Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
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Re: Firmware update bricked my router?

hux2000
Tutor

Firmware update bricked my router?

I saw in the router's web interface that a new update was available, which would take the firmware from V1.0.2.68 to V1.0.2.90. I started the update and after a few minutes the blue bar progressed all the way across, at which point I got a "this page cannot be opened" browser error. (I'm using Firefox v98.) I assumed this just meant the router was rebooting, which is pretty standard in my experience. So I waited.

 

And waited.

 

Aaaaaaand waited.

 

It's now been 14 hours and I'm not able to ping the router, whether on its regular IP or the factory default IP, so I think the update has failed. However, I'm reading that you should *NOT* reboot at this point since that can render the router permanently inoperable.

 

So...what am I supposed to do? Previous updates have never taken more than a few minutes, so clearly something is wrong here.

Model: R7800|Nighthawk X4S AC2600 Wifi Router
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FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Firmware update bricked my router?

https://kb.netgear.com/000059634/How-to-upload-firmware-to-a-NETGEAR-router-using-Windows-TFTP
Need to press the reset button for 30 seconds then release, then it send to PUT the command and upload the FW. 
Make sure you enable tftp: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/enable-tftp-windows-10
Video walk through using a tftp client. Use the built in one for windows 10 though. the video is more of an example of how its done:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9DLrLQrpaw
I had a problem on a Windows 10 PC where this didn't work to use TFTP, so I switched to a WIndows 7 PC and the TFTP worked.

Try nmrpflash:
https://github.com/jclehner/nmrpflash

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FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Firmware update bricked my router?

https://kb.netgear.com/000059634/How-to-upload-firmware-to-a-NETGEAR-router-using-Windows-TFTP
Need to press the reset button for 30 seconds then release, then it send to PUT the command and upload the FW. 
Make sure you enable tftp: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/enable-tftp-windows-10
Video walk through using a tftp client. Use the built in one for windows 10 though. the video is more of an example of how its done:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9DLrLQrpaw
I had a problem on a Windows 10 PC where this didn't work to use TFTP, so I switched to a WIndows 7 PC and the TFTP worked.

Try nmrpflash:
https://github.com/jclehner/nmrpflash

Message 2 of 4
plemans
Guru

Re: Firmware update bricked my router?

Before trying tftp/nmrpflash, try a factory reset. 

Maybe an old setting is causing an issue. 

Push and hold reset for up to 30 seconds while its powered on. 

If that doesn't work, then try the tftp/nmrpflash .

Message 3 of 4
hux2000
Tutor

Re: Firmware update bricked my router?

I followed the initial instructions at FURRYe38's first link and discovered that it was responding on the factory default IP (198.168.1.1). It turns out that the update was successful, but for some reason it had reverted all the settings to the factory defaults. So, annoying but not disastrous.

 

After spending some time reconfiguring, everything's back up and running.

 

Thanks!

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