You don't follow the bouncing ball very well, do you? The instructions are linked a few posts up. Just don't do the 30-30-30 before or after flashing. All you *should* have to do is press and hold the reset button for 10 seconds in TP-Link firmware prior to flashing via the TP-Link webUI. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99g44LJOCnI
Well, that didn't work....
Seemed to flash ok, but is now stuck in the bootloop upon restart....
Is there an easy (non-supertechie) way I can fix this now please?
Cheers,
Rick
EDIT: Tried the TFTP reset, and whilst it seems to upload the file, it doesn't work, and just stays in the bootloop.
EDIT: Tried the TFTP reset, and whilst it seems to upload the file, it doesn't work, and just stays in the bootloop.
Did you use the right file? you need to use Factory to DD-wrt.IMG and not Bin.... screen capture shows bin file was used. TFTP only allows IMG files.
I was trying to perform a TFTP Recovery from the bootloop after the DD-WRT flash failed. According to the pages I read, I needed the factory firmware renamed with the suffix _tp_recovery.bin.
I did this, and it appeared to do something, but didn't recover from the bootloop.
Ok, after MUCH faffing about, I have recovered the TP-Link firmware, but it absolutely will NOT accept the DD-WRT firmware. It loads the firmware, I can browse to the IP and it says that the default router password is too weak, and I must change it.
But when I enter it and click save, it just stays on that page, and a powercycle of the router causes it to go into the bootloop again.
Luckily (?) the TP-Link firmware is utilising the PureVPN credentials, so the VPN server is working ok?
I've checked my Geolocation and WhatismyIP and both come back to me being in a completely different country.
Joined: 21 Jan 2017 Posts: 1101 Location: Illinois Moderator
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2019 13:19 Post subject:
sectarian wrote:
Ok, after MUCH faffing about, I have recovered the TP-Link firmware, but it absolutely will NOT accept the DD-WRT firmware. It loads the firmware, I can browse to the IP and it says that the default router password is too weak, and I must change it.
But when I enter it and click save, it just stays on that page, and a powercycle of the router causes it to go into the bootloop again.
Luckily (?) the TP-Link firmware is utilising the PureVPN credentials, so the VPN server is working ok?
I've checked my Geolocation and WhatismyIP and both come back to me being in a completely different country.
Hopefully, that is ok?
Sorry for the wrong instructions about using an IMG file...I was very wrong in the advice, and I'm glad you got it sorted. I was stuck in Netgear/Linksys advice mode when replying to use an IMG file.
Joined: 21 Jan 2017 Posts: 1101 Location: Illinois Moderator
Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2019 13:11 Post subject:
msoengineer wrote:
I have a similar Archer A7 coming from eBay today for a friend...I'll be able to compare my experience more directly soon...
OK the Archer A7 came in off ebay with it's settings reset to factory/stock with the following F/W on it:
Code:
Archer A7v5
1.0.4 Build 20180424 rel.68521(5553)
All I did was go and grab the lastest build with the "Factory to DD" name and loaded it on straight away. Waited for TP-Link's stupid web interface to complete, they must program the timer to something long like 5+ minutes...I walked away after the 2 minute pt.... when I got back, I refreshed my webpage, and Viola, DD-WRT is on the router. Was forced to enter a new username and password and then immediately went into admin settings to factory reset dd-wrt. Once that was done, loaded the settings and trialed the router to make sure it worked...Works just fine....
So the Archer A7 is a clone of the C7v5, but it's made exclusive for Amazon. The only difference is the header portion of the firmware between the two.
Joined: 21 Jan 2017 Posts: 1101 Location: Illinois Moderator
Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2019 22:25 Post subject:
msoengineer wrote:
I have a similar Archer A7 coming from eBay today for a friend...I'll be able to compare my experience more directly soon...
OK the Archer A7 came in off ebay with it's settings reset to factory/stock with the following F/W on it:
Code:
Archer A7v5
1.0.4 Build 20180424 rel.68521(5553)
All I did was go and grab the lastest build with the "Factory to DD" name and loaded it on straight away. Waited for TP-Link's stupid web interface to complete, they must program the timer to something long like 5+ minutes...I walked away after the 2 minute pt.... when I got back, I refreshed my webpage, and Viola, DD-WRT is on the router. Was forced to enter a new username and password and then immediately went into admin settings to factory reset dd-wrt. Once that was done, loaded the settings and trialed the router to make sure it worked...Works just fine....
So the Archer A7 is a clone of the C7v5, but it's made exclusive for Amazon. The only difference is the header portion of the firmware between the two.
Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 6620 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2019 1:53 Post subject:
Well sh*t, I missed all the fun. You may wish to roll back to an older version of stock firmware, there could be issues. That's about all I can think of. @MSO, so the A series is an Amazon version of the C series? Makes me wonder, someone was asking about an A7 or A9 v5 in another thread.
Hi everybody, just bought this router a couple of days ago with DD-WRT running.
Something went wrong trying to revert to stock firmware, device got bricked.
Stripped firmware via TFTP seems to work, router reboots. LEDs on front panel don't flash anymore, just the LAN port the laptop is connected to stays solid green (flashes in case of ARP queries).
But still I can't get access to the web GUI, I guess the Archer doesn't even get an IP address.
Is there something I forgot?
Sorry that I posted my reply in this topic, seemed to be the proper one for this kind of problem.
Thanks in advance for your useful replies!
