I'm understanding everything here and reviewed the ticket. I get it that if I want to install dd-wrt revisions including and after 34080, I need to use the R5 fix with the serial cable and hex editor. I also understand that aside from the jffs bug that I must avoid, these later versions of dd-wrt are too big for the c9 v3 to load and that's why they are bricked.
I'm installing this router for a family member and don't feel like this is the time to do the latest procedure to install the latest version of dd-wrt. I have 3 questions:
1. Is anyone working on the problem concerning the firmware being too large to load?
2. Will there eventually be new versions of dd-wrt that avoid this problem?
3. Would it be satisfactory to simply load r33986 and stick with that until a far more straight forward installation procedure for a later version is found?
I am asking because I won't be back in the area for months and this procedure is too complex for me to walk my family through the installation over the phone if they ever have an urgent need to upgrade the dd-wrt version I install.
Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 22:27 Post subject: Re: Try this to recover from bad builds and jffs2
spiffy0306 wrote:
3. Would it be satisfactory to simply load r33986 and stick with that until a far more straight forward installation procedure for a later version is found?
Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2018 0:36 Post subject: Re: Try this to recover from bad builds and jffs2
jwh7 wrote:
spiffy0306 wrote:
3. Would it be satisfactory to simply load r33986 and stick with that until a far more straight forward installation procedure for a later version is found?
Yes, that.
Thank you! I needed the expert advise. Now I have a clear path forward. 🤗
That is the trouble ticket I was referring to which says that the size of all the subsequent firmware revisions is too big to load. I didn't understand why they closed the ticket, because I couldn't find any information that it was resolved except for the work around. I knew it was reopened, but only to add another affected device.
jwh7 wrote:
When that might be fixed, is anyone's guess...
Hmmm... I was concerned that was the case, but still good to know for planning purposes on future router purchases and deployments.
Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2018 14:46 Post subject: Re: Try this to recover from bad builds and jffs2
spiffy0306 wrote:
I didn't understand why they closed the ticket, because I couldn't find any information that it was resolved except for the work around. I knew it was reopened, but only to add another affected device.
Togging the ticket brings it to the top of the Timeline. Also, build sizes and affected routers fluctuate, thus so do the tickets. There have been many 'build too big' tickets, and state changes therein. _________________ #NAT/SFE/CTF: limited speed w/ DD#Repeater issues#DD-WRT info: FAQ, Builds, Types, Modes, Changes, Demo#
OPNsense x64 5050e ITX|DD: DIR-810L, 2*EA6900@1GHz, R6300v1, RT-N66U@663, WNDR4000@533, E1500@353,
WRT54G{Lv1.1,Sv6}@250|FreshTomato: F7D8302@532|OpenWRT: F9K1119v1, RT-ACRH13, R6220, WNDR3700v4
Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 13:28 Post subject: Need flash dump for Archer C9 V2 or V3 - brand new flash
Hi,
Sorry I am writing here, but I think this is the best place for my question.
I have Archer C9 V2 but it just looks like V3 from HW side.
I have completely new flash and I need to program it.
Is it possible to save and share whole flash dump from V2 or V3 version of this router?
I have flash dump for V1 version but I am not sure if this will work with my router revision.
I appreciate any help.
Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2018 16:30 Post subject: Re: Need flash dump for Archer C9 V2 or V3 - brand new flash
Pablito85 wrote:
I have flash dump for V1 version but I am not sure if this will work with my router revision.
I would think that the v1 would be more appropriate, as the v3 CFE is different; they've added a webpage firmware recovery mode. This is just a guess though. Also, the DD C9 v1 and v2 firmware is identical (I just checked w/ a HEX editor). _________________ #NAT/SFE/CTF: limited speed w/ DD#Repeater issues#DD-WRT info: FAQ, Builds, Types, Modes, Changes, Demo#
OPNsense x64 5050e ITX|DD: DIR-810L, 2*EA6900@1GHz, R6300v1, RT-N66U@663, WNDR4000@533, E1500@353,
WRT54G{Lv1.1,Sv6}@250|FreshTomato: F7D8302@532|OpenWRT: F9K1119v1, RT-ACRH13, R6220, WNDR3700v4
Thanks for quick reply!
So, I will try to flash it with this dump and we see.
I have added new thread, so maybe someone has V2 and will be able to help me.
Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2018 23:05 Post subject: Re: Try this to recover from bad builds and jffs2
TheDoc wrote:
The earlier procedure has been expanded to also fix up the jffs2 corruption bug.
