So I was listening to music as I usually do, and suddenly I am no longer on the internet. I look at the hotspot and notice it says it is "updating device" and "Pleasedo not power off". So I let it sit there and it never advances past 25% completion of the blue line. I wait and wait and nothing. So I view your support forums and this appears to be a thing. You (Netgear) force a firmware update and it causes these hotspots to brick. Nothing will allow them to recover from this, it is bricked and no longer able to be used, according to your own support folks. The 2 little arrows in the circle pattern should be rotating to indicate that it is in fact in progress. They aren't. You cannot reset it, you cannot reboot it, you can remove the sim card which I advise to use in the next one. Thanks for this, just what we need in our lives more problems.

Sorry for the inconvenience caused by the forced upgrade. The upgrade stuck issue was a rare case. AT&T pushed the updates a few times already after MR1100 launched. Normally, the upgrade takes about 10-15 minutes to complete. Then the device will get back online. Froced upgrade is controlled by AT&T server, not on the device. You can do a manual upgrade checking and install the upgrade when it is available, instead of waitng for the pushed the upgrade. Thanks

How long have you got the device? If possible, please contact AT&T and request for RMA or replacement. We can get the device back for analysis. Thanks John

I would like to post a review for Netgear support, me as a reader is able to understand the situation. There were 2 person involved in this thread, the first one is the case holder while the second one shared his experience while JohnPeng is not reading carefully and is not paying attention to the thread. I feel so bad for Netgear support, hope they improve their support and their staffs soon.

The arrows weren't moving on mine either, so I also feared mine was bricked. But each time I powered it off and back on, the progress bar showed more progress. Eventually, after four or five manual power off/on cycles, I'm up and running again. But I agree with the sentiment of your post. My home internet goes down every time Netgear pushes an update because I have to do this manual power cycle process to get back up and running. If I'm not at home at the time of the update, I lose access to my security cameras, my thermostats -- everything that's wifi-connected at home. The previous update got pushed on Christmas Eve. I spent half an hour out of my Christmas Eve dealing with the botched update. I love this router except for this one issue, but home network connectivity going down every couple months until manual intervention is possible is unacceptable. It seems like it would be so easy to fix. Why not just add an option to disable automatic updates? And what's the current firmware version anyway? Looking at the Netgear website, I don't even see the 12.05.05.14 that got pushed to me last night. What's published on the website is 12.06.08.00: https://www.netgear.com/support/product/MR1100.aspx#Firmware%20Version%2012.06.08.00

Please advise your device SKU. Thanks

Forced Firmware Update on MR1100 Bricked the hotspot

22 Replies

discman017
Aspirant
Feb 14, 2020
The arrows weren't moving on mine either, so I also feared mine was bricked. But each time I powered it off and back on, the progress bar showed more progress. Eventually, after four or five manual power off/on cycles, I'm up and running again.

But I agree with the sentiment of your post. My home internet goes down every time Netgear pushes an update because I have to do this manual power cycle process to get back up and running. If I'm not at home at the time of the update, I lose access to my security cameras, my thermostats -- everything that's wifi-connected at home. The previous update got pushed on Christmas Eve. I spent half an hour out of my Christmas Eve dealing with the botched update.

I love this router except for this one issue, but home network connectivity going down every couple months until manual intervention is possible is unacceptable. It seems like it would be so easy to fix. Why not just add an option to disable automatic updates?

And what's the current firmware version anyway? Looking at the Netgear website, I don't even see the 12.05.05.14 that got pushed to me last night. What's published on the website is 12.06.08.00: https://www.netgear.com/support/product/MR1100.aspx#Firmware%20Version%2012.06.08.00
- JohnPeng
  NETGEAR Expert
  Feb 14, 2020
  Please advise your device SKU.
  
  Thanks
  - discman017
    Aspirant
    Feb 15, 2020
    Hi John! Where do I find the SKU? I'm not at home right now, but I can access the web interface. In the device information, it shows:
    
    Hardware Version: 1.0
    PRI Version: 04.06
    Firmware Version: NTG9X50C_12.05.05.14
    Bootloader Version: NTG9X50C_12.05.05.14
    GUI Version: MR1100-1A1NAS_04.01.70.06
    Firmware Build Date: 2020/01/24
    
    Or I can give you information from model.json. For example:
    
    'deviceName':'AT&T Wi-Fi',
    
    Does this give you the information you need? Or is there a different piece of information that I can get out of the web interface or the json?

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Forced Firmware Update on MR1100 Bricked the hotspot