[zerophase]

I purchased a usb to serial converter. Hooking that up to my usb port, and from there plugged it into the router. Powered up the router, by way of the power switch, and putty was able to launch the connection dialogue, (get nothing if the router is off) but nothing ever logs to the screen. How am I supposed to at least see something print out, pressing ctrl + c really fast did not seem to help? Does that model of converter look correct?

3.3v, gnd, tx, and rx are to connected to their respective leads. I tried switching tx and rx with no luck. 3.3v and gnd are in different spots from the diagram for this board's serial port. (Is this the right model mobo?) I tested with the multimeter to get gnd and 3.3v, should I switch so both match the diagram, despite getting proper readings, previously?

Are there any steps for getting access through serial I am missing?

Putty Settings:

Com Port: Com4
Baud: 115200
Data bits: 8
Stop bits: 1
Parity: none
Flow Control: none

[egc]

I do not have your router but on Netgear routers never connect the 3.3V, the router can use its own power supply

If you do not see any output you might try switching the Tx/Rx/Gnd

see: https://forum.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1128469&sid=d7f6cc138ab9754381c4f468c9485c85

[kernel-panic69]

You don't need the 3.3V connected for serial recovery on any router, you risk permanent damage. Tx, Rx, Gnd only.

[zerophase]

Wow, all I needed to do to solve my problem was pull the 3.3v wire.

Now, I just need to tftp flash the stock trx file. Which options should I enable on the tftp side for proper flashing?