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Re: Semi-bricked Archer C7 V2
Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2019 4:39 am
by ektus
RomanHK wrote:
So to understand and summarize, do you still have a USB drive connected and use it as an extroot?
And when you disconnect a USB drive, will the router normally boot up?
No, no and no. The drive is currently connected to my Linux PC. It contains two partitions, a big one for Data and a small swap. It's formatted with EXT2 (or 3?) and doesn't contain gargoyle data. It hasn't been used with extroot.
The router won't boot up normally. It does boot, but goes into a boot loop after one minute.
1) Power on.
2) t+15s: fast blinking LED, followed by slow blinking LED
3) t+46s: boot resumes, wifi LED 2 comes on
4) t+60s: boot complete, instant reboot, back to 2)
I'm going to try and issue a firstboot command if there's no way to rescue any data.
Re: Semi-bricked Archer C7 V2
Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2019 5:27 am
by RomanHK
O.K.
step by step:
1. Turn on the router
2. when the LED is blinking, press reset = LED will blink even faster.
3. You got into "FAILSAFE MODE" and in this mode connect with ssh/telnet (you have already got there once)
4. Run the command:
Code: Select all
mount_root
rm -r /overlay/upper/usr/data/* && reboot -f
This will erase the damaged bandwidth usage data and the use of the web pages.
If it does not work and the router is still a loop, you need to put the router in default:
1. Turn on the router
2. when the LED is blinking, press reset = LED will blink even faster.
3. You got into "FAILSAFE MODE" and in this mode connect with ssh/telnet (you have already got there once)
4. Run the command:
Code: Select all
mount_root
rm -r /overlay/* && reboot -f
This should reset the router to its default configuration. Otherwise, it probably won't.
EDIT: Sorry, I forgot one command - fixed.
Re: Semi-bricked Archer C7 V2
Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2019 6:35 am
by ektus
RomanHK wrote:O.K.
step by step:
1. Turn on the router
2. when the LED is blinking, press reset = LED will blink even faster.
3. You got into "FAILSAFE MODE" and in this mode connect with ssh/telnet (you have already got there once)
4. Run the command:
Code: Select all
mount_root
rm -r /overlay/upper/usr/data/* && reboot -f
This will erase the damaged bandwidth usage data and the use of the web pages.
The /overlay folder is already empty. The router goes into boot loop.
RomanHK wrote:
If it does not work and the router is still a loop, you need to put the router in default:
1. Turn on the router
2. when the LED is blinking, press reset = LED will blink even faster.
3. You got into "FAILSAFE MODE" and in this mode connect with ssh/telnet (you have already got there once)
4. Run the command:
Code: Select all
mount_root
rm -r /overlay/* && reboot -f
This should reset the router to its default configuration. Otherwise, it probably won't.
EDIT: Sorry, I forgot one command - fixed.
mount_root takes a second or two, but seems to do nothing.
I'll try firstboot next. That one is a shell script:
jffs2reset is a binary. I've copied everything visible via SCP, but there were no data younger than October 25th, 2017.
Okay, here goes... nothing:
Code: Select all
root@(none):/# firstboot
This will erase all settings and remove any installed packages. Are you sure? [N/y]
y
/dev/mtdblock3 is not mounted
/dev/mtdblock3 will be erased on next mount
root@(none):/# mount /dev/mtdblock3
mount: can't read '/etc/fstab': No such file or directory
root@(none):/# mount /dev/mtdblock3 /overlay
NTFS signature is missing.
Failed to mount '/dev/mtdblock3': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/mtdblock3' doesn't seem to have a valid NTFS.
Maybe the wrong device is used? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1)? Or the other way around?
mount: mounting /dev/mtdblock3 on /overlay failed: Invalid argument
root@(none):/#
Re: Semi-bricked Archer C7 V2
Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2019 6:50 am
by RomanHK
ektus wrote:
mount_root takes a second or two, but seems to do nothing.
Yes, it just happens, but the command will be executed in the background.
a) FAILSAFE MODE is very limited.
b) mount_root gives you access to the "/overlay" folder (in this directory is all configuration)
after entering "mount_root" there should be more subfolders in the "/ overlay" folder.
