unbrick Netgear R7500 after bad firmware

Seeing a lot of people having issues with OpenWrt and stock firmware on the R7500 router. There is always a solution to tftp a good firmware to the router so it will do its normal job.

There are a lot of different version on how to tftp a different firmware version to the Netgear R7500 but this way I use here is the most simple for me. I tested this on my R7500 and it works, but this is just a Guide and I take no responsibility if something goes wrong.

What you need:

• the latest Netgear Stock firmware for R7500 found on the Netgear support pages
• a tftp client where I choose pumpKIN as it is the most easy client for me
• a laptop with static IP 192.168.1.3 / 255.255.255.0 GW and DNS 192.168.1.1
• and a bit of time to follow the process

1. Configure you PC/Laptop with static IP 192.168.1.3, netmask 255.255.255.0, and DNS and default gateway: 192.168.1.1
2. Connect the Laptop / PC to one of the LAN Ports on R7500
3. Open the tftp client and choose the image which you downloaded from the Netgear Support site and add the remote IP of the router which should be 192.168.1.1
4. Turn off the router and disconnect it from the energy 
5. press the reset button on the back on the router and keep is pressed
6. plugin the Energy from the router and still keep the reset button pressed
7. first the router will have the LED in orange blinking and when the lights changes to white color, than you can release the reset button of the router (not sure if the white is blinking also but I guess not)
8. In pumpKIN start the transfer of the file and the file should gets copied to the R7500
9. Router will upgrade the firmware and restarts automatically after this is done.

When you use this after a messed up revert back from OpenWrt than you could see also the issue that the 5GHz network is missing after reboot. in this case you should follow this steps mentioned here as this is a known issue after revert back to stock firmware.

Netgear R7500 OpenWrt revert back to Stock 5GHz network missing

I was in the situation that I had to revert back my Netgear R7500 from myopenrouter.com OpenWrt version to the native Netgear Genie version (Stock).

There is a revert back file available here:
http://www.myopenrouter.com/download/56959/Stock-Firmware-for-NETGEAR-R7500/

file name: openwrt-ipq806x-sysupgrade which is a strange name for the revert back file but anyway it contains the Netgear Genie Stock firmware. The file can be Upgrade from the OpenWrt web Gui and should revert back to Stock Firmware with some issues.

I tested this on my R7500 and it works, but this is just a Guide and I take no responsibility if something goes wrong.

After you applied this file and the rooter reboots, than probably you will miss the 5GHz network from the router or you can not get DHCP address from the Router.

We need to set up a static IP address for the client PC / Laptop:

IP: 192.168.1.3
netmask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway and DNS: 192.168.1.1

Download the NETGEAR-Telnet-Enable-Utility  which allows you to enable the telnet access to your Netgear R7500 router.

To fix the 5GHz issue after reverting back to Stock firmware you need to run the following commands in a telnet shell (telnet connection established to router (192.168.1.1)):

Method-1=> Steps from Stock firmware:

• Upload Stock firmware and establish connection to the router with telnet
• telnet 1.1.1.2 [soc1 login: root]
• cd /mnt/jffs2/
• rm -rf /mnt/jffs2/*
• echo "1.1.1.2" > ipaddr
• echo "mode=ap&bw=80&vht=1&region=us&channel=153&bf=1&pwr=19&scs=0&vsp=0&staticip=1&" > wireless_conf.txt
• sync
• exit
• reboot [reboot the router]

Check if able to connect the 5GHz interface (Should be able to do that successfully)
After this steps you should be able to configure and use the 5GHz network again.

Netgear R7500 - OpenWrt

Netgear R7500 is a pretty new router and still lacks of OpenSource firmware because of the new chipset. Anyway there is already an OpenWrt version available for use what can be downloaded from here:

OpenWrt for R7500
http://www.myopenrouter.com/download/56958/OpenWRT-FINAL-for-NETGEAR-R7500/

Revert back to Stock:
http://www.myopenrouter.com/download/56959/Stock-Firmware-for-NETGEAR-R7500/

The version is still a bit limited as there can not be installed any new packaged like OpenVPN, LTE support, ftp etc. But at all the firmware is pretty stable and the performance is acceptable to compare to the native firmware.

Unfortunately there isn't any source code available yet, so it is not possible to build any additional packages for this router.

Before you Upgrade / install the OpenWrt read the above post in details as there are still issues which are not resolved.