Is It Possible For a Router To Receive Connection Through Ethernet to USB Adapter?

[BigDamn]

Hey there fellas. I've got an old Netgear Nighthawk R7000 that experienced an ethernet surge a while back rendering it mostly useless. Wireless connections still work, as do wired, but it's unable to receive a connection through the incoming ethernet port. I forgot all about the damn thing until today and started pondering ideas to fix it. What about a USB to ethernet adapter? The router has a front USB 3.0 port so it could potentially be possible, but I'm not sure that the router would recognize it. Has anyone tried this? Thanks in advance!

[Enderman]

No.

That USB port is only for storage or config purposes, it cannot host a network interface like a computer can.

You could try RMAing your router and claiming it just stopped working for no reason, they might send you a new one for free.

[BigDamn]

Just now, Enderman said:

No.

That USB port is only for storage or config purposes, it cannot host a network interface like a computer can.

You could try RMAing your router and claiming it just stopped working for no reason, they might send you a new one for free.

Damn. Unfortunately the router is quite old so getting a replacement is out of the picture. I've got another of the same model already but I was hoping to fix this one just to have it around.

[SupaKomputa]

No, you need a driver for that adapter to work in a pc. I don't think the router has one.

 

But there's a workaround, if you install a custom linux rom (openwrt / ddwrt) it might support your adapter, some rom supports certain usb ethernet out of the box.

 

https://forum.openwrt.org/t/solved-can-we-add-usb-rj45-adaptor-to-add-another-ethernet-port-on-a-pc-using-openwrt-x86/24199/12

[SupaKomputa]

check this out:

https://openwrt.org/toh/netgear/r7000

[kirashi]

29 minutes ago, BigDamn said:

Hey there fellas. I've got an old Netgear Nighthawk R7000 that experienced an ethernet surge a while back rendering it mostly useless. Wireless connections still work, as do wired, but it's unable to receive a connection through the incoming ethernet port. I forgot all about the damn thing until today and started pondering ideas to fix it. What about a USB to ethernet adapter? The router has a front USB 3.0 port so it could potentially be possible, but I'm not sure that the router would recognize it. Has anyone tried this? Thanks in advance!

27 minutes ago, Enderman said:

No.

That USB port is only for storage or config purposes, it cannot host a network interface like a computer can.

You could try RMAing your router and claiming it just stopped working for no reason, they might send you a new one for free.

You can install alternative firmware such as DD-WRT, TomatoWRT, or AdvancedTomato and change the WAN port to one of the 4 available LAN ports, leaving you with 3 working LAN ports. The R7000 is still a great router despite being 5+ years old, so if you've got a use for it, don't toss it just yet.

[WereCatf]

Whack OpenWRT on it and then you can, actually, use a USB-to-ethernet adapter with it just fine.

[SupaKomputa]

22 minutes ago, kirashi said:

You can install alternative firmware such as DD-WRT, TomatoWRT, or AdvancedTomato and change the WAN port to one of the 4 available LAN ports, leaving you with 3 working LAN ports. The R7000 is still a great router despite being 5+ years old, so if you've got a use for it, don't toss it just yet.

This is also possible, use one of the lan port as a wan port, this is better than using a dongle.

[mariushm]

You could also try to actually fix it .. if you're lucky it's just the magnetics (isolation transformer) behind the ethernet jack damaged or some esd/overvoltage protection diodes blown.

Such components can be replaced if you have some basic skills with a soldering iron.

[BigDamn]

7 hