TP LINK router firmware recovery

 

TP LINK router firmware recovery

In this tutorial we will show you how we recovered our TP-Link WR1043nd V1.10 wireless router from a failed firmware update. Our method used is very simple and has worked for us on multiple times.

TP-Link manufactures computer networking products and are highly recommended on the internet. The design within the recent products includes for a recovery method should problems arise in carrying out the risky firmware update.

The example used here can be used to recover other models using the correct method for your device.

 

The basics of our recovery method is to connect up a PC or laptop as a TFTPD server to our faulty failed router and upload a good working copy of the firmware. If all goes well you will have recovered your TP-Link WR1043nd V1.10 wireless router.

Please do remember we offer no guarantee if this method will work for you. Also there is always a big risk in updating any software / firmware that can leave the device’s totally bricked.

So let’s begin and show you how to recover the TP-Link WR1043nd V1.10 wireless router from a failed firmware update.

You will require the following for the WR1043nd V1.10 recovery method. Our example is for the UK version of the router and firmware.

-          A computer or laptop with an Ethernet port – We used a laptop with Windows 10

-          A RJ45 Ethernet cable to use between your laptop and the WR1043nd router

-          Up to date firmware from the TP-Link website - https://www.tp-link.com/uk/support/download/tl-wr1043nd/v1/#Firmware

** Please do not download the wrong version firmware for your router otherwise there is a big risk you will brick your device**

-          A TFTP server for communicating with the faulty router. In our example we used TFTPD32/TFTPD64. You can down this from  https://tftpd32.jounin.net

 

Let us now get our PC / Laptop and TFTPD32/TFTPD64 server ready for the recovery

1.  On your PC / Laptop create a directory called “temp”. In our example the location of our directory was c:\temp\ . Within this directory place the files downloaded which will be the firmware from the TP-Link website and TFTPD32/TFTPD64 server. If the files were downloaded in a compressed zip format then decompress them using WinZip or 7zip.

In our example within the directory c:\temp\ we had the following files decompressed.

 a.       The TP-Link firmware  – wr1043nv1_en_3_15_up_boot(140319).bin

b.       The TFTPD32/TFTPD64 server files. Tftpd64.exe, tftpd32.ini and tftpd32.chm

 

 

2. 2.  We now need to set the IPv4 address of the wired Ethernet interface on our PC / Laptop to 192.168.0.66, and subnet mask to 255.255.255.0.

 

 

3.     3. We now need to rename the firmware file. This is very important as this will be the file that the router will be looking for in recovery mode. So rename the file “wr1043nv1_en_3_15_up_boot(140319).bin” 

To

“wr1043nv1_tp_recovery.bin

 

4.   4.    Start the TFTP server – Run the tftpd64.exe file

5.  5.     Point the TFTP server’s directory to the folder that you previously unzipped the router firmware to eg “C:\temp\”

Also point the server interface to the PC / Laptop NIC within the drop bar to the NIC as shown below 192.168.0.66

 

 

6.   6.    With the router powered off plug in your Ethernet cabling between the LAN port of the router and the PC / Laptop Ethernet port.

7.  7.     Ensure the TP-Link router stays powered off. Now hold down the reset button on the router and keep it depressed. Power the router on, wait until you see the firmware being uploaded and then release the reset button. If the firmware upload is successful this will be shown in the log view bar tab – ** VERY IMPORTANT** DO NOT SWITCH THE ROUTER OF FOR 5 MINUTES

 IF THE RECOVERY WAS SUCCESSFUL see below – If not carry out the above steps again

 

8.  8.     Power down the router and reconfigure your PC / Laptop NIC back to its original settings as before

 

 

9.  9.     Power your router on and log on to the router configuration page

— IP address: 192.168.0.1
— Username: admin
— Password: admin

 

 

 This method always works for us. If you run in to problems it will be for the following reasons

-          Wrong firmware and filename not renamed as shown in the tutorial

-          NIC IP address and settings not configured correctly as shown above

-          During the firmware upload you will see the progress bar. The router may seem un-responsive. Wait a minimum of 5 minutes – Possibly 10 before powering down

-          Finally you may have defective hardware preventing the recovery.

 

Hopefully our tutorial has been helpful in repairing your router 

We are providing the contents here for educational purposes and offer no guarantee that this process will work for you. On this note you should be aware that by carrying out the processes here you do so at your risk.