Hello!! Enter Rescue Mode: (by Force)

[rs232]

Trying to fix an Asus RT-AC3200.
Have a serial connectivity and this is where the bootstrap gets stuck:

Device eth0:  hwaddr AC-22-0B-CE-69-20, ipaddr 192.168.1.1, mask 255.255.255.0
       gateway not set, nameserver not set
Null Rescue Flag.
Hello!! Enter Rescue Mode: (by Force)

Reading ::
TFTP Server.
..tftp retry wait 0
Failed.: Timeout occured
Reading ::
TFTP Server.
..tftp retry wait 0
Failed.: Timeout occured

As this point I can CTRL+C and enter the CFE. I have tried everything I can think about (erase NVRAM, Asus restore utility, CFE Webserver flashing TFTP client flashing, TFTP server flashing, different firmware: stock, DD-WRT, Tomato, etc, downgraded CFE)

Bottom line it will always show this: Hello!! Enter Rescue Mode: (by Force)
Does anybody know what it might be the root cause and how to disable this (since it's by Force).

P.S. there one specific thing about this device that makes me puzzled: when I power the router on if I'm already connected to the USB of my computer it will get stuck with all the lights on. If I power on while USB is disconnected and plug it back just after all the lights have powered off it progresses and can see the output like per code area above. Is this normal?

Thanks!

 

[RMerlin]

Reflash it using Asus's Firmware Recovery tool, also make sure your reset button isn't stuck.

 

[rs232]

Reflash it using Asus's Firmware Recovery tool, also make sure your reset button isn't stuck.

As mentioned I tried the restoration already with no luck it still goes into TFTP endless loop.

I did think of the reset button being stuck but I'm not sure how I can verify this properly?
It does click when pressed but this means nothing really. Perhaps I can remove it as a whole detaching it from the board? Is it actually needed? WPS and potentially serial connectivity should be enough nowadays I would have thought..

 

[Grisu]

just measure the pins if they connect by pressing and disconnect after release button.

 

[RMerlin]

As mentioned I tried the restoration already with no luck it still goes into TFTP endless loop.

I did think of the reset button being stuck but I'm not sure how I can verify this properly?
It does click when pressed but this means nothing really. Perhaps I can remove it as a whole detaching it from the board? Is it actually needed? WPS and potentially serial connectivity should be enough nowadays I would have thought..

After breaking into the CFE try asking it to boot the firmware (I believe the cfe command for it is "go", however it might not be available for every models - check with the list of available commands). That might confirm whether the firmware partition is correct or not.

If it does click then I would expect it to work properly. Would be surprising for something to short it out.

 

[rs232]

Unfortunately it's not the button...

 

[wxalriss]

A same problem from a Huawei WS880 gigabyte WiFi Router (bcm4708 SoC), after desoldering the RESET button switch, it works quite well as before.