

Once failsafe mode is triggered, the router will boot with a network address of 192.168.1.1/24, usually on the eth0 network interface, with only essential services running.

Note that modern OpenWrt always uses SSH, but early OpenWrt releases (15.05 and before) offered a telnet connection in this state but no SSH.
FACTORY RESET LINKSYS ROUTER SERIAL
Whichever trigger you use, the device will enter failsafe mode and you can access the command line with SSH (always possible) or a serial keyboard. However, do consult the available documentation for your device, as there is no default button assigned as a reset button and not all procedures work on every device. Usually, it is easiest to watch the LEDs. The message shown in the console is “ Press the key and hit to enter failsafe mode” This requires that you have attached a serial cable to the device. So for example, in a terminal and using tcpdump, with the router connected to port eth0, you would enter the commandĪlternate for expert users with serial connection: Watch for a boot message on the serial console and press a key (“f”) on the serial keyboard. The packet contains the text “ Please press button now to enter failsafe”.

The packet will be sent to destination address 192.168.1.255 port UDP 4919. There are three different (power) LED blinking speeds during boot for most of the routers:Ī slower, 2.5-per-second blink continuing to the end of boot, if the failsafe was not triggered and the normal boot continuesĪlternate for expert users: Wait (with a packet sniffer) for a special broadcast packet and press a button. This is usually the easiest method once you figure out the correct moment.įor most users and most devices, the LEDs now (2018) provide sufficient clues as to timing to be able to avoid older recommendations to “press the XXX button as fast as you can until …” for entering failsafe mode. Recommended for most users: Wait for a flashing LED and press a button. To enter failsafe mode, follow one of the procedures listed below: It listens for a button press inside a specific two second window, which is indicated with LEDs and by transmitting a UDP packet. OpenWrt will rather early in the boot cycle check if the user wants to enter the failsafe mode instead of a normal boot.

On most routers, OpenWrt will blink an LED (usually “Power”) during the boot process after it gets control from the initial bootloader (like u-boot). Sometimes you need to connect to a specific network port of your router to get connectivity. Make sure you use a wired connection, since the failsafe will disable your wireless connectivity. dev/root /rom squashfs ro,relatime 0 0 Entering failsafe mode The terminal should return something similar to this: To verify whether your device has the SquashFS root partition, check for “squashfs” either in the OpenWrt image name or perform the following check on your device: It is similar to a reset, however with failsafe, you can access your device and restore settings if desired, whereas a reset would just wipe everything.Ĭaveat: Failsafe mode is only available if you have installed firmware from a SquashFS image, that includes the required read-only root partition. When you reboot in failsafe mode, the device starts up in a basic operating state, with a few hard coded defaults, and you can begin to fix the problem manually.įailsafe mode cannot, however, fix more deeply rooted problems like faulty hardware or a broken kernel. after a configuration error, then failsafe mode is there to help you out. If your device becomes inaccessible, e.g. OpenWrt allows you to boot into a failsafe mode that overrides its current configuration.
