Is my 3Com 3CRWDR100A-72 dead?

Hello,

Just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience to me with 3Com
office connect wireless routers.

The other morning I tried to connect to my router but nothing worked,
I connected over ethernet and entered the admin ip address http://192.168.1.1/
however rather than taking me to the admin page it took me to the
"Recovering Tool" where it says

"This tool allows you to upgrade the gateway's system firmware using a
file provided by the vendor.

Enter the path and name of the upgrade file then click the APPLY
button below. You will be prompted to confirm the upgrade."

There is a drop down menu to allow you to upgrade the target with
either the runtime code or bootloader.

I tried updating the runtime firmware with the latest version from
3Com's website but it still returns to this "Recovering Tool". In the
past I have successfully updated the firmware from the admin page. but
I have never seen this "Recovering Tool" before.

I tried a hard reset using the push switch on the back of the router
but it still returns to this "Recovering Tool".

I suspect my router has got into a very confused state, maybe the
bootloader is corrupt? However I can not find any binaries on the 3Com
website to update the bootloader.

3Com technical support say they charge $70 just to speak to me, so
unless anyone has any other ideas sounds like its time to splash out
on a replacement, currently looking at 3CRWDR101A-75-UK

Any help appreciated.

Cheers,
Andy

On 10 Sep, 13:35, LR <l...@privacy.net> wrote:
> andrew.for...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Hello,
>
> > Just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience to me with 3Com
> > office connect wireless routers.
>
> > The other morning I tried to connect to my router but nothing worked,
> > I connected over ethernet and entered the admin ip addresshttp://192.168.1.1/
> > however rather than taking me to the admin page it took me to the
> > "Recovering Tool" where it says
>
> > "This tool allows you to upgrade the gateway's system firmware using a
> > file provided by the vendor.
>
> > Enter the path and name of the upgrade file then click the APPLY
> > button below. You will be prompted to confirm the upgrade."
>
> > There is a drop down menu to allow you to upgrade the target with
> > either the runtime code or bootloader.
>
> > I tried updating the runtime firmware with the latest version from
> > 3Com's website but it still returns to this "Recovering Tool". In the
> > past I have successfully updated the firmware from the admin page. but
> > I have never seen this "Recovering Tool" before.
>
> > I tried a hard reset using the push switch on the back of the router
> > but it still returns to this "Recovering Tool".
>
> > I suspect my router has got into a very confused state, maybe the
> > bootloader is corrupt? However I can not find any binaries on the 3Com
> > website to update the bootloader.
>
> > 3Com technical support say they charge $70 just to speak to me, so
> > unless anyone has any other ideas sounds like its time to splash out
> > on a replacement, currently looking at 3CRWDR101A-75-UK
>
> > Any help appreciated.
>
> > Cheers,
> > Andy
>
> Do you get a bootloader "button"? If you do press it and wait until it
> has finished, then reboot your router. Then press your runtime code
> "button" and wait until it has finished, then do a factory re-set of the
> router. If you can now access the routers GUI download and install the
> latest firmware for the router.
> NB:- I haven't tried this on this version of router but it has worked on
> older versions and I just kept a note of what to try.

Hello, thanks for the response. There is no bootloader button in the
GUI, or on the hardware. In the GUI the only options I have are to
upgrade the "target runtime" or "bootloader" code by supplying a
binary file, or to reboot the router. Neither of which seem to have
any effect. It's a shame I can't post a screenshot of the GUI.