My wireless radios aren't working. The rest of the router (I'm posting through it right now) is working.
On the wireless config page (wireless, basic settings), the MAC address is corrupt. It shows something like this:
Physical Interface ath0 - SSID [dd-wrt] HWAddr [w5˜ w1•Äw3è}w?”ðw> ] . This corrupt stuff also shows on the info page.
There are generic options for wireless and no channel list.
Also, the router has two radios but only one "ath0" is there, "ath1" is missing which is the 5ghz radio.
Did I break the radios somehow? How can I possibly fix them?
I tried loading stock firmware and it seems that the radio options were there. I didn't check whether they work, and I reflashed a few firmwares of dd-wrt back on. I also flashed defaults multiple times. None of them made the radios work and all were showing random corrupt MACs for wireless.
Help???
(The hardware switch of radios on the physical router is on "on" and never touched)...
Yeah, I've done a lot of resets... reset to stock firmware, reset while loading old firmware, reset while loading new firmware... reset after the reset.
Same result.
I haven't tried a "30/30/30" but is that really different? I power cycled the router physically as well... the problem still remains -_- .
Edit: I'm going to bed. I'll read possible suggestions tomorrow, and maybe I'll do a "button on the back" reset - not just through the web interface...
I downloaded the ART.bin files and I'd like to try flashing them on the "art table" later today.
I do have a serial cable but I'd rather not deal with pins if possible... can someone who knows better please let me know:
- How do I find out what the art address is and the offset or whatever?
- How do I transfer the .bin to the router
- How do I flash the .bin to the router after having found the correct space to flash it in
With the fewest tools possible, please. If possible, can I accomplish all of it through winSCP for the file transfer and telnet commands or even commands via the firmware web window? Please if someone can list all the commands needed... thanks :-S .
Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2017 11:57 Post subject: Weird
I also have a WDR3600ND as my main router. This morning I did the upgrade to the latest build via WiFi and something went wrong: the router bricked, as all lights but power were blinking from time to time. I had to get a 1043ND that I use as a WDS bridge, set it as router to get my internet back.
After that I succeeded on recovering the 3600 using the TFTP recovery mode with a boot-stripped version of the original firmware.
Then I flashed the latest build of dd-wrt again (this time using the factory-to-dd-wrt file) and the flashing went fine: I am posting through its WiFi right now.
I suggest you to try to flash back the original firmware through the recovery mode. It may recover your ART partition as well.
[]'s _________________ TPlink TL-WDR3600ND as WDS AP
TPlink TL-WR841ND v9 as WDS Station
TPlink TL-WR1043ND v1.8 as WDS Station (with VAP disabled)
I started flashing firmwares back and forth to try to figure out what's going on... last news was on stock firmware both wirelesses showed, but I couldn't see the 5ghz with my phone for some reason. It was showing that it was working but also weird channels (channel 0)... after I set the channel still couldn't see it.
Anyway, I wanted to then try stock to ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/betas/2017/04-06-2017-r31825/ to see if the latest one is causing the problems, but I guess I didn't wait enough time for it to upgrade or something because the upgrade bricked the router. Now it's stuck in an awesome reboot loop.
So I guess I'll take out the serial cable, but it'll probably be on Monday or Tuesday before I can report on whether that made a difference...
Does the tftp method "fullflash"? Because in some other thread I read that you can also "fullflash" to get the ART table back...
P.S. By the way, I tried to restore the firmware with a "hold reset while powering on to tftp from 192.168.0.66" method, and it did attempt to flash, although it starts to transfer the firmware and then the router resets 2-3 seconds into it and it's back to reboot looping. It's pretty bad... and I don't think there's a solution. I tried 10-15 times, and it just resets 2-3 seconds into copying the firmware. It looks like it's flashing, but then it resets and back to reboot looping...
Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 5:35 Post subject: Solution
Alright... well I have a working router. However, I've spent a ridiculously stupid amount of time trying to fix this which culminated into flashing the ART table which was indeed corrupted by one of the firmwares from April through tftp and serial...
The sequence of events began with me successfully TFTPing several images through "holding the reset button at boot" to the router.
Through some post somewhere else, not on this forum, I found out they weren't previously uploading because apparently tftp doesn't like the link speed to be 1gbps, so you have to set your NIC to 100/full duplex to force that speed. Then it uploads fine.
However, that didn't fix the reset loop... somehow it just kept going. I tried several times, no go.
So out went the serial cable, uncovering the router, fiddling paper clips into those holes, connecting the network cable, downloading the tools, the serial driver, making sure I've got the right commands etc. etc. etc.
Anyway, fast forward half an hour, router is rescued by flashing latest dd-wrt from 5/2 now. However, wireless STILL has corrupted mac and is not working. I notice in the serial putty boot log it says something about "Invalid EEPROM" when trying to initialize the physical wireless interfaces... I didn't take a screenshot but I think to myself "it's what I thought originally. ART is screwed up."
