[ballena]

Hello,

Due to me being braindead early one morning, I have bricked my very nice WNDR4300.

I bricked it by trying to set up a TOR relay, using the web-interface. Once I clicked on the 'apply' button, there was no more internet connection.

And there was no more 192.168.1.1, and likewise I could not ssh into the box. And to add yet more misery, I unset the reset button option. Yes, braindead, wasn't it?

Thus, is there anyway I could unbrick this very nice device? I would hate to lose it due to my own stupidity.

ta, b.

I will try this:

http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/19841

[ballena]

I've tried with tftp and atfp. And this is what happened:

ash.bin 192.168.1.1
Option mode = octet
Verbose mode on.
timeout: retrying...
timeout: retrying...
timeout: retrying...
timeout: retrying...
timeout: retrying...
timeout: retrying...
tftp: aborting

Thus, the router is now totally unresponsive. The web-interface and ssh both don't work as well.

Is this router now bricked? It seems rather harsh that TOR could do this.

[jwoods]

Have you tried doing a 30-30-30 reset?

Even thought these videos were done using a different router, the steps used to unbrick it may work for you.

How to find out the name of the file the router is looking for...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plaxiiSKlJI&index=32&list=PLnxXRLSlmSVNiENiN9wTejP6dtIqqmTya

Then, follow the steps in this video that the poster uses...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hWT35w6sVI&feature=youtu.be&list=PLnxXRLSlmSVNiENiN9wTejP6dtIqqmTya

If that doesn't work, you may need to use a serial connection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t35Pei_eb6o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCwBvoueBG4

[ballena]

Yes, I've tried the 30/30/30 reset. But since I disabled the reset button, it's not working.

Thanks for the serial links, I will have a good look at those.

This has been a very good learning experience, but a very painful one.

Moral of the story: don't disable the reset button when messing around.

[tatsuya46]

do..

1. download required stock firmware .img for the router from netgear, i would take an old version such as the "initial version" on their site to avoid any possible extra complex issues that could happen..

2. rename it to something short like stock.img (not stock.img.img)

3. place it on desktop

4. open cmd with admin rights if u have uac on, type "cd desktop"

5. have the pc plugged into any of the router's lan ports, IT MUST BE PLUGGED IN FIRST BEFORE STEP 6.

6. turn off router by switch, hold down reset button & keep holding it down till the power led flashes GREEN, it will flash orange first for a few seconds. turn on router & wait for flashing green.

7. set a static ip to the pc of 192.168.1.3, subnetmask 255.255.255.0, gateway 192.168.1.1

8. in the cmd prompt enter "tftp -i 192.168.1.1 put stock.img"

it should say transferred whatever bytes, if so its flashing, let it reboot into stock fw. now remove the static ip on the pc so dhcp takes over again. once u see stock fw is running on it. do the triple 30 reset with reset button. this has nothing to do with wiping stock settings, its to wipe ur locked out ddwrt settings as once ddwrt is put back on it it likes to remember the nvram it was using before, stock fw doesnt always use same locations for it.

when thats done & stock fw reboots & is running again, repeat the steps above to tftp, just do it with the ddwrt factory.img file instead.

[Malachi]

Number 6. You told him to turn off the router, then hold the reset button in till the led flashes.
He will be waiting forever. It will neve flash if the router is off.

[ballena]

Hey Guys,

Thanks so much for all of your advice.

Finally, it took the Netgear FW file (which it wasn't doing before) and the Netgear FW is now again installed.

Yes, it was a painful experience. But I'm very grateful to everyone who replied here, as I did learn a lot (especially, what not to do).

Someday I would like to try the UART soldering as well, since I will need it someday soon, no doubt.

tftp> binary
tftp> put stock.img
Sent 12189829 bytes in 10.3 seconds
tftp> quit

that was such a relief ...

[tatsuya46]

[Malachi]

6. turn off router by switch, hold down reset button & keep holding it down, power on the router while holding in the reset button till the power led flashes GREEN, it will flash orange first for a few seconds. turn on router & wait for flashing green.