I have a TPLINK WR841ND v8 which got the WAN port fried in a storm, so I changed the WAN port to a LAN port successfully changing the vlan's. The WAN port got fried again and I tried to do the same procedure, but I messed up the eth0 configs and now I can't access the router. I can connect to the wifi with my password but I can't access my router to reset to the default settings. I get IP 169.254.159.178 and I had configured an IP 192.168.0.1. I did an IP scan but the only address I get is from my PC. I also tried it with the LAN ports 2,3 and 4 which are the ones that aren't fried, but I don't get a ping from any address.

Is there anything I can try to connect my router in order to reset it? Or is it already bricked?

Set a static IP on your wifi card.

Try failsafe mode.  Plug the power in and watch it boot up.  When the power or "gear" LED starts blinking rapidly, press the reset button several times.  If you were successful, the LED will blink even faster and remain blinking very fast.  At this point the router is running with default settings, but your other settings have not been erased from the flash chip.

I have a router that was hit by lightning and none of the eth1 ports connected to the switch will move any data to the CPU.  This is despite the green lights still lighting up when cables are plugged in.

Thanks for your answer. I had already tried to set a static IP of 192.168.0.2 and  192.168.1.2 to my PC ang pinging to 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.1.1 from all ports, with no success. I also try to run a DHCP server from my PC and let the router get assigned an IP, as suggested in other post. I also performed a 30/30/30 reset and still no luck. Finally, I tried performing a debricking from failsafe (with the TFTP server and IP 192.168.0.66 and 192.168.1.66 as per the instructions in the wiki) from all ports even from the WAN port, but nothing worked. I guess that's because my LAN1 port is not working and the failsafe needs that port to be used.

All the lights are green, but there is something strange. The LAN1 and LAN3 port stay on even with no cable. That could be the things I messed up when handling the vlan's and the eth0 and eth1 config.

I tried it also from a Windows XP PC, and when I connect to the WAN and LAN1 port, there is no connection whatsoever, it just says cable is not connected.

I thing that the last thing I could try is the serial console, but I wanted to ask before if being able to connect to the wifi could help me solving this issue, without the console.

@Jwaynw  First and foremost, routers/switches should always be powered via a surge protector (if one more than one router/switch on a network, they should be powered via a small UPS).

• It's highly unlikely a consumer will ever suffer a unit damaged by a power surge, especially on the WAN port, as that port is directly connected to the modem, of which would be damaged, and therefore unlikely to be able to pass voltage to the router.

• When multiple switches/routers (dumb/smart/unmanaged/managed) are used on a network, a UPS should be involved to gracefully trigger shutdown of the routers/switches, thereby preventing dirty memory environments, of which will create a massive inconvenience that is not possible to troubleshoot.

It appears the V8 only has 1 CPU port, and if that's correct, it's highly unlikely you "fried" the WAN port, as it's directly connected to the CPU, meaning the CPU and electrical components between the WAN port and CPU would be damaged if the WAN port was indeed "fried".

• WAN Port >> Network Interface eth0 >> CPU port 0

Whenever one chooses to flash opensource/3rd party firmware, one should have access to a USB-TTL cable or UART/SBC prior to doing so.  You will need to borrow or buy one in order to troubleshoot your issue.

(Last edited by JW0914 on 15 Sep 2017, 15:11)