I will PAY someone to get 1.9.x working on my TP-Link Archer C7

[chaos40]

No joke. I will ship this router to you. I will transfer $50 to you through my PayPal account or any other reasonable, trackable way.

You return my C7 with Gargoyle 1.9.x fully functional and you get $50USD.

I have an old Netgear router I can keep my family connected with.

I'm frustrated and I enjoyed the previous functionality I had with Gargoyle FM on my C7.

[ispyisail]

What hardware version?

Where do live?

What happened?

What have you tired?

[tapper]

Hi were do you live?

I am in the UK. I think ispyisail is the other side of the world from me.

[chaos40]

I live in the US on the East Coast. I was running 1.8.1 until a power outage. After, the router would not grab an IP from my cable modem, but I could reach it via HTTP.

This was exactly the problem I had seen before. In reading on MANY forums, a possible solution was to put a switch between the cable modem and the router. One Ethernet cable from the modem to the switch, and one Ethernet cable from the switch to the Archer C7. This "workaround" has worked perfectly for about a year now. But after that hard reboot, it wouldn't work anymore. The switch works perfectly - I've tested all the ports. If I "homerun" a PC directly to the modem, it grabs an IP just fine, just like it always has.

Now that I have DD-WRT on the C7, I have removed the switch from the connection to the modem and have the modem connected directly to the WAN port. It is working fine (I'm on it as I type this).

I currently have DD-WRT v3.0-r30949 (12/15/16) running on it, but I like Gargoyle MUCH better.

HW TPLINK ARCHER-C7 v2
Qualcomm Atheros QCA9558 ver 1 rev 1.0

I now cannot get any other firmware to load onto this Archer C7. No matter what I've tried (which hasn't been a very, very lot - I'm nervous about bricking it), it will not accept any other firmware.

I would also be OK with advice about buying a newer router that will accept the latest Gargoyle version, but it is not clear to me which newer router with good HW features is most compatible with Gargoyle.

If that is the path I go down, I'll donate this C7 to whomever will pay for shipping provided I get good advice about the newer router and Gargoyle loads to it successfully.

[ispyisail]

I was running 1.8.1

buggy version (from memory)

Just install 1.9.2

or for a very stable version 1.9.x

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=11201

1.9.x is at the end of the development cycle that is why it is very stable

[ispyisail]

https://samhobbs.co.uk/2013/11/switch-f ... 30-minutes

If you revert back to factory firmware make sure you install the oldest version you can find.

[d3fz]

OK.

In your situation, i think the easiest way is (based on ispyisail's post):

1) First, revert back to TP-Link stock firmware (which needs a modified/stripped firmware image, i'll post the link below). After downloading the firmware file, you can proceed by uploading the .bin file to DD-WRT's web gui upgrade page.
Note: After reverting from DD-WRT to stock firmware, remember that the router's IP address will change back to "192.168.0.1". (Default user:"admin"/password:"admin")

Download DD-WRT webrevert firmware file:
Download modified/stripped firmware image (webrevert) for ArcherC7 V2

2) Flash latest build of Gargoyle (link below) through stock TP-Link GUI firmware. (Default password:"password")

Download latest build of Gargoyle (released 2017-September-06):
Go to this link, then go to folder "ar71xx", and download the firmware file called

"gargoyle_1.9.x-ar71xx-generic-archer-c7-v2-squashfs-factory.bin" (15.5 MB)

This should do the trick.

Hope it helps, i own a C7 v2 as well, and it's running rock solid with the latest build.

[taylorjm]

Just went through a bunch of stuff just like it's listed here with 2 of the archer c7 v2. After getting the first one to work (and documenting exactly what I did) the second one went just fine. Running version 1.10 and so far no issues. I also had the issue with the stock firmware not taking the upgrade, so had to go with the factory to ddwrt upgrade first, then the webrevert firmware, then the gargoyle 1.10. I've got all the documentation and files I used if you need help.