Member Avatar for elfinitiy

Hello.
Recently i found an old router, which has its passwords changed.But i don't remember them so i tried hard reset.

But what ever I do it doesnt work.

I read this guide and it requires telnet to 192.168.1.179 but it just says "Can't connect"

Can anyone say how to configure the NIC correctly so that i may telnet to that address ?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by JorgeM

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Practical troubleshooting and quick checks to add to this thread (builds on ’s report and ’s suggestions). When a reset doesn’t expose the router’s recovery/telnet interface, the usual causes are: the PC’s interface isn’t on the same L2 network, the physical link/cable/port is wrong, or the router didn’t actually return to defaults (or is partially bricked). The checklist below focusses on verifiable steps that don’t require the vendor PDF.

Basic NIC and reachability checks

  • Assign a static IPv4 on the same /24 as the router’s recovery address (no gateway required for a direct link). Disable Wi‑Fi and any extra virtual adapters so only the wired NIC is active. Temporarily disable personal firewall/AV that can block outbound Telnet/ICMP.
  • Confirm link LEDs on both the router and the PC NIC; absence of a link light means the cable/port or auto‑MDI/MDIX mismatch is the likely problem. Older hardware may need a crossover cable or a small switch in between.

Useful commands (replace placeholders)

# Windows
ipconfig /all
netsh interface ip set address "Ethernet" static <PC-IP> 255.255.255.0

# Linux/macOS
sudo ip addr add <PC-IP>/24 dev eth0
sudo ip link set eth0 up

# probe
arp -a
arping -c 3 <ROUTER-IP>
nmap -Pn -p 23,80,443 <ROUTER-IP>

Interpreting “Destination host unreachable”

  • If the message comes from the local PC, ARP failed: the NIC and cable didn’t learn the router MAC. If ICMP replies come from another gateway, routing is involved. Use arp/arping to verify whether the router’s MAC appears before relying on ping/telnet.

Hardware and recovery escalation

  • Try both WAN and LAN ports, try a different cable and an intermediate switch. If the router still gives no L2 response after a correct reset, firmware may be corrupted; next steps are vendor recovery methods (TFTP/bootloader) or accessing the serial console with a USB‑TTL adapter — only if comfortable with opening the unit and observing ESD precautions.

Quick checklist: single active wired NIC, static IP in same subnet, disable firewall, verify link LED, ARP probe, port scan. If all are negative, the unit likely needs vendor recovery or hardware repair.

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Member Avatar for JorgeM

According to the Doc, you have to connect to the WAN port. Did you make sure that you connected to the WAN port instead of a regular port?

If you get no response on telnet, that means that the target is not listening in that port, or you did not configure your PC's NIC with a 192.168.1.x address.

Edited by JorgeM because: Typo
Member Avatar for elfinitiy

Yes i configured the IPv4 Address to 192.168.1.100 and connected to the wan port but still no responce.
I even did a ping -t on 192.168.1.179 and it's always "dest. unreach."
I don't know if I shud set the default gateway to something.

Member Avatar for JorgeM

If your ip is .100 and the target is .179, no gateway is needed, assuming your subnet mask is 255.255.255.0. Both ips are on the same subnet. The doc also referenced that the router defaults back to 192.168.1.1. Can you plug the pc in a regular port and ping that IP. If no response, I would think it was not successfully reset back to defaults.

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