Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2024 17:58 Post subject: Purpose of backing up stock firmware R7800/XR450/XR500?
The install guide by egc recommends backing up stock firmware if you plan to flash other third party firmwares on these routers. I have personally flashed both dd-wrt and openwrt on my XR500 without backing up stock firmware. Also, you can revert to stock by flashing ddwrt-to-netgear-fw-R7800.bin according to the guide. How then would it be helpful to have backup images of the stock firmware? In what scenario would this be helpful?
Stock firmware or fullflash? If you somehow scrub the calibration data, restoring it would be difficult without a backup. _________________ "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
I'm not sure either unless he is referring to the CFE data, which is pretty important to have a backup of. You can back this up (usually, depending on router model) by going to:
http://RouterIP/backup/cfe.bin _________________ Linksys EA8500 (Internet Gateway, AP/VAP) - DD-WRT r53562
Features in use: WDS-AP, Multiple VLANs, Samba, WireGuard, Entware: mqtt, mlocate
Wireless 5ghz only
Netgear R7800 (WDS-AP, WAP, VAP) - DD-WRT r55779
Features in use: multiple VLANs over single trunk port
Linksys EA8500 WDS Station x2 - DD-WRT r55799
Netgear R6400v2 WAP, VAP 2.4ghz only w/VLANs over single trunk port. DD-WRT r55779
OSes: Fedora 38, 9 RPis (2,3,4,5), 20 ESP8266s: Straight from Amiga to Linux in '94, never having owned a Windows PC.
CFE is the bootloader correct? If it somehow became corrupted would I be able to restore it over a serial connection? Even a serial connection requires a working bootloader AFAIK.
CFE is Broadcom, these routers use u-boot for the bootloader. _________________ "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
The information is out there. Oversight on reasoning for backup in the guide, perhaps, but you can find the flash layout and other information about the R7800 as to why it would be a good idea to back up the flash chip. _________________ "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
