HELP - Archer C7 v2 Bricked

[vwflat4]

Hello,

Thanks in advance for any help you may provide.

I purchased a TP-link AC 1750 (Archer C7 V2.0) router a while back with the intention of upgrading it to Grargole. Well I made my attempt this weekend, and failed.....
I did see that the 1.9 version had issues with some of the c7 hardware so I downloaded the 1.8 version and attempted to upload that. After waiting 3 hours (ran errands) no response, so I rebooted..... and Nothing......

Currently when the router boots, all the lights light up for a few seconds, then go off with just the wifi, * and power lights on for a few seconds, then its just teh Power light on with the Ethernet cable connection to my PC flashing form time to time (ping running).

I have tried to run wireshark and ping the router IP (192.168.1.1) and I get nothing. From either as I fear I never had a good gargole install to start with, as described in the recovery section.

That said, does anyone have any suggestions of other recovery methods, other than the JTAG method?

If JTAG method is the only option, is there a way to use a serial connection (via usb adapter) or FTDI programing module? hobbyking com/en_us/usbasp-avr-programming-device-for-atmel-proccessors.html or hobbyking com/en_us/usb-ftdi-flash-stick-for-micro-and-mini-mwc-flight-controller-with-cables-multi-wii.html

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Lantis]

It's bricked.
As per the warning, versions earlier (and including) 1.9.0 can brick new archer devices. You needed to go newer not older.


Have you tried TFTP?

[vwflat4]

Hi Lantis,
Thanks for the reply. No I did not try the TFTP method due to the router not responding to pings. But I'll give it a try.

Do you think the JTAG method is worth attempting?

Thanks

[Lantis]

If it doesn't respond to TFTP then you have no other option but to try hardware methods

[vwflat4]

Thanks, I'll try to update this post when I have something to report.

[vwflat4]

Hello All.
I did get my Archer C7 v2 up and working with 1.9.2. I tried to use the tftp method, but that did not work.
So I ordered the usb to serial cable form amazon that's listed on the openWRT recovery page. Once I finally got the connections in the right place I got serial text output on the screen (using Putty). Installing the windows driver for the usb to serial adapter was an adventure as well.

I found that once you get the serial connection working in the recovery process, the article states you should type "TPL" to stop the boot process. I found you need to start typing this almost immediately, after you see any text output on the serial console screen. Followed the directions and fed the router the newest version of gargoyle, it took it, and booted up. I got a IP and was able to access the web interface.

So that part was successful.

HOWEVER....
Now the unit will not turn on with out the serial cable connected. I fear I may have burnt out a chip some where. If someone knows a way to make it work easily ( jumper wire) please let me know. These are extremely tiny chips, but I do have a decent soldering iron.

Thanks for the help and encouragement, this has been an interesting adventure.

[tapper]

Glad you got it up and running with Gargoyle mate. I am sorry I have no knowledge about fixing your issue. I think you should post on the Openwrt forum to see if some one on there knows. Good luck!

[piyooshm]

Hi everyone,

I tried to upgrade my Archer C7 v2 (purchased in Dec 2015) from v1.9.1 to 1.9.2 (with settings preserved) and now my router is bricked. I'm seeing the same behavior as in the first post of this thread (quoted below).

Currently when the router boots, all the lights light up for a few seconds, then go off with just the wifi, * and power lights on for a few seconds, then its just teh Power light on with the Ethernet cable connection to my PC flashing form time to time (ping running).

TFTP isn't working for me.. I tried the instructions earlier when my router got bricked after applying QOS settings. It didn't work then and it doesn't work now. In QOS case, Failsafe helped me out and I could reset the configuraiton by clearing JFFS2. However, Now I can't even go into fail-safe. Is there no other way than using a JTAG now?

[boardpig]

When you say you have tried TFTP, does this mean a cable connected to LAN 1, boot holding the WPS button and IP set on the TFTP pc to 192.168.0.66 and gateway 192.168.0.1
Also make sure the TFTP server is looking at the folder with the C7 v2 firmware not the install folder (as I think it defaults to). Check the log in the TFTP server log tab, see if there in an attempt by the router to communicate