- Mar 6, 2019
- 2
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Hello internet travellers! I hope this post goes a long way since I haven't found a single tutorial around the Archer C50 V3 model being bricked, so I decided to make my own.
If you have bricked your router by installing wrong firmware or by losing power during an upgrade and it cannot turn on or be reset then this is the correct post for you!
PS.: This post may not be perfect, the instructions may confuse some people, reply to the post and I'm more than happy to help.
Here I go then:
---------------------------------
My story and how I got myself into this:
I was basically just today trying to install an OpenWRT firmware on my router so that I could have more freedom playing around with my router's settings, I was so hyped while it was installing and was already looking at the possibilities with that firmware, but when the firmware upgrade was "complete" that's when the downfall began. Keep in mind that TPLink's technical support was not able to help and declared my router dead and out of warranty.
---------------------------------
The symptoms:
The router had the following pattern of flashing LEDs.
No LEDs > Power LED Only > All LEDs
The router will NOT I repeat, will NOT create an access point for the user to access the UI nor will connecting via ethernet work since the device's firmware has been corrupted.
---------------------------------
The solution:
After endless hours of searching the internet, I came to the solution which is not hard at all, you just need some basic knowledge over windows networks and IPs.
- What you need to do first is go to your internet adapter settings, select Internet Protocol Version 4 and set your IP Address > 192.168.0.66 (That's the IP address the router looks for to recover the lost firmware when connected to a computer, more about this later). Your subnet mask > 255.255.255.0 (This is the default subnet mask for any local IP as far as I know). Default Gateway > 192.168.0.1 (Your router's default UI IP). And the DNS Servers to > 8.8.8.8 - 8.8.4.4 accordingly (These are the google DNS Servers) (https://ibb.co/khkm9cT).
- After editing the IP settings correctly, you need to set up a TFTP Server, this isn't hard at all nor does it need any firewall or port forwarding.
Download the TFTP Server client here > <<MOD RETRACTED>> (I recommend downloading the portable version since you're going to be using this only once)
- Next you need to download the recovery file for the router, I have provided the correct recovery file after I have experimented with a lot of recovery files <<MOD RETRACTED>>.
- After downloading the client and the recovery file, make a new folder inside the portable TFTP Server client I have provided above and cut-paste the .bin file in the folder.
- Start the TFTP Client and click browse, head to the folder which you have placed the tp_recovery.bin and click select folder.
- Now here comes the tricky part, while the TFTP Client is running, connect your router to your computer via ethernet and CONNECT IT TO PORT 3 ON THE BACK OF THE ROUTER.
- In the TFTP Client hit the syslog tab so you can see if the router actually downloads the .bin file.
- Get a pen or whatever you use to push reset buttons and hold the reset button down until the computer LED starts flashing, you should see some activity on your computer screen and that should be the router downloading the stock recovery firmware and flash it automatically.
- After the firmware recovery finishes, you should see all normally shown LEDs turn on and you should now have an access point AND be able to connect to the UI page via Wi-Fi or your computer.
---------------------------------
Playing around with firmware can be a pain in the a** but there's always a way around it as long as it's software related, any questions are more than welcome and I hope I've helped at least that one person that couldn't find a self-explanatory forum post to help.
Cheers,
Anthony
If you have bricked your router by installing wrong firmware or by losing power during an upgrade and it cannot turn on or be reset then this is the correct post for you!
PS.: This post may not be perfect, the instructions may confuse some people, reply to the post and I'm more than happy to help.
Here I go then:
---------------------------------
My story and how I got myself into this:
I was basically just today trying to install an OpenWRT firmware on my router so that I could have more freedom playing around with my router's settings, I was so hyped while it was installing and was already looking at the possibilities with that firmware, but when the firmware upgrade was "complete" that's when the downfall began. Keep in mind that TPLink's technical support was not able to help and declared my router dead and out of warranty.
---------------------------------
The symptoms:
The router had the following pattern of flashing LEDs.
No LEDs > Power LED Only > All LEDs
The router will NOT I repeat, will NOT create an access point for the user to access the UI nor will connecting via ethernet work since the device's firmware has been corrupted.
---------------------------------
The solution:
After endless hours of searching the internet, I came to the solution which is not hard at all, you just need some basic knowledge over windows networks and IPs.
- What you need to do first is go to your internet adapter settings, select Internet Protocol Version 4 and set your IP Address > 192.168.0.66 (That's the IP address the router looks for to recover the lost firmware when connected to a computer, more about this later). Your subnet mask > 255.255.255.0 (This is the default subnet mask for any local IP as far as I know). Default Gateway > 192.168.0.1 (Your router's default UI IP). And the DNS Servers to > 8.8.8.8 - 8.8.4.4 accordingly (These are the google DNS Servers) (https://ibb.co/khkm9cT).
- After editing the IP settings correctly, you need to set up a TFTP Server, this isn't hard at all nor does it need any firewall or port forwarding.
Download the TFTP Server client here > <<MOD RETRACTED>> (I recommend downloading the portable version since you're going to be using this only once)
- Next you need to download the recovery file for the router, I have provided the correct recovery file after I have experimented with a lot of recovery files <<MOD RETRACTED>>.
- After downloading the client and the recovery file, make a new folder inside the portable TFTP Server client I have provided above and cut-paste the .bin file in the folder.
- Start the TFTP Client and click browse, head to the folder which you have placed the tp_recovery.bin and click select folder.
- Now here comes the tricky part, while the TFTP Client is running, connect your router to your computer via ethernet and CONNECT IT TO PORT 3 ON THE BACK OF THE ROUTER.
- In the TFTP Client hit the syslog tab so you can see if the router actually downloads the .bin file.
- Get a pen or whatever you use to push reset buttons and hold the reset button down until the computer LED starts flashing, you should see some activity on your computer screen and that should be the router downloading the stock recovery firmware and flash it automatically.
- After the firmware recovery finishes, you should see all normally shown LEDs turn on and you should now have an access point AND be able to connect to the UI page via Wi-Fi or your computer.
---------------------------------
Playing around with firmware can be a pain in the a** but there's always a way around it as long as it's software related, any questions are more than welcome and I hope I've helped at least that one person that couldn't find a self-explanatory forum post to help.
Cheers,
Anthony
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