I have a dumb cat that threw up on my router. It powers up but after the lights blink the power light stays amber. I opened the case and found a small damaged component. Is there a way to repair this or pay someone to repair it?
But in this case it sounds more like physical damage. Unfortunately, I have never seen any reports here of finding a repair service., Netgear doesn't do it, so it might be down to tracking down a local electronics expert.
Then again, the electronics industry seems to be determined to make these things irreparable. In any case, the cost of the repair could well exceed the cost of replacing the router.
I hope the cat recovered. They seem to love sitting on top of warm electronic kit and have been known to turn off the wifi on routers.
One thing you can try doing prior to trying to recover the firmware is to clean off the board. use some isopropyl alcohol and a clean toothbrush. (make sure there isn't power to the device and that its been sitting a while so capacitors are discharged)
clean that area off and wipe it down.
If you could get the numbers off that burned part, you could always try swapping it out as it looks like a simple integrated circuit. (if you're comfortable soldering)
