Reviving the NetComm NB1300 Plus 4

Not long ago, I dug up an old ADSL modem, the NetComm NB1300 Plus 4. I remember that it was working a while back, but suddenly stopped working. Since I had some spare time on my hands, I thought I might want to see what I can do about it.

This can also be used as a fully illustrated, step-by-step guide to the procedure I used in order to revive the ADSL modem.

Signs and Symptoms

I’m assuming we know what a working ADSL modem looks like. You know, like it powers on, and lights blink. But with this one, the power light comes on, but nothing else really works. The nice thing is, when I plug in a LAN cable to the LAN ports, it’ll still light up and make the connection and I think it’ll still work as a 4-port switch. Maybe.

But I don’t just want a 4-port switch, I want to fix it and get the modem back. I searched the internet, and found a possible solution at the Whirlpool forums.

Cause

Reading through most of the posts on the forum, it appears that this can happen at any time with no prior warning. It seems as though the flash memory chip can suddenly lose its data, since it supposedly can be fixed by reflashing it.

How to Repair the ADSL Modem

So let’s go through how I’ve managed to revive this ADSL modem, back to its working order.

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