PSA: That router update took me 3 hours instead of 10 minutes

I kept putting off a firmware update on my Netgear R6700 because I figured it'd be quick. But it bricked the router halfway, and I spent the whole evening factory resetting and reconfiguring settings in my small home office in Austin. Anyone else get burned by a routine update that spiraled into a nightmare?

3 comments

3 Comments

seanlee5d agoMost Upvoted

Man that's brutal. Quick question though did your buddy mention which firmware recovery tool he actually used? Because I had to go through this same nightmare with my Netgear and I found like 5 different guides online each pointing to a different random forum download. I swear half of them looked like they would have made things worse or just installed malware. It makes me wonder if these companies are just expecting us to be IT pros now or if they actually test these updates on real hardware before pushing them out.

hugoh554d ago

Did your buddy's Linksys router stay bricked or did he eventually get it working again? I swear these updates are way more trouble than they're worth lmao.

derekjenkins5d ago

...so a buddy of mine in IT told me about his Linksys router that did the exact same thing. He figured it'd be a five minute job during his lunch break, but it turned into three hours of him sweating in his kitchen, trying to get the thing to even show a solid light. He ended up having to download special firmware recovery tools from a forum, and he said it was the most frustrating afternoon he'd had in years. I usually avoid updating anything until I absolutely have to, and stories like his just make me more set in that ways.