Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
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R8500 bricked

peter11742
Luminary

R8500 bricked

Hi All.

This is my first report.

I purchased on purpose the above router on Ebay. I can not register it Serial 4DG65B7G019C5 it is used like mint.

The reason i found it is the best range router and my house needs it.

I opened it and I looked the mother board it is a beatiful designe motherboard.

Now i need some help from the people who are good on this matter.

I have a cable ttl to usb PL2303 but I go no where I do not see any report.

I use GENIE and i found an IP address 54.218.118.186.

The dos command verifies the the IP by the ping IP that talks to the router.

Genie can not fix anything.

I tryed tftp -i 54.218.118.186 put r8500.chk   the dos after 1 minute times out no connection.

I connected on the J4 serial port blk as ground pin 2 and pins 3 and 4 it gets white and green send receive.

Do we have any cd that will go and correct the router's firmware. Any help will be appreciated.

I do not have any warranty therefore we can do all the experaments possible.

Best regards.  Peter11742

Message 1 of 121

Accepted Solutions
peter11742
Luminary

Re: R8500 bricked

This is my final procedure after I fixed the second router r8500.

1) J4  connector pins : 1   2   3    4  pins are visable by looking the motherboard and they are located in the front view.

     and j4 mark is located next to #1 pin.  1 gets green color, 2 gets white color, 3 gets green color, 4 is not connected.

2) open the bottom cover by removing the 6 tork screws.

    Take the cover half way out so you can see the j4 plug and plug the serial cable.Turn on the router.

3) Start Putty let it run for a minite or so and start sending control c commands until you will see CFE.

4) on CFE type nvram erase you will see a 0 as an answer.

5) On CFE type tftpd you will get tftpd server ready ::

6) go on comand mode dos cmd>tfttp -i 192.168.1.1 put C:\r85.chk 

    r85.chk will be your old firmware located on the c:\ main directory

7) Now you will see a blue led on the #1 port flickering comminicating.

😎 if what you did is correct then you will get from dos and putty file tranfered successful.

9) Now hold the reset button with a pin and turn the power off.

10) with the pin on reset turn power on and waight for 3 reboots let the pin go.

11) waight for 2 minutes you will see many led's comunicating and final the main led will be normal.

12) The router is now ready to be configuerd.

13) The network name and password is located on the white paper top right or at the bottom of the router.

I did 2 units the first one it took 1 week the second one it .5 hour.

Good luck.

peter11742

 

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Message 77 of 121

All Replies
TheEther
Guru

Re: R8500 bricked

I believe the serial port is the 4-pin header at the bottom of this picture halfway between the middle and left hole.  Image credit: smallnetbuilder.com.

 

Message 2 of 121
peter11742
Luminary

Re: R8500 bricked

Thanks.

I knew the CPU chassy I love it.

I f you read my report I need to control the software that is corrupted.

I have all the required adaptors and software.

Your help will be appreciated.

peter11742

Model: R8500|Nighthawk X8 Tri-Band AC5300 WiFi Router
Message 3 of 121
TheEther
Guru

Re: R8500 bricked

Here are instructions for a R8000, but they should work on a R8500.

Message 4 of 121
peter11742
Luminary

Re: R8500 bricked

Many thanks for this reply.

This is the page I started original to fix the router.

This is where I have a problem.

He is mentioning in the beginning ( Verify that the serial client has proper parameters to the connection.)

I use PUTTY but I have a difficulty to make it to find the router it always fails.

Is any special settings that I have to make let me know.

I can ping IP:54.218.118.186 and IP: 54.200.99.0 that GENIE found for me.

When I set this ip's with GENIE or PUTTY  the connection fails. I use cat5 connection and ttl-usb on the motherboard.

I still can not make any good steps.

Best regards.

Peter11742

Model: R8500|Nighthawk X8 Tri-Band AC5300 WiFi Router
Message 5 of 121
TheEther
Guru

Re: R8500 bricked

Make sure you have the drivers for the PL2303 installed.  I use the drivers from Prolific.  It has a program to check that it can reach the PL2303.  This will help you identify the correct COM port.  Interestingly, on my laptop, only one of the USB ports works with my cable.

