1 nmrpflash - Netgear Unbrick Utility
2 ====================================
4 This program uses Netgear's [NMRP protocol]
5 (http://www.chubb.wattle.id.au/PeterChubb/nmrp.html)
6 to flash a new firmware image to a compatible device. This utility has been
7 tested with a Netgear EX2700, but is likely to work on many others as well.
9 Prebuilt binaries for Linux, OS X and Windows are available
10 [here](https://github.com/jclehner/nmrpflash/releases)
11 ([WinPcap](https://www.winpcap.org/install/default.htm) is required on Windows).
14 Usage: nmrpflash [OPTIONS...]
16 Options (-a, -i and -f are mandatory):
17 -a <ipaddr> IP address to assign to target device
18 -f <firmware> Firmware file
19 -i <interface> Network interface directly connected to device
20 -m <mac> MAC address of target device (xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx)
21 -M <netmask> Subnet mask to assign to target device
22 -t <timeout> Timeout (in milliseconds) for regular messages
23 -T <timeout> Time to wait after successfull TFTP upload
24 -p <port> Port to use for TFTP upload
27 -V Print version and exit
28 -L List network interfaces
34 Connect your Netgear router to your computer using a network cable.
35 Assign a static IP address to the network adapter that's plugged into
38 For this example, we'll assume that your network interface is `eth0`.
39 First, we have to assign a static IP address to our network interface.
40 In this example, we'll use `192.168.1.2`. All available network interfaces
45 eth0 192.168.1.2 f2:11:a1:02:03:b1
48 Now we can `nmrpflash`. The argument for the `-a` option needs
49 to be a *free* IP address from the same subnet as the one used by your
50 network interface. We'll use `192.168.1.254`. Firmware images can usually
51 be downloaded directly from netgear. For details on how to do this, see
52 [here](#obtaining-firmware-images). Power on your device immediately
53 after starting `nmrpflash`.
56 $ nmrpflash -i eth0 -a 192.168.1.254 -f EX2700-V1.0.1.8.img
57 Advertising NMRP server on eth0 ... /
58 Received configuration request from a4:2b:8c:00:00:01.
59 Sending configuration: ip 192.168.1.254, mask 255.255.255.0.
60 Uploading EX2700-V1.0.1.8.img ... OK
61 Waiting for remote to respond.
62 Remote finished. Closing connection.
66 ###### "No suitable network interfaces found."
68 If you're *not* on Windows, rerun `nmrpflash -L` using `sudo`. In any case,
69 use `-vvvL` to see more detailed messages, and file a bug report if applicable.
71 ###### "No response after 60 seconds. Bailing out."
73 The router did not respond. Try rebooting the device and run `nmrpflash` again.
74 You could also try running `nmrpflash` with `-m` and specify your router's
75 MAC address. It's also possible that your device does not support the NMRP protocol.
77 ###### "Timeout while waiting for CLOSE_REQ."
79 After a successful file upload, `nmrpflash` waits for up to 120 seconds for an
80 answer from your device. You can increase this by specifying a longer timeout
81 using `-T` switch (argument is in seconds).
83 It's entirely possible that the image was flashed successfully, but the
84 operation took longer than 120 seconds.
86 ###### "Address X/Y cannot be used on interface Z."
88 `nmrpflash` refuses to use an IP address / subnet mask combination that would
89 make the remote device unreachable from the device running `nmrpflash`. For
90 example, if the IP address of your computer is 192.168.0.1/255.255.255.0, assigning
91 192.168.2.1/255.255.255.0 to the router makes no sense, because the TFTP upload will
94 ###### "IP address of X has changed. Please assign a static IP to the interface."
96 This can happen if the network interface in question automatically detects that
97 the network cable has been connected, and your computer tries to reconfigure that
98 interface (NetworkManager on Linux does this for example) - this can usually be
101 An alternative would be to add `-c 'ifconfig <interface> <ip>'` to the command line,
104 `nmrpflash -i eth0 -a 192.168.1.1 -f firmware.bin -c 'ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.2'`
106 This will execute the command specified by `-c` prior to starting the TFTP upload (in
107 this case setting the IP address to 192.168.1.2).
109 ### Building and installing
110 ###### Linux, Mac OS X, BSDs
113 $ make && sudo make install
118 The repository includes a
119 [DevCpp](http://sourceforge.net/projects/orwelldevcpp/)
120 project file (`nmrpflash.dev`). Download the latest
121 [WinPcap Developer Pack](https://www.winpcap.org/devel.htm)
122 and extract it into the root folder of the nmrpflash sources.
124 ### Obtaining firmware images
126 Firmware images can be downloaded directly from Netgear's FTP servers.
127 For the Netgear EX2700 for example, download
128 ftp://updates1.netgear.com/ex2700/ww/fileinfo.txt. At the top there
129 should be an entry like this:
133 file=EX2700-V1.0.1.8.img
137 The download link for the latest firmware image for this device is thus:
138 ftp://updates1.netgear.com/ex2700/ww/EX2700-V1.0.1.8.img. Substitute
139 `ex2700` for your device (`wndr4300`, `wndr3700`, `r6100`, etc.). If
140 neccessary, substitute `ww` (world-wide) for a specific region.