"The Firmware Is Not Compatible With Your Router" Error

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Alex0597
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If u reboot the router you’ll

If u reboot the router you’ll heve to run it again 

Alex0597
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Let me know how it went and

Let me know how it went and if you’re able to flash firmwares now.

Alex0597
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Btw run comand (nvram commit

Btw run comand (nvram commit & reboot) when you’re done. The command without the parenthesis 

mikeloeven
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Well i verified using putty

Well i verified using putty that the board id is reading as

U12H315T00_NETGEARHDR0

Trying to flash the file gave me a different error this time

This firmware file is incorrect! Please get the firmware file again and make sure it is the correct firmware for this product.

mikeloeven
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Btw is there a discord server

Btw is there a discord server for the site where we could have a realtime conversation ?

 

 

mikeloeven
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Something interesting i

Something interesting i noticed in the netgear firmware 1.0.4.12 and 1.0.4.18 the board id in the header of the CHK file changes to

KU12H315T00_NETGEARHDR0

It also seems strange that I cannot install any official netgear firmware below these numbers so I am actually starting to wonder if there is a V2 router with a slightly different board that netgear ninjaed in without actually announcing or labeling the V2 units ?

mikeloeven
mikeloeven's picture
So at this point I am

So at this point I am thinking that either A there is a V2 hardware or B netgear arbitrarially changed the header in their firmware as part of a security patch to prevent downgrading of old firmware.

 

In the case of B i am wondering if just changing the header in the DD-WRT CHK file would allow it to install but if it's actually A that could brick it

Alex0597
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What’s the discord?, and yeah

What’s the discord?, and yeah you could be right, but to be sure just go to kong’s latest build take the header on that one, burn it then flash Kong’s DD WRT. Let me know if it worked.

Alex0597
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Oh sorry I didn’t notice you

Oh sorry I didn’t notice you were asking for a server, but if there is I don’t know it.

Alex0597
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Make sure u use the R8000

Make sure u use the R8000 build

mikeloeven
mikeloeven's picture
still saying firmware is

still saying firmware is incorrect I wish there was a way to get kong involved in this if netgear is playing games with their boards this could be a problem. but from what i hear the units manufactured in vietnam have this problem but apearantly not the ones from china

Alex0597
Alex0597's picture
Damn, thats weird, anyways I

Damn, thats weird, anyways I’ll give you more instructions.

1-Check that you have the correct Board ID and that it burned correctly.

2-Try to upload the same firmware you’re on, through genie.

3-If the above methods don’t work, type tftp on putty and upload the firmware with tftp32/64. That’s either tftp32 or tftp64 depending on your setup.

sparky7
sparky7's picture
It appears I have the same

It appears I have the same issue -- recently bought the R8000 -- made in Vietnam, upgraded the firmware before I realized that was a bad thing to do (V1.0.4.18_10.1.49). 

If I understand correctly, if I had not flashed to the latest OFW, I would have been ok to install the latest Kong DD-WRT release?  If so, I'm tempted to RMA this unit for another.

If a newer version of the Kong DD-WRT comes out, will that solve the problem?

Thanks

bboti86
bboti86's picture
Hi! 

Hi! 

I'm in the same situation as the guys above and I've tried step 1 and 2 from this post. 

I can confirm that I was able to change the board ID as you've described in a previous post and now the board ID is the one I've set:  U12H315T00_NETGEARHDR0

I've tried to upload multiple R8000 firmware files (DD-Wrt, OpenWRT, Tomato, also the factory image) and now I'm getting this new error:

This firmware file is incorrect! Please get the firmware file again and make sure it is the correct firmware for this product.
 

I've tried the tftp firmware update but I was unable to figure out how to make it work. Can you describe that as well? Is there a chance that tftp uploading any R8000 firmware will brick the device? 

Am I right to think that a new build of a custom firmware would be able to fix this issue? 

