Recovering Zcom ZCN-1523H and Planet WNAP-7300 from bad firmware flash

OpenWrt Attitude Adjustment Beta2 images for Zcom ZCN-1523H a.k.a Planet WNAP-7300 are broken. You can do recovery by opening case (three hidden screws under label on back) and soldering serial port (115200-8-N-1, TX closest to AR71xx, RX next and then GND, ignore fourth pin). After adding serial port cause of fault was quite obvious (kernel lacks support for ZCN-1523H) and also how to repair it without adding serial port.

1. Download working OpenWrt image or factory firmware upgrade.


2. Rename downloaded image to ap.img


3. Connect PC to LAN1 port


4. Set PC IP to 192.168.0.36, netmask 255.255.255.0. No GW, no DNS.


5. Make sure any other network interfaces such as WLAN are disabled.


6. Launch TFTP server to serve ap.img.


7. Press and hold RESET button on ZCN-1523H / WNAP-7300 and power AP on.


8. Within 10 seconds you should see connection to TFTP server, you can release RESET button now.


9. Wait minute or two and AP is back alive. This means you're DONE.