[solved] TP-Link Archer C5 v2 - can't flash - Broadcom

Congratulations for making the jump!

What about the MAC address of the WAN, does it correspond to the label on the device (e.g. Do you have the same problem as guidoa) ?

@DjiPi @guidoa

I've checked the MAC address and it's different from the MAC address written in the label of my device.
Actually I have the same MAC address for the LAN, WAN and WLAN interfaces, it's really strange!!!

On my everyday router Archer C7 v2 running LEDE indeed, the MAC addresses are different for each interface (as it must be).

@guidoa, @ssnake, @Klingon : if you all have the same conclusions about the MAC address, then one of you should post a bug report to have it looked at:
https://lede-project.org/bugs

I flashed one of your firmwares on my router tough now it only has the power light on and nothing else.
Router TP link Archer C5 V2 was EU version installed US version by mistake and tried CFW but now stuck on power led.

Wireshark does seem to have some communication but the router itself does not seem to work.
I can't seem to get the TFTP to work I have not tried a linux yet though this should not be the case as on my windows laptop the ip was set right and firewall off to prevent issues, though all TFTP clients seem to fail.
router is now bricked and I do not know what to do with it.

Very sorry to hear that...

I took it offline since the patch was included in snapshot build. Which one are you referring to ?

Was TFTP working before you flashed the mentioned build ?

not sure as I never tried this first, though it does not seem to want to reach out to my TFTP server at all I tried 2 pc's now and no avail, the power light is on and the rest is off this stays this way as well the whole time. Though it does seem to respond to the FTPD method of using the Reset button though not downloading any files.

I hope this is not a total hardbrick of my router as I am prepared to get a usb to uart and fix it that way too though that is a little far-fetched I will do this if needed.

Installed Firmware (Yes it was in this thread and I assumed oups) https://downloads.lede-project.org/snapshots/targets/bcm53xx/generic/lede-bcm53xx-tplink-archer-c5-v2-squashfs.bin
My bad if I got the wrong one though it should not have soft bricked or hard bricked I hope this is not the case as I would not want to replace this router.

@guidoa discovered that TFTP was not working on some firmware revisions from TP-Link and therefore, we proposed as a preliminary step to ensure that TFTP was working well before any attempt at flashing LEDE to ease up the recovery process.

Do you see any offer using Wireshark ? This should be something good...

Who has 192.168.x.y? Tell 192.168.x.z

You took the right one.

Will try that one with wireshark though I vaguely remember it asking for 192.168.0.1 and that is the gateway.
Will get the Wireshark log if needed.

Tried With Some weird results but no fix yet sadly enough
Here a link to the Wireshark captures: https://vids.theroaringlion.net/Logs/TP-Link%20Archer%20C5V2%20Bricked%20Captures.7z
IDK if it helps at all there are some conflicting results, also main system has gigabyte mobo.

@TheRoaringLion, Hi. I checked your Wireshark logs but unfortunately couldn't find anything that gives a hint that TFTP methos is working.
All the ARP related to 192.168.0.66 seem to be from a Gigabyte card. Is that the PC you were using to capture?

It seems that the stock firmware you had before flashing Lede does not support TFTP.

I think the only method to unbrick it would be with a USB to UART cable, but unfortunately I can't help you with that as I never did it.

Hope you can solve it!

@TheRoaringLion I suppose you press/keep pressed the reset button while you turn on the router to get into TFTP mode?

Check IP 192.168.1.66 instead of 192.168.0.66.
Check if your local firewall is running (once something similar happened to me).

I did check that one also a couple of times to no avail my mcafee firewall was offline and it should in practice just work without a hitch. and yes I did that countless of times it seems though that the mobo detects the router but it does not respond at all sadly enough.
I think I am gonna get it replaced through the vendor and say that while flashing the stock firmware the unit just failed and did this on me, hopefully get a new one in the process because this is taking too long for me already.
Thanks for the support sadly enough I broke a pretty nice router =-=

I hope you'll have success with replacing it! If you try again to install LEDE, be sure to follow guidoa's advice to test TFTP before any attempt.

Read carefully this post for an overall view before next attempt, and feel free to come back ask questions.

Hi all! Very happy Archer C5 v2 finally supported.
Can somebody is able to confirm wifi 2.4ghz is working good and is reliable ?
So if not using 5ghz but 2.4ghz only, can i go to production with ?
Thank you

Hi @dvachon,

The Wifi is not working fine on 2.4 Ghz., and on 5 Ghz. is not working at all.
Maybe in future firmware versions will be improved.

To reiterate, for the US version, the special ID is 55530000.

Mine is working fine with LEDE from stock release 43260.

I'm trying to update a unit from 17.01.2 to 17.01.4 while keeping the configuration. I'm receiving the warning message:

"It appears that you are trying to flash an image that does not fit into the flash memory, please verify the image file!"

Will the update work fine? I noticed there are no factory or sysupgrade versions.

First, a big thank you for everyone here, since this is the most informative thread I'd been able to find on this particular subject.

Secondly, I also have an Archer C1200 V2.0, however it currently has 2.0.0 Build 20161130 rel.64463 (US) loaded and I have not been successful searching for stock release 43260 to test tftp and proceed with a custom configuration. Any pointers on a repository I may have missed?

Cheers,
Andy

Hi @navyandy,

You are probably looking for this:

It's the US page for TP-Link.
The file from 2015-09-08 is the 43260 release.

Regards.

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That was the missing gem. Thanks so much; not just for this, but for all your efforts up to this point.

Have a great new year!
-Andy