First time Open WRT user - have been using Tomato but it seems to be dying as it hasn't been updated for new routers. First experience with Open WRT is pretty bad, since the directions state it can be loaded directly from the UI but fails to load it's own UI. Image I used was:
Are many of these images bricking routers? I get an ip from the router and can ping it but cannot access a config page with any browser, http or https.
Are very many of these images corrupt/incompatible like this?
you should login via ssh and install webserver packages if running dev builds or either install stable build. read wiki for howto
If it failed to install the image another way, why would this work?
it did not fail since you can receive pings. there is no config page in type of image you downloaded. instead you need to use console - ssh or putty
Lame, definitely don't want to learn all of the commands this uses to simply config the router. I assumed it had a GUI like ddwrt or tomato. I'll see how to install the other packages but will probably just return it and stick with stock since I don't want to be spending a bunch of time on these.
like i said, stable builds have GUI, dev builds don't (the one you've downloaded) but you can install the GUI if you learn a few of the commands...
It seems you have to compile your own bin file from all of the ipk files? There are no images I see anywhere on the stable builds section.
You installed a snapshot build, which is not what most users should be installing. They are not release versions, they are considered unstable, and they do not include the web interface out of the box. They are experimental, bleeding edge builds for developers, literally a snapshot of the master branch codebase at a particular moment in time. They are rebuilt frequently (even multiple times a day), and may not always function, work reliably, or compile.
What you should have installed is 18.0.6.4, which is the latest stable release. Here's how you can get to that from where you are now.
Edit: It's possible to install LuCI on a snapshot build, but really unless you are a developer, or someone with newer hardware (a router that isn't yet supported in a stable release), or someone who knows what they're doing and wants a peek at the bleeding edge (on a spare router), you should stick to stable releases and maybe their release candidates (RC).
As for Tomato, last I heard, FreshTomato was the only variant left that is still being updated. But I've never used it and for all I know maybe that project ended too.
Thanks but the commands fail to try and transfer from my PC to the router. SCP fails and I'm not sure what other syntax to use. I don't have a linux pc so I'm going to stop spending time on this. Thanks for trying to help. This isn't worth the time.
While SSHed into the router, you can use wget to download the file straight from the web to the router. Like so:
cd /tmp
wget https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/18.06.4/targets/ar71xx/generic/openwrt-18.06.4-ar71xx-generic-archer-c7-v5-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin
wget https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/18.06.4/targets/ar71xx/generic/sha256sums
sha256sum -c sha256sums 2>/dev/null|grep OK
Give it a few minutes to run, and then in the screen output, look for "openwrt-18.06.4-ar71xx-generic-archer-c7-v5-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin: OK"
If you see that message, continue to the section "Flash the new OpenWrt firmware." If you do not see that message, do not continue, because the firmware file may be corrupt (try redownloading it by running the second line again).
Upgrade to the 18.06.4 Archer C7 build. You only need the A7 snapshot to flash an A7 the first time. Other than the factory firmware check, the A7 and C7 v5 are the same.
Except I can't because I have to drop my internet connection since my main router also uses this ip. So I can't use wget.
I looked up pscp in putty but it fails with an end of file error.
You have to scp the firmware to a destination of /tmp on the router. /tmp is a RAM disk that has enough space.
You could change the IP address on the main router. For example, you could make it 192.168.0.1. That would be helpful in general if you're going to be using a router behind a router (whether you use OpenWrt or not). It keeps them from conflicting.
I understand this. I used commands posted from your wiki but they failed.
I don't know the config commands since there is no GUI. I've already boxed up the router and am going to stay away from OpenWRT since it seems to essentially require linux to properly configure.
OpenWRT has a GUI, it's just not in the developer build (snapshot) that you happened to download. Had you grabbed a stable release instead, it would have worked out of the box. No, you do not need a Linux computer to set up OpenWrt.
Change the main router's IP address to 192.168.0.1, and then you should be able to have both the main router and Archer C7 connected to the Internet without any IP address conflict. You would then be able to use wget on the Archer C7 using the commands I gave you in my previous comment.