Belkin F7d4302 V1
Vinay Pettyjohn
I've got a similar problem, I guess - a bricked E4200 v1.
Upon plugging the power, it starts blinking, but nothing further.
After connecting to a computer, an IP address is given from a DHCP (router is at 192.168.1.1).
When I try loading the router in the browser - does not work; ssh to it does not work.
TFTP does not work (probably as I don't know how to TFTP it, but I did give it a try with default values).
When I try pinging the router, it is reachable with TTL=100 all of the time.
Any suggestions?
I seem not to be able to find it anywhere, but in the given JTAG thread, it forwards to Serial Connection thread where upon the progress they mention that they upload the firmware (the .bin file) with TFTP.
I'm afraid there may be very little expertise on this forum, for such a 11 year old Broadcom router. OpenWrt support for Broadcom devices is poor. OpenWrt favour Qualcomm based devices imho. There is no dedicated openwrt device page for the E4200 v1.
fwiw, I think you need a serial-TTL connection (not JTAG) in first instance, to access the router. Erasing the corrupted NVRAM may (or may not) help solve some problems. It has worked for me for Belkin and Linksys Broadcom routers from around 2010.
I recall Linksys made their own windows tftp utility to recover their own routers, but in my own limited experience, I never got it to work to unbrick a linksys (E3200?) router from 2010, if the router had been previously flashed/bricked with non-linksys firmwares and the NVRAM was corrupt.
Sorry, I never had to restore stock firmware as far as I recall. The E3200 I once had was over 5 years ago. Erasing NVRAM always solved the problem for me (most recent was fixing a belkin f7d4302 before xmas), causing newly installed 3rd party firmware to boot after clearing corrupted NVRAM. You will have to ask on ddwrt forum if you wish to restore stock firmware.
Connect PC by Ethernet (usually to a LAN port, but if that doesn't work try WAN). Static IP PC to 192.168.1.10/24. Browse to router at 192.168.1.1 You should see a single page with options to flash firmware (which works best with stock firmware) and maybe to erase the NVRAM.
Broadcom doesn't care about FOSS. Qualcomm pretends to. The ath9k driver (which they did not write themselves, mind you) didn't need blobs and was stable which made the hardware wildly popular - it was long the only hardware that was decently supported (!). QCA wanted to capitalise on that with ath10k and up but they closed up all the good stuff.
I understand what you were trying to convey, but please realise your choice of words makes for a misleading statement. Fanboys apart, the community will recommend what's best supported. OpenWrt does not favour anything. Developers port hardware that stands a chance of being supported - and usable.
To put your statement into context: my backbone is comprised of Realtek based switches. MediaTek edge router and access points. A Marvell based edge router is on my test bench as a more powerful replacement. They all, indiscriminately, run OpenWrt.
Doesn't work. Tried numerous times, following different sequences, etc. - No changes with my E4200 v1.
Hence, I will have to go with Serial Connection + TFTP, and if not working - JTAG.
Will see soon... I'm still expecting my USB connector.