So my router died all of a sudden, well actually it would fail (Only Power & 2.5Ghz Led would be on) then sometimes if left unplugged it would turn on fully functioning until its restarts then die again! This has been happening for a month now. So I decided to check what was happening via a serial connection, now I don't have much knowledge about these things, I had a serial USB adaptor lying around so I thought why not.
Apologies, as I was not able to save some logs as I have no idea how to, I will try my best to explain: (Does putty save logs anywhere?)
1. When the device would fail to work I saw the terminal throwing errors like CRC Uncorrectable Error, Can not read ~some hex code~, In my understanding, it was failing to read from the NAND flash,
-- Prior, I had done many firmware upgrades, the reason being the newer updates would break something so I had to revert back to FW 9177 every time. I noticed it would never fully reset some of my old info would show up in logs, I tried all the methods listed. Even when connected to PC via ethernet the connection name showed is what I set a year ago, sometimes after an upgrade, the connection name would change to my latest wifi SSID and then back to the old one, so some of my settings were still there causing corruption perhaps?
2. In the CFE mode none of the commands I found on the internet worked, typing NVRAM, flash, and show would say an invalid command. The commands I could use were of b,w,f,i, and r where f was I thing to flash via TFTP. how is this possible? I found no clue about this on the internet. Could those be locked in this CFE version or was this due to corrupt NVRAM/nand?
3. Using any reset method would never work even when the router was functioning, only the web reset worked, when I do the WPS method the router would turn off like it's mentioned but when back on nothing resets, the rest button worked though.
4. Now the real problem, while in miniCFE web server I selected the 9177 FW and selected to erase misc partition 2, after this the device opens up with a constant light on LAN no power light or anything, just the LAN led, I can't even get into CFE mode now. Did I wipe out my CFE partition?
Here is what the serial terminal throws:
I am willing to perform all sorts of experiments on it! I also have a jtag cable and programmer if that can work! Just need guidance. Experts out there what should be my next step? Can I flash the CFE partition again and how? I totally belive it was a software issue as the router would turn back on if left for a day or continually pressed on/off. I just could not do anything in the CFE as none of the commands on the internet including this forum worked.
I have seen many experts here on this forum I guess if you all pitch in I might be able to save this device and it could serve as a guide for someone having the same problem. I saw posts on the forum with my exact issue in different models but they all RMA'd or classified their devices as dead, I went a step ahead and made it work! maybe there is a chance.
Sorry for the long post, and yes I tried all the resets listed in this forum Nuclear rests etc, my power adapter in fine, the place where the router was kept has sufficient cooling so it never overheated!
Apologies, as I was not able to save some logs as I have no idea how to, I will try my best to explain: (Does putty save logs anywhere?)
1. When the device would fail to work I saw the terminal throwing errors like CRC Uncorrectable Error, Can not read ~some hex code~, In my understanding, it was failing to read from the NAND flash,
-- Prior, I had done many firmware upgrades, the reason being the newer updates would break something so I had to revert back to FW 9177 every time. I noticed it would never fully reset some of my old info would show up in logs, I tried all the methods listed. Even when connected to PC via ethernet the connection name showed is what I set a year ago, sometimes after an upgrade, the connection name would change to my latest wifi SSID and then back to the old one, so some of my settings were still there causing corruption perhaps?
2. In the CFE mode none of the commands I found on the internet worked, typing NVRAM, flash, and show would say an invalid command. The commands I could use were of b,w,f,i, and r where f was I thing to flash via TFTP. how is this possible? I found no clue about this on the internet. Could those be locked in this CFE version or was this due to corrupt NVRAM/nand?
3. Using any reset method would never work even when the router was functioning, only the web reset worked, when I do the WPS method the router would turn off like it's mentioned but when back on nothing resets, the rest button worked though.
4. Now the real problem, while in miniCFE web server I selected the 9177 FW and selected to erase misc partition 2, after this the device opens up with a constant light on LAN no power light or anything, just the LAN led, I can't even get into CFE mode now. Did I wipe out my CFE partition?
Here is what the serial terminal throws:
Code:
BTRM
V1.6
CPU0
L1CD
MMUI
MMU7
DATA
ZBBS
MAIN
OTP?
OTPP
USBT
NAND
IMG?
FAIL
----
I am willing to perform all sorts of experiments on it! I also have a jtag cable and programmer if that can work! Just need guidance. Experts out there what should be my next step? Can I flash the CFE partition again and how? I totally belive it was a software issue as the router would turn back on if left for a day or continually pressed on/off. I just could not do anything in the CFE as none of the commands on the internet including this forum worked.
I have seen many experts here on this forum I guess if you all pitch in I might be able to save this device and it could serve as a guide for someone having the same problem. I saw posts on the forum with my exact issue in different models but they all RMA'd or classified their devices as dead, I went a step ahead and made it work! maybe there is a chance.
Sorry for the long post, and yes I tried all the resets listed in this forum Nuclear rests etc, my power adapter in fine, the place where the router was kept has sufficient cooling so it never overheated!