Bricked R7000 - need to restore CFE

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Thomas_VDB
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Joined: 08 Mar 2015
Posts: 12

PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2023 18:40    Post subject: Bricked R7000 - need to restore CFE Reply with quote
Hi, I was wondering if someone could help me with my bricked R7000. Longtime dd-wrt user, tried asuswrt and freshtomato but decided to go back to dd-wrt. I have succeeded to revert 4 of my 5 devices, but I can't bring my last R7000 back to life.
First of all : by going to asuswrt vortex I also updated CFE and haven't got a backup of this specific router. I do have a 'vanilla' R7000 cfe file.

So this is the situation with the R7000:
- I have attached a ftdi tool, and via putty I can stop it from booting (ctrl-c) so it is in CFE-mode.
- In CFE-mode, I can go to a small webserver page where I can reset nvram or update firmware. The webpage looks like this: https://i.imgur.com/6MZszka.png
- The only firmware that it accepts is the netgear back-to-stock firmware from here : https://freshtomato.org/downloads/freshtomato-arm/Netgear%20back%20to%20OFW/
- It flashed succesfully, but I get kernel panic at every boot :
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)
See extract below
- It doesn't help if i do an NVRAM reset/NVRAM save in CFE mode.
- If I boot the R7000 with the reset-button pressed, It boots into a tftpd-server mode.
Then I can send the firmware via command line tftp to the device.
I use the same file and it flashes also correctly, but with the same result (kernel panic at boot).

Please find below some more specs of the device.
Apparently my CFE is blown and I cant seem to find a way to reload a CFE file (via dd) in this situation: I can't seem to send it to the router via ssh/winscp.

Does anybody have some advice?
Thx!


No NAND flash type found
early_nvram_get: Failed reading nvram var qos_enable
No NAND flash type found
early_nvram_get: Failed reading nvram var wla_repeater
802.1Q VLAN Support v1.8 Ben Greear <greearb@candelatech.com>
All bugs added by David S. Miller <davem@redhat.com>
Northstar brcmnand NAND Flash Controller driver, Version 0.1 (c) Broadcom Inc. 2012
No NAND flash type found
brcmnand: found no supported devices
VFS: Cannot open root device "mtdblock3" or unknown-block(0,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available partitions:
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)
[<c00451f8>] (unwind_backtrace+0x0/0xe4) from [<c0359dac>] (panic+0x68/0x188)
[<c0359dac>] (panic+0x68/0x188) from [<c0009214>] (mount_block_root+0x238/0x288)
[<c0009214>] (mount_block_root+0x238/0x288) from [<c0009510>] (prepare_namespace+0x160/0x1c0)
[<c0009510>] (prepare_namespace+0x160/0x1c0) from [<c0008e88>] (kernel_init+0x1c8/0x218)
[<c0008e88>] (kernel_init+0x1c8/0x218) from [<c003fb58>] (kernel_thread_exit+0x0/0x8)
CPU0: stopping
[<c00451f8>] (unwind_backtrace+0x0/0xe4) from [<c003e2f0>] (do_IPI+0xfc/0x180)
[<c003e2f0>] (do_IPI+0xfc/0x180) from [<c0430f88>] (__irq_svc+0x48/0xe8)
Exception stack(0xc046ff78 to 0xc046ffc0)
ff60: c047e764 00000000
ff80: c046ffc0 00000000 c046e000 c047abc8 c04970a8 c047abc0 00025ba0 413fc090
ffa0: 0000001f 00000000 c04cacb8 c046ffc0 c003fbb0 c003fbb4 60000013 ffffffff
[<c0430f88>] (__irq_svc+0x48/0xe8) from [<c003fbb4>] (default_idle+0x24/0x28)
[<c003fbb4>] (default_idle+0x24/0x28) from [<c003fd1c>] (cpu_idle+0x40/0x94)
[<c003fd1c>] (cpu_idle+0x40/0x94) from [<c0008c64>] (start_kernel+0x320/0x37c)
[<c0008c64>] (start_kernel+0x320/0x37c) from [<00008084>] (0x8084)




Some specs :

Decompressing...done
Detect CPU turbo button...

CFE version 6.37.14.126 (r561982) based on BBP 1.0.37 for BCM947XX (32bit,SP,)
Build Date: Sat Jun 22 23:49:18 MSK 2019 (Vortex)
Copyright (C) 2000-2008 Broadcom Corporation.

