I have an old Netgear R7900 that I'm trying to flash with the latest OpenWrt image (openwrt-24.10.4-bcm53xx-generic-netgear_r7900-squashfs.chk)
I've tried several times and apparently I just brick the router. Here is the output from the commands I'm using...
madmacks@MacBook-Pro TFTP % sudo nmrpflash -i en8 -f openwrt-24.10.4-bcm53xx-generic-netgear_r7900-squashfs.chk
Advertising NMRP server on en8 ... /
Received configuration request from 10:da:43:a9:c3:69.
Sending configuration: 10.164.183.253/24.
Received upload request.
Uploading openwrt-24.10.4-bcm53xx-generic-netgear_r7900-squashfs.chk ... OK (9044026 b)
Waiting for remote to respond.
Received keep-alive request (8).
Remote finished. Closing connection.
Reboot your device now.
madmacks@MacBook-Pro TFTP % sudo nmrpflash -i en8 -f "NETGEAR_Nighthawk X6 R7900-backup.cfg"
Advertising NMRP server on en8 ... /
Received configuration request from 10:da:43:a9:c3:69.
Sending configuration: 10.164.183.253/24.
Received upload request.
Uploading NETGEAR_Nighthawk X6 R7900-backup.cfg ... OK (65560 b)
Waiting for remote to respond.
Uploading NETGEAR_Nighthawk X6 R7900-backup.cfg ... OK (65560 b)
Waiting for remote to respond.
Uploading NETGEAR_Nighthawk X6 R7900-backup.cfg ... OK (65560 b)
Waiting for remote to respond.
Bailing out after 4 upload requests.
Firmware file rejected by router. Possible causes:
- Wrong firmware file (model number correct?)
- Wrong file format (e.g. .chk vs .trx file)
- Downgrading to a lower version number
madmacks@MacBook-Pro TFTP % sudo nmrpflash -i en8 -f R7900-V1.0.4.46_10.0.53.chk
Advertising NMRP server on en8 ... |
Received configuration request from 10:da:43:a9:c3:69.
Sending configuration: 10.164.183.253/24.
Received upload request.
Uploading R7900-V1.0.4.46_10.0.53.chk ... OK (29663290 b)
Waiting for remote to respond.
Received keep-alive request (28).
Remote finished. Closing connection.
Reboot your device now.
In the first block I'm trying to load the OpenWRT image.
In the second block I'm trying to reload from a backup I took before starting this process.
In the third block I'm trying to reload from the Netgear factory image.
I all cases I wait between 5-10 minutes and the power light just keeps blinking orange. No automatic reboot. Just blinking.
On the last load I eventually powered down and rebooted, and it looks like the factory image was restored successfully. I need to disconnect from the internet to double check but the "normal" LEDs are lite up.
Is there an issue with the most current build for this router? Do I need to do something differently? It's interesting that on the second block of output I get a firmware rejected due to wrong or older firmware...as the backup was taken using the same factory firmware as the last attempt, but the router had been configured and backed up.
Any ideas would be appreciated...
I need OpenWrt so I can better deal with IPv6 and also do script updates to the IPv6 firewall when my ISP decides to update the address (Starlink)...
Just a quick (this doesn't solve your install problem, but important info)
Because this is a Broadcom based device, the wifi will be only barely functional and will have very low performance. As such, it is recommended that you do not install OpenWrt on this device if you plan to use wifi. Or, alternatively, you can use this as a wired router without issue, but you'll want to have proper access points to provide wifi instead of using the built-in wifi here.
That's helpful. When you say WiFi will be poor, is that relative to more modern routers?
The problem I'm trying to solve is I use StarLink at this particular site and they charge crazy fees for a static IP address on the IPv4 side, but they do supply a reasonably stable IPv6 address. There is a small server on this particular LAN (used by maybe 20 people) and I have NoIP running to update the name/address so these guys can reach the server. Problems arise when Starlink reboots the system and gives me a new IPv6 address. NoIP resolves this, but the router firewall doesn't know anything about the new address. I have a process that sends me an email when this happens, but because I can't remote to the router or server due to the firewall still holding the "old address" I have to drive to the site and manually update the rule. If I had a scriptable firmware I could make that update happen automatically when the addresses get changed.
I had the old Netgear router laying around and figured I could swap it in and resolve this issue...
Right now I have this... Starlink Router (Bypass Mode) -> TP-Link BE3600 Router, then a separate TP-Link in AP mode downstairs. The two TP-Links are new and support decent speeds.
I could do this if the Netgear is really that bad... Starlink Router (Bypass Mode) -> Netgear R7900 with Wifi OFF, then TP-Link BE3600 Router in AP mode upstairs, and TP-Link in AP mode downstairs. The two TP-Links would provide the WiFi, and the Netgear would basically just route. That's a lot of hardware to solve the problem, and I don't like overly complicated solutions, but...if the Netgear is lousy WiFI then this would work...
Well, yes, by definition, but it's poor relative to itself running the vendor firmware. How poor -- think 802.11b/g (wifi 1/3, max theoretical data rate 54Mbps on the 2.4GHz band only -- expect half that speed on a good day).
Yes, this could be done. I would test the routing speed of the Netgar before assuming it's going to be sufficient, but if you use it only for ethernet, it is not nearly as hampered.
I just ordered a refurb TP-LINK Archer C7 (supposedly V5) for $80 so I should be able to flash that and have a better wifi experience...I hope. I'd still like to get the R7900 flashed though.
You overpaid by about 4x. That device was launched in 2020 -- it's kind of old by tech standards, especially for $80. For that money, you can get a new device with wifi 6.
Depends on your specific needs and your location in the world. We have an entire section of the forum for these types of questions. But as a quick reference, the GL.iNet GL-MT3000 is $87 USD on Amazon. It's a travel router, so a slightly different class of device., of course, but just one I know off hand (I have one and love it).
So, back to the purpose of the original posting. Does anyone see, in the logs I provided, a reason why I can't seem to get the current built of Operwrt to install on the Netgear. Has anyone had success with the R7900? At this point, I would just like to get OpenWRT loaded and running properly, but following the install steps doesn't seem to be working for me.
I just refreshed the Netgear factory firmware and booted. It came up fine and went thru the Netgear set up. I then went to the OpenWRT selector for my model and downloaded "openwrt-24.10.4-bcm53xx-generic-netgear_r7900-squashfs.chk" and used the Netgear firmware update process to flash the OpenWRT firmware. It flashed, and I waited about 10 minutes for it to reboot, which it didn't appear to do. Just a solid orange power LED. If I try to access the router via a browser I get default Apache2 Server display, and that's it. Again, what am I missing?
So I cancelled the TP-Link router and ordered a GL.iNet GL-MT6000 (Flint 2) router. Tired of screwing around with the Netgear. Way to many hours to justify the effort...
Maybe use nmrp to restore factory then try flashing an older version of OpenWrt. Very few OpenWrt installs are on Broadcom due to the unsupported wifi, though it is fine for wired uses. It is possible that you are the first person to test the 24.10 build on an R7900(*), and it turns out that it is broken.
The recommended build in the selector increases automatically as new versions are released, it does not mean that it has been tested on hardware.