[SOLVED] Troubleshooting Smoked Netgear R7500?

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gingerleaflet
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 0:36    Post subject: [SOLVED] Troubleshooting Smoked Netgear R7500? Reply with quote
Hello!

I'm reaching out because I don't know what to do! I had loaded with DDWRT nearly a year ago and it was working great! That until about the past 2 weeks or so, where it's lost connection with my TV, so I've had to just restart the device (hitting the power off button, then power back on). However - yesterday - I seem to have done a restart OF DEATH - as when I restarted the router, it never came back on.

Problem: when I turn on the router, a few white/orange lights across the board flash briefly, which is replaced by the power button remaining a solid orange color. A few seconds later, the light below the 5GHz label lights up white, and my router doesn't progress past that point. I've tried power cycling, as well as doing a 30/30/30 reset with the reset button in the back. However, to no avail did this resolve my problems. I even tried the ARM 30/30/30 but that didn't work. I also can't connect to the device when I connect directly to it with my computer. I'm at a loss for how to further troubleshoot. Does anyone have any ideas? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hardware info: https://forum.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Netgear_R7000
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kernel-panic69
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 0:59    Post subject: Reply with quote
Ok, topic says R7500, link says R7000. Which is it? In either case, you don't do a 30-30-30 whatsoever. There are only a couple of methods to reset and none of them involve a 30-30-30.
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gingerleaflet
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 26, 2021 3:54    Post subject: Reply with quote
It’s an R7500. If I don’t do a 30-30-30 then what are the troubleshooting steps you’d recommend?
kernel-panic69
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 26, 2021 4:58    Post subject: Reply with quote
R7500 v1 or v2? Going to move this to Atheros forum, where it should've been in the first place.
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gingerleaflet
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 26, 2021 23:48    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks for the redirection - I was under the impression I put it in the forum based on the link which mentioned the chipset at Broadcom.

To answer your question - It's a v1
mrjcd
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2021 0:03    Post subject: Reply with quote
You should at least get a R7500v2 ... it is somewhat much like the EA8500 Cool
the v1 has a stupid Quantenna radio Sad
kernel-panic69
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2021 0:08    Post subject: Reply with quote
The link you posted was for the R7000, which is one of the top linked results that comes up when you search for "R7500 dd-wrt wiki".

https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/Netgear_R7500

https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/Netgear_R7500v2

I am trying to remember how to recover it specifically. I am sure there is a forum thread link in the references sticky at the top of the Atheros forum; But I would try to boot it up normally and then press and hold the reset for ~7-10 seconds and see if it resets. Outside of that, you should be able to recover via TFTP by pressing reset button and powering up until the power light gives indication that it is ready to receive the firmware file. Normally, this would require stock firmware image but I believe you should be able to use the factory-to-ddwrt.img file as well.

https://download1.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/downloads/betas/2021/07-26-2021-r47090/netgear-r7500v1/

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gingerleaflet
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2021 3:51    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks for the links kernel-panic69 - I unfortunately wasn't able to reset it to fix the problem, and I can't find the IP address of the access point in order to authenticate. It assigns me a bogus IP (one that I don't ever remember setting as the netmask/subnet combo for the AP, and there isn't a default gateway ever assigned. I'm connected to the router via an ethernet cord but no luck. Any nudges you can provide would greatly be appreciated - as I've hit a dead end googling for answers, which makes me think I'm not thinking through the problem appropriately
blkt
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2021 4:16    Post subject: Reply with quote
https://kb.netgear.com/000059633/How-to-upload-firmware-to-a-NETGEAR-router-using-TFTP-client

https://pjo2.github.io/tftpd64/ 32bit portable tftpd32.452.zip 17 years edition tftpd32.464.zip current

or a command prompt tftp method

https://kb.netgear.com/000059634/How-to-upload-firmware-to-a-NETGEAR-router-using-Windows-TFTP
servicetech
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 27, 2021 9:58    Post subject: Reply with quote
gingerleaflet wrote:
I'm connected to the router via an ethernet cord but no luck. Any nudges you can provide would greatly be appreciated - as I've hit a dead end googling for answers, which makes me think I'm not thinking through the problem appropriately


My personal experience with sat receivers, settop boxes, routers and repeaters and more:

You should check the power supply and main board dc power electrolytic capacitors. Increasing failures or hangups without changing firmware or settings are mainly based on problems with the DC power (or overheating on high powered devices). All other hardware failures mostly render a device from complete working to unusable in one step. A reboot cannot fix any such hardware failure.
I don't own that hardware, maybe one owner already knows howto check and replace or is able to offer some pictures of relevant capacitors. If you don't have any repair / solder experience you should look for repair cafe in your range.
gingerleaflet
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 0:43    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks for the links blkt. Any idea on how to identify my Router IP? It gives me a random IP with a random subnet (and a massive netmask of 255.255.0.0). When I manually assign it to 192.168.1.1 I get request timeouts pinging the host. I've even tried 192.168.3.1 which is what the old access point used to be set to, but no luck.
blkt
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 1:03    Post subject: Reply with quote
Did you power up the router into TFTP mode by holding the reset button as you switch it on?

Gateway is 192.168.1.1 but power supply or router might be toast as servicetech described.
gingerleaflet
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 1:11    Post subject: Reply with quote
Winner winner chicken dinner! Not sure why, but purely booting into TFTP mode seems to have fixed the problem itself! Thanks for the recommendation blkt!!
blkt
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 1:28    Post subject: Reply with quote
FYI, R7500 hardware reset is hold reset button for 5 to 10 seconds until Power LED blinks amber.

Sources: https://kb.netgear.com/25491/R7500-FAQs, R7500 Support, R7500_UM_22Jan2015.pdf

This is done while powered on after a full boot, otherwise say hello to TFTP recovery mode again.
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