D7000V2 not booting up

[scuty00]

Hi everybody, as in title I have a D7000v2 that doesn't bootup anymore.

Purchased 2 years ago, it just stopped booting up.

When plugged in, it will just startup as normal, but suddenly only the power led keeps on amber.

Tried using ethernet, using a secondary router to detect it but nothing.

I think it is a bad firmware/filesystem issue, but have no idea how to fix this.

I'll embed here a video showing the behaviour on boot.

Thanks for your help.

[michaelkenward]

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@scuty00 wrote:

When plugged in, it will just startup as normal, but suddenly only the power led keeps on amber.

Tried using ethernet, using a secondary router to detect it but nothing.

I think it is a bad firmware/filesystem issue, but have no idea how to fix this.

I think you are correct. That is also what the manual will say.

Visit the support pages:

Support | NETGEAR

Check the section in the manual Troubleshoot With the LEDs.

You may have done that already. I can't tell from your message.

I mention it because Netgear gave up on supplying paper manuals and CD versions some years ago and people sometimes miss the downloads.

If a standard factory reset fails, there is more severe, recovery reset, that you could try:

• Press reset for 30 seconds
• Keep pressing reset while removing power
• Keep pressing reset for another 30 seconds while apply power

If it works, you may be able to use the usual method to flash the firmware again.

Download the latest firmware for your device – or an older version if that is what you want – and read the Release Notes for how to install it.

How do I manually upgrade firmware to my NETGEAR router? | Answer | NETGEAR Support

If that fails, you are into TFTP country.

How to upload firmware to a NETGEAR router using Windows TFTP | Answer | NETGEAR Support

This also explains how to enable TFTP on a Windows PC.

TFTP isn't the easiest operation, so if you are forced to use it try a web search for videos that guide you through the process.

For example:

Different device, but the approach is the same.

The good news is that TFTP has rescued many a dead device.

[scuty00]

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@michaelkenward wrote:

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@scuty00 wrote:

When plugged in, it will just startup as normal, but suddenly only the power led keeps on amber.

Tried using ethernet, using a secondary router to detect it but nothing.

I think it is a bad firmware/filesystem issue, but have no idea how to fix this.

I think you are correct. That is also what the manual will say.

Visit the support pages:

Support | NETGEAR

Check the section in the manual Troubleshoot With the LEDs.

You may have done that already. I can't tell from your message.

I mention it because Netgear gave up on supplying paper manuals and CD versions some years ago and people sometimes miss the downloads.

If a standard factory reset fails, there is more severe, recovery reset, that you could try:

• Press reset for 30 seconds
• Keep pressing reset while removing power
• Keep pressing reset for another 30 seconds while apply power

If it works, you may be able to use the usual method to flash the firmware again.

Download the latest firmware for your device – or an older version if that is what you want – and read the Release Notes for how to install it.

How do I manually upgrade firmware to my NETGEAR router? | Answer | NETGEAR Support

If that fails, you are into TFTP country.

How to upload firmware to a NETGEAR router using Windows TFTP | Answer | NETGEAR Support

This also explains how to enable TFTP on a Windows PC.

TFTP isn't the easiest operation, so if you are forced to use it try a web search for videos that guide you through the process.

For example:

Different device, but the approach is the same.

The good news is that TFTP has rescued many a dead device.

---

Hi @michaelkenward, thanks for you help.

I tried following your suggestions, but without success.

I couldn't get into tftp, but then I found this very nice tool https://github.com/jclehner/nmrpflash, that seemed to work.

It did upload the firmware image to the router, and the power LED started flashing on amber at the end.

But after rebooting it, nothing as changed.

Is there a way to debug the boot? I would like to understand where it does panic in the boot process.

[michaelkenward]

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@scuty00 wrote:

I couldn't get into tftp, but then I found this very nice tool https://github.com/jclehner/nmrpflash, that seemed to work.

---

nmrpflash is the next thing to try after tftp.

Without knowing what you did, and what messages you saw, who knows how tftp went wrong? I did say that it was not the easiest of operations.

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@scuty00 wrote:

It did upload the firmware image to the router, and the power LED started flashing on amber at the end.

But after rebooting it, nothing as changed.

---

If you still have the orange power LED, to me this suggests that it didn't work. You still have corrupt firmware, despite the messages you have seen.

Without knowing where tftp went wrong, it is anybody's guess as to what happened.

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@scuty00 wrote:

Is there a way to debug the boot? I would like to understand where it does panic in the boot process.

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Not that I have seen mentioned here.

[antinode]

> Is there a way to debug the boot? [...]

   The big hammer is a connection to the serial-port interface on the
PCB.  I have no actual experience with this, so I know nothing, but a
Web or forum search for terms like:
      netgear router serial port
or:
      netgear router serial console
should find some relevant material.

> Not that I have seen mentioned here.

   It gets mentioned here from time to time.

[scuty00]

I think I found the problem. Some base binaries (like cp and mount) are corrupted (don't ask me how)

Here is a piece of the dump from the serial port showing the problem

/etc/preinit: line 113: mount: Exec format error
[ 13.190000] request_module: runaway loop modprobe binfmt-0000
[ 13.210000] request_module: runaway loop modprobe binfmt-0000
[ 13.230000] request_module: runaway loop modprobe binfmt-0000
/etc/preinit: line 113: mount: Exec format error
/etc/preinit: line 113: cp: Exec format error
/etc/preinit: line 113: sleep: Exec format error
open: No such file or directory
open: No such file or directory
open: No such file or directory
open: No such file or directory
open: No such file or directory
open: No such file or directory
open: No such file or directory

open: No such file or directory
open: No such file or directory
open: No such file or directory
open: No such file or directory
open: No such file or directory

and it tries to use open forever.

Any idea on how to recover this?

[scuty00]

Got a full log of the boot, tell me if you notice anything else and if you have any idea on how to recover.

https://pastebin.com/BkEVxNgZ