AC 1750 - bricked?

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

I have a TP-Link AC-1750 (Archer C7 V2). Seems it's bricked. Got it from a coworker who said he tried to flash it with OpenWrt and DD-WRT. He wasn't sure what versions specifically (it apparently sat in a closet for some time now).
it powers up and the power, status (star???), and wifi lights are solid green. Ethernet port will flash if connected.
I tried to user recover procedures found here:
https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/troubleshooting/tftpserver
-and-
https://openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/archer-c5-c7-wdr7500#tftp_recovery_de-bricking

I am able to get the device into TFTP mode and it will in fact transfer the image via TFTP to the router. However, nothing ever happens afterwards.

Have read comments regarding soldering a serial header to get access to the console. This is probably more than I am capable of doing.

Grateful if anyone has other ideas as to how I might recover this device.

2

I’d say that if the tftp method still transfers, there’s hope.

Please post more details on the tftp log and how the router lights behave after tftp transfer is done.

Also, spelling out where you’re trying to connect (WAN, LAN, …) and how (IP) would be helpful.