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Bricked R8500 unable to get to CFE
Hi,
I've been trying to resurrect my bricked R8500. I've read most of the forum material on bricked R8500 and followed peter11742's journey.
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-WiFi-Routers/R8500-bricked/td-p/1183741
My problem is that I cannot seem to get the CFE prompt. I got it 1 time and I was able to load the firmware (DDWRT) successfully. However, after restarting, it appears I'm back to the same problem. I wish I had loaded the base R8500 file, but I got ahead of myself figuring I could just jump straight to DD-WRT. Kicking myself now...
I am able to connect to the router via the J4 port and get a read-out. Weirdest thing... I cannot simply keep the USB cable plugged in. I have to start the router first, then plug in the usb cable and run Kitty/Putty. I use Kitty as it seems faster to load. I've tried CTRL+C throughout the entire load and get nothing. The router just keeps going on loading until it craps out. Here's the printout of the connection. I'm hoping you may be able to help me get CFE running on the router. Thanks!
Yes you need to have the USB cable plugged in and terminal active when you start the router up as the CFE comes right after the power up. If you are plugging in after you start the router then you will miss the CFE unless very lucky. I suspect, as I said earlier, you have a defective USB serial cable. Have had similar issues with bad ones. They are CHEAP and do not hold up well and had one that was defective out of the box.
Best I can do for you at this point is to wish you good luck.
13 Replies
You need to be on the dd-wrt forum, not the official netgear forum. They'll be the experts in their firmware and whats running wrong.
Time I had trouble with things working correctly with the USB serial cable it turned out to be the cable bad. Even though it seemed to almost work. I assume you are only connecting the two data connections and the ground? Do not connect the +3 volt or what ever it is called connection. You have to watch and react fast to get into the CFE. Have done this process many times over the years.
Above should say not working correctly. Netgear, in their infinite wisdom removed the edit function.