If you want to perform firstboot, you must turn the router off and back on to "FAILSAFE MODE" - firstboot was not executed because "/dev/mtdblock3" has already been mounted.
Re: Semi-bricked Archer C7 V2
Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2019 6:59 am
by ektus
RomanHK wrote:ektus wrote:
mount_root takes a second or two, but seems to do nothing.
Yes, it just happens, but the command will be executed in the background.
a) FAILSAFE MODE is very limited.
b) mount_root gives you access to the "/overlay" folder (in this directory is all configuration)
after entering "mount_root" there should be more subfolders in the "/ overlay" folder.
There should be, but there was nothing. df didn't show /dev/mtdblock3 either, so that should have given me a clue. Now it's too late.
I did issue the firstboot command, which didn't finish. After that, I tried mounting /dev/mtdblock3 to overlay but was lacking the necessary "-t jffs2" parameter. Adding that one, the partition is mounted but seems to have been erased as announced by jffs2reset. Okay, will try another reboot and see if it comes up now...
Re: Semi-bricked Archer C7 V2
Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2019 7:15 am
by ektus
ektus wrote:
I did issue the firstboot command, which didn't finish. After that, I tried mounting /dev/mtdblock3 to overlay but was lacking the necessary "-t jffs2" parameter. Adding that one, the partition is mounted but seems to have been erased as announced by jffs2reset. Okay, will try another reboot and see if it comes up now...
Okay, that did the trick. It came up with default password and time zone, GUI login succesful. Now to update and configure most everything again (DNS servers, large DHCP list, firewall rules to restrict IP cameras, DDNS client and OpenVPN server, network storage, wifi scanner, ...). Oh well.
Note to self: Next time, try harder to mount the user partition prior to starting from scratch. And backup more often...
Re: Semi-bricked Archer C7 V2
Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2019 7:42 am
by RomanHK
Mostly damaged bandwidth usage data will cause looping, so I led you this way. But as you say, backing up more often does not hurt, so you would have something.
Re: Semi-bricked Archer C7 V2
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2021 11:38 pm
by teki4u
ektus wrote: ↑Tue Apr 23, 2019 7:15 am
ektus wrote:
I did issue the firstboot command, which didn't finish. After that, I tried mounting /dev/mtdblock3 to overlay but was lacking the necessary "-t jffs2" parameter. Adding that one, the partition is mounted but seems to have been erased as announced by jffs2reset. Okay, will try another reboot and see if it comes up now...
Okay, that did the trick. It came up with default password and time zone, GUI login succesful. Now to update and configure most everything again (DNS servers, large DHCP list, firewall rules to restrict IP cameras, DDNS client and OpenVPN server, network storage, wifi scanner, ...). Oh well.
Note to self: Next time, try harder to mount the user partition prior to starting from scratch. And backup more often...
Hi! thank you very much for this.
I own the same router and have official Gargoyle version 1.10.0 installed. I ran into the same issue as you 2 weeks ago, after trying to setup some restrictions, specifically 'Exceptions (White List)' rules (BTW i reproduced the steps twice just to confirm the bug). The router went into a bootloop the whole night and i also had a storage device attached to the router, a 3TB HDD, but i was lucky i guess, nothing happened to it!.
/overlay folder was empty for me aswell, so i had to run firstboot following your instructions in order to fix it:
Code: Select all
root@(none):/# mount -t jffs2 /dev/mtdblock3 /overlay
root@(none):/# firstboot
Now it's time to upgrade but not sure what version would be best to install: 1.12.0.x gargoyle-ispy 2020-June-10 or 1.13.0.x gargoyle-ispy 2021-April-23 07.
What are you running currently in your Archer C7 V2?
Re: Semi-bricked Archer C7 V2
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2021 10:36 am
by ektus
I'm very lazy with updating, as version changes require starting from scratch. So my Gargoyle devices tend to be of the "never touch a running system" type. My router is still running 1.11.X (Built 20190413-2151 git@29b57d66), current uptime is 100 days.