 

Try these serial port settings:

 

115200 baud, but you can go lower

8 bits

No parity

1 stop bit

 

On the router, you only need to connect the Tx, Rx and GND pins to the cable.  You can leave the VCC pin unconnected.

 

Good luck.

 

Message 6 of 121
peter11742
Luminary

Re: R8500 bricked

Thank you again you are a good help.

I use win 7. I have all the prolithic drivers installed.

I also have a program that checks the chip of the prolithic that checks the port #3 that is good.

I always use the three connectors #2 blk , #3 white, #4 green,  red disconnected.

I now check my laptop to see if I have a port problem as you mensioned.

The prolithic check port works only with the cables disconnected it has port 3 and is good.

PUTTY fails to see port 3 maybe this is my problem.

Please tell me what serial program you are using so I can find them and see if they work.

I have also win XP if I have to use it.

Best regards.

Peter11742

Model: R8500|Nighthawk X8 Tri-Band AC5300 WiFi Router
Message 7 of 121
TheEther
Guru

Re: R8500 bricked

I've had success with KiTTY.  But it's basically a fork of PuTTY, so you may not have any better luck.

Message 8 of 121
peter11742
Luminary

Re: R8500 bricked

Thanks.

I have a goot question you may know the answer.

On dos I type tftp -i 54.218.118.186 put R5800.chk

The IP address is from GIENIE the R8500.chk is the original firmware for the router.

It fails.

I will try your software and see if I have better luck.

I do appreciate always your good emaIs with solid solutions.

Best regards.

Peter11742

Model: R8500|Nighthawk X8 Tri-Band AC5300 WiFi Router
Message 9 of 121
TheEther
Guru

Re: R8500 bricked

Are you seeing anything with PuTTY/KiTTY?  You should get that working first.  Make sure the TX and RX pins are connected correctly.  It's easy to swap them by mistake.

 

Don't forget to start tftpd on the router once you are in.

 

You should try to tftp to 192.168.1.1.  That's the IP address the router uses for tftp.

Message 10 of 121
peter11742
Luminary

Re: R8500 bricked

Thanks.

The tftp is not working even i entered the proper IP.

I play with KiTTY I made a working serial profile and then I see there is an option send a script file.

The  laptop goes crazy it sends some crazy flickering letters for a while.

I see once the router opened all the lights and then went back.

I will monitor for a while and if it goes more that .5 Hour I will stoppe it.

Is anything that I describe makes sence I never play with this router or any other one.

My cables are correct I alwways make a note and I put them the same way.

Best regards.

Peter11742

Model: R8500|Nighthawk X8 Tri-Band AC5300 WiFi Router
Message 11 of 121
peter11742
Luminary

Re: R8500 bricked

Hi All.

Some observations  during this procedure are the following.

The KiTTY is configuered as serial with baut 11500, databits 8, stop bits 1,  no parity, no flow control.

I send the 8500 router firmware and  for 20 minutes I see the KITTY sending the file.

At the end I reboot the router and still fails.

At the end  also I do tftp -i 192.168.1.1 put R8500.chk  it fails.

At this point I will take a brake until we come with a better sequence.

Last my serial cable is good and is connected as following #2 pin blk, #3 pin white @#4 pin green.

If any one sees any mistake is wellcome to edit my files.

Best regards.

Peter11742

 

Model: R8500|Nighthawk X8 Tri-Band AC5300 WiFi Router
Message 12 of 121
TheEther
Guru

Re: R8500 bricked

You are not supposed to be seeing flickering letters.  You should see something like this:

 

 

Try swapping the Tx and Rx connections.

 

Also, I'm not sure if you realize, but the tftp transfer is supposed to happen over Ethernet.  The serial cable is only used to start the TFTPD server on the router.  I hope that's what you are doing and NOT trying to tftp over the serial cable.

Message 13 of 121
peter11742
Luminary

Re: R8500 bricked

Thank you.

I will try this swapping the cables but also I will try to repeat this with an XP laptop.

I like to be sure that I get some comunication from the router.

I always have a cat5 connection so I cover both commands.

I will give some information with the foundings later on.

Best regards.

