DDWRT r53130 on Netgear R9000 stops working after a few seconds of accessing

Question

I just purchased a Netgear Nighthawk R9000 and downloaded DDWRT (https://download1.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/downloads/betas/2023/06-29-2023-r53130/netgear-r9000/) and upgraded the firmware. All went fine, it restarted and I could access via 192.168.1.1 and could see the DDWRT Web UI -- so I thought. After about a few clicks into the Web UI, it looks like it crashes and I no longer can access the Web UI. I thought this might just be a failure of the Web UI, so I tried telnetting... no go. I can reboot the router and do the entire thing over again -- access via a few clicks on the Web UI, but it then crashes again. Any thoughts on what's going on and how to fix? I could find a bunch of articles on the http daemon failing and restarting, but it is clearly more than that (since I can no longer telnet).

Answer 1

Patience is a virtue. I believe what happened was that I didn't give it the appropriate time for the firmware to complete installing. So what I did was I used TFTP to upload the stock firmware and then re-did the entire process, but this time waiting 5-10 minutes. I followed the "Recovery" section here:

https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Netgear_R9000

Copy/paste from the 'Recovery' section in the article above:

Make sure you statically set the IP address on your computer to 192.168.1.2; subnet 255.255.255.0 and gateway to 192.168.1.1.

If you want to go back to stock: All you need to do is TFTP the stock firmware back onto the router. Make sure to factory reset dd-wrt on the admin>factory defaults tab. Grab the latest Firmware file from Netgear: https://www.netgear.com/support/product/R9000.aspx#download

1. Get TFTP64 installed on your PC https://www.tftpd64.com/ (MAKE SURE TO ALLOW THIS PROGRAM IN YOUR FIREWALL FOR BOTH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE NETWORKS OR YOU'LL NEVER SEND THE IMG FILE)

2. Read how to use "TFTP client mode"- https://kb.netgear.com/000059633/How-to-upload-firmware-to-a-NETGEAR-router-using-TFTP-client

3. Get the TFTP program up and running and ready to push the correct file onto the router- then you will wait for step 6 below.

To put the R9000 into TFTP mode.

1. Power off the router.

2. Hold down the reset button.

3. Power on the router and keep holding down the reset button.

4. When the router first boots the power led flashes orange and then it will switch to a slow white flash. Keep holding down reset button. The slow white flash will change to a faster white flash and then to a second even faster white flash. Let it blink 3-4 on the second set of faster white flashes and let go of the reset button and now send the IMG file via TFTP. When the power LED is fast white blinking, the router is in TFTP mode and ready to accept any IMG file (Stock or dd-wrt). You will have about 2-3 minutes to send the IMG file.

5. Go to the tftp program and re-select your NIC with the static IP 192.168.1.2 from the dropdown. It will change as you boot the router initially so you have to go back and select the right NIC/IP in the TFTP program. (You can avoid this by using a cheap/dumb 1gig switch which keeps your NIC active the whole time and shouldn't have to worry about re-selecting the right NIC in the dropdown)

6. Push the file onto the router using TFTP64.

7. Wait a full 5 minutes before touching the router. It should do it's update and reboot by itself. Keep your browser open and try to load 192.168.1.1 It should load the stock firmware gui/website automatically once the router is booted. If the stock gui loads, clear your static NIC settings to grab IP's automatically again.

8. If 5 minutes have passed and nothing has happened performing website refreshes, then reboot the router manually and try loading the gui website again.

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Then I was able to visit the Netgear UI and re-upload the DDWRT firmware without issue (ensuring I've waited 5-10 minutes for it to finish -- even if it looks 'done': WAIT!).