Tue May 18, 2021 3:23 am
I can't thank you enough for all your help. This has been a learning experience. Either via software or an altered firmware bit, the reset key would never reset the device. Additionally the unit would never go into boot mode with the 15 second hold down either and that must have been the result of whatever the previous owner had done to it. I did get Winbox to attempt to connect but the password was always wrong because it was that of the previous owner and thus unknown. I obtained some channel locks to remove the ring from the end, popped the circuit board out and I discovered a split-ring that looked like it was a screw mounting hole but the foil pattern was 2 half rings. I did further research and found that this seems to be the only way to reset this device to factory defaults, at least at the 6.42 firmware level I found this device later was last upgraded. I tried powering up with the split rings shorted but my screwdriver or knife would not short the junction so I finally clipped a small alligator clip and made sure the teeth bit into both sides of the split ring. Then I powered it up with the aligator clip on the PCB. This time the device made a warbling sound I have never heard before, maybe 10 beeps in 1 second, like a bird. I removed the jumper, waited until all the lights stopped flashing except the one with the slow 1 pulse per second single lamp and then I rebooted the router with a POR. Now I had the address of 192.168.88.1 that showed in the c:\ipconfig window from Windows 10. I could not attach with the browser but Winbox would now attach and came up with the MAC in the address list without me having to do anything. (BE SURE to unplug the actual usb-c plug to reset the USB adapter if you have one because just pulling out the ethernet will not reset the interface like on a conventional laptop that has a built-in LAN connector; in fact you will need to do this every time you change tasks after doing configuration changes). So I opened Winbox and checked some settings, then signed off. At this point I reset the usb-c connector again and started Netinstall with the file I previously downloaded from Microtic, the file routeros-mipsbe-6.48.2.npk loaded into the same directory as winbox. This time I powered off the router and held in the button with the blunt end of a broken toothpick. The single lamp nearest the RJ-45 starts to blink and then all the lights blink in unison about 7 times or so, then the single green light remains on for a moment more, flashing may 7 more times and then suddenly all the lamps turn off and this is the time to drop the reset, about at the 15 second mark. I returned to the laptop and netinstall had already automatically picked up the device MAC and was ready to load in the new firmware 6.48.2. I clicked Install box next to the named firmware file in the list and then clicked the Install button. It first formatted the drive then replaced the firmware. I waited for all the lamps to settle to a blink now and then, then power on reset the device, then the new firmware had killed the 192.168.88.1 IP address that was set with the previous reset of the old original firmware. So I reset the usb-c to LAN adapter again to ensure by using the c:\ipconfig to check that I had indeed lost the 192.168.88.1 IP address and yes, upgrading firmware had killed the DHCP address inside the router. So I once again started Winbox and successfully logged into the router. At this point I used Winbox to change the interface to automatic, changed the protocol on the wireless from 5Ghz to the 2Ghz range, applied those changes, reloaded the browser screen, scanned and set my local IP address to my home networks gateway address (this will be the gateway to my router WAN jack) and I once again scanned for a remote AP signal, set the password for that wifi, applied the configuration and once connected ,I scanned for updates which didn't find anything since I just updated. So then after setting the device to my gateway ID 192.168.32.1 and checking the NAT and DHCP boxes, updating the configuration, resetting my usb-c to LAN connector again, this time I found the new DHCP data showing what I has set. I browsed to 192.168.32.1 to verify and everything was the way I had wanted. So I carried the device up to the roof on a ladder, installed my antenna and coax and I am communicating over it now with this post. Thanks for everything!!!