Peter11742

Model: R8500|Nighthawk X8 Tri-Band AC5300 WiFi Router
Message 14 of 121
peter11742
Luminary

Re: R8500 bricked

Updates.

I found that my usb to ttl cable unpluged from the router will give me the scamble letters when I send the script.

I do not know what is cousing this if any one had this before can maybe tell me what is the issue.

The script is good I downloaded twice.

Best regards.

Peter11742

Model: R8500|Nighthawk X8 Tri-Band AC5300 WiFi Router
Message 15 of 121
TheEther
Guru

Re: R8500 bricked

Try a lower baud rate, like 19200.

 

What does the script do?

Message 16 of 121
peter11742
Luminary

Re: R8500 bricked

Hi.

I did adjust to 9600 but I still have the characters crazy.

My windows compatibility fails on Kitty.

Thanks for the hint we  will fix it somehow.

Best regards.

Peter 11742

Model: R8500|Nighthawk X8 Tri-Band AC5300 WiFi Router
Message 17 of 121
peter11742
Luminary

Re: R8500 bricked

I forgot to ask you which windows platform are you using.

Thanks.

Model: R8500|Nighthawk X8 Tri-Band AC5300 WiFi Router
Message 18 of 121
TheEther
Guru

Re: R8500 bricked

Windows 10.  Did you ever try swapping the TX and RX connections?

Message 19 of 121
peter11742
Luminary

Re: R8500 bricked

Hi.

I am testing the unit unplunged because the display is giving but moving characters.

I will find my other win 10 laptop and I will see if it corrects the problem.

I will pass this problem first before I go to router.

Thanks.

Best regards.

peter11742

Model: R8500|Nighthawk X8 Tri-Band AC5300 WiFi Router
Message 20 of 121
peter11742
Luminary

Re: R8500 bricked

Hi

The wires were swapped but the problem remained bad characters.

Thanks

Peter11742

Model: R8500|Nighthawk X8 Tri-Band AC5300 WiFi Router
Message 21 of 121
VE6CGX
Master

Re: R8500 bricked

I did not read whole threads. OP, did you buy the broken router intending to fix it? Then first thing to make sure is CFE is intact. 8500 is not such a robust router with issues as you note else where in the forum.  Garbled letters can be caused by wrong baud rate. If CFE is messed

up, reloading CFE is another matter. If you reset the router what is the status of LED indicators?  Is power light blinking green?

Message 22 of 121
peter11742
Luminary

Re: R8500 bricked

Thanks.

First let me start to correct, the router R8500 is the best signal range router for the money.

This is what I found in the internet.

Now if you see all my messages you will see I bought the router from Ebay it has a YELLOW light.

The price was good and the router was brand new still in warranty.

I am an electrical engeneer in the medical field and retired.

I have pleanty time to play with routers.

Now you know why I try to fix it. It is a good chalenge and a good product.

The baud has been changed from low to high numbers have no effect on the error of the router, it is my system that causes the bad letters.

The problem is in the software "KiTTY" when I send the firmware it gives me letters moving that have no sense.

This is my first fix  then I will continue with the firmware reload to fix the YELLOW light.

By me doing this many people will read what I do and they are going to learn and fix their problems.

Best regards.

Peter11742

Model: R8500|Nighthawk X8 Tri-Band AC5300 WiFi Router
Message 23 of 121
peter11742
Luminary

Re: R8500 bricked

Thanks for the infomation for win 10.

It seems my laptop on win 10 do not like the software is incopatible.

So I will play with win 7 and i5 cpu.

I reloaded all the software.

Now I cannot load the script.

I do not see the reason but I will see what is causing this error.

If you have any other software that is as good as Kitty that sends scripts to the usb port.

I will soon report some good news.

Best regards.

Peter11742

Model: R8500|Nighthawk X8 Tri-Band AC5300 WiFi Router
Message 24 of 121
VE6CGX
Master

Re: R8500 bricked

First what does amber light mean? Have you checked if CFE is intact?  Tried Putty?

You may get more help at smallnetbuilder forum or dd-wrt forum. Tried to load fresh CFE?

Have a copy of right CFE?

Message 25 of 121
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