M1 (MR1100) needs battery to update firmware

My suspicions expressed at the end of this post seem to be confirmed - apparently you currently need a battery installed in the M1 in order to update its firmware. If this is correct, it's a big problem for people running their M1 solely on the mains charger, especially if the M1 is in a remote, difficult-to-access location. I believe the firmware needs to be changed so that if the M1 is being run without a battery, using a sufficiently powerful mains charger (see the link in the next paragraph) then firmware auto-upgrades should be allowed to proceed. If you agree with this proposal, please hit the Kudos button - it may draw attention to this post.

I'm using my Nighthawk M1 (MR1100) without its battery, powered only by an upgraded mains charger for 24/7 internet access at home. This morning I found I had no internet connection and the LED on the M1 was flashing orange rapidly but dully. I decided just to turn off the power, wait a few seconds and then turn it back on. This probably wasn't a good idea - it would have been better to try to shut it down by holding the M1's power button in until it shut itself down "gracefully" - I guess I could have "bricked" the M1 if it had been in the middle of a firmware update. Anyway, after powering back up, thankfully the LCD screen then displayed a progress bar and a message similar to "Updating - do not power off". The progress bar moved fairly rapidly but when it reached 100%, the LCD screen went blank and the orange LED started flashing rapidly again. I'd noticed previously that in the web-based interface under Settings > Adminstration > Firmware Update, there was an advisory note saying "Software Update unavailable when battery level is below 20%", so I suspected that running the M1 without a battery might cause issues when it tried to auto-update the firmware. I inserted the battery (already charged to around 70%) without turning off the mains charger and the LCD screen again displayed the progress bar with the warning not to power off. This time, the progress bar didn't move smoothly to 100%, it jumped in stages and each time the LCD screen went blank for a while. When it reached 100%, the M1 appeared to reboot, possibly more than once, but eventually the normal LCD display returned and the LED was flashing blue as ususal. When I checked the web-based interface, there was a message stating that the software had been updated successfully. Prior to the update, my M1 was on firmware version NTG9X50C_10.20.05.00. It's now on NTG9X50C_10.22.03.00, which has a build date of 22nd Nov 2017. I'm in the UK and my provider is EE - it's possible that the firmware version numbers differ from country to country.

I've no idea what has changed in this firmware version - on a quick glance through the interface, I don't see any new options so I guess the changes were bug fixes. Unfortunately, there's no new option to stop the Ethernet port going to sleep when running on the mains charger without a battery. However, this feature wasn't promised until Feb.

It would be very useful if Netgear published a firmware update history on their site, even though they are not providing the firmware itself for downloading. At least we could then see what had changed. If you agree with me on this point, I ask you again to hit the Kudos button. Thanks.