TP-LINK WR740N Ver2.1 OpenWrt Revert To Original Firmware

I have been using my TP-LINK WR740N version 2.1 since 2010 for my mini Lab likewise at home with the third party firmware OpenWrt Backfire Trunk. Just recently I wanted to make a simulation for WDS that TP-Link products for their unique non-Standard bridging protocol that capable of doing two jobs i.e. as a bridge and at same time as a wireless access point (WAP). It took me an hour Googling to find on the net on how-to revert the device to it original TP-Link stock firmware.

First I stumble upon on DD-Wrt forum looking for the simplest way on how-to revert the TL-WR740N version2.1 to its original factory stock firmware and I found this.

I bought two TL-WR740N (Hardware v2.1) then I did the firmware update with the following dd-wrt image in this order:

1)http://www.dd-wrt.com/routerdb/de/download/TP-Link/WR740N/2.0/factory-to-ddwrt.bin/3841

2)http://www.dd-wrt.com/routerdb/de/download/TP-Link/WR740N/2.0/tl-wr740n-webflash.bin/3842

I was not lucky enough to get my device work from the above mention because my firmware was OpenWrt.

Another nice article I visited written by goughlui with the same TP-LINK TL-WR740N he did also the experiment both DD-Wrt and OpenWrt firmware but he able to managed to revert it to the original TP-Link stock fimware, unfortunately I fail his procedures didn't work for my device.

I headed back to OpenWrt forum and read the TP-Link WR741N/ND since this is just identical to WR740N, when I follow the how-to's I manage to bring back to its original stock firmware. And here's how I did it.

I assume your TP-LINK WR740N version 2.1 is on third party firmware the OpenWrt.

I use putty to login the device via ssh, just follow the command.

cd /tmp

wget http://everbest.ftpserver.biz/TP-Link/Firmware/WR740N/wr740nv1_en_3_12_4_up(100910).bin

Alternatively if you can not download the stock firmware (wr740nv1_en_3_12_4_up(100910).bin) via wget you can download it to your local drive from official TP-Link website.

Otherwise use the PSCP.EXE utility from your M$ Windows box you can download it from here. 

PSCP.EXE -scp wr740nv1_en_3_12_4_up(100910).bin root@192.168.1.1:/tmp

The command above will let you send the stock firmware from your local drive that you have downloaded to the TP-Link WR740N OpenWrt third party firmware. Once the file completely uploaded follow the next command below.

cd /tmp

mv wr740nv1_en_3_12_4_up(100910).bin tplink.bin

mtd -r write /tmp/tplink(100910).bin firmware

This is the actual process on the TP-Link WR740N version 2.1

root@OpenWrt:/tmp# mv wr740nv1_en_3_12_4_up(100910).bin tplink.bin
root@OpenWrt:/tmp# mtd -r write /tmp/tplink.bin firmware
Unlocking firmware ...

Writing from /tmp/tplink.bin to firmware ...
Rebooting ...

After the WR740N reboots point your web browser to its default http://192.168.1.1 now you will see the login page.

Congratulations! you have just reverted your TP-LINK WR740N version 2.1 to its original stock firmware from OpenWrt without using the serial debricking kit.

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