Unable to hard reset TP-Link TL-WDR4300

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ninderrycomp
Posts: 41
Joined: Thu Dec 03, 2015 3:20 am

Unable to hard reset TP-Link TL-WDR4300

Post by ninderrycomp »

Hey guys,

I'm having a bad time with routers right now :( this all started when I was trying out some of the OpenVPN features on Gargoyle 1.9.0. I couldn't get access to the LAN so I tried changing the encryption method... and that's where it all stopped working. After saving config and rebooting, the router would ping back to 192.168.1.1 for a few brief moments, then stop, then it would ping back on 192.168.1.2 (the IP I set before it starting failing) for a few brief moments, then it would all stop. You can only access the UI for a split second - not enough time to do anything. Wi-Fi was still going, but you couldn't connect to it, as it wouldn't hand out IPs.

I tried holding the button to reset and it wouldn't reset, so I put it aside and in the meantime I replaced it with another router (which has problems of it's own).

Now I have a little time to try to get my WDR4300 up and running. I tried a standard 30/30/30 reset and what happened is that the router goes into some kind of "limp mode" where it's totally unresponsive to pings. I reboot again, and it just goes back to the situation described above. It is NOT clearing the NVRAM.

I'm pretty much stumped at this point on how to reset it. It's pretty close to a brick. Any suggestions on how to rescue this router from the dead would be appreciated!

ispyisail
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Posts: 5185
Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 3:15 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: Unable to hard reset TP-Link TL-WDR4300

Post by ispyisail »

yep, i've done the same thing.

If you refresh the page or reboot the router before its finished the OpenVPN config..................


Google "OpenWRT failsafe reset"

This will reset your router to have another go

ninderrycomp
Posts: 41
Joined: Thu Dec 03, 2015 3:20 am

Re: Unable to hard reset TP-Link TL-WDR4300

Post by ninderrycomp »

I have a 1043ND v1 with the same problem. Thanks, I'll look into how to do a reset and probably do both at the same time.

Lantis
Moderator
Posts: 6753
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:33 am
Location: Australia

Re: Unable to hard reset TP-Link TL-WDR4300

Post by Lantis »

There's a video on how to put a router into failsafe mode.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8505
http://lantisproject.com/downloads/gargoyle_ispyisail.php for the latest releases
Please be respectful when posting. I do this in my free time on a volunteer basis.

ninderrycomp
Posts: 41
Joined: Thu Dec 03, 2015 3:20 am

Re: Unable to hard reset TP-Link TL-WDR4300

Post by ninderrycomp »

Good news! I managed to reset the TL-WDR4300 without too much trouble. Got into failsafe mode, and logged in via Telnet. All cleared OK.

The TL-WR1043ND on the other hand, has no such luck. That one was done by a bad flash. There's no way to access the bootloader (it's a 1.6 version) from the OpenWRT docs so I'm giving it away to a friend who will try their hand at unbricking it via serial console (which is a little too much effort for me right now).

Thanks for your help.

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