Hi,
Newby here - I purchased a D-Link 878 router for using it with OpenWRT, and it is supported, but for some reason I failed to get it work. I can use the D-Link manual firmware updater GUI, but nothing happens after I get the factory.bin upload Successful! message. I could find official firmware that I can re-flash this way and fix the router but I would like to use OpenWRT and not the official firmware... can someone point me into the right direction, please?
Hardware data page -
See the D-Link Recovery GUI method, and confirm you followed all the steps -
Thank you for your reply! I have used these two linked pages to educate myself, but unfortunately, these are not filling all the gaps in my knowledge in order to successfully install OpenWRT. I was hoping someone could put together some sort of guidance for people like me, who need more detailed info about the steps than these. I am not calling these useless, I rather like to admit that I am unable to utilize every bit of info in these articles in order to succeed.
These are the instructions...
A missed step (or more) can cause an unsuccessful result.
You might read them over a few times...otherwise, I suggest you stick with the stock firmware, if you're unable to follow them.
fair point, I wouldn't disagree if my outcome would be listed on the troubleshooting section. Unfortunately for me, it isn't.
I don't get an error, I don't get interrupted, I get the success message, but nothing happens and the router is not available for connection in any way, unless I put it back into the Recovery GUI mode. I don't see anything on the pages about this outcome. 
You might try temporarily disabling the firewall on your computer.
In some scenarios, it can interfere.
The git-commit instructions (from the hardware data link posted above) mention browser/OS combination issues...
https://git.openwrt.org/?p=openwrt/openwrt.git;a=commit;h=d7233b0a6a9b8cb9207a74a8cb3d0525170cf504
You might try another browser.
A1 or R1 version?
Which OpenWrt image exactly did you flash?
How exactly are you trying to connect to your device after flashing OpenWrt?
use a windows computer "Linux won't work"
get the openwrt factory image file for you DIR-878-A1
use Firefox in private mode to upload this file via the recover interface
Were you using OpenWrt Stable release build or Development Snapshot build?
Snapshots do not include a graphical user interface (LuCi)
or
Are you saying that the D-Link firmware is still in place?
Version is D-Link DIR-878 A1
The image I have tried to flash is from the article that was posted by OldNavyGuy as well (21.02.2) via the D-Link Recovery GUI, tried it on Windows 10 64bit using latest Firefox browser version with and without the Incognito mode, but the result was always the same. Then I tried it with my 7 yrs old Macbook, using Safari, with the same results.
I believe it is the Stable release but I may be wrong - I used the version the 'official' guide contains linked.
The D-Link firmware was not verifiable, because the router has no other availability than the Recovery GUI itself. Everything else does not respond or work. I could reinstate the official D-Link firmware (v1.30) so it still works with that, but not with the OpenWRT image. It does not respond to ping, it does not show up for ipconfig to show a gateway IP, and also not available via web browser - until I want to use the Recovery GUI, which does work.
this is exactly what I have done, but I got no visible or verifiable results. 
in the "D-Link Router Recovery Mode" page select the file & then hit Upload
the waning will change from
"If a wrong firmware image is upgraded,the device may not work properly or even could not boot-up again."
to "Do not interrupt the update process,as it may demage the device" & yes "demage" 
and it will say "Device is upgrading the firmware...xx%" counting to 100%
the firmware will finish flashing and boot and you will have a green light at about 60%
and openwrt is installed
after the counting gets to 100% it then says "Upgrade successfully!"
change your interface back to dhcp & you ip to 192.168.1.1 & you will get openwrt page
this was done with only 1 cable plugged into the lan next to yellow wan
I'll do it again, because it was 1-2 am when I did the steps, I rather like to just confirm everything as described here. Thanks, I will report back later today!
if even that fails here is a link for an encrypted version
you can flash from the dlink firmware
http://luckys.onmypc.net/openwrt/DIR-878/openwrt-21.02.2-ramips-mt7621-dlink_dir-878-a1-squashfs-factory-enc.bin
I have tried again, and using your steps above, plus the file you have provided, magically, now it works. Thank you for your time and for your help!
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