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Forum Discussion
R7000 can only us firmware V1.0.9.6 and old. newer firmware will brick the router.
Hi,
I bought two R7000 at same time several years ago. At very begining they ware working well and I had no problem upgrading to the newer firmware until v1.0.9.6. After I upgraded both routers I found one was bricked but no problem with the other one. I had to use TFTP the V1.0.9.6 firmware to recover the router. Since then, this router can only work on v.1.0.9.6. or older version. Tried factory reset, and upgraded through web GUI or TFTP, the router bricked with any newer firmware，but the other one has no problem and now Is runing on latest firmware. This is very weird . Any ideas or sugestions?
Thanks
5 Replies
Its been a constant debate on here as to why a lot of the r7000's function fine on newer firmware and others have issues with the newer versions. There has never been an official reason why.
some people have had quite good success using 3rd party firmware with the r7000. Ever tried any with the one that won't upgrade?
plemans wrote:Its been a constant debate on here as to why a lot of the r7000's function fine on newer firmware and others have issues with the newer versions. There has never been an official reason why.
some people have had quite good success using 3rd party firmware with the r7000. Ever tried any with the one that won't upgrade?
I tried freshtomato but no luck. Even could not recover it using tftp. Had to open the back cover and restored the orginal firmware using JTAG.
If you're installing using JTAG, you're in advance of most people on here.
If you've invested this much time into playing games with NetGear's dumpster fire they call firmware, just install DD-WRT. I have an X10 and it CAN'T run NetGear firmware...it ONLY works with DD-WRT and it's worked better than it ever did with NetGear firmware. Faster more reliable WiFi, more configuration options and no bloat. And no dropping or freezing, it's been up and running for months straight. Only time I reboot it is if I need to change specific settings or the power goes out.
I have checked the boot log from serial port，found that the newer versions are failed the crc check at the booting and the router tried to recover from the tftp upgrade. but the default ethernet port was disabled because of the crc error, therefore the router stucked in the tftp upgrade loop and cause the router bricked, but the firmware v1.0.9.6 and olders don't have crc issues . One explaintion I can think is that this router has a defective flash in some blocks and causes new firmware corrupption, but old firmwares happen to be programed on the good blocks (actully I checked the size of different firmware versions, the newer ones are larger than v1.0.9.6). I have tried DD-WRT on a cisco router before and will try it again on R7000,but I suspect any firmware larger than netgear R7000 v1.0.9.6 will have problem. Wll defintly post the results here when complete.
I used to be a long time and happy netgear user. but this time I'm disappointed and will try other brand. The root cause of the crc error of the new firmware could have been easily figured out by netgear but I see nothing.
nickp221 wrote:If you've invested this much time into playing games with NetGear's dumpster fire they call firmware, just install DD-WRT. I have an X10 and it CAN'T run NetGear firmware...it ONLY works with DD-WRT and it's worked better than it ever did with NetGear firmware. Faster more reliable WiFi, more configuration options and no bloat. And no dropping or freezing, it's been up and running for months straight. Only time I reboot it is if I need to change specific settings or the power goes out.