So I grab this ART file that someone on the forum somewhere posted (I'll attach to this post in case someone else runs into the problem) and since I could never come up with the correct commands in a post anywhere, I'm starting to make it up as I go.
Point TFTP to the folder where you have the art-v1.5.bin
Then you set up your and the router's IP per the last page and you enter:
> tftp 0x80060000 art-v1.5.bin (or whatever you called it)
You should see a fast successful upload of "1 block" or 10000 bytes (hex) or something to that effect.
This is where I just start getting creative:
> erase 0x9f7f0000 +10000
Since we're not erasing the kernel at 020000 but rather the ART, we need to start at 7f0000 instead and the length of erase needs to be +10000 since that is how big the ART image is.
It should tell you it successfully erased 1 sector or whatever.
then
> cp.b 0x80060000 0x9f7f0000 0x10000
Hopefully this is "done"... then you can:
> reset
and pray.
For me, it worked. ART was restored... wireless came alive... Works fine. Happy.
Hopefully this saves someone else's time and effort... and I don't know if this is some kind of a fluke, but one of the firmwares for April might be "overflashing" into the ART area, corrupting it in the process. I don't really want to find out.
Personally, I was so annoyed at the waste of time and lack of information that I almost just bought a new router and threw this one in the trash. Almost.
The attachment (you need to be logged in to see it) and above addresses worked out fine on a TP-Link TL-WDR3600. The ART is for version 1.5 but they're the same for at least version 1.4 and mine is version 1.1 and it worked out perfectly fine... so I'm guessing they're all the same.
If you have a different router MODEL and you're having the same problem, you would have to look up where your ART is, how big is it, and adjust the commands above accordingly.
Obviously, you have to also have a working ART table dump from someone with a working router...
Good luck... I hope this crap doesn't happen again even though now I know how to deal with it -_- .
Joined: 26 Jun 2008 Posts: 14 Location: Santo Andre - Sao Paulo - Brazil
Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2019 23:31 Post subject: Re: Solution
HeatSurge wrote:
Alright... well I have a working router. However, I've spent a ridiculously stupid amount of time trying to fix this which culminated into flashing the ART table which was indeed corrupted by one of the firmwares from April through tftp and serial...
The sequence of events began with me successfully TFTPing several images through "holding the reset button at boot" to the router.
Through some post somewhere else, not on this forum, I found out they weren't previously uploading because apparently tftp doesn't like the link speed to be 1gbps, so you have to set your NIC to 100/full duplex to force that speed. Then it uploads fine.
However, that didn't fix the reset loop... somehow it just kept going. I tried several times, no go.
So out went the serial cable, uncovering the router, fiddling paper clips into those holes, connecting the network cable, downloading the tools, the serial driver, making sure I've got the right commands etc. etc. etc.
Anyway, fast forward half an hour, router is rescued by flashing latest dd-wrt from 5/2 now. However, wireless STILL has corrupted mac and is not working. I notice in the serial putty boot log it says something about "Invalid EEPROM" when trying to initialize the physical wireless interfaces... I didn't take a screenshot but I think to myself "it's what I thought originally. ART is screwed up."
So I grab this ART file that someone on the forum somewhere posted (I'll attach to this post in case someone else runs into the problem) and since I could never come up with the correct commands in a post anywhere, I'm starting to make it up as I go.
Point TFTP to the folder where you have the art-v1.5.bin
Then you set up your and the router's IP per the last page and you enter:
> tftp 0x80060000 art-v1.5.bin (or whatever you called it)
You should see a fast successful upload of "1 block" or 10000 bytes (hex) or something to that effect.
This is where I just start getting creative:
> erase 0x9f7f0000 +10000
Since we're not erasing the kernel at 020000 but rather the ART, we need to start at 7f0000 instead and the length of erase needs to be +10000 since that is how big the ART image is.
It should tell you it successfully erased 1 sector or whatever.
then
> cp.b 0x80060000 0x9f7f0000 0x10000
Hopefully this is "done"... then you can:
> reset
and pray.
For me, it worked. ART was restored... wireless came alive... Works fine. Happy.
Hopefully this saves someone else's time and effort... and I don't know if this is some kind of a fluke, but one of the firmwares for April might be "overflashing" into the ART area, corrupting it in the process. I don't really want to find out.
Personally, I was so annoyed at the waste of time and lack of information that I almost just bought a new router and threw this one in the trash. Almost.
The attachment (you need to be logged in to see it) and above addresses worked out fine on a TP-Link TL-WDR3600. The ART is for version 1.5 but they're the same for at least version 1.4 and mine is version 1.1 and it worked out perfectly fine... so I'm guessing they're all the same.
If you have a different router MODEL and you're having the same problem, you would have to look up where your ART is, how big is it, and adjust the commands above accordingly.
Obviously, you have to also have a working ART table dump from someone with a working router...
