r7800 v/ old Voxel firmware spontaneous factory reset. How to best proceed with REMOTE firmware update and reconfig?

[djphilosophy]

The r7800 is running Voxel firmware v1.0.2.90SF with Kamoj add-on. It's been stable for a couple years as the main router at my parents' house. A few days ago, possibly due to a storm internet went down -- and stayed down despite power cycling the router.

(Edit: a separate device log suggests the internet went down well before any bad weather.)

I'm on another continent. Today I was able to walk my mother through accessing the router admin page, and in doing this discovered the router was somehow restored to factory default settings (which is why the internet appeared down). With internet restored I have access to the network via AnyDesk running on a desktop computer which is connected via Ethernet.

Before reconfiguring the router, I thought this might be a good time to upgrade to the latest Voxel firmware -- but then stopped and thought I should consult here first, given that I'm in the precarious situation of not having physical access to the device, and if anything went wrong (soft brick), I'd be in an even worse situation.

So my questions for the community are:

• Should I upgrade the firmware at all? Or is it too risky?
• If yes, what's the safest way to upgrade from 1.02.90SF to whatever the most recent current stable version is (I read a comment about .100 being problematic). In other words, can I safely go from .90SF directly to .101SF?
• After an upgrade, can I safely use a configuration file made with the 1.0.2.90SF firmware to restore my settings? Or do I need to start from scratch?
• Has anyone else experienced spontaneous factory resets? Should I be concerned that this is a sign of failing hardware?​

All help greatly appreciated.

 

[HELLO_wORLD]

The r7800 is running Voxel firmware v1.0.2.90SF. It's been stable for a couple years as the main router at my parents' house. A few days ago, possibly due to a storm, internet went down -- and stayed down despite power cycling the router.

I'm on another continent. Today I was able to walk my mother through accessing the router admin page, and in doing this discovered the router was somehow restored to factory default settings (which is why the internet appeared down). With internet restored I have access to the network via AnyDesk running on a desktop computer which is connected via Ethernet.

Before reconfiguring the router, I thought this might be a good time to upgrade to the latest Voxel firmware -- but then stopped and thought I should consult here first, given that I'm in the precarious situation of not having physical access to the device, and if anything went wrong (soft brick), I'd be in an even worse situation.

So my questions for the community are:

• Should I upgrade the firmware at all? Or is it too risky?
• If yes, what's the safest way to upgrade from 1.02.90SF to whatever the most recent current stable version is (I read a comment about .100 being problematic). In other words, can I safely go from .90SF directly to .101SF?
• After an upgrade, can I safely use a configuration file made with the 1.0.2.90SF firmware to restore my settings? Or do I need to start from scratch?
• Has anyone else experienced spontaneous factory resets? Should I be concerned that this is a sign of failing hardware?​

All help greatly appreciated.

Going to .101SF should be fine, however, there is a golden rule that applies to your specific situation: if it works, don’t touch it.

 

[djphilosophy]

Going to .101SF should be fine, however, there is a golden rule that applies to your specific situation: if it works, don’t touch it.

Yeah, exactly why I'm hesitant to upgrade remotely, but I did also consider that perhaps there's a security issue with the .90SF firmware since it's now over 2 years old, and perhaps that's even what led to the spontaneous factory reset. Based on a separate device log, the internet actually went out a day before the storm which I thought was the culprit hit. The router is on an outlet timer though for a semi-daily reset though, if loss of power can cause spontaneous factory resets. But that has never been an issue before.

 

[NetBytes]

Yeah, exactly why I'm hesitant to upgrade remotely, but I did also consider that perhaps there's a security issue with the .90SF firmware since it's now over 2 years old, and perhaps that's even what led to the spontaneous factory reset. Based on a separate device log, the internet actually went out a day before the storm which I thought was the culprit hit. The router is on an outlet timer though for a semi-daily reset though, if loss of power can cause spontaneous factory resets. But that has never been an issue before.

I'm with @HELLO_wORLD here. With you on another continent, and this being the first crash: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I think that a potential hardware failure is more likely and a firmware upgrade wouldn't fix that.
In your shoes I would give the router time to see if the issue happens again before I went all in trying to fix/upgrade it.
Good luck with it.