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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-Route...
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.
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.
- Thanks for your reply. Yes, only 3 wires connected. Rx, tx, and ground. It's J4 pins 1, 2, 3. I am not using the +3v red wire.
I did get into CFE one time... That's how I was able to load the current file. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get back into CFE. I am pressing Ctrl + C from the very beginning, but no luck.
Any advice would be fantastic. ThanksCannot really offer any other thoughts. I assume you are following something like this. Works for any Netgear router not just listed.
I have never had issue getting into CFE.
- Thanks. Yup, that's exactly the steps I've implemented/attempted.
One issue that troubles me... I am not able to keep the USB cable plugged in at initial power on of the router. I have to start the router first and the. Plug in the USB cable to my laptop. Could this be an issue resulting in my failed CFE attempt? I would imagine the router should behave the same regardless of USB cable plugged into Laptop or not. However, the router behaves differently when the USB cable is plugged in and then router started. I get absolutely nothing on Putty if I have the USB plugged prior to starting the router.
It seems like most people have the USB cable plugged in and putty running BEFORE powering the router.
Any thoughts on that?