Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2023 16:10 Post subject: MI424WR Rev. D Factory Restore Issues
Hi all,
I spent about 3 or 4 hours working on this last night before I gave up...so I'm hoping someone can provide assistance.
I put dd-wrt on my old MI424WR Rev. D a few years ago. I no longer have a need for it as a dd-wrt device and have more need for it as a MoCA bridge; so I'm attempting to flash the original firmware back on to it.
I have:
rb-mi424wr-RAM.img
my original firmware dump
Additionally, the MD5SUM of my -RAM.img file matches what I've seen on various Wiki's detailing these instructions.
I have no problem getting Redboot console access over telnet. It accepts the img file over TFTP. The problem happens after I issue
Code:
go
to execute. I lose the telnet console connection and I'm not able to initiate another. I found instructions somewhere that mentioned my PC's IP needed to be 192.168.1.3; but that did not gain me anything.
option described in the redboot upgrade. This resulted in the red LED disappearing and no telnet console connection.
My last step was to hook in to the serial console port. I set the connection to 115200 8N1, but the display was just garbage. I tried several additional port speeds, bit options, and character encodings. Output is displayed after running the original
Code:
load -h
command; but since I can't seem to decode it I have no clue what it is.
When I attempt to set the baudrate in normal redboot (which likely doesn't matter since the RAM image would use it's own default); it indicates the current rate is unknown, and takes so long to respond it times out. I can pre-enter the 'y' to accept the changes, get the prompt to write it to the flash; but it apparently does not take. Upon reboot it just indicates unknown baud rate and my serial console is just spitting out garbage.
Seems as if the information is incomplete, or neither of us are following correctly. The second session after you issue the go is to flash another file, not the RAM.bin file as best I understand it. Is the file you're supposed to load your original flash dump or the stock firmware ROM file... that is the question, I s'pose 🤔
Did you wait (at least) 5-10 minutes (if not 30 minutes) to see if you could reconnect afterwards? _________________ "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep." - Robert Frost
"I am one of the noticeable ones - notice me" - Dale Frances McKenzie Bozzio
Did you wait (at least) 5-10 minutes (if not 30 minutes) to see if you could reconnect afterwards?
Yes. I could see garbage come across the serial console after execution...but since the baud rate seems to be unknown I couldn't tell what it was saying.
I put a bid on on a Rev I. If I win it I'll just toss the Rev. D in the trash.
The only time you worry about baud rate is serial, not for telnet. So, I don't know what you're doing. _________________ "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep." - Robert Frost
"I am one of the noticeable ones - notice me" - Dale Frances McKenzie Bozzio
If you have an EOLProlific adapter or clone try to disconnect ground just before power on, or maybe an old driver.
Never connect the 5V line. Never connect the 5V line. Never connect the 5V line...Baud rate is known 115200 8N1.
The methodology to handle this router does not use direct serial access, never has. Which is why I can't understand why the discussion of baud rates and other such irrelevant information. _________________ "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep." - Robert Frost
"I am one of the noticeable ones - notice me" - Dale Frances McKenzie Bozzio
Try another terminal emulator...
Never connect the 5V line. Never connect the 5V line. Never connect the 5V line...Baud rate is known 115200 8N1.
I have Putty and RealTerm. This is not my first rodeo dealing with serial devices.
I was not aware of the VT100 line drawing thing causing garbled output. This seems like it would fix seeing some garbled output amongst actual text.
I will try some of those suggestions though just in case it is something stupid.
dale_gribble39 wrote:
The methodology to handle this router does not use direct serial access, never has. Which is why I can't understand why the discussion of baud rates and other such irrelevant information.
In the absence of telnet access it would still allow me to issue commands...or more importantly....view the output while executing the ram.img so I can see if there's a failure or just inability to hit it via telnet due to needing specific network configurations. So far I've found info saying the ram image puts it on 192.168.1.1 and expects your PC to be 192.168.1.3, but that configuration has failed.
blkt wrote:
Does OP still have Telnet access, or no?
I can still get in to the Redboot ROM version via Telnet...that hasn't failed. It's just getting back in after issuing the go command after loading the ram img.