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Forum Discussion
XAV101 - problem after firmware update
I have two XAV101's. They were working fine when installed out of the box. But I wanted to set up the network security and I couldn't seem to get that to work with the buttons, so I installed the Co...
FYI, after days and days of wrestling with Netgear support (the latest tech told me that these devices do not have firmware), I decided to attack the problem on my own. After about 20 minutes of searching the web, I found this site: http://www.zibri.org/ - let's just say that within 30 minutes, my device was working again.
Basically, I found that these devices use the "Intellon 6300" chipset. The author of the website provides links to download a utility to update the firmware (or downgrade) AND a few different firmware versions for this chipset. So, I downgraded the firmware on my "broken" unit that wasn't working since the failed firmware update, and sure enough it is back to working again! That is ALL I wanted Netgear to do in the first place - provide me a method (and the firmware file) to revert back to an older version of the firmware!
However, until I flash all of devices with this non-netgear firmware, the unit only works as a remote unit. I cannot use it as the "master" unit (which isn't a big deal). I think that I'll end up reloading this "stock" firmware on all of my units so that I don't need to deal with Netgear ever again (then it will work as a master unit again as well).
By the way, you can also get a utility called "Device Manager", with which you can really configure the details of the Intellon chipsets (including changing the MAC addresses, LED configurations etc). VERY interesting stuff. However, be careful with "Device Manager" - you can easily brick you unit with it if you don't know what you are doing!
Anyway, to fix the XAV101's that "broke" because of the failed firmware update, just use Intellon's utility and firmware files. As long as you use the unit as a "remote" unit, that's all you need to do to get it working again!
Basically, I found that these devices use the "Intellon 6300" chipset. The author of the website provides links to download a utility to update the firmware (or downgrade) AND a few different firmware versions for this chipset. So, I downgraded the firmware on my "broken" unit that wasn't working since the failed firmware update, and sure enough it is back to working again! That is ALL I wanted Netgear to do in the first place - provide me a method (and the firmware file) to revert back to an older version of the firmware!
However, until I flash all of devices with this non-netgear firmware, the unit only works as a remote unit. I cannot use it as the "master" unit (which isn't a big deal). I think that I'll end up reloading this "stock" firmware on all of my units so that I don't need to deal with Netgear ever again (then it will work as a master unit again as well).
By the way, you can also get a utility called "Device Manager", with which you can really configure the details of the Intellon chipsets (including changing the MAC addresses, LED configurations etc). VERY interesting stuff. However, be careful with "Device Manager" - you can easily brick you unit with it if you don't know what you are doing!
Anyway, to fix the XAV101's that "broke" because of the failed firmware update, just use Intellon's utility and firmware files. As long as you use the unit as a "remote" unit, that's all you need to do to get it working again!