NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Solved
How to install firmware
I did a firmware update which killed my access to the router. How do you install an older version of firmware when I cannot get to the router? Is it possible? Others say install an older version after...
Stantona wrote:
I did the reset and the power light has settled down on solid white.
This is a sign that your device is working as expected. A flashing light would be a sign of broken firmware.
So you can forget about playing around with TFTP. You should be able to install new firmware without any of that hassle.
(Might not matter but the three band lights are solid white also.)
Not sure what "band lights" are, but the manual tells me that there are lights for wifi channels among other things. If they are on, that is another sign that the device is not bust. You can read about what the lights mean in the manual somewhere at the end of this link:
>>> R8500 | Product | Support | NETGEAR <<<
see page 174.
The important one is the Intern the light. What does that look like?
Your main issue seems to be that you cannot access the router's control interface. There can be various reasons for this. One is that your playing around has confused the equipment on your network and it does not know what addresses to use. You can start from scratch and see if that restores sanity.
Be sure to restart your network in this sequence:
- Turn off and unplug the modem.
- Turn off the modem router and computers.
- Plug in the modem and turn it on. Wait 2 minutes.
- Turn on the modem router and wait 2 minutes.
- Turn on the computers.
Wow. Thanks for the reply. I really didn't know if anyone would get back to me, but I certainly appreciate it.
I have the Nighthawk X8 which is a fairly high end router bought about June 2016, just out of warranty now. At the same time I installed the CM600 modem.
A few days ago I received a notice about an update to the firmware for the router and it looked simple enough to do. But guess not. The modem still works but no longer the router.
Now I am trying to get any firmware to install. What I have done so far is downloaded all the firmware you have on your web site as well as the tftp2.exe file. I have connected a LAN cable from my computer directly to the yellow port on the router, bypassing the modem. (Should I keep the modem in the loop?)
Then, (I am using Windows 10), I went in to try to assign a static IP to the computer (192.168.1.2) and the router is 192.168.1.1.
ipconfig gives me this:
ping 192.168.1.2 gives me this:
and ping 192.168.1.1 gives me this:
So I am stuck not being able to get to the router. Oh, and here is another window that might help see what I am doing wrong.Have I screwed this up?
The router might have gone bad at the same time I tried to update the firmware but that would be weird.
Thanks so much.Looking forward to some suggestions and critiques.
Alex Stanton
The jpeg's wouild not up load. So basically, the computer would ping 192.168.1.2 (or itself) but would not ping 192.168.1.1 (the router).
In the Internet Protocol Version 4 Properties window I have the following set:
IP address: 192.168.1.2
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1
Preferred DNS server: Blank
Alternate DNS server: Blank
So what should I change to ping the router?
Thanks
Stantona wrote:The jpeg's wouild not up load.
It takes time.
I haven't had to play around with tftp, so I am not familiar with its workings.
My inclination would be to disconnect everything but the router from the PC. Then see if I can get the two to talk to one another. In this way you don't have the modem obscuring the issue.
You don't need an internet connection to get a PC and a router to talk to one another.
> [...] install an older version after ruining access to the internet
> [...]
Yes, but your problem is worse than losing Internet access. Your
Web access to the router has failed.
> [...] I received a notice about an update to the firmware for the
> router and it looked simple enough to do.
It should be, but things can fail.
> [...] I have connected a LAN cable from my computer directly to the
> yellow port on the router, bypassing the modem. (Should I keep the modem
> in the loop?)
You definitely don't want the modem connected; only the router and
the PC. Your (latest) problem may be using the "yellow port".
I've never done it, so I know nothing, but the instructions which I
found on this procedure say, "Connect a PC wired to router [...]", which is
bit less detailed than might be hoped.
https://kb.netgear.com/22688/
(How to upload firmware to a NETGEAR router using TFTP)
I suspect that, for this job, you need to use one of the LAN ports,
not the WAN ("Internet") port. That is, connect the PC the same way as
usual, not to the WAN port.
Also, on many Netgear devices, the _LAN_ ports are yellow, so
description by function may be more helpful than description by color.(Both might be best.)
If this does turn out to be the problem, then you might provide some
feedback on that Netgear Knowledge Base Web page.
If you can load an older firmware version, then you might retry the
update to the current one (not using TFTP), to see if yours was a chance
problem or something repeatable. If you're looking for things to do,
that is.
> The jpeg's wouild not up load.
For many reasons, copy+paste of the actual text would be better than
a picture of the same plain text.I wish to thank all those who tried to help me with this problem. Nothing has worked. Maybe the router really did break. At any rate I will get a new one and hopefully be back in business. The computer cannot see the router. When I connect the computer back to the modem/router with the wired connection the internet comes right back up. I bought the Netgear CM600 modem and R8500 router as an improvement over the modem/router unit I had been using (and using now as my backup). The CM600 is fine but the router lasted about 13 months, just long enough to be out of warranty. I don't know of a sure way to tell if the router is broken or if it is indeed just the firmware gone amuck. It is in no way damaged.
So thanks again for the help. I really do appreciate all of you.
ALex