Netgear RT314 locks up, urgent

[AfterBurn]

I have a Netgear RT314 router, and i just downgraded the firmware because of some bugs i encountered.. Unfortunately, now it doesnt do anything anymore. It *seems* to do alright, but it doesnt. When i put the power on, it posts, does its tests and then everything looks normal. However, no IP address is given to my clients, the router cant be pinged, and of course telnet dont work either.
When i connect a serial cable to the console port, i can see it boot, post and such, and at some point it will initialize local and remote ports and say: Press enter to continue. Then it dont do anything anymore; i can hit every key on my keyboard, it will just sit there.
Been on the phone with Netgear for an hour (intl call), and they couldnt tell me more than i had already tried. Im desperate here, and i need my router back.

Anyone please help!!

 

[konichiwa]

Flash it with the old firmware?

 

[AfterBurn]

Yes, i flashed back from 3.25 to 3.22.

 

[konichiwa]

No...have you tried flashing it to the firmware that WORKED?

 

[AfterBurn]

I cant flash anything anymore. I cant connect to it over IP, nor can i get in through serial cable it seems. It just hangs dead in the water when it says press enter to continue.

I dont know what to try next.

 

[bonkers325]

3.25 works fine for me

 

[AfterBurn]

Well, mine doesnt. Or at least so it seems. It worked without a flaw for about 6-7 months, while now since a week or two, after about 8 hours (even though DHCP lease is one day) or so no traffic passed through anymore and i had to manually refresh the IP on the WAN side. Since this also was about the same time i upgraded to 3.25, i decided to go back to 3.22 and see if it was the firmware.

Any inputs on how to proceed now are still welcome.

 

[vash]

When you went back with an older firmware, did you try put the older configuration file back too? 3.25 is a bit different than 3.22 -- which could easily account for the sparatic problems you are recieving.

Since you have a serial cable, do a direct connection in and upload the firmware and configuration file viz xmodem (I think that's the one the router supports). You should check out dslreports.com forums for the Netgear routers, there is a lot of tips on this, so be sure to read up on it.

vash

 

[AfterBurn]

I have tried that, but it will just timeout and not send the file.

 

[RanDum72]

Have you tried to Telnet to it? This is usually the safest route to take when upgrading Netgear firmware. Otherwise, tha RT314 has a five year warranty so you might want to go ahead and RMA it. I also have the RT314, flashed it to 3.25 firmware and works like a charm. The firmware you downloaded may have gotten corrupted somwhere and messed up the router.

 

[AfterBurn]

I always use telnet. I hate webinterfaces. Being used to Cisco, i dont know anything else but telnet. I already called Netgear, but they dont do RMA's international.

This is what i get when connected to serial:
Bootbase Version: V1.05 | 4/14/2000 13:58:03
RAM: Size = 4096 Kbytes
DRAM POST: Testing: 4096K OK
FLASH: Intel 8M

RAS Version: V3.22(M.01) | 11/9/2000 16:05:39

Press any key to enter debug mode within 3 seconds.
............................................................



initialize ch =0, ethernet address: 00:a0:c5:e3:9b:f4
initialize ch =1, ethernet address: 00:a0:c5:e3:9b:f5
Press ENTER to continue...


Then i can hammer ENTER for all i want, nothing happens anymore.

Anyone please??

 

[RanDum72]

But can you access it by its Web interface?

 

[AfterBurn]

No, there is no way to access it any other way than serial console right now.

 

[Dark]

I have set tons of thoses routers and have been unlucky with a few of them. Last one was having the exact same symptoms as yours after I upgraded the firmware. RMA was the only way since everything else failed. I'm sorry.

 

[AfterBurn]

Yeah, thats what i have concluded and since netgear isnt planning on supporting intl. customers with RMA's , i just picked up a linksys from a local dealer to replace the rt314.

 

[Dark]

AfterBurn: What I don't understand is how hard can it be to have a little reset switch to reset the router to factory default? Linksys have that eventhought I don't like their products.

 

[AfterBurn]

Yeah, seems such a lil thing to do, especially when you need it. I dont know, maybe ill take it with me to the states when im there in august and rma it from there. Id hate to drop it in the trash, not cause i was helped so good by them, but i hate throwing away $150 after 3 months of use.

 

[Dark]

Since the hardware of the netgear RT314 and the Zyxel P314 are the same. I opened the netgear and tried to find something to reset it. I found a little jumper like the cmos jumper that I shorted to try clear something I was gonna rma it anyway. Unfortunately no go...

 

[Jackal&Cash]

ok, I might have a solution to your problem. I had the same problem but i have already fixed the problem. Since you could use a serial cable to access your router there is hope. By using Hyperterminal, access your router and enter your password. Once you reach the Main Menu, hit option 3, then then option 2 and look to see if the DHCP is set to server. If not set it to Server. Then esc back to the Main Menu and choose option 4 and see if the loop client is set to 192.168.XXX.XXX. If not just set your ip address that you like and then set your ISP login info. Then esc back to your Main Menu and exit Hyperterminal.

 

[Dark]

Jackal: He can't access the router using the console port either.

 

[wonkajunk]

Go here my friend, the best damn place for answers on the great Netgear Box. Search for your prob, or just post. Brilliant techs and people always present and near. Tell em I sent ya!

WwWonka

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/equip,9

 

[CollegeGuy]

If you hammer the "enter" key, does it keep displaying "Press ENTER to continue"? If it doesn't, you might be at the router's command line interface - which means you'll need to find out what type of commands you can use.