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Bricked TpLink WDR4300 router advice and question

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    #41
    Re: Bricked TpLink WDR4300 router advice and question

    UPDATE1: first firmware I tried flashing was the modified one. I say modified because I grabbed the latest one from TP LINK and removed the TP link header like many sources suggest. It worked to a degree, in that it uploaded to the chip correctly and the router started up, displayed some stuff but got stuck at Connect server failed - see the log.

    I'll now try the second, older firmware, though I have to modify this one as well, because it too contains the TP LINK header and I reckon I can't flash it like that - I need to remove that first part up to the 200th block. At least that's what I've read and what I tried now.
    Attached Files
    Wattevah...

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      #42
      Re: Bricked TpLink WDR4300 router advice and question

      UPDATE2: second firmware doesn't work at all: I get absolutely no input in the serial monitor. I mean it makes sense and I was expecting this, since the HEX looks nothing like the original one that came off the first chip (the one that keeps rebooting) or even the second one that I tried (the one which has the word "boot" in it). Should I try one of these even WITH the header in place ? I doubt it will work....
      Wattevah...

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        #43
        Re: Bricked TpLink WDR4300 router advice and question

        UPDATE3: this is the most progress I've made so far: I can now access the router's interface......which would be just fine and dandy except now the bloody wireless is not working

        What I did was this: we've already established that the firmware files without BOOT in their name don't work (modified or not), so I grabbed the second-oldest firmware (130617 HERE), removed the TP-link header in a hex editor as always and flashed that to the chip directly....as usual, text started pouring into PUTTY's serial monitor so something was working but after a few seconds it appeared to get stuck at "Read from 0X20000 to 0X20120: OK" (notice there's a big gap in the timecode at that point) and I was just about ready to switch it off when all of a sudden it poured some more text before finally stopping at "INFO1567: Bind to br0 check success"...it was at this moment I thought of plugging in a network cable just to see what happens and my laptop was given an IP and default gateway and accessing that gateway took me to the login page of the router.

        I logged in, did the initial setup but the wireless lights don't come on no matter what I try (yes, the switch is on at the back). Since this was now the second to newest firmware, I even tried upgrading to the latest firmware on that TP LINK page (albeit being for USA only) and it worked, but still no wireless. Another thing I noticed is that the status light blinks continuously now. Something tells me the wireless adapter is not initializing during that hang period, since nothing in the serial monitor hints that the wireless module is coming up (see the log). SO CLOSE ! DAMN IT !
        Attached Files
        Wattevah...

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          #44
          Re: Bricked TpLink WDR4300 router advice and question

          did you copy the config block with the mac address in it from the original chip??

          Comment


            #45
            Re: Bricked TpLink WDR4300 router advice and question

            Originally posted by stj View Post
            did you copy the config block with the mac address in it from the original chip??
            How would one find such thing ? Like I said, it's probably a dumb question, but I haven't really done this before The original chip is intact and I have even backed up what was on it when it was in that looping state. Now, no matter which firmware I try, it either does nothing or has no wireless. You're right, it makes perfect sense, something is definitely missing, but at least I FEEL I'm getting close
            Wattevah...

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              #46
              Re: Bricked TpLink WDR4300 router advice and question

              post the original dump and the almost working one.
              and the mac from the sticker on the base.

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                #47
                Re: Bricked TpLink WDR4300 router advice and question

                Router's now working again: I programmed what I had backed up from the original chip (the one that looped) onto one of the chips I used to mess around with and amazingly this time it stopped at "check success" and stayed there. WLAN also went up and I was able to connect and do everything I needed, so all in all it's now working and the problem is solved. Hopefully it doesn't bug out again this time just as I'm proclaiming my victory...perhaps the original chip was busted or on its way out ? :|

                Just out of curiosity and to learn some more, how were you going to hack the firmware to program the MAC address ? I'm curious about the process
                Wattevah...

