Quote:
Originally Posted by Masque
I also know the is a distinct probability that you will brick the router if you attempt to flash it as even your way is not 100% guaranteed to work.
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Nothing is 100% guaranteed, ever, except the enevitability of eventual death. This is true of routers as it is of us. The trick is to make the most of the time we have. This is a perfectly valid philisophical position and is, in fact, the one I am taking.
I do disagree with the rest of your statement here quite a lot though. 'Distinct probability' is, in my opinion, highly inaccurate. I think you will find that the probability of a flash procedure failing irrevocably is statistically rather small, I know of few people who have actually experienced it (actually, I can't think of even one). I suggest that the phrase 'very slight possibility' might be more appropriate.
Remember, the router's power supply unit might fail as well, as any component can. I personally have had far more PSUs go bang than I have had flash chips do so. Of course if you never plug it in this will avoid such nasty possibilities, but will restrict operating efficiency quite a bit. You can wrap your kit in cotton wool if you want, but you won't get the most out of it that way. If I'd kept my old Sinclair ZX81 in its shop wrapping to this day I could sell it on Ebay for loads, and trying to use that thing certainly risked failure every time I can tell you, but in persevering against the odds I got far more out of it than Ebay would get me I can tell you. Every use of your kit is a calculated risk. This is not one to lose sleep over.
I know you don't agree with me on this one Masque, but I have flashed many and varied firmwares on many devices both old and new and my experience simply does not match yours. I can only imagine that your experience is of a mountain of failed flash attempts. They say some people can't wear electronic watches because their natural energies stop the watches dead every time they try. Perhaps you are like this with flash chips? As the mattress said to Marvin, the paranoid android, I flubber for you.
Either way the main point still stands though, the actual physical hardware of the VM router is exactly the same as the Netgear one all save the text on the sticky label.