While I haven't installed OpenWrt yet, I really want to, however I'm curious what will happen in the event that the flash fails. So, my question to you is, what are the chances of completely bricking a dual-firmware router (Linksys EA8300), by just doing a flash. I want to assume a plausible worst-case scenario here, like "the power goes out", not "the current firmware is corrupted in just the right way to brick the router when flashing while still seemingly working properly when being used".
Use a UPS or similar so is that problem taken care of.
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You will never completely brick an EA8300 if you only flash OpenWrt firmware to the second partition. In the event of failure you simply revert to the first partition which holds the original Linksys firmware and you are golden (as long as you never overwrite the first partition).
https://openwrt.org/toh/linksys/linksys_ea8300
I bought a few of these off a few different online retailers used
no problem. Very easy to use. No serial cable required. You install OpenWrt from the linksys firmware upgrade UI.
Install solar. They are actually selling really nice little lifepo power banks now with pure sine inverters. I tested a 200Wh / modified sine wave inverter with the EA8300 power supply and it had no problem with it.
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Thank you, that's exactly what I thought with the router.
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What's exactly the situation, who are these ppl? Are they family, employers? Do u need their authorization to install OpenWRT on the router? Why? And why would u, if u don't have authority over the router?
If it's gonna be used on ur company and the blame will go into u in case of failure, is it worth the risk of being fired?
I mean, OpenWRT isn't supported by almost all router manufacturers. It works great on most routers that support it, but manufacturers don't support. If something goes wrong and OpenWRT is installed, they won't give any warrant. If the router is in a company, the employee or outsourced company that installed it is the one responsible.
Then, if the company owner/manager isn't confident, why would u risk urself?
Anyway, as 16F84 said, most routers aren't hard bricked by flashing OpenWRT on them. Most routers have some partition or ROM where original firmware is available to be recovered. Some installation processes involve booting it from RAM first, where u can make tests to only then write on firmware. Most have alternative measures to boot from serial port (which may require opening the case and having specific cable) where u can see the output and upload file to make a new write.
In worst case scenario, just have 2 devices at hand. When 1 fails, just replace it by the other.
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The question asked was simple, legitimate and non-condescending.
Any reason for your very condescending comments ?
If you can't refrain yourself, I would suggest you post elsewhere.
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Did I miss a removed message where any of this was mentioned by @ravenclaw900? It was asked how likely to hard-brick a specific dual-boot device.
Running OpenWrt in a production environment means weighing the pro vs cons, depending on the hardware. Some devices simply don't have RS232 headers to attach to or require JTAG intervention to recover. Others will decide to run 19.xx or 21.xx over the main branch because it's perceived as more stable, even if it's older. In the end, you have to decide what your level of risk exposure should be and decide, but I doubt any business or corp IT person is going to arbitrarily install OpenWrt on a corporate network or the enterprise-grade gear used in large networks.
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Yes you did! Yes it was!
The original question was just this but it was changed after we answered it!
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That's why I was asking 
Thank you!
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All good points. Who are these people? Do they expect 100% uptime? Hint: they all do. If that is the case buy two or three used EA8300's (same price as one new?) they are super cheap rn. Only ~$52USD stateside! (I paid ~$99CAD delivered = $75USD). EA8300 is very reliable and easy to use for new users. You guys did a great job. I snafu'd a couple times but I was always able to factory reset or reinstall no problem. Having a spare is great for testing or back up.
Bonus points: all the LuCI charts are amazing. ****** Even the AR750S could run them meshed on 19.07.7 / 3.201.
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