N66R Bricked After Installing RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_374.43_2-32L4j9527

[I am JK]

I have been running Merlin's firmware for years, but when I tried to install version RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_374.43_2-32L4j9527 yesterday it resulted in a bricked router. I tried installing FW_RT_N66R_300438250702 from the Asus website via the recovery tool. After installing that, I couldn't seem to get the router out of recovery mode (no amount of reboots will stop the power LED from blinking). Am I hosed?

 

[ColinTaylor]

It's unlikely to be bricked. V32L4 was an old version from April anyway, you should have been installing V36EA or V36LA.

Try again and be patient. From recovery mode it can take about 40 minutes to flash the firmware. Ignore what the web interface says about "timed out", ignore that and just wait.

 

[I am JK]

The restoration only took about 5 minutes to upload before I was given the notification to reboot the router. I did that and now I'm back to a slowly blinking power light. Should I just leave it plugged in and turned on for an hour?

 

[john9527]

Should I just leave it plugged in and turned on for an hour?

Yes, let it sit. I think the messaging may be different between different versions of the restoration tool. Most likely it will eventually reboot on its own.

At the extreme, a lot of folks start the restoration before going to sleep and just let it sit overnight

 

[I am JK]

Now it keeps failing at 1.7%.