Incorrect firmware flash...

[Slyder]

and I'm the lucky one that gets to fix it...

It looks like my younger sibling (read inattentive twit) flashed his new RT-AC87U with the latest Merlin firmware, however it looks like he selected the RT_AC68U version.

This has resulted in the lan and wan ports of his router to be non-functional, but the wireless still works.

I discovered the wrong version when I telnetted into the router and it showed:

ASUSWRT-Merlin RT-AC68U 380.65-2 {router date/timestamp}

Now, given that the lan/wan ports aren't working, is there any way that I can fix this, or am I going to have to tell him to get an RMA from Asus and pay them to fix it.

30/30/30 reset doesn't work. Recovery mode doesn't work. I cannot get the the CFE miniweb server.

The only ways that I can think of doing anything are through the wireless connection via the config page or telnet. I know that doing anything via wireless is *LESS* than optimal, but it looks like that's where I'm at, unless someone else has something.

Ideas?

Thanks

Will

 

[FTC]

You can reflash through a wifi connection using the administration GUI. No problem. I do it all the time in my rt-ac3200. Reboot the router before flashing to make sure it has the max possible available memory and hard reset it once flashed to clear the other model nvram settings, then reconfigure. Should be ok. If flashing does not work for any reason, then use the ASUS firmware restoration tool..

 

[Slyder]

You can reflash through a wifi connection using the administration GUI. No problem. I do it all the time in my rt-ac3200. Reboot the router before flashing and hard reset it once flashed. Should be ok. If flashing does not work for any reason, then use the ASUS firmware restoration tool..

I'll try the wifi connection to reflash it, but for the firmware restoration tool, you must be able to connect to the router via a lan connection, which it will not do.

 

[Slyder]

I'll try the wifi connection to reflash it, but for the firmware restoration tool, you must be able to connect to the router via a lan connection, which it will not do.

Ok... I've tried flashing with the latest versions for the AC87U of ASUS, Merlin, and DD-WRT, with the following results:

ASUS - Invalid Firmware Upload. Firmware upgrade unsuccessful. This might result from incorrect image or error transmission, please check the model name RT-AC87U and version of firmware from support site and try again.

Merlin - same error.

DD-WRT - same error.

Any further ideas? Anyway to do anything within PuTTY?

 

[Slyder]

Reflash with this method
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/downgrade-asus-rt-ac87u.33002/#post-264662

P.S: 30-30-30 dont work with asuswrt

Thanks.

This assumes that a hardline connection can be made with the router, which it cannot be at the current time as the ports do not appear to be working.

 

[Reinvented]

and I'm the lucky one that gets to fix it...

It looks like my younger sibling (read inattentive twit) flashed his new RT-AC87U with the latest Merlin firmware, however it looks like he selected the RT_AC68U version.

This has resulted in the lan and wan ports of his router to be non-functional, but the wireless still works.

I discovered the wrong version when I telnetted into the router and it showed:

ASUSWRT-Merlin RT-AC68U 380.65-2 {router date/timestamp}

Now, given that the lan/wan ports aren't working, is there any way that I can fix this, or am I going to have to tell him to get an RMA from Asus and pay them to fix it.

30/30/30 reset doesn't work. Recovery mode doesn't work. I cannot get the the CFE miniweb server.

The only ways that I can think of doing anything are through the wireless connection via the config page or telnet. I know that doing anything via wireless is *LESS* than optimal, but it looks like that's where I'm at, unless someone else has something.

Ideas?

Thanks

Will

I don't think ASUS will allow you to RMA something that was broken due to an incorrect firmware flash. I'm not sure how that would have happened anyway, unless you were messing with the CFE/bootloader anyway.

Anyway, 30/30/30 resets do not work with ASUSwrt as others have mentioned. You've been using the WPS button for recovery mode?

 

[bbunge]

Try the recovery method again but try the IP address of 192.169.50.1 My newer router uses that as a default.

 

[KevTech]

Have you tried TFTP?

tftp -i "routerip" put "firmware name"

Quotes do not go in command just there for clarity.