Good luck... I hope this crap doesn't happen again even though now I know how to deal with it -_- .
Hello Friend...
I haven't been in this forum for years ...
Today I came back to thank you for this post and say that with his instructions, I was able to recover my TP-Link WDR 3600 router ...
I just didn't use your attached ART, because my router is version 1.3, so I decided to test pepe2k and zeptoZB GitHub version 1.3, located [url]here[/url] => https: //github.com/pepe2k/ar9300_eeprom ...
I made the flash and it worked perfectly fine, as it used to!
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with the internet, it helped me a lot, but a lot!
Brazilian hugs and cold beers, and women, of course!
Edit:
There is a problem yet ...
I'm without MAC-ADDRESS on wireless interfaces ...
Tomorrow I will unmount the router again, connect to it via serial port and try to set the MAC with the U-Boot "setmac" command ...
Joined: 26 Jun 2008 Posts: 14 Location: Santo Andre - Sao Paulo - Brazil
Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 22:35 Post subject: Re: Solution
tops wrote:
HeatSurge wrote:
Alright... well I have a working router. However, I've spent a ridiculously stupid amount of time trying to fix this which culminated into flashing the ART table which was indeed corrupted by one of the firmwares from April through tftp and serial...
The sequence of events began with me successfully TFTPing several images through "holding the reset button at boot" to the router.
Through some post somewhere else, not on this forum, I found out they weren't previously uploading because apparently tftp doesn't like the link speed to be 1gbps, so you have to set your NIC to 100/full duplex to force that speed. Then it uploads fine.
However, that didn't fix the reset loop... somehow it just kept going. I tried several times, no go.
So out went the serial cable, uncovering the router, fiddling paper clips into those holes, connecting the network cable, downloading the tools, the serial driver, making sure I've got the right commands etc. etc. etc.
Anyway, fast forward half an hour, router is rescued by flashing latest dd-wrt from 5/2 now. However, wireless STILL has corrupted mac and is not working. I notice in the serial putty boot log it says something about "Invalid EEPROM" when trying to initialize the physical wireless interfaces... I didn't take a screenshot but I think to myself "it's what I thought originally. ART is screwed up."
So I grab this ART file that someone on the forum somewhere posted (I'll attach to this post in case someone else runs into the problem) and since I could never come up with the correct commands in a post anywhere, I'm starting to make it up as I go.
Point TFTP to the folder where you have the art-v1.5.bin
Then you set up your and the router's IP per the last page and you enter:
> tftp 0x80060000 art-v1.5.bin (or whatever you called it)
You should see a fast successful upload of "1 block" or 10000 bytes (hex) or something to that effect.
This is where I just start getting creative:
> erase 0x9f7f0000 +10000
Since we're not erasing the kernel at 020000 but rather the ART, we need to start at 7f0000 instead and the length of erase needs to be +10000 since that is how big the ART image is.
It should tell you it successfully erased 1 sector or whatever.
then
> cp.b 0x80060000 0x9f7f0000 0x10000
Hopefully this is "done"... then you can:
> reset
and pray.
For me, it worked. ART was restored... wireless came alive... Works fine. Happy.
Hopefully this saves someone else's time and effort... and I don't know if this is some kind of a fluke, but one of the firmwares for April might be "overflashing" into the ART area, corrupting it in the process. I don't really want to find out.
Personally, I was so annoyed at the waste of time and lack of information that I almost just bought a new router and threw this one in the trash. Almost.
The attachment (you need to be logged in to see it) and above addresses worked out fine on a TP-Link TL-WDR3600. The ART is for version 1.5 but they're the same for at least version 1.4 and mine is version 1.1 and it worked out perfectly fine... so I'm guessing they're all the same.
If you have a different router MODEL and you're having the same problem, you would have to look up where your ART is, how big is it, and adjust the commands above accordingly.
Obviously, you have to also have a working ART table dump from someone with a working router...
Good luck... I hope this crap doesn't happen again even though now I know how to deal with it -_- .
Hello Friend...
I haven't been in this forum for years ...
Today I came back to thank you for this post and say that with his instructions, I was able to recover my TP-Link WDR 3600 router ...
I just didn't use your attached ART, because my router is version 1.3, so I decided to test pepe2k and zeptoZB GitHub version 1.3, located [url]here[/url] => https: //github.com/pepe2k/ar9300_eeprom ...
I made the flash and it worked perfectly fine, as it used to!
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with the internet, it helped me a lot, but a lot!
Brazilian hugs and cold beers, and women, of course!
Edit:
There is a problem yet ...
I'm without MAC-ADDRESS on wireless interfaces ...
Tomorrow I will unmount the router again, connect to it via serial port and try to set the MAC with the U-Boot "setmac" command ...
It will be another step, but let's move on!
Fixed MAC addresses in U-Boot!
Now everything works correctly as before, with the ease of being with the updated U-Boot!
... but I found this:
