Bricked R6120|AC1200 Router

SO HERE'S THE FIX (Worked for me and my Netgear R6120 router):

This is a fix for Netgear Router R6120 which got bricked due to interruption in the middle of the latest firmware update (in my case it was power failure).

>Firmware version used for the fix-

    >>1.0.0.66

    >>(http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/R6120/R6120-V1.0.0.66.zip)

>Tool used for the fix-

    >>Native TFTP using Command Prompt (with administrative privilege) in Windows.

    >>Operating Sysytem: Windows 10 Pro 64bit Version 1909 (OS Build 18363.900)

>KB used-

    >>Article on Medium by Nitin Kaveriappa Udiyanda Muthanna (@nitinkaveriappa) 

    >>(https://medium.com/@nitinkaveriappa/how-to-unbrick-a-bricked-netgear-router-92b4b1e98eeb)

>Special Thanks and Acknowledgement-

    >>Thanks to antinode  who continually prodded me on each of my result to attempt the next one and until I finally was able to fix it.

    >>Thanks to Retired_Member  who brought back this thread to life after two months and when I had left all hopes and assumed hardware failure. His suggestion with OpenWrt is also a probable solution, which I may not have been able to execute properly.  

    >>Ofcourse to Nitin, the one who wrote the article @Medium by compiling his knowledge from various sources.

>The KB if followed along with my steps will fix the router if there’s a firmware corruption (I had to improvise as the router model is different and therefore did not work exactly the way it was mentioned). I have quoted directly from the KB article of Nitin along with my comments (marked by ** and blue font color) below:

>Here are the Steps below which is meant to guide you to reload firmware onto your Netgear Router which has been bricked and hence does not even boot up.

    >>First download and save the latest firmware file for your specific router model from the official website https://www.netgear.com/support/. Make sure to extract the file if what you downloaded is a zipped file. The firmware file format is either .img or .chk file.

    >>Connect your PC to the Router using a LAN cable and set it up to have a static IP address. (See below for the detailed Steps)

    >>Click on the Windows Start and go to Turn Windows features on and off and select TFTP Client and go through the steps to turn on this Windows feature.

    >>Open Command Prompt and change directory to go to the location where the downloaded firmware file is located.

    >>Type in the command tftp -i [router IP] put [firmware filename].[file format]. Do NOT press Enter yet.

    >>Example: tftp -i 192.168.1.1 put R6120-V1.0.0.66.img

    >>Unplug all port connections from router except the PC you are using to upload and reset the router. Reset usually involves holding down the reset button at the back of the router using a paper clip for more than 5 seconds and then while holding turn ON the router.

    ** In my case after completing this step, both Power LED and Ethernet LED started blinking alternately and gave me “Connect Request Failed” message when I executed the next step. What I did was switch off the router again by pushing the router power button (the power button for R6120 is more of latch type push button).

    >>Now press Enter in the command prompt on the connected PC and execute the TFTP command.

    **As soon as I pressed Enter, I quickly switched on the router again.

    >>Wait for a few minutes (be patient, do not reboot the router).

    **You will get a message in the command prompt, something like “Transfer successful: 12865975 bytes in 10 second(s), 1286597 bytes/s”

    >>When the upload is successful, the Power LED will turn solid. The rest of LED’s on the router will also turn ON indicating that the router has booted up properly.

    **For me the Power LED started blinking rapidly and then stabilizing to solid. I was hopeful the moment the Wifi and the Ethernet LEDs also turned solid green. Give it all the time it needs, grab a coffee, look the other way but please give it time. Should not take more than 5-6 minutes. Just don’t be impatient like me.

    ** Next, I assume you know the drill…..type in 192.168.1.1 on your browser and press Enter from the PC that is still connected to the router via LAN cable…….or connecting to the default Netgear WiFi, which should have also become available by now.

    >>Steps to set up your Windows 10 PC to have a static IP address

    >>Click on the Windows Start and go to Control Panel and select Network and Internet, then select View Network Status and Tasks, then select Change adapter settings.

    >>Right-Click on Ethernet and select Properties and then double-click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4).

    >>Select Use the following IP address and set the IP address information like below:

    >>IP address — 192.168.1.3

    ** IP address  - 192.168.1.2 (This is not something madatory but I had this set from beforehand from my earlier attempts)

    >>Subnet mask — 255.255.255.0

    >>Default Gateway — 192.168.1.1

    >>and then click OK to save the configuration.

   >>Note: Please remember to change your PC settings back to Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DNS server address automatically.