Hi all,
I have this RT-N66U for a while before it was hit by lightning and because I need router badly so I replaced it with RT-AC66U which is running on Merlin build and running fine at the moment. Recently I have a bit more free time so decided to give this bricked router a second look.
No matter when I try the ping command from my connected laptop to any lan port, there is no ping response from the router at all. When I try to go into recovery mode by pressing the reset button, the power led and the 5G led are solid. While the lan1, lan2 and Internet port led also lit up but the light is slightly dimmed as compared to the power/ 5G led (which is why I think the router is toasted). 2.4G led comes up for a while in between then goes off. If I hold the reset button long enough, the power led will start blinking until I release the button (I notice the led blinks when the bootloader reboots, you may refer bootloader.txt). Again, there is no ping response during the whole process.
When I try the WPS to clear the NVRAM, basically led sequence is the same as above except that the power led doesn't blink at all. So I decided to buy an USB-TTL adapter and try to read the bootloader sequence to see what is really going on inside. You may refer result in bootloader.txt attachment.
It will stuck at the dhcp lease fail infinitely after it rebooted itself 2 times (the result in the txt file attached only show last boot sequence after the 2 reboots due to the attachment size limit). Note that I have masked all the mac address if you are wondering. When I do a Ctrl+C during the first bootup, if I am quick enough I will be able to go into the CFE command prompt so I did a NVRAM SHOW and you may refer to the result in nvram_show_p1.txt and nvram_show_p2.txt (again, got to split the file due to the attachment size limit).
From the result I do see familiar IP addresses but like I said, there is no ping response at all, the lan port on my laptop doesn't even lit up. I would like to think that bootloader still working fine? If it is fine then there must be a window during the bootup where I can upload the firmware using my USB-TTL adapter?
I have zero knowledge in linux or CFE so I might be wrong. Would really appreciate if someone can help to "decode" the bootloader and the configuration and advise what is the best next steps. What I hope is to bring back this router to working condition, doesn't matter if it is Asus stock, Merlin build (preferred and THANKS RMerlin!), DD-WRT or any other alternative, if it is still possible.
Lastly, I do apologies for my lengthy first post and I do enjoy this forum with all the great helpful people around.
Thank you.
I have this RT-N66U for a while before it was hit by lightning and because I need router badly so I replaced it with RT-AC66U which is running on Merlin build and running fine at the moment. Recently I have a bit more free time so decided to give this bricked router a second look.
No matter when I try the ping command from my connected laptop to any lan port, there is no ping response from the router at all. When I try to go into recovery mode by pressing the reset button, the power led and the 5G led are solid. While the lan1, lan2 and Internet port led also lit up but the light is slightly dimmed as compared to the power/ 5G led (which is why I think the router is toasted). 2.4G led comes up for a while in between then goes off. If I hold the reset button long enough, the power led will start blinking until I release the button (I notice the led blinks when the bootloader reboots, you may refer bootloader.txt). Again, there is no ping response during the whole process.
When I try the WPS to clear the NVRAM, basically led sequence is the same as above except that the power led doesn't blink at all. So I decided to buy an USB-TTL adapter and try to read the bootloader sequence to see what is really going on inside. You may refer result in bootloader.txt attachment.
It will stuck at the dhcp lease fail infinitely after it rebooted itself 2 times (the result in the txt file attached only show last boot sequence after the 2 reboots due to the attachment size limit). Note that I have masked all the mac address if you are wondering. When I do a Ctrl+C during the first bootup, if I am quick enough I will be able to go into the CFE command prompt so I did a NVRAM SHOW and you may refer to the result in nvram_show_p1.txt and nvram_show_p2.txt (again, got to split the file due to the attachment size limit).
From the result I do see familiar IP addresses but like I said, there is no ping response at all, the lan port on my laptop doesn't even lit up. I would like to think that bootloader still working fine? If it is fine then there must be a window during the bootup where I can upload the firmware using my USB-TTL adapter?
I have zero knowledge in linux or CFE so I might be wrong. Would really appreciate if someone can help to "decode" the bootloader and the configuration and advise what is the best next steps. What I hope is to bring back this router to working condition, doesn't matter if it is Asus stock, Merlin build (preferred and THANKS RMerlin!), DD-WRT or any other alternative, if it is still possible. Lastly, I do apologies for my lengthy first post and I do enjoy this forum with all the great helpful people around.
Thank you.
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