All was going well... until I tried downgrading right back to factory firmware. I now have an unusable wAP ac3 device and need some advice.
I started by exploring the various permuations of reset button pressed for 3, 10 & 15 seconds during power-up.
I saw factory configuration settings restored with reset on 3 seconds but not factory firmware. Is this as expected?
More importantly, my main problems emerged when I tried the NetInstall option (>15 seconds reset button):
- I was unable to exit NetInstall mode. Power-down again and the device seems locked into NetInstall mode. I tried the various reset options and none had an effect. Is it possible to exit NetInstall mode?
- I was unable to flash firmware using NetInstall. The Win-10 NetInstall application did not see my wAP ac3.
With NetInstall, I:
- configured using guidance here: https://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Netinstall and checked against similar guidance here: https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/display/ROS/Netinstall.
- connected laptop to wAP ac3 on Ether-1 (labelled "Internet") as the guidance suggested.
- rebooted wAP ac3 like this: power off, hold reset, power on, release reset after approx 15 seconds, when LED changes from flashing green to steady blue.
- waited 60 seconds for wAP ac3 to appear in NetInstall window.
I tried:
- Repeating the reset procedure several times
- Disabling Win-10 firewall & AV
- Rebooting with ethernet cable in ether-2 & then other ether ports.
- Rebooting with NetInstall app ready in Win-10, ethernet cable connected to AP ether-1 and keeping reset button pressed for 1 minute.
- NetInstall v7.1.3 and v6.48.6.
wAP ac3 still does not appear in NetInstall app.
This means I have an unusable wAP ac3 device - ouch! - and some open questions:
- Does 3 second reset option change device configuration only, and leave firmware untouched?
- If so, is there an option to reset back to factory firmware too?
- How to exit NetInstall mode?
- Why is my wAP ac3 device not being recognised by NetInstall app?
- Which ether port on wAP ac3 should be used with NetInstall?
Lots of questions at this stage - thanks for your thoughts, guys.