Netgear stock R7000P-V1.3.1.44_10.1.23, I proceeded. Each flash attempt was preceeded by "nvram erase" and "reboot" commands in CFE.

Each file will upload, but the install breaks for each. Clearly there are logged errors, which are Greek to me. From the Kong chk file flash (log file attached),

-----
cannot open /dev/nvram
cannot open /dev/nvram
udevtrigger[367]: parse_config_file: can't open '/etc/udev/udev.conf' as config file: No such file or directory
.
.
.
External imprecise Data abort at addr=0x8a300000, fsr=0x1406, pc=0x7f45c620 lr=0x7f46575c ignored.
[Install froze at this point]
-----


and from the Netgear firmware flash (log file attached)


-----
insmod: bcm57xx.ko: no module by that name found
[Install froze at this point]
-----

I tried serial flashing the previous four Netgear firmware versions, to no avail - same "insmod: bcm57xx.ko...: error message."

I tried serial flashing d-wrt.v24-K3_AC_ARM_R7000P.bin (Kong), which I understood would probably not work, and it did not. It stops during the install process, searching for "vmlinuz" from 192.168.1.2.

Along the way, I tried again by adding "nvram commit" commands prior to uploads for both the Kong chk file and the Netgear firmware, and results did not change.

In the background, I am keeping in mind general router owner comments out there - some have reported that standard Netgear firmware upgrades are "bricking" R7000Ps, and often the owners are simply walking the routers back to where they were purchased and moving on.

Any suggestions, recommendations or guidance about how to proceed will be greatly appreciated.


Looks like a bad radio chip. In both cases it fails, when trying to iit the radio.

_________________
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FlowControl
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 27 Jul 2018
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Fri Jul 27, 2018 23:38    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thank you very much for the prompt reply. And thank you, Kong, for what is clearly a great deal of excellent work on your part.
Malachi
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 17 Jul 2012
Posts: 7209
Location: Columbus, Ohio

PostPosted: Sat Jul 28, 2018 0:27    Post subject: Reply with quote
Same problem I had with the multiple r8500 and r7000p.
Bad hardware by Netgear.

_________________
I am far from a guru, I'm barely a novice.
bclub1378
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 31 Dec 2018
Posts: 5

PostPosted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 15:01    Post subject: Re: R7000P freeze, then boot and serial flash/install fails Reply with quote
"Looks like a bad radio chip. In both cases it fails, when trying to iit the radio."

I have the exact same problem. I thought it might be a board id problem, since the actual board is stamped U12H270T22 instead of the U12H270T20 which is in the firmware.

So, bottom line...this is beyond (firmware/NAND) repair?

Thanks,
Jon
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