R7800 question for hnyman

[brad]

New to the board and would like to install your latest build for my netgear r7800. I read a post where you state that a person can grab your lastest build and flash it by just using the netgear web interface. I am currently using a modified install put out by voxel and I would like to move to openwrt. My question is using your lastest build can I simply put the image on a usb and install openwrt to my router just like I was installing a new build via the built in web interface from within the netgear software. I cannot afford to brick the router and have a few college kids at home who will kill me if I screw up lol

Thank you for your time

[lleachii]

Welcome to the community!

@brad

New to the board and would like to install your latest build

So this is a community build?

By @hnyman (tagged him)?

@brad

I read a post where you state that a person can grab your lastest build and flash it by just using the netgear web interface.

It might help to link that post for quick reference.

[brad]

hnymanSolution Institution

Nov '21

Installing from the OEM firmware should work ok from the Netgear GUI using the "factory" OpenWrt image (not the sysupgrade image).

(The TFTP approach is a fallback option, which may help, if you run later into problems.)

I suggest that you either install the official OpenWrt firmware 21.02.1 (with GUI), or alternatively my community build, where some defaults settings are a bit tailored for R7800 and the image contains some typical add-on packages.

I have built a nice build for Netgear R7800 that offers the basic router functionality plus some useful add-ons, but does not contain too much additional fancy stuff like multimedia. The build is based on the master branch and the stable 21.02 branch. Current version: Branch Version master master-r18068-0b79e7c01e-20211110 Test-DSA-master-r17855-a1939e7e37-20211025 stable openwrt-21.02 owrt2102-r16335-4b0f87729c-20211109 stable openwrt-19.07 owrt1907-r11366-cfc1602a1e-20210810 (fi…

[brad]

I will be using your latest build which I think is 23.05 for the r7800

[brad]

openwrt-23.05.0-ipq806x-generic-netgear_r7800-squashfs-factory.img

[brad]

Thank you lleachii

[hnyman]

I have no knowledge about flashing from Voxel firmware. No idea if that accepts OpenWrt images.

But the tftp recovery flash method (in u-boot bootloader) always works. It requires an OpenWrt factory image. Read instructions in r7800 OpenWrt wiki and e.g. in forum

Netgear R7800 exploration (IPQ8065, QCA9984)

R7800 has an easy-to-use TFTP recovery mode in the bootloader, similar as e.g. WNDR3700. @dissent1 gave me the info, which was really useful as I managed to brick the router a few minutes ago when testing thermal drivers. I recovered from a boot loop with this process. Works like a charm. Prerequisites for TFTP recovery A TFTP client for your computer. There are both command-line tools and GUI versions available. (I use currently tftpd64 GUI tool from jounin. tftp2 tool (from dd-wrt) used to…

You should either take my newest 23.05 build factory image (that has support for USB storage, SQM etc. built-in) or the official 23.05.0 factory image (into which you might need to install a few add-ons).

[sppmaster]

@brad

I am currently using a modified install put out by voxel and I would like to move to openwrt.

I always do the same with any R7800 router I've flashed with OpenWrt.
First I update to the latest stock Netgear firmware.
After that I update to the latest Voxel R7800 firmware (that is a modified stock firmware) because it disables some crap put in the stock firmware.
Finally I flash the OpenWrt using openwrt-ipq806x-generic-netgear_r7800-squashfs-factory.img.