Help with flashing AVM 300E - Powercycling timing?

Hey there i am a newbie and it is my first time trying to install OpenWRT :slight_smile: I've been using this amazingly well explained and detailed guide (this one) to flash an AVM Fritz!WLAN Repeater 300E, but i can't seem to even login into the ftp server via ncftp.

  • I used the ncftp client for windows.
  • I tried both:
    • giving myself a manual IPv4 adress: 192.168.178.4
    • trying it with automatically receiving it via dhcp.

My questions:

  1. Is there a special timing for the power cycling?
    • I tried hold the reset button (WPS button = reset button on this device) for 15 seconds, which according to AVM documentation should trigger a reset. Then within 3 seconds, i try to push the ncftp command: open -u adam2 -p adam2 192.168.178.1, but it fails to find a connection.
    • I tried to remove the repeater from power and plug it back in. Then within 3 seconds i tried to push the ncftp command.
    • I tried various other timings, but to no avail.
  2. What else could I try?

Putting an unmanaged switch between repeater and computer can help (avoids the link down/ link retraining). Yes, this tends to be timing sensitive and often needs several attempts.

On many other devices, there's an alternative approach. AVM is offering recovery firmwares for windows, using a wrong one (for another device) should leave the device accessible via ftp (but not flash the wrong recovery firmware).

Personally I'd prefer approaching this without using AVM's (wrong-) recovery firmware, but I'm not really a windows users eitherโ€ฆ (so at least give the former approach a few more tries).

It looks like using an unmanaged switch did the trick!

It only took me one try with that one. I used the reset timing where i pressed the wps button for roughly 15 seconds, waited until it started blinking heavily, then waited another ~ 2.5 seconds or so, then pushed the command. Then i can't remember anymore, if it was working asap, or if i by reflex closed the ncftp programm, restarted the programm and immediately pushed the command again (sorry, bad memory), but it worked. If i compare that to the roughly 20-30 trials i went through where it did not work, i highly suspect the switch made the difference.

All the rest worked like a charm :slight_smile:

And thank you @slh for the almost instant reply!

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I bricked my configuration. Don't ask. Because the physical reset button does not work on this device with Open WRT and i was not able to ssh in, i had to flash the device again.

I now can confirm that the easiest and fastest way to trigger the ncftp flash process is to connect to the Repeater using an unmanaged switch, turning on the device (=plugging it into the electrical socket), waiting for ~ 2,5 - 3 seconds and then to push the open -u adam2 -p adam2 192.168.178.1 command

The 15 seconds method does not work anymore, after Open WRT was installed once, it only works with original AVM firmware.

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