You need two files. The first file is attached to this message.
Fair Warning: This procedure can really brick your unit if the flash command is typed wrong. This procedure can overwrite critical data if the wrong file is loaded.
This procedure requires the use of the serial port on the circuit board.
This binary file (C9-V3-Fix-R5.bin) can be used as part of the procedure to recover an Archer C9 V3 from a bad DD-WRT flash. It has been tried against build 34311 and 34080. It should work (but has not been tested) against the other bad dd-wrt builds from December 2017.
It also can recover from the corruption after enabling jffs2 in DD-WRT in versions 33525 and 33772. It should work (but has not been tested) against other builds where jffs2 has been enabled and corrupted the flash.
The bad dd-wrt load and or jffs2 bug has overwritten the MAC address of the unit. The C9-V3-Fix-R5.bin file has a MAC address of AA-BB-CC-CC-BB-AA. You should change the MAC address in the file to the one that is on the back of your unit.
Using a hex edititor (for example, HxD under windows) change the hex values located at offset 8,9,A,B,C,D in the file. If the back of your unit is labled MAC:00-12-10-A0-33-2F, change the hex value at 8 to 00, at 9 to 12, at A to 10, B to A0, C to 33 and D to 2F. If using HxD, perform your editing on the left, hex side of the display, not the ASCII side. Save the changes back to the file.
Grab stock firmware from TP-LINK's website and rename it to ArcherC9v3_tp_recovery.bin.
The general instructions are:
1. Connect the serial port to the main board.
2. Connect a PC to a LAN port on the C9v3.
3. Set the PC Ethernet interface to 192.168.0.66 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0
4. Run TFTP server on the PC. Point the TFTP server to the directory with the C9-V3-Fix-R5.bin and ArcherC9v3_tp_recovery.bin files.
5. At the CFE prompt of the C9v3, cut and paste this command:
flash -offset=15728640 -noheader 192.168.0.66:C9-V3-Fix-R5.bin flash0
(Make sure that the -offset value is correct before hitting enter.)
(If the response to the flash command is "device not found" remove the 0 from flash0 and try again.)
If all goes well, you will see this upon completion:
CFE> flash -offset=15728640 -noheader 192.168.0.66:C9-V3-Fix-R5.bin flash0
Reading 192.168.0.66:C9-V3-Fix-R5.bin: Done. 917504 bytes read
Programming...done. 917504 bytes written
*** command status = 0
CFE>
6. When finished, reboot or reset. With some of the corruptions, the serial console shows the unit booting into DD-WRT. With others, the unit repeatedly trys to boot and has a kernal panic. Considering how messed up the firmware was, immediately do a TFTP recovery and load TP-LINK firmware onto the unit.
7. Download the stock firmware for V3 from TP-Link. Unzip the .bin from the file. Place it in the folder that the TFTP server points to. Rename the file to ArcherC9v3_tp_recovery.bin.
8. Power off the unit. Hold down the reset button and power the unit back up. When you see on the serial console that the unit is in recovery mode, release the reset button.
9. The recovery software will load and the unit will reboot with TP-LINK firmware.
10. Change the PC ethernet port back to automatically get an IP address and DNS server.
11. At this point DD-WRT can be reloaded using the factory-to-ddwrt.bin file from the TP-LINK gui.
I was able to successfully de-brick my Archer C9 V3 using these instructions, only I used the Archer C9 V4 firmware at the end of the above instructions, the V3 firmware just kept rebooting but via going to the v4 firmware version: Archer C9(EU)_V3_160713 I then flashed directly to DD-WRT r33986 "factory-to-ddwrt.bin" via the TP-Link web interface.
I own since a few weeks an Archer C9 V2 I had considered from the outset to quickly switch to firmware dd-wrt encouraged by the list of compatible routers.
My problem arose after trying to update dd-wrt. Unfortunately, I did not identify all the problems already known with the newer builds.
The recovery procedure combining the use of tftp and putty does not work properly for me.
All the FW tp-link or dd-wrt flashed so far have not moved anything.
the ping responds TTL 100: the router is waiting for something but as the console putty remains blank (is my usb converter compatible or should I put a resistance between tx and vcc?) I can not follow what happens at startup.
I am surprised that v3 routers seem to have a MAC address recovery procedure that has succeeded to a few but that it is not transposed to v1 or v2. Is the symptom really different?
Thank you in advance to Brainslayer and all the experts who will advise the unlucky ones like me.
