I have a AP/Bridge WNHDE111 that is blinking once per second (corrupted firmware sign). It does not response on any buttons or network connections. Prior to becoming a paperweight, it frequently stalled and did not respond to another WNHDE111 both while in use and in idle mode; only power recycle could bring it back to functioning. That happened when this faulty device worked in both AP and bridge modes, when the switch was in a dedicated or Auto position. After only 3 days of use and after next disconnecting and reconnecting power, it started to blink 1/second. Does anybody know how to upload a new firmware into it? Some routers have a serial port for this purpose but I don't see one on this device. Installation manual refers to an emergency recovery procedure that should be explained in the User manual, but it's not there. One reviewer on Amazon had the same problem a while ago and said that Netgear techsupport mentioned Reference manual but they could not locate it. Seems like a lock without a key... But may be someone knows how to revive this AP/bridge?
Thanks for the tip. The distance is optimal, about 12-15 feet, signal strength (when the second unit was functional) was 100% on both sides. And I switched them around just to figure out that only one of these two units is actually at fault. Once I recycle the power plug (i.e., pull it, wait about 30 sec and push in again), the unit at fault would behave normally - light stays on for start, then blinks synchronously with the other unit showing that they are talking. Then, at any time, both units would show steady green light, and the faulty unit would not respond to www.mywifiext.net or direct IPv4 HTTP request. Computer and ReadyNAS that were connected to that unit disappeared from the network. Power cycle on the faulty unit caused restoration of the service with no additional intervention. I used this AP/bridge set for about 3 days (!), and these hiccups started to happen more and more quickly. The last time it happened in about 2 minutes after the power cycle. The next (last) power cycle ended in the "firmware corrupt" signal - light was blinking 1/second, and nothing could change that. I wanted to see if there is any way to restore firmware in the memory chip. Some Netgear routers have a "manager port" to upload .bin file using Hyperterminal, other have a recovery utility that does it automatically, but this device seemed to left in the cold in that department...
I was able to flush the firmware on WNHDE111 as follows: (Beforehand, download the latest firmware *.bin file from the Netgear WNHDE111 page) 1. Connect the AP/Bridge in AP mode directly to a PC. 2. Turn it on. 3. Wait about a minute, until Windows stopped complaining about unplugged network cable. 4. Open Start->Run->cmd, then type ipconfig at the C: prompt. 5. Computer shows that Ethernet card has IP 192.168.0.x, Default Gateway is 192.168.0.100. 6. Ping 192.168.0.100, make sure that it returns all 4 pings. 7. Start browser, type http://192.168.0.100 8. WNHDE111 displays a emergency recovery page asking for the firmware file. 9. Point it to the downloaded file, wait 90 sec, and - voila - problem solved. 10. Windows will start to complain about unplugged cable again, but it is expected because AP/bridge has DHCP server disabled in normal mode. As a result, Windows will assign 169.254.x.x address to ethernet card, which will make WNHDE111 invisible for it (its IP is 192.168.0.240 default).
This procedure is not documented anywhere as far as I can tell. I don't know if this is a universal procedure for Netgear devices, or one specific for the AP/bridge.
June,
Thank you for your replies. You do a great job helping people with various problems!
Things like bad solder joints will heat up, then open up. As they get worse, they happen more frequently. Maybe on the last boot it was reading/writing and either lost power or a memory connection which corrupted the program.
My guess would be that reloading the firmware will fix it temporarily until the next event occurs at just the right time and the program corruption will recur.
If it is still under warranty, I'd try to get a replacement.
No, it is not under warranty. I also have a suspicion that hardware is at fault there, but I am still happy that I've found a procedure that worked because Netgear referenced a recovery procedure in their installation guide for the device but never described it in the user manual.
I was able to flush the firmware on WNHDE111 as follows: (Beforehand, download the latest firmware *.bin file from the Netgear WNHDE111 page) 1. Connect the AP/Bridge in AP mode directly to a PC. 2. Turn it on. 3. Wait about a minute, until Windows stopped complaining about unplugged network cable. 4. Open Start->Run->cmd, then type ipconfig at the C: prompt. 5. Computer shows that Ethernet card has IP 192.168.0.x, Default Gateway is 192.168.0.100. 6. Ping 192.168.0.100, make sure that it returns all 4 pings. 7. Start browser, type http://192.168.0.100 8. WNHDE111 displays a emergency recovery page asking for the firmware file. 9. Point it to the downloaded file, wait 90 sec, and - voila - problem solved. 10. Windows will start to complain about unplugged cable again, but it is expected because AP/bridge has DHCP server disabled in normal mode. As a result, Windows will assign 169.254.x.x address to ethernet card, which will make WNHDE111 invisible for it (its IP is 192.168.0.240 default).
This procedure is not documented anywhere as far as I can tell. I don't know if this is a universal procedure for Netgear devices, or one specific for the AP/bridge.
June,
Thank you for your replies. You do a great job helping people with various problems!
Sorry that i'm bumping an old topic, but i'm having similar issues, except my WNHDE111 is flashing 3 times, which is a fairly innocuos wireless connection problem. However, this happened instantly after updating the firmware (which I promise I did not bodge). I would love to be able to do the steps above, but I can't get an IP! My mac simply self assigns an IP. I just cannot get the config to change and settings!
Sorry that i'm bumping an old topic, but i'm having similar issues, except my WNHDE111 is flashing 3 times, which is a fairly innocuos wireless connection problem. However, this happened instantly after updating the firmware (which I promise I did not bodge). I would love to be able to do the steps above, but I can't get an IP! My mac simply self assigns an IP. I just cannot get the config to change and settings!
I just had the same thing happen to me today. I bought a used WNHDE111 from a guy on eBay and as soon as I got it on a valid LAN address, it wanted to do an update. I let it. Big Mistake! It looked like I'd bricked it, but it turned out the wired connections still worked. So I gave it the nerve pinch, found the v1.2.3 firmware on NetGear's site, and reloaded that.
The v1.2.7 firmware appeared to have killed the radio, near as I can tell. Or at least it wouldn't see my wireless-A network anymore. One-in-the-same result, for my purposes, since I want to use it for a media center bridge.
I know it's unlikely, this late in the game for this product, but it'd be nice if NetGear would fix this problem. Or at the very least put up a warning on the support pages. If I hadn't been an experienced systems and network admin, and have worked with NetGear product a lot already, I probably would've dumped the thing in the trash--figuring I'd bricked it or not having any clue as to how to get the older firmware back into the thing.
