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wwxxyyzz's avatar
wwxxyyzz
Aspirant
May 23, 2022
Solved

Firmware Version 4.6.8.2 bricked my RBS750

I have an RBR750 and RBS750. Last week I noticed that none of my devices were connecting to my satellite. I checked the router's page and saw that the satellite was not on the network. I tried reboot...
  • wwxxyyzz's avatar
    May 23, 2022

    I started going through the process for TFTP today, and had the RBS directly connected to my PC. I noticed the power LEDs weren't cycling in the way the TFTP guide suggests they would.  Out of curiosity I checked for a web server at 192.168.1.1, no answer. I checked 192.168.1.250, which I found from another post that said .250 was the default IP for Satellites that couldn't connect. No answer. Then I tried 192.168.1.28, which is the IP that the RBS was last given via DNS from the RBR. It was responding there. Also, the status page now said that the RBS FW was v4.6.5.14, which I had attempted to flash the night before but didn't seem to boot successfully over the weekend (no answer on WiFi, would only connect as a device when hardwired, and could not report its status).

    But today? Today it booted up as a functioning Satellite and connected to my RBR. It's now working as part of the mesh. I don't know what's different than yesterday when it didn't know its identity. My best guess is that the firmware downgrade actually worked but something was stuck in memory or some circuitry was behaving in a bad way. After being disconnected from power and ethernet for 12+ hours, something finally dissipated?

    Anyway, working somehow, for now at least.

    Another interesting piece of information: Over the weekend (both when on 4.6.8.2 and half-alive on 4.6.5.14) the RBS accepted the default login credentials of admin/password.  But today it rejected those credentials and INSTEAD it accepted admin/<my personal password for the RBR>. Yeah, it went from "I only accept my default password" to "I only accept your customized password."  It almost seems like 4.6.8.2 itself made the memory unreadable in a way that survives reboots but now after a night of rest the values are readable again. Weird.