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Using Uboot to Debrick Your Router

You may have bricked your router if you were doing some DIY projects or flashed a wrong firmware. You may not be able to access your router but you can re-install the firmware by using Uboot failsafe.

Note: The Uboot operation will remove your router's settings and installed plugins.

Please prepare a computer with an ethernet port, if not, please prepare an additional USB Ethernet Adapter.

Please follow the procedures below to access the Uboot Web UI and re-install the firmware.

You can also refer to video tutorial below.

  1. Please download firmware here to your computer.

    Some models, such as GL-AR750S-EXT, is available in two formats of firmware, please use the firmware for Uboot, its file name extension is .img.

  2. Remove the power of router. Connect your computer to the Ethernet port (either LAN or WAN) of the router. You MUST leave all the other ports unconnected.

  3. Press and hold the Reset button firmly, and then power up the router. If your router doesn't have a power button, plugging the power in will power it on automatically.

    Then you will see a LED flashing in a regular sequence a few times, please release your finger after the sequence changes.

    The following will give the description of sequence of each model of LED flashing.

    Note: Same router models with different manufacturing dates may have different LED colours or flashing sequences, it won't affect the UBoot process. Please pay more attention to the change of the flashing LED.

    • For GL-MT6000(Flint 2), the blue LED flashes 6 times then turns white and stays on.

    • For GL-MT3000(Beryl AX), the blue LED flashes 6 times then turns white and stays on.

    • For GL-MT2500/GL-MT2500A(Brume 2), the blue LED flashes 5 times then turns white and stays on.

    • For GL-S200, the cyan LED flashes 5 times, then briefly turns purple, then turns cyan and stays on.

    • For GL-A1300(Slate Plus), the LED flashes slowly 5 times, then stays on for a short while, then flashes quickly all the time.

    • For GL-AR150, GL-AR300M, GL-USB150(Microuter), GL-AR750(Creta), GL-AR750S-EXT(Slate), GL-X750(Spitz), GL-MT300N-V2(Mango), microuter-N300, the LED falshes 5 times.

    • For GL-E750(Mudi), its screen will first display "Booting", followed by "Reset Counting 1 to 4", and finally "Please Open Web 192.168.1.1".

    • For GL-S1300(Convexa-S), GL-B1300(Convexa-B), the LED flashes 4 times.

      The left most LED may stay on the whole time while the rightmost LED flashes 4 times, then the middle LED turns on and stays on.

      (For some old GL-B1300, the left most LED stays on the whole time, and both the middle LED and the rightmost LED flash 5 times simutaneously then they stays on.)

    • For GL-SF1200, the 5G LED flashes 5 times then stays on.

    • For GL-AX1800(Flint), the blue LED flashes 5 times then turns white and stays on.

    • For GL-AXT1800(Slate AX), the blue LED flashes 5 times then stays on.

    • For GL-XE300(Puli), the LAN LED falshes 5 times then WIFI LED stays on.

    • For GL-X3000(Spitz AX), the LAN LED falshes 5 times then WIFI LED stays on.

    • For GL-XE3000(Puli AX), the LAN LED falshes 5 times then WIFI LED stays on.

    • For GL-X300B(Collie), the WAN LED flashes 5 times then WIFI LED stays on.

    • For GL-SFT1200(Opal), the blue LED flashes 5 times then turns white and stays on.

    • For GL-AP1300(Cirrus), the power LED flashes slowly 5 times, then stays on for a short while, then flashes quickly all the time.

    • For GL-MT1300(Beryl), the LED is blue at first, flash twice slowly, then flash 5 times a bit quick and turn to white and stays on.

    • For GL-B2200(Velica), the two LEDs are blue at first, then turn white to flash 5 times, then turn blue and stays on.

    • For GL-MV1000/GL-MV1000W(Brume), no repeat LED flashes signal. (Power and WAN LEDs will stays on the whole time.)

    • For GL-MiFi, the LED flashes 6 times.

    • For GL-MT300N, GL-MT300A, the LED flashes 3 times.

  4. Manually set the IP address of your computer to 192.168.1.2. Please check the step-by-step guide for different operating systems below:

    Windows 7 / Windows 10

    1. Go to Control Panel -> Network and Internet -> Network and Sharing Center -> Change adapter settings.

    2. Right click Local Area Connection -> Properties.

    3. Click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) -> Properties.

    4. Set the IP adress to 192.168.1.2 manually.

    5. Set the Subnet mask to 255.255.255.0.

      ipv4 properties

    6. Click the OK button.

    Windows 11

    1. Open Settings.

    2. Click on Network & Internet.

    3. Click the Ethernet tab.

      windows 11 ethernet

    4. Under the "IP settings" section, click the Edit button.

      windows 11 ethernet edit

    5. Select the Manual option.

      windows 11 ethernet edit

    6. Turn on the IPv4 toggle switch.

    7. Set the static IP address as 192.168.1.2.

      windows 11 ethernet edit

    8. Specify the Subnet mask as 255.255.255.0.

    9. Click the Save button.

    macOS

    1. Click the Apple icon in the top left corner of the screen, and select System Preferences.

      macos system preferences

    2. Click Network.

      macos system preferences network

    3. Click Ethernet on the left and then click the drop-down box next to Configure IPv4 and select Manually. If you are using a USB Ethernet Adapter, Ethernet may not be found and it may show up as the name of the USB Ethernet Adapter.

      macos ip manually

    4. Enter the IPv4 Address to 192.168.1.2, Subnet Mask to 255.255.255.0, Router to 192.168.1.1, then click the Apply button in the lower right corner.

      macos ip manually

  5. Use browser to visit http://192.168.1.1, this is the Uboot Web UI.

    Uboot web ui

    Note: The Uboot Web UI above may not be exactly the same as what you see, because the Uboot version is different for different production dates. In some extreme cases, we recommend upgrading the Uboot version. Please refer to the tutorial below.

    Upgrade the Uboot version

    Upgrading uboot is very danerous and may brick your router. Only do this when it is necessary or being instructed.

    Mark sure you are using the correct uboot file

    Following figure shows the Web UI of the old Uboot version of GL-AR750S. It has two Choose file buttons, which can be confusing for users.

    gl-ar750s old Uboot version

    1. You need to download the Uboot file here in advance.

    2. Repeat the above steps until you can access the Uboot Web UI.

    3. Use browser to visit http://192.168.1.1/uboot.html

      gl-ar750s u-boot update page

    4. Click the Choose file button and choose the Uboot file you just downloaded.

    5. Click Update U-Boot button.

    6. It will take several minutes to update. After a successful update, it will reboot the router.

    7. At this time you can change the IP setting back in step 4 and try to access the web Admin Panel, if you can access the web Admin Panel normally, it means the router has been rebooted.

    8. Repeate the above steps to upgrade the firmware. If the Uboot version is updated successfully, you will see that the Uboot Web UI has changed at step 5.

  6. Click Choose file button to find the firmware file. Then click Update firmware button.

  7. Wait for around 3 minutes. Don’t power off your device when updating. The router is ready when both power and Wi-Fi LED are on or you can find its SSID on your device.

  8. Revert the IP setting you did in step 4 and connect your device to the LAN or Wi-Fi of the router. You will be able to access the router via 192.168.8.1 again.