Init Arena
Init Devs.
Boot partition size = 262144(0x40000)
DDR Clock: 800 MHz
Info: DDR frequency set from clkfreq=1000,*800*
et0: Broadcom BCM47XX 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet Controller 6.37.14.126 (r561982)
CPU type 0x0: 1000MHz
Tot mem: 262144 KBytes

CFE mem: 0x00F00000 - 0x01796420 (9004064)
Data: 0x00F4EA50 - 0x00F4EF48 (1272)
BSS: 0x00F4EF58 - 0x00F94420 (283848)
Heap: 0x00F94420 - 0x01794420 (8388608)
Stack: 0x01794420 - 0x01796420 (8192)
Text: 0x00F00000 - 0x00F45150 (282960)

Device eth0: hwaddr 74-D0-2B-8A-60-26, ipaddr 192.168.1.1, mask 255.255.255.0
gateway not set, nameserver not set
Startup canceled


Thanx!
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Alozaros
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 16 Nov 2015
Posts: 6388
Location: UK, London, just across the river..

PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2023 18:54    Post subject: Reply with quote
yep this is Vortex CFE and you'd need stock i guess...as well CFE will have router baked mac address and ect. I can upload CFE that i ve backed up from my R7000, but i guess you have to edit/replace the mac address bit ...as you said you have vanilla CFE did you mean made while you are on stock so its not Vortex CFE...than upload it and change the mac and happy days i guess..
_________________
Atheros
TP-Link WR740Nv1 ---DD-WRT 55179 WAP
TP-Link WR1043NDv2 -DD-WRT 55303 Gateway/DoT,Forced DNS,AP Isolation,Ad-Block,Firewall
TP-Link WR1043NDv2 -DD-WRT 55303 Gateway/DoT,Forced DNS,Ad-Block,Firewall,x4VLAN,VPN
TP-Link WR1043NDv2 -Gargoyle OS 1.15.x AP,DNS,QoS,Quotas
Qualcomm-Atheros
Netgear R7800 --DD-WRT 55363 Gateway/DoT,AD-Block,Forced DNS,AP&Net Isolation,x3VLAN,Firewall,Vanilla
Netgear R9000 --DD-WRT 55363 Gateway/DoT,AD-Block,AP Isolation,Firewall,Forced DNS,x2VLAN,Vanilla
Broadcom
Netgear R7000 --DD-WRT 55363 Gateway/SmartDNS/DoH,AD-Block,Firewall,Forced DNS,x3VLAN,VPN
NOT USING 5Ghz ANYWHERE
------------------------------------------------------
Stubby DNS over TLS I DNSCrypt v2 by mac913
Thomas_VDB
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 08 Mar 2015
Posts: 12

PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2023 19:38    Post subject: Reply with quote
The CFE file that I have is one that I got from another device. So indeed I will need to edit it a bit.
However my issue is that I can't upload it to the router: In CFE mode I can only flash router firmware, not CFE. I have no ssh/WinSCP. How do I load a CFE file to the router when I haven't got dd/winscp/ssh?

Thomas.
dale_gribble39
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 11 Jun 2022
Posts: 1889

PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2023 22:50    Post subject: Reply with quote
Read the guide:

https://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php?threads/asuswrt-merlin-on-netgear-r7000.71108/

Also, some other tidbits that may be helpful:

U-boot on r7000?

Research: Flash R7000 FW into stock RT-AC68U

_________________
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep." - Robert Frost

"I am one of the noticeable ones - notice me" - Dale Frances McKenzie Bozzio

<fact>code knows no gender</fact>

This is me, knowing I've ruffled your feathers, and not giving a ****
Some people are still hard-headed.

--------------------------------------
Mac Pro (Mid 2012) - Two 2.4GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon E5645 processors 64GB 1333MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM OpenSUSE Leap 15.5
Thomas_VDB
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 08 Mar 2015
Posts: 12

PostPosted: Wed Jul 05, 2023 6:06    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hi,

I know the routine to update CFE (ssh/winscp, dd,...).
However in this situation i don't seem to have access to ssh/winscp.
In your links I can't seem to find an alternative way to flash CFE.

Can it be doen completely via the ftdi cable?
Thomas_VDB
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 08 Mar 2015
Posts: 12

PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 6:14    Post subject: Reply with quote
up?
dale_gribble39
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 11 Jun 2022
Posts: 1889

PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2023 13:24    Post subject: Reply with quote
Do(es) the procedure(s) say anything about flashing CFE via serial recovery methods? The same method(s) to flash XWRT-Vortex modified CFE is the same to use for flashing stock CFE. Sir @twindragon6 has posted the bits on how to modify your XWRT-Vortex CFE to stock R7000 parameters to work with DD-WRT, etc. All the information has been linked.
_________________
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep." - Robert Frost

"I am one of the noticeable ones - notice me" - Dale Frances McKenzie Bozzio

<fact>code knows no gender</fact>

This is me, knowing I've ruffled your feathers, and not giving a ****
Some people are still hard-headed.

--------------------------------------
Mac Pro (Mid 2012) - Two 2.4GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon E5645 processors 64GB 1333MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM OpenSUSE Leap 15.5
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