I have a Google Wifi (AC1304 - Gale) running OpenWrt. I accidentally locked myself out and I'm looking for help to regain access without a SuzyQable (Serial).
The Incident: After a factory reset via LuCI, I accidentally removed the LAN interface from the br-lan bridge. Now, once the device fully boots, the LAN port goes into a "Link Down" state (Windows shows "Network Cable Unplugged"), so I have no IPv4 or IPv6 Link-Local access.
Current Behavior:
Boot Sequence: LED goes Purple -> Off -> Fast Blue Blink -> Solid Blue (indicating a successful boot).
LAN Port: Link is UP briefly during boot/preinit, but goes DOWN as soon as the network config loads.
WAN Port: Link is UP, gets an IP from my upstream switch via DHCP, but SSH/Telnet are blocked by the firewall (Connection Refused/Timed out).
What I have tried (Troubleshooting):
Standard Failsafe (Button): Tried pressing the reset button during the boot window (fast blue blink). No reaction.
Boot Loop: Tried power cycling 5+ times during boot to trigger auto-failsafe. No success.
UDP Failsafe (The strange part):
I set up a dedicated switch between my PC and the router to eliminate Windows media sensing delay.
I ran Wireshark to sniff traffic on port 4919.
During boot, I DO see the UDP broadcast packet from the router: 192.168.1.255:4919 containing "Please press button now to enter failsafe". I hold the reset button and again no hope.
Result: The router ignores the trigger. It continues to boot to the broken state (Solid Blue) and disables the LAN port.
Constraints:
I do not have a SuzyQable for CCD/Serial access.
Standard internal UART headers are not available on this model.
Question: Is the Failsafe mechanism known to be broken on certain snapshots for ipq40xx/gale? Since I can confirm the router "asks" for the button press via UDP but ignores the physical button, is there any other way to force a config reset or trigger failsafe?
Any advice is appreciated before I attempt a full stock recovery via USB shim.
Which AI chatbot told you to hold the button to trigger OEM reboot in place of OpenWrt recovery. There is 2s window of fast blinking where you need to shortly tap reset button (the only button by large)
Please avoid using chatbot slop in further communication, thank you.
Thanks for the reply, you are right. I might have made a mistake myself—I actually use a chatbot to translate my posts since English isn't my native language. I just described my steps to it and asked it to translate, so that might be where the confusion came from.
Anyway, moving on: I tried exactly what you suggested. Right when the LED turns off and the fast blue blinking starts (when it sends the UDP packet), I tried pressing the button once, tapping it multiple times, and even holding it. However, the router still boots normally every time. Is it possible that the reset button is physically broken?
Also, one more question: during that 2-second window, does it make a difference if I press the reset button just once or multiple times?
I always press it repeatedly and rapidly from the moment that I apply power to the device. I watch for the LED to go from a slow-ish blink to a fast blink... that's how I know failsafe is booting.
I tried that as well. I pressed the reset button repeatedly and rapidly from the moment I plugged in the power cable until it fully booted, but it still wouldn't enter failsafe mode.
Here is the exact behavior of the LAN port I'm observing:
While the purple LED blinks slowly, the interface is active.
The LED turns off, and the interface goes down (inactive).
Then the blue LED starts blinking fast; the interface comes back up here, and I even get two ping replies.
Finally, the blue blinking slows down until it becomes solid.
Is there any other method besides the reset button? I'm starting to suspect the hardware button itself might be faulty and not registering the input at that specific moment.