Netgear WAC510 from Snapshot to Release Issues

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Looking for some help here. I have 3 WAC510's. 2 of them are flashed with openWRT to the stable release. The 3rd is on a snapshot https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/ipq40xx/generic/openwrt-ipq40xx-generic-netgear_wac510-squashfs-factory.tar and then upgraded to https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/ipq40xx/generic/openwrt-ipq40xx-generic-netgear_wac510-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin . Whatever I try to do, I cannot get it onto the stable release. I've tried owut, Sysupgrade, firmware selector and luci-attendedsysupgrade. I can SSH into the device and use Luci. I've even used SCP to transfer the firmware into the /tmp folder. Nothing will allow me to flash back to factory, or even the stable release. I'm at my wit's end. When I try using OWUT, i get the following error every time: sha256 doesn't match and returns a saved: 'null' error. I have even went as far as create a sha256 file and that even returns a null error. Is there anything I can do? I am also not able to TFTP into the device either. Am I missing something here?

2

Have you tried nmrpflash?

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3

I have and I received the following error: "No response after 60 seconds. Bailing out"

4

The Netgear WAC510 has two partition. One for stock firmware, and the second for (recovery) or for OpenWRT (if you or someone else has wrote OpenWRT to both of them).
Now the question is which after flashed you try to start? First or second?

Here is tutorial, try this, it is working fine. I checked it myself.
https://git.openwrt.org/?p=openwrt/openwrt.git;a=commit;h=b126d9c3a3d3c8fe0937bcdfffabe8df941d2c06

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5

There can be many issues while using nmrpflash:

  1. check that firewall is disabled
  2. change npcap version, latest 1.79 seems ok
  3. try different timings between launching the command and powering on the device. Each device doesn't wait for the nmrp signal at the same moment.

@lexmark3200 's answer seems the better for now, there is a TFTP method in it.

6

Thanks for this. I'm stuck on how to get into the uboot environment.

7

At this point, I'd like to just go back to the factory image and start from scratch, but I can't even do that currently. My ignorance is getting the better of me.

8

You must open the device and use a serial link.

Serial:     Header J2
1 - 3.3 Volt (Do NOT connect!)
2 - TX
3 - RX
4 - Ground
WARNING: The serial port needs a TTL/RS-232 3.3 volt level converter!
         The Serial settings are 115200-8-N-1.

While monitoring the boot, press a key to interrup the boot process and enter uboot console.

9

Thank you. I do not have a serial link tool. I'll look into buying one. Is there any other way I can achieve what I'm trying to do?

10

No.
Serial link is the only way to monitor the boot process, interrup and access uboot.
It only costs a few €/$, it's an old fashioned tool but convinient for precisely this type of issue. As long as the bootloader partition is working, this tool allows to recover from any serious situation.

Carefully watch the voltage the adapter can use. Most common values are 5V, 3.3V and 1.8V.