I suspect this is how the wrong firmware was placed on the router in the first place.

 

[john9527]

Do you still have access via ssh/telnet AND have access to a USB drive that is plugged in to the router?

 

[Slyder]

Do you still have access via ssh/telnet AND have access to a USB drive that is plugged in to the router?

I have access over WIFI to 192.168.1.1 on port 22. I can use the various linux commands there to do some things, but sadly my linux knowledge has fallen significantly over the years. I can see that there is a hardwire connection on eth3, but the laptop connected to it is not able to pull an ip address from the router, nor does setting the laptop ip address to static allow for connection to the router. The eth3 port does show in UP state though.

The router does acknowledge that a USB stick is connected to it within the GUI, but I don't know if it can be connected to through SSH/telnet.

 

[Slyder]

Have you tried TFTP?

tftp -i "routerip" put "firmware name"

Quotes do not go in command just there for clarity.

I suspect this is how the wrong firmware was placed on the router in the first place.

If you need/prefer a tftp utility instead of command line: www.3iii.dk/linux/dd-wrt/tftp2.exe

If you use the utility:

The server/IP address is that of the router being flashed.

Leave the password blank.

Navigate and select the firmware you wish to flash.

Set retries to a number between 10 and 99.

No joy, firmware was originally done via the GUI.

 

[KevTech]

firmware was originally done via the GUI.

I don't see how as the firmware check would have rejected the firmware update.

Only ways I have seen to bypass the check is by uploading firmware through the CFE mini web, tftp or the Asus recovery tool.

 

[Slyder]

and I'm the lucky one that gets to fix it...

It looks like my younger sibling (read inattentive twit) flashed his new RT-AC87U with the latest Merlin firmware, however it looks like he selected the RT_AC68U version.

This has resulted in the lan and wan ports of his router to be non-functional, but the wireless still works.

I discovered the wrong version when I telnetted into the router and it showed:

ASUSWRT-Merlin RT-AC68U 380.65-2 {router date/timestamp}

Now, given that the lan/wan ports aren't working, is there any way that I can fix this, or am I going to have to tell him to get an RMA from Asus and pay them to fix it.

30/30/30 reset doesn't work. Recovery mode doesn't work. I cannot get the the CFE miniweb server.

The only ways that I can think of doing anything are through the wireless connection via the config page or telnet. I know that doing anything via wireless is *LESS* than optimal, but it looks like that's where I'm at, unless someone else has something.

Ideas?

Thanks

Will

GOT IT!

Went in through SSH and issued "mrt-write2 {path to firmware} linux && reboot" command and waited... came back 10 or so minutes later, power cycled the router, and the cfe miniweb server page came up, and disappeared before I could do anything... but was soon replaced with the GUI... enabled SSH again, and went in with PuTTY, and lo and behold...

ASUSWRT-Merlin RT-AC87U 380.65-2 {time/date stamp}

<whew> the bugger will be happy when I get this back to him...

Thanks for helping me think ladies and gents.

 

[RMerlin]

Note that on the RT-AC87U, you must NOT use port 1 when using recovery mode, as only ports 2 through 4 work in recovery mode. This mode will work regardless of what firmware is currently present.

 

[Slyder]

Note that on the RT-AC87U, you must NOT use port 1 when using recovery mode, as only ports 2 through 4 work in recovery mode. This mode will work regardless of what firmware is currently present.

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. I was indeed plugged into port 3. The issue was that while the router recognized that I was plugged in to a port by changing the port status to UP, it would not issue a IP address to any computer plugged into it, only wifi connections could get an IP address. Also, when giving a computer a static address, the router would not reply to a ping or the GUI on 192.168.1.1 from a hardwire connection, but would respond normally on a wifi connection. Thus, the recovery software and the CFE miniweb server would not work, as they rely on being able to connect via a hardwire connection.

It took me a bit to figure out the right command to rewrite the firmware on a SSH connection over wifi from a USB stick connected to the router, but I got it done...