[SOLVED] bricked Netgear R7000 after update to 2023-01-15

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Tectonic Plates
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Joined: 02 Oct 2012
Posts: 65
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2023 19:21    Post subject: [SOLVED] bricked Netgear R7000 after update to 2023-01-15 Reply with quote
I reported in the New Build - 01/15/2023 - r51306 thread. Where anoother user has confirmed the 2023-01-15 firmware is working OK on the Netgear R7000 device.

Unfortunately it seems my Netgear R7000 has been bricked. After flash, the device reboots and the power LED is flashing alternately white/amber. Power cycle or pressing reset button did not improve. The thread "New Build - 01/15/2023 - r51306" is not meant for support so I hope it's Ok to ask for help in this new thread.

Context:

- Netgear R7000 was working OK as Wifi Access Point, with firmware from 2022-12-19

- Connected to another Netgear R7000 which is pure router (WiFi disabled) by an Ethernet cable. The cable connects both devices using their LAN ports.

- Flashed netgear-r7000-webflash.bin downloaded from 01-15-2023-r51306/netgear-r7000

- Option "After flashing = Do not reset"

I have flashed/updated DDWRT firmware many times. On multiple devices. This is the first time I got this problem. Not sure what was the cause. A search in the forum led to this thread R7000 Bricked after update, please help, I'm desperate. I wonder if this is relevant.

I am now beginning to read the related documentation. Would appreciate if you have any update and also the reason why a device got bricked.

EDIT: Got some guidances from the New Build - 01/15/2023 - r51306 thread. I will report here the solution if ever I succeed in de-bricking the device.


Last edited by Tectonic Plates on Sun Jan 15, 2023 23:53; edited 1 time in total
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blkt
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2023 22:05    Post subject: Reply with quote
Just in case, here is my guideless experience with the R7000's very brief boot time window for nmrpflash (or tftp).
Tectonic Plates
DD-WRT User


Joined: 02 Oct 2012
Posts: 65
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2023 23:47    Post subject: Reply with quote
Fixed! Using NRMPflash on Github. I basically follow the instructions in the README.

I was lucky that the device was somehow half-dead. In the sense that it responses to ping 192.168.1.1. Which is a sign of partial corruption. And fortunately seems to be recoverable using NMRPflash, without any need of special hardware (no serial cable, no need to open the device).

Here are the summary steps how I unbricked the Netgear R7000

- Download factory-to-dd-wrt.chk (01-15-2023-r51306) - NOTE: *.chk file (NOT the *.bin)

- Download nmrpflash 0.9.19 from Github. I used the Linux version.

- Set the IP address of the laptop to a static IP in the subnet 192.168.1.0/24. I choose 192.168.1.49, subnet mask: 255.255.255.0. NOTE: this step is not in the README of the NMRPflash Github repo. I think it is important to mention it here. Got this idea from Guide to unbricking v1.33 (eg Netgear R6400).pdf. This guide has some useful background info. But for the NMRPflash flashing instructions, the README on Github is more accurate.

- Connect the laptop top the R7000, LAN port #1. Using Ethernet cable.

- POWER OFF the Netgear R7000

- Follow the instructions on Github, nmrp README or README-R7000.md

- The commands I have used:

Code:

# List laptop network interfaces (this is a simplified version of "ip link")
./nmrpflash -L
                                       
enp0s31f6        192.168.1.49     aa:bb:cc:11:22:33
wlp4s0           0.0.0.0          50:60:70:80:90:a0

# Flash initial DDWRT Firmware (*.chk file)
# enp0s31f6 is the network interface of the laptop which is connected to the R7000
sudo ./nmrpflash -v -i enp0s31f6 -f ./factory-to-dd-wrt.chk

Waiting for Ethernet connection (Ctrl-C to skip).


- POWER ON the device, nmrpflash will continues its course. In my case the flashing took about 2 minutes. Until the console displays "Reboot your device now". Below is the console output

Code:
Adding 10.164.183.252 to interface enp0s31f6.
Advertising NMRP server on enp0s31f6 ... /
Received configuration request from 2c:30:33:48:bf:96.
Sending configuration: 10.164.183.253/24.
Received upload request without filename.
Using remote filename 'factory-to-dd-wrt.chk'.
Uploading factory-to-dd-wrt.chk ... OK (27316282 b)
Waiting for remote to respond.
Received keep-alive request (26).  
Remote finished. Closing connection.
Reboot your device now.


- Reboot your device now: which means Power off, wait 10 seconds, Power on. Then hardreset (hit the reset button for 7 to 10 secs, release when the power Led begins to light orange). Without the hard reset, the device is unresponsive.

- Connect to the device via: http://192.168.1.1

Thank you members @egc and in particular @bushant for your help in the thread New Build - 01/15/2023 - r51306
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