Hi I have a tp-link archer C7 V5 router that's running OpenWrt 24.10.0. Is it possible to downgrade to version openwrt-23.05.2 using the Open LuCI web interface? or do i need to flash it with the Tp-Link software and then flash openwrt-23.05.2?
You should be able to use the same sysupgrade method to downgrade. Don't keep settings when you do this, though.
hi Psherman. Ok so i take it i can't do it from the Web UI. I honestly don't know what sysupgrade is.
Yes, the sysupgrade feature is the underlying mechanism for the firmware upgrades... it works for downgrades, too... including with the LuCI interface.
Thanks Psherman. I'll give it a try
Hi again. Roughly how long should it take to flash the box?
Depends on the device... usually just a few minutes at most.
What was the exact filename of the image you flashed?
openwrt-23.05.2-ath79-generic-tplink_archer-c7-v5-squashfs-factory.bin
It's still flashing
That's the wrong image. You should have used the sysupgrade image.
Hopefully tftp will still work -- you can use the factory image you downloaded for this, but you'll need to use the tftp method to recover.
If you flashed the factory image this way (which sysupgrade/ luci will refuse, unless you explictly force it to ignore the image integrity), you will have at least soft-bricked your device - with a rather high chance of having overwritten the radio calibration data. This means while you may have luck to recover your device to boot up again via the push-button tftp recovery mechanism, its wireless capabilities might (are quite likely, unless you were very, very lucky) be gone for good.
Flashing (anything) on this hardware should be a matter of roughly 5 minutes at most (the flashing itself takes less time, but the first boot with the new firmware will take around 70+ seconds alone, it accumulates, so better give it more time than necessary, but roundabout 5 minutes are on the safe side).
Ok the bad new is i did brick it, but the good news is got it back up and running. I wasn't aware of the different types of bin files. In retrospect i should probably have done some more reading before i went playing with it.
Hopefully your WiFi works properly.