[LEDE-DEV] TP-Link Archer C7 boot loop

[Kevin Darbyshire-Bryant]

On 20/08/16 22:35, Jochen Demmer wrote:
> Hi,
>
> yesterday I bricked an Archer C7 v2 by installing some homebrew 
> (buildroot) lede firmware.

I've only once encountered an issue which I can only assume was a bad 
flash.  It's a few months ago so memory is vague.  The serial console 
was booting linux but it was reporting something about corrupt 
filesystem markers & couldn't mount filesystems.  Even using the tftp 
recovery method to re-install factory firmware didn't work...the factory 
firmware was having similar partition table issues.  I genuinely thought 
I'd bricked it and purchased a replacement that very morning...with the 
replacement up & running I then set about seeing what I could do with 
the borked unit.  Following the 'serial unbrick' instructions at 
https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wdr7500 I was able to unbrick it 
and it's been fine ever since... I'm using it as an additional access 
point for downstairs in the house, the new one is upstairs.


        Recovery using serial connection

Connect to your router via serial, power it up, then type "tpl" until 
the boot process is halted and you should be at the console. Set up a 
TFTP server with your firmware at 192.168.1.100, then run the following 
commands (for v2 only):

tftp 0x81000000 [name of your firmware file].bin
erase 0x9f020000 +f80000
cp.b 0x81000000 0x9f020000 0xf80000
reset


I'm convinced it was the 'erase' command that cleared out some bad data 
in the flash.  Like I said, the unit has been absolutely rock solid ever 
since.

Kevin