Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2021 3:39 Post subject: No LAN Ports on an inherited Netgear WNDR3700 Router
Hi all,
Excuse any ignorance on my behalf as this is my first encounter with DD-WRT.
I have bought a bunch of routers and one of them, a Netgear WNDR3700 had dd-wrt installed on it.
I went to check the router and found that none of the LAN ports are working. They don't register as connected when a cable is plugged into them and my laptop.
I should have taken a note of the version of dd-wrt that was installled but it was a 2019 release.
The LAN ports are still not working. As I have no prior experience with dd-wrt I am at a loss as to what the problem is and need some expert assistance to work out whether it is a dead router or I need to change some settings in dd-wrt or whatever else I need to do.
As I don't have any LAN access I can only connect to the router wirelessly.
Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 14221 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2021 5:07 Post subject:
I will presume it is a v1, since you did not specify and you flashed the firmware for a v1. Did you verify that it was in fact a v1? Have you tried doing an 'nvram erase && reboot' via ssh/telnet?
The only things I know to check would be to log in via ssh/telnet and do a 'swconfig list'; it should list the device(s) that swconfig has access to. Then, you will need to do a 'swconfig dev (device) show'; for example, if it lists switch0, then you would use 'swconfig dev switch0 show'. Once you can get the output of that, and post it, then we can determine what may be wrong there. _________________ "Life is but a fleeting moment, a vapor that vanishes quickly; All is vanity"
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Linux User #377467 counter.li.org / linuxcounter.net
I did the following as per your instructions:
>telnet 192.168.1.1
logged in as root
Ran the command "nvram erase && reboot"
That seemed to work (?). Router rebooted and my shell lost the connection.
Then I did the following as per your instructions:
>telnet 192.168.1.1
logged in as root
Ran the command "swconfig list"
and......nada. Nothing was output and my cursor just went to the next line awaiting the next command.
Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 14221 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2021 17:53 Post subject:
Does the output of 'which swconfig' show anything? If swconfig is not included in the firmware on that device, something is definitely wrong, methinks. Is there a Setup -> Switch Config page at all in the webUI? What does it show in the bridging table on Setup -> Networking page? _________________ "Life is but a fleeting moment, a vapor that vanishes quickly; All is vanity"
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Linux User #377467 counter.li.org / linuxcounter.net
The output of 'which swconfig' is /usr/sbin/swconfig
There is no Setup -> Switch Config page.
I have attached screenshots of the Setup -> Networking page.
I forgot to mention that when I first turned on the router I pressed the "Restore Factory Settings" button as I normally do when I first turn on a modem/router so I start on a clean slate. I read somewhere that reset should not be pressed on this router. Could this have caused the problem?
Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 14221 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2021 5:15 Post subject:
That doesn't look good. What does it show with the WAN port enabled? FYI, I have already contacted the developer about this to see if there is an issue with the firmware itself, which there must be with no output from swconfig list when it is obviously installed. By chance, are you also able to provide output of 'cat /var/log/messages' after the router boots up? Copy and paste that into a text file attachment. Also, it would be interesting to know the output of 'nvram show | grep dist_type'.
Also, to rule out a bad build for this one, it might be worth trying 47656:
I cleared my browser's cache and performed the following steps:
I enabled the WAN port on all three settings: WLAN0, WLAN1 and BR0. I see no difference however on WLAN0 and WLAN1 I was having trouble connecting to the router wirelessly and ended up pressing the Restore Factory Settings button.
The command "cat /var/log/messages" did the same as "swconfig list". Nothing was output and my cursor just went to the next line awaiting the next command.
The command "nvram show | grep dist_type" output the following 2 lines:
size: 24058 bytes (41478 left)
dist_type=std
I installed 47656 firmware and no change, LAN ports are still dead.
Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 14221 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2021 14:43 Post subject:
I was told this device has a realtek switch for the lan ports and that there is no swconfig support. You are likely going to have to use OpenWRT if the LAN ports do not work.
I read that I need to go back to Stock firmware before installing openwrt but I cannot go back to stock as I have no LAN ports. Do you think I can just use the dd-wrt firmware upgrade function to install an openwrt Sysupgrade .BIN image ("to update a router that already runs OpenWrt. The image can be used with the LuCI web interface or the terminal.")?
Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 14221 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2021 18:25 Post subject:
You only have to go back to stock when flashing from OpenWRT to DD-WRT, not the other way around. You will have to use the factory image, though. I am not 100% sure on differences in images for ar71xx and ath79 targets, they probably shouldn't list both as the wiki says to use the ar71xx images:
I didn't recommend the 21.xx.x OpenWRT due to some commits I saw on their git repo that I am not sure are in the newer release. Given that the 19.07.8 release is from 2021, I think it's not that big of a deal at this point until you wish to upgrade firmware. It would be nice to know if anyone else with this device has any further input as far as getting DD-WRT working. I haven't searched high and low in the forums for an answer, unfortunately. _________________ "Life is but a fleeting moment, a vapor that vanishes quickly; All is vanity"
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Linux User #377467 counter.li.org / linuxcounter.net
It may be that you have to flash an older version of DD-WRT for initial flash to have working LAN ports and then upgrade without a reset whatsoever. I am not going to read through the rest of that forum thread... the first 20+ pages was nothing but "me, too"s and itching for device support and speculation on things.
Per the wiki, the last known good firmware for the v1 is 35681 4/6/2018:
Joined: 06 Jun 2006 Posts: 7492 Location: Dresden, Germany
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2021 1:26 Post subject:
interesting that ethernet is totally missing. can someone send me a kernel log? _________________ "So you tried to use the computer and it started smoking? Sounds like a Mac to me.." - Louis Rossmann https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL_5YDRWqGE&t=60s
Hi kernel-panic69 & BrainSlayer,
=======================================
kernel-panic69,
Downgraded to the 04-15-10-r14280 firmware. Still no LAN ports and not a big deal but the USB LED was hard on even though no USB device is inserted. Also the wireless signal was almost non-existent even though the router is right next to my laptop (I have read reports of the weak signal on the dd-wrt router's page and can confirm the problem.)
Updated to the 04-06-2018-r35681 firmware. Still no LAN ports. USB LED working correctly.
When you say I should use openwrt Factory, that is a .IMG extension where the Sysupgrade image is a .BIN extension. Can I flash the firmware using the .IMG Factory Firmware?
Can I just use the dd-wrt Firmware Upgrade function or do I need to use a CLI?
I read on another page the following instructions for crossflashing the openwrt firmware over a dd-wrt firmware:
From DDwrt to OpenWrt:
Enable SSH in services tab of ddwrt.
scp (winscp) openwrt-your-router-FACTORY.bin (factory not upgrade) to /tmp
ssh login to ddwrt, cd /tmp
mtd -f write openwrt-your-router-factory.bin linux
reboot
If I need to do it with CLI can I just telnet instead of SSH as I have never used SSH and don't know how to use it?
Also, note in the above instructions they have a .BIN file but the Factory firmware is a .IMG file. Don't know if that makes any difference.
Please note that I inherited this router so I don't know if the router is faulty. I think I should try and somehow get back to stock firmware, 1st trying to install openwrt and get the LAN ports working again and then I should be able to reload stock firmware.
If I can achieve that then I can try installing dd-wrt or openwrt hoping the LAN ports stick.
Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 14221 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2021 17:46 Post subject:
To provide logs, copy and paste the output of
Code:
cat /var/log/messages
via telnet or ssh to router. You have to ensure that telnet or ssh (preferred) and that syslogd / klogd are enabled on the Services -> Services tab and that you have rebooted the router. @BrainSlayer: was this commit to correct a possible issue related to this?
@fbagnato: You should be able to flash that .img file from DD-WRT webUI, but the CLI method may prove to be more successful. However, if you would please wait until this issue may be corrected to test a newer release so you don't have to flash back to stock before flashing to DD-WRT, that would be quite helpful to the community at large. I understand if you are wanting to put the device in service right away, though. _________________ "Life is but a fleeting moment, a vapor that vanishes quickly; All is vanity"
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Linux User #377467 counter.li.org / linuxcounter.net
