Mikrotik HAP ac2 with no web UI

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

Hello,

A few days ago I purchased a used Mikrotik HAP ac2 device. However I was mislead into thinking the device was new and working properly. The person who I purchased the device from has stopped responding to me. I think I might be stuck with a device that I cant use.

When I power on the device and connect an ethernet cable to one of the ethernet ports, it connects to a dhcp server and assigns an ip address to my pc. The default gateway is 192.168.101.1. but when I try to open the web UI nothing happens. I think the web UI has been disabled. when I connect to winbox and try and login I get a login error.

winbox
winbox827×672 16.7 KB

I have read through the mikrotik and openwrt documentation. I have tried to boot the device into netboot mode, and reinstalling routerOS, by pressing and holding down the reset button and then applying power but this is unsuccessful. netinstall software does not pick up the router. could it be that the reset button be disabled somehow?

I think the device was a devicethat was supplied by an isp and is somehow locked down.
Have I just been scammed and cannot get any use out of the router, or is there any way I can install openwrt onto the device.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

2

Protected bootloader

This is a new feature which allows the protection of RouterOS configuration and files from a physical attacker by disabling etherboot. It is called "Protected RouterBOOT". This feature can be enabled and disabled only from within RouterOS after login, i.e., there is no RouterBOOT setting to enable/disable this feature. These extra options appear only under certain conditions. When this setting is enabled - both the reset button and the reset pin-hole is disabled. RouterBOOT menu is also disabled. The only ability to change boot mode or enable RouterBOOT settings menu, is through RouterOS. If you do not know the RouterOS password - only a complete format is possible.

And the reformat option can be set to 600 seconds, aka ten minutes.

3

Thanks for the reply.

I did come across this, but the led on the back of the router does not blink for for one second.

From the article

Note: RouterBOARD that has the protected RouterBOOT setting enabled will blink the LED every second, to make counting easier. The LED will turn off for one second, and turn on for the next second.

So I came to the conclusion that this is not the case. Have I missed something?
Is there any way to load openwrt on the router or is it completely hopeless

4

Ok,

If you try a Netinstall from eth1 does the ac2 show up?

5

No

lights dont blink on and off as well. It seems like the reset button is disabled.
Is the light definitely supposed to blink on and off?

Is there any way to say for sure if the reset button is disabled?

I am very confused here. I removed the board from the case to make holding down the reset button easier. Still the same outcome.

6

I tried again with the board out of the case, this time the device was detected.
I installed routeros successfully but upon reboot I could not connect to the router.
Tried dhcp server, and static ip with 192.168.88.1 as the default gateway, But no luck

After that I booted a temp image of openwrt then did sys upgrade,
Now openwrt is working on the router, Going to tinker with my new toy. :smiley:

Does anyone know the reason why I could not connect to the router after routeros install.
What is the best way to connect to the router after installation of routeros
I would like to know if ever I want to use routeros in future.

Thanks

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