Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 19:06 Post subject: WNDR3800 will NOT take older firmware (is at 1.0.0.34)
Okay, so the above title says it. I'm attempting to revert my firmware to 1.0.0.16. I have Brainslayer's North American factory .img file, but .34 will absolutely not allow me to revert. (I was on .24, but more on that below)
I cannot revert via the router's firmware options. I just get "Incorrect firmware" errors. I have tried doing it via tftp. Doing so does successfully copy the image over to the router, but it never loads the image onto the router. It seems to be rejecting it in tftp mode as well.
Yes, I'm connected via cable to the router, yes I have a static IP set on the computer I'm working from.
I KNOW that the router will take a netgear firmware update, because once I ran into all of the above problems while it had the .24 firmware on it (out of the box that way), I wanted to make sure that the router itself was actually capable of taking ANY firmware update. So, via tftp, I sent the .34 firmware to the router and it successfully took and applied that firmware.
So what gives? Am I doing something wrong here? Is there something else about newer wndr3800's that prevent you from flashing old firmware or, of course, non netgear firmware? Should I just say F-it, and buy a different N router that's much more friendly with WRT? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
Joined: 06 Feb 2010 Posts: 7401 Location: Little Rock
Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 3:42 Post subject:
Being that netgear already put a check in their firmware before (which is why it is required to be @ .16 or lower to even flash dd-wrt), It is very possible that they may have put a 'lock down' in the firmware that prevents you from flashing back to prior versions. Could have happened .24 and/or after. There is no telling, but its not something i would put past them to do.
Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 21:45 Post subject: Re: WNDR3800 will NOT take older firmware (is at 1.0.0.34)
walkaboutout wrote:
Okay, so the above title says it. I'm attempting to revert my firmware to 1.0.0.16. I have Brainslayer's North American factory .img file, but .34 will absolutely not allow me to revert. (I was on .24, but more on that below)
Brainslayer's file is NOT the Netgear firmware. It is simply DD-WRT in a format that the Netgear *.16 firmware will accept as an upgrade.
Since the Netgear firmware is licensed, you must download it from Netgear. I just did this today. Cracked open a brand new WNDR3800 that came with .24 on it.
Downloaded *.16 from Netgear's support site and flashed the 3800 using the default interface. It warned me that I was downgrading, but after confirming it flashed.
After downgrading to *.16, I flashed with the factory_NA image in the wiki.