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xjjeep96's avatar
xjjeep96
Tutor
Jan 26, 2018
Solved

R7000 Nighthawk Won't factory reset

Have hit reset several times...cycles through but comes right back up connected to the internet, and password/login hasn't been reset to default admin/password....any suggestions?

Troubleshooting
  • 970222's avatar
    970222
    Jun 13, 2018
     
    @michaelkenwa

    I fixed the issue; please see the thread above (now, rejected. So, writting again below) Thanks for your quick response. The TFTP2 came from and KB by netgear: https://kb.netgear.com/22688/How-to-upload-firmware-to-a-NETGEAR-router-using-TFTP

     

     

    Here is the the fix and details on  what happened: 

     

    1. After clicking on “A router firmware upgrade is available” and flushing with new firmware, my router didn’t work anymore. As I stated earlier, only ‘blinking white’ light were showing.
    2. I tried doing factory reset, and didn’t work.
    3. Then followed this instruction: https://kb.netgear.com/22688/How-to-upload-firmware-to-a-NETGEAR-router-using-TFTPto flush the firmware. It didn’t work.
    4. I called the customer service and spent about an hour, trying different things they suggested, and nothing worked. It was a mixed experience. While, the technical support representative were nice and tried what she could do to help me and my router was out of warranty, she didn’t offer anything that I couldn’t find in goggle. At then end, when she failed she said sorry and that was it. I know the router was out of warranty and they were not going to do anything about it. However, I think they should take more responsibility for failed update for a $200 router.
    5. So, after asking technical support representation told me that the $200 device is now a piece of brick and I already spent 2+ hours to fix it, I decided to give up and start driving to Costco/BestBuy to get an new router (obviously not a NetGear). Before, I give up, I sent this message as a last resort, and tried one final thing.
    6. I followed: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-WiFi-Routers/SOLVED-Steps-for-debrick-unresponsive-R7000-softbricked/td-p/414034 with some Tweak,

     

                Note: the guide has a mistake and use windows tftp not as the KB suggested by NeatGear.

               

                & the correct command will be:

                tftp -i 192.168.1.1 put firmware.chk (-i was missing form the instruction)

     

    This did the trick, and I was able to use the router again.  

    I hope this is help someone else save 3 hours of different trial and error.

     

    Thanks