Saved a bricked router with a paperclip and a old firmware file

I had a customer's Netgear router freeze up during a firmware update last Friday, totally unresponsive. Tried the 30-30-30 reset trick and nothing worked until I found a hidden recovery mode by holding the reset pin while powering it on. Has anyone else had luck with this method or is there a better way to recover these things?

2 comments

2 Comments

daniel21410d ago

A hidden recovery mode by holding the reset pin?

the_daniel8d ago

Oh, that's not quite right actually. The 30-30-30 reset trick is a common myth that got passed around forums for years, but most modern routers don't work that way. Holding the reset pin during power-on is actually the intended recovery method for a lot of these devices, it's not really "hidden" so much as it's just poorly documented in the manual. I've used that same trick on Netgear and Asus routers more times than I can count, and it usually works if you've got the right firmware file ready to go on your computer. Just make sure you're using the exact model number firmware and not a generic one, that's where most people mess it up.