[gilds]

I am new to DD WRT and am loving it. But I ran into an issue and don't know how to fix it. I have flashed my Netgear R8500 from stock firmware to 36070M kongac using Kong's CHK file. All worked well for a couple of days. Then the 2.4 GHz physical interface vanished (and the WiFi configured for that as well). I've tried the latest test build (36440M) but it was no different. So now I am back to 36070M and right after flashing, rebooting, configuring username and password for the router I can see all three interfaces. The next time I boot (even without changing settings) only the two 5 GHz interfaces remain.

I also noticed that the 2.4 GHz's interface did not have a radio button selection for bridging. And even after enabling or disabling bridging and hitting save and apply the radio button would return to it's unselected state.

I have made a backup of the settings right after flashing but when I restore from this backup still only 2 interfaces do show up.

So it seems that only on the first boot after flashing a new firmware I will see all 3 interfaces.

I don't see any errors in the Syslog. Any ideas or help is greatly appreciated.

I bought the router in Australia (where it is used) but am using the UNITED_STATES regulatory domain - not sure if this is relevant.

Thanks!

[Malachi]

Known issue with the r8500. I had 6 or 7 with missing bands. Return it and get something else. Not an r7000p, it has the same issue.

[gilds]

Thanks for your reply. Does that mean it's a hardware defect of my unit or is it just not fully compatible with DD-WRT (or vice versa)?

Are there any workarounds maybe?

Is there a way to put the stock firmware back on? I am worried that I might not be able to return it if it has a different firmware...

Thanks again!

[Malachi]

Hardware failure. Just upload the Netgear firmware through the update page.

[gilds]

Really appreciate your help! I downloaded the most recent firmware from Netgear's website. But it's a CHK file not a BIN file and I tried to flash it through DD-WRTs firmware update GUI but it just froze. After rebooting it's still on the DD-WRT firmware.

Should that work with a CHK firmware?

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[kernel-panic69]

https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/TFTP_flash

Or you may have to put it in recovery mode and flash the stock firmware that way. Malachi would probably know for sure, but that is my input.

[Malachi]

It doesn’t have a recovery mode. Reset it while on dd-wrt and try again. It should flash.

[gilds]

I tried again and unfortunately it doesn't work. The DD-WRT GUI shows a progress bar and then goes into a HTTP error. Then nothing happens even if I wait for 10 minutes or so. Then I disconnect the power, wait 1 minute, reconnect and it comes up with DD-WRT again.

It looses the DD-WRT settings everytime but that is probably because I select to "revert to default settings after flashing" in the firmware upgrade window.

Is there some other way to flash the Netgear original CHK firmware to the router?

I tried the TFTP way but that didn't work either. From the Wiki it seems to be a timing thing so I could try a couple of more times.

Any other idea?

[Malachi]

Try a different browser. If not, serial flashing. Or command line.
You could transfer the firmware to the router using winscp then flashing it that way.

[gilds]

Thanks Malachi. I've tried Chrome and Firefox with identical results. I then copied the firmware file to /tmp using WinSCP. I ran the following command in Putty:

[gilds]

OK, I tried another thing to no avail:

[Malachi]

Try older r8500 firmware. Like maybe the first one on their site.

[gilds]

Thanks for your help! I did succeed to flash with TFTP after a couple of tries. I now have the netgear firmware on the router and will return it.

Thanks again!