Thanks! 
B

Alex0597
Alex0597's picture
To force a flash any firmware

To force a flash any firmware you’ll have to start a tftp server on your pc like tftp 32 or whatever you use, put this comand on the CFE: flash - nonheader : flash0.trx, and as sonn as you press enter on your pc switch to the tftp server and press upload. You’ll have like to 2-3 seconds in between to do upload, so be quick.

mikeloeven
mikeloeven's picture
Does anyone know what the

Does anyone know what the original board is for the Vietnam version is since it appears to differ from the Chineese version. Also since flashing the board ID I can no longer even install netgears most recent update untill I change it back to the Correct ID for Vietnam boards

bboti86
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Hey Alex0597! 

Hey Alex0597! 

Do you know what is the original board ID? 

Thanks! 

B

mikeloeven
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Btw I still need this badly

Btw I still need this badly as I am now in a situation where I cant flash anything including default netgear FW

SkipD0brin
SkipD0brin's picture
Getting the same error

Getting the same error "Firmware is not Compatible with your Router" when attempting to flash the initial Tomato firmware files:

tomato-R8000-1.28.ARM--134-initial-64K.chk or tomato-R8000-1.28.ARM--140-initial-64K.chk

Router was made in Vietnam

Verified that burnboardid is not corrpute, just different from the earlier posts.

# burnboardid
Board ID - U12H315T00_NETGEAR

 

Bottom Label:

NETGEAR Nighthawk X6

AC3200 Tri-Band WiFi Router

Model: R8000

Firmware Version
V1.0.4.28_10.1.54

Do you think that changing the Burnboard ID to U12H315T00HDR0 make any difference?

Probably messed up by upgrading to the latest version.
 

SkipD0brin
SkipD0brin's picture
I meant U12H315TOO

I meant U12H315TOO_NETGEARHDR0

bboti86
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Hey, 

Hey, 

can you confirm that changing the ID to this one allows the new firmware to be flashed? 

 

Thanks! 

B

cdjohns65
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Just bought a R8000 and I'm

Just bought a R8000 and I'm having the same issue.

patrickjherbert
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Made in Vietnam R8000 and

Made in Vietnam R8000 and having the same issue.

 

kuruvalli rakesh
kuruvalli rakesh's picture
Hi, I just bought Netgear

Hi, I just bought Netgear R7000 and currently it has firmware version V1.0.9.64_10.2.64. I want to downgrade the firmware but it is failed with the issue 'firmware not compatible' . Even if I try to flash ddwrt image also it is giving the same issue

mikeloeven
mikeloeven's picture
Has anyone contacted Kong yet

Has anyone contacted Kong yet and had him take a look into this issue?

bboti86
bboti86's picture
I don't think so, but if

I don't think so, but if there is a way to contact him please let us know how. It is really annoying that we can't flash third party firmware and since we tried to work around and changed the board id, now even the factory firmware is not updating :( 

mikeloeven
mikeloeven's picture
I mean theoretically it

I mean theoretically it should be possible to flash using command line but because my unit is still under warrenty and a bad flash would mean needing to disassemble the unit to access the serial headers and netgear but one of the screws under the %%^^# sticker

rwrjr
rwrjr's picture
There is a custom version of

There is a custom version of OpenWRT that you can build that will flash and bypass the version check.  This custom version sets the version of OpenWRT to 1.9.99.99.99.99 which is a higher version than the current Netgear firmware.  The custom patch is being considered for incusion into the main release but is still pending attribution. 

I bought a brand new R8000 this week and ran into the same error you all did when trying to flash AdvancedTomato.  I ended up building OpenWRT with the patch mentioned above and I was able to flash the initial CHK file.  Once I logged into OpenWRT I was able to flash the full AIO version of AdvancedTomato.  I imagine that you'd be able to flash whatever you want after successfully loading the OpenWRT CHK file.

If you search the dd-wrt forums for Netgear R8000 you will find a post that details what you need to do.  You'll need a OSX or Linux box to build OpenWRT because you need a file system that is case sensitive.  I built on linux.  You'll need to know how to install the tools and libraries on your build machine and you'll need to know how to manually setup a static IP addrees on your machine so you can ssh into OpenWRT once it is flashed.  If you're not very technical, it's probably best you do not attempt.  Good luck if you do try it.

bboti86
bboti86's picture
hey,

hey,

thanks for your reply! 

I find my way around linux quite well os if you could link me to the page that you've mentioned I would really appreciate it. 

Thanks

B

rwrjr
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