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ukleinek's avatar
ukleinek
Aspirant
Jun 18, 2020
Solved

GS108PEv3 hangs in bootloader mode

Hello,

 

I tried to upgrade the firmware of my GS108PEv3. After ~ 30 minutes without activity and a completed progress bar I closed the browser window and power cycled the switch. I also tried pressing the factory defaults button for 10s. The result is always the same: The switch switches without vlans, at boot doesn't request a DHCP-Address, but on 192.168.0.239 I can reach the "Firmware Update" interface on http.

 

When using chromium instead of firefox I get an additional progress counter in the status line which stucks at "Uploading (12%)..." after the progress bar is long completed for a while, then the background changes in a sad smiley and the status line is gone (but the progress bar is still there). Another time the status line stuck at 20% or at 46%

 

When trying to upload GS108PEv3_V2.06.03EN.bin (which was the previous version) I once got an error about the firmware image being invalid.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks from Germany

Uwe

 

 



  • schumaku wrote:

    ukleinek wrote:

    I also tried pressing the factory defaults button for 10s. The result is always the same: The switch switches without vlans, at boot doesn't request a DHCP-Address, but on 192.168.0.239 I can reach the "Firmware Update" interface on http.


    Both a failed firmware image upload as well as pressing the button longer than about 3..5 seconds for a factory reset will bring the tiny controller into the recovery or loader mode.

     

    Follow strictly https://community.netgear.com/t5/Smart-Plus-and-Smart-Pro-Managed/GS108Ev3-wont-complete-factory-reset/m-p/1581852/highlight/true#M9720 - of course using the GS108PEv3 firmware binary.

     

    Be aware the ultra minimalistic IP stack on the loader mode does ot support much geeky features. In case the computer network interface is configured for JumboFrames, revert to 1500 or 1514.


    I didn't do the paper clip dance with the factory reset button, but still think that what I did was in the limits of the description of the hardware manual.

     

    In the end (and after contacting Netgear support with several failed tries) I found an old Windows VM; after some reconfiguration succeeded that I can access the switch webif and repeated the exact same steps with IE there. Worked as expected.

    (See also https://community.netgear.com/t5/Smart-Plus-and-Smart-Pro-Managed/Can-t-update-GS108PEv3-firmware/m-p/1882522# for a similar user story.)

     

    IMHO there is something broken in a subtle way when a http form works under Windows but not under Linux. I hope Netgear will do some research and fix that issue eventually. I wonder if I can use the non-loader webif without restriction from my Linux machine.

    (As a side note: WIth V2.06.03 I often experienced that I have to power cycle the switch before being able to access the web interface under the address assigned by DHCP while the other devices in my network don't have similar problems.)

     

    Thanks for your time

    Uwe

4 Replies

  • schumaku's avatar
    schumaku
    Guru - Experienced User

    ukleinek wrote:

    I also tried pressing the factory defaults button for 10s. The result is always the same: The switch switches without vlans, at boot doesn't request a DHCP-Address, but on 192.168.0.239 I can reach the "Firmware Update" interface on http.


    Both a failed firmware image upload as well as pressing the button longer than about 3..5 seconds for a factory reset will bring the tiny controller into the recovery or loader mode.

     

    Follow strictly https://community.netgear.com/t5/Smart-Plus-and-Smart-Pro-Managed/GS108Ev3-wont-complete-factory-reset/m-p/1581852/highlight/true#M9720 - of course using the GS108PEv3 firmware binary.

     

    Be aware the ultra minimalistic IP stack on the loader mode does ot support much geeky features. In case the computer network interface is configured for JumboFrames, revert to 1500 or 1514.

    • ukleinek's avatar
      ukleinek
      Aspirant


      schumaku wrote:

      ukleinek wrote:

      I also tried pressing the factory defaults button for 10s. The result is always the same: The switch switches without vlans, at boot doesn't request a DHCP-Address, but on 192.168.0.239 I can reach the "Firmware Update" interface on http.


      Both a failed firmware image upload as well as pressing the button longer than about 3..5 seconds for a factory reset will bring the tiny controller into the recovery or loader mode.

       

      Follow strictly https://community.netgear.com/t5/Smart-Plus-and-Smart-Pro-Managed/GS108Ev3-wont-complete-factory-reset/m-p/1581852/highlight/true#M9720 - of course using the GS108PEv3 firmware binary.

       

      Be aware the ultra minimalistic IP stack on the loader mode does ot support much geeky features. In case the computer network interface is configured for JumboFrames, revert to 1500 or 1514.


      I didn't do the paper clip dance with the factory reset button, but still think that what I did was in the limits of the description of the hardware manual.

       

      In the end (and after contacting Netgear support with several failed tries) I found an old Windows VM; after some reconfiguration succeeded that I can access the switch webif and repeated the exact same steps with IE there. Worked as expected.

      (See also https://community.netgear.com/t5/Smart-Plus-and-Smart-Pro-Managed/Can-t-update-GS108PEv3-firmware/m-p/1882522# for a similar user story.)

       

      IMHO there is something broken in a subtle way when a http form works under Windows but not under Linux. I hope Netgear will do some research and fix that issue eventually. I wonder if I can use the non-loader webif without restriction from my Linux machine.

      (As a side note: WIth V2.06.03 I often experienced that I have to power cycle the switch before being able to access the web interface under the address assigned by DHCP while the other devices in my network don't have similar problems.)

       

      Thanks for your time

      Uwe

      • schumaku's avatar
        schumaku
        Guru - Experienced User

        Uwe,

         

        I think the problem is even on a lower level. If you are unable reaching the Smart Managed Plus switch IP addess the next time ... try adding a an ARP entry on your Linux (or MacOS!) system first.

         

        -Kurt 

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