Hey Guys -
Earlier this morning, I was trying to set up my new Archer C5 AC1200 (TP-Link) router which I had briefly used in the past. Prior to today, it had an older snapshot of Chaos Calmer installed. Due to it being a snapshot and the time since I flashed it, I decided to upgrade. I downloaded the latest snapshot and flashed it via LUCI - choosing to not save settings. I found out later, I used the factory image instead of the upgrade one
After 10 minutes, I still couldn't get to LUCI, but could telnet. I tried SSH, but when asking for my credentials and using the root user, the default password - admin wouldn't work nor would my old password, passwd, root, toor, (empty), or anything else I tried.
I followed steps to restore the factory image (from TP-Link) by using wget to download the latest factory firmware locally, then installing it. After downloading the bin to the tmp folder, I executed the below command:
mtd -r write /tmp/ArcherC7v1_en_3_15_1_up_boot%28141204%29.bin firmware
This caused the router to reboot after a few seconds, but ever since it's been in a reboot loop. I tried the 30-30-30 reset without any change and believe it's due to the reset button on the C5 being different from what I've read.
The best thing I can find is restoring the firmware via FTP in Recovery Mode as shown in the link below, but seemingly cannot get into Recovery Mode. With the ethernet cable plugged into the WAN port (tried LAN 1, too), I power the router on holding down reset, but it still goes to the boot loop.
https://www.mikepalmer.net/tp-link-arch … -recovery/
Current State
- My ethernet adapter is set to 192.168.1.68 / 255.255.255.0 / 192.168.1.1 (Windows)
- When connected via WAN port and watching the network adapter, it has a red X when not connected (obviously) For ~1 second ever 20 -30 seconds, the red X disappears as if connected but then immediately goes back to X as the router reboots
- When connected to the LAN 1 port, the exact same thing happens
- Seemingly, there's no difference if I hold reset when powering on or not (when it says that, how long do I hold it after powering on???)
Router Current State
- Stuck in reboot loop seemingly no matter what I do (30-30-30, wifi switch off, holding reset when powering on, etc)
- Lights on front go between all being on for a split second to only a few
- USB LEDs on back (2) stay on at all times and look to be in sync. They turn off for a split second every time the router reboots itself
Any suggestions? Surely, there's something I can do. It's not my first choice, but if only choice, I'll open up and do surgery to access / add serial or whatever is needed. Have all kinds of solder tools, but would like to do all non-invasive steps first.
Thanks Guys - Wish me Luck!!