3.17.1.0RC1 on NBE‑M5‑19

W8AWT,

If you follow the steps at the bottom of this post, you can't go wrong:
https://www.aredn.org/content/guidelines-load-aredn-firmware-and-not-bri...

Note, 3.17.1.0RC1 will no longer 'brick' a device if you attempt to load it on any of the supported devices with any combination of AirOS.    The most likely error you would receive (in ether a tftp upload or from AirOS UI upload) is a firmware check  or similiar error.   It simply won't allow the firmware to be loaded.   In the worse case, it attempts to load 3.17.1.0RC1, but the device doesn't boot or can't save settings.  The AirOS firmware can still be tftp'd back to the device to start over.

You can attempt to short-cut the 3 step process  (https://www.aredn.org/content/guidelines-load-aredn-firmware-and-not-bri...) by only performing steps 2 and 3.   This may work with some combinations of AirOS and U-boot versions on the device (it won't work on the latest AirOS versions released).  If it doesn't succeed--see the prior paragraph.  

Tip1:  after changing the IP address on your computer, I find it often necessary to unplug the laptop's cat5 cable for ~10 seconds, then plug back in.  This ensures the new settings take effect.
Tip2:  after loading AirOS via tftp,   I find it takes up to a couple of minutes from boot before the device can be accessed from the browser at http://192.168.1.20 .  There have been a few times I keep trying to tftp load AirOS thinking it had failed, but I was not patient enough to access form the browser (and I try tip1 again).

Joe AE6XE

I picked up a NBE-M5-19 as well for a few bucks (lucky find!) and was able to get 3.17 loaded onto it ok, but then started running into what turned out to be the ethernet port bug. I tried switching to the latest nightly build but that made it worse, and then I noticed the changelog is showing the OpenWRT ticket 19085 bugfix was reverted? Why was it reverted, and where can I get an earlier nightly build to try with that has the bugfix in place?