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                  #48
                  Re: Bricked TpLink WDR4300 router advice and question

                  i was going to load the original into a hex editor and search for the mac,
                  then look at the area it was found in and compare it to the replacement.
                  then potentially copy that block of data over.

                  it's probably at the end, or the start just after the bootloader, so it does not get erased when people do firmware upgrades.


                  anyway, now you can test LEDA

                  Comment


                    #49
                    Re: Bricked TpLink WDR4300 router advice and question

                    Originally posted by stj View Post
                    i was going to load the original into a hex editor and search for the mac,
                    then look at the area it was found in and compare it to the replacement.
                    then potentially copy that block of data over.

                    it's probably at the end, or the start just after the bootloader, so it does not get erased when people do firmware upgrades.


                    anyway, now you can test LEDA
                    Doesn't a hex editor just display random bullsh!t ? How can you tell where the MAC is ? Ok, it's not random per-se, since it does signify something precise, it's just not user friendly
                    Wattevah...

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                      #50
                      Re: Bricked TpLink WDR4300 router advice and question

                      random bullshit?? - you just cant speak hex you biggot!

                      Comment


                        #51
                        Re: Bricked TpLink WDR4300 router advice and question

                        Originally posted by stj View Post
                        random bullshit?? - you just cant speak hex you biggot!
                        No of course I can't, that's why I was asking....no insults pls :P
                        Wattevah...

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                          #52
                          Re: Bricked TpLink WDR4300 router advice and question

                          Originally posted by Dannyx View Post
                          Router's now working again: I programmed what I had backed up from the original chip (the one that looped) onto one of the chips I used to mess around with and amazingly this time it stopped at "check success" and stayed there. WLAN also went up and I was able to connect and do everything I needed, so all in all it's now working and the problem is solved. Hopefully it doesn't bug out again this time just as I'm proclaiming my victory...perhaps the original chip was busted or on its way out ? :|

                          Just out of curiosity and to learn some more, how were you going to hack the firmware to program the MAC address ? I'm curious about the process
                          Just to satisfy my curiosity: When you programmed the new SPI flash IC with the looped firmware and you stuck that back into the router, did it boot with configuration that was used before, or did it revert back to a factory default? I think it must have reverted back to factory default in order to work again.

                          Comment


                            #53
                            Re: Bricked TpLink WDR4300 router advice and question

                            Originally posted by CapLeaker View Post
                            Just to satisfy my curiosity: When you programmed the new SPI flash IC with the looped firmware and you stuck that back into the router, did it boot with configuration that was used before, or did it revert back to a factory default? I think it must have reverted back to factory default in order to work again.
                            It would've defaulted to the factory setting anyway, because I couldn't access the setup page during the looping phase so I had no way to change anything. Still working BTW
                            Wattevah...

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                              #54
                              Re: Bricked TpLink WDR4300 router advice and question

                              Nice

                              Comment


                                #55
                                Re: Bricked TpLink WDR4300 router advice and question

                                So just in case someone has this same issue, try replacing the SPI chip entirely - could solve the issue. Haven't seen this issue/solution anywhere else
                                Wattevah...

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                                  #56
                                  Re: Bricked TpLink WDR4300 router advice and question

                                  I think your case was a bad case. Usually something like that is cleared up by clearing the NVRAM. However you couldn't log into the command line. The other weird thing is that it didn't crash and went to a boot loop. It booted almost to the end then rebooted.
                                  I would have handled the case exact the same way. Good job Dannyx

                                  Comment


                                    #57
                                    Re: Bricked TpLink WDR4300 router advice and question

                                    Originally posted by CapLeaker View Post
                                    I think your case was a bad case. Usually something like that is cleared up by clearing the NVRAM. However you couldn't log into the command line. The other weird thing is that it didn't crash and went to a boot loop. It booted almost to the end then rebooted.
                                    I would have handled the case exact the same way. Good job Dannyx
                                    Thank you. Yes, it was a strange case since nobody talked about it, but by putting together various "pockets" of information from here and there I was able to get it going just as I was ready to call it quits
                                    Wattevah...

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