Local DNS setup (Router v7.20)

RouterOS Beginner Basics
41

I’ve just been reading through the netinstall instructions.

If I understand correctly, I need to press the reset button and then plug in the power, or plug in the power and then immediately press the reset button, to get it to try and netinstall/netboot.

I can’t get this to work at the moment. The reset button on a hEX Refresh is the small button which requires a small device like a screwdriver tip to press. It is next to the power in port, and next to the PWR and USR LEDs. It is not the MODE button on the side of the device, which can be pressed with a finger.

I have connected the device using the Internet port directly to my PC. I have disabled wifi on my PC. I have set a static IP on my PC of 192.168.88.2, with subnet mask 255.255.255.0. The gateway is set to 192.168.88.1, and the DNS server is set to 192.168.88.1. This is a Windows 11 PC. I have started the netinstall application as Administrator.

When I press the reset button, hold it, and plug in the power, I see the LED hold for 10 seconds, flash for a further 10, and then go out. Nothing appears in the netinstall application. I then release the reset button.

Any advice on what I am doing wrong here?

42

Also, I clicked “Net booting” and set the IP to 192.168.88.3, and checked the “Boot Server enabled” checkbox.

43

I guess a sensible question to ask is should the netbooting process be done using network 192.168.88.x?

In my case, I changed the networks that each port of the router was using. For example, the 2nd port on the router, which is the first LAN port, was using address 192.168.1.1. I assume this doesn’t matter though, and the netboot process will still use 192.168.88.1?

44

Ok, well it’s working now. I think you just have to be patient when the light goes out and wait for it to show up.

I connected my device through a switch, and the IP address indeed should be 192.168.88.x.

45

And I am plugged into the Internet port, which is the 1st port on the router. Not the 2nd port, which is the first LAN port.

46

Ok next query. Now that I have installed the RouterOS version 7.20, do I need to reinstall the packages which were installed on the device? There are a total of 16 of them. I downloaded “all_packages-arm-7.20” and unzipped this file. It contains 16 .npk files.

Do I need to install those too? If so how would I go about doing that?

47

Only install what you need.
It's useless to install all of them just for the sake of installing...

48

Thanks for all the replies here, this has been a great learning experience for me. Thanks again.

Hopefully some of the comments I left may help others in future if they are trying to reinstall/reset their RouterOS device. If there are further questions relating to this I may now be able to offer advice.

But the main takeaway from it was to be patient. Just because the LED has gone out does not mean the device will show up straight away. It may take another 30 seconds or so.