[SYLOPS]

Hi there,

I'm trying to upgrade my Netgear R7000 from outdated BS build 27745 (08/25/15) to an up to date build like Kong's latest (2018-09-23), but the web GUI Firmware Upgrade has no effect: see below for details.

I'd like a few confirmations from seasoned updaters before I man up and try flashing via the command line. Would you please share your views on the following?

Thank you all for your time!


What I want
To flash Kong build dd-wrt.v24-K3_AC_ARM_STD.bin (2018-09-23) without bricking

What I'm doing
1. Connect to the router over Ethernet LAN using fixed IP 192.168.1.2
2. Browse the web GUI at 192.168.1.1 and log in
3. In Administration > Factory Defaults, Restore Factory Defaults then wait (or 'ssh root@192.168.1.1' then 'mtd erase nvram && reboot' to be thorough about it)
4. Browse the web GUI at 192.168.1.1, set new credentials and log in
5. In Administration > Firmware Upgrade, select Kong's latest dd-wrt.v24-K3_AC_ARM_STD.bin and hit Update

What happens
1. In the browser, a spinner starts counting down from 300 s
2. On the router, the Power LED (initially white) blinks red 4 times, then 4 times, then 3 times, then goes back to steady white
3. In the browser, the page changes to http://192.168.1.1/upgrade.cgi and fails with 'The connection was reset'
4. If I was logged in the router via SSH, I get logged out and cannot SSH back in ('Connection refused')
5. But then I can browse 192.168.1.1 again, restore my settings and get going like nothing happened...
- Using a different browser/computer doesn't change anything (Firefox, Chromium, Firefox ESR, Internet Explorer on 2 laptops)
- Using a different firmware doesn't change anything (BS's netgear-r7000-webflash.bin, Netgear's R7000-V1.0.9.42_10.2.44.chk)

Questions
1. What does the Power LED blinking mean? Are there special precautions or workarounds to get the web GUI upgrade working?
2. Is it a good idea to try flashing with the following commands?
- ssh root@192.168.1.1
- mtd erase nvram
- reboot
- telnet 192.168.1.1 (root:admin)
- cd /tmp
- wget http://www.desipro.de/ddwrt/K3-AC-Arm/dd-wrt.v24-K3_AC_ARM_STD.bin
- mtd -r write /tmp/dd-wrt.v24-K3_AC_ARM_STD.bin linux
- reboot
Should I rather use Netgear's stock R7000-V1.0.9.42_10.2.44.chk instead?
3. How would I be able to recover if the flashing fails (preferably without a serial cable)?
Will I be able to use a TFTP client and 'put R7000-V1.0.9.42_10.2.44.chk' if the firmware doesn't boot?
Or do I need to set a TFTP server and get a valid vmlinuz somewhere?

Router
- Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 R7000-PES
- Currently running DD-WRT v3.0-r27745 std (08/25/15) [BrainSlayer build]
- 'nvram show | grep DD_BOARD' returns DD_BOARD=Netgear R7000
- 'cat /dev/mtd4ro | grep NET' returns U12H270T00_NETGEAR NETGEAR62 NETGEAR62-5G

What I can do
- Connect to the router over Ethernet LAN using fixed IP 192.168.1.2
- Successfully 'ssh root@192.168.1.1' with a public key
- Reset to factory defaults with 'mtd erase nvram && reboot'
- Successfully 'telnet 192.168.1.1' (root:admin) after factory reset
- Successfully monitor 'ping 192.168.1.1' at boot and get 'ttl=100' then 'ttl=64'
- Prepare for TFTP flash with 'tftp 192.168.1.1' then 'binary', 'rexmt 1', 'timeout 180', 'trace'

What I can't do
- Flash via web GUI (see details above)
- Flash with 'ddup --flash-latest' (not a Kong build)
- Flash via TFTP: 'put <firmware.bin>' never starts transmitting (but the router CFE rather expects vmlinuz from a TFTP server at 192.168.1.2 when a valid firmware is found, right?)
- Monitor boot over serial (no TTL-USB cable)

Now that was long, thank for reading!

EDIT: Updated the factory reset part, and added Internet Explorer to the list of browsers I tried upgrading with.

[egc]

Some quick tips:

Telnet into your router and do:

[bushant]

[egc]

@Bushant thanks for spotting this error, I have corrected it.
The rule does not work as there is no such partition

[SYLOPS]

Hi all,

Thanks for your replies.

1. Indeed I'm dutifully resetting to factory defaults before each try with 'erase nvram && reboot' (or 'mtd erase nvram && reboot').

2. I've just tried upgrading via the web GUI using Internet Explorer v11 on Windows 7 (and a clear cache), but got the exact same behavior than with any other browser

3. I'm always wired to the router with an Ethernet cable, and my computer is set with static IP 192.168.1.2

Can you think of anything else I may have missed?

Should I proceed with 'mtd -r write /tmp/dd-wrt.v24-K3_AC_ARM_STD.bin linux' as described in the OP?

Cheers

[egc]

Try with the .chk file from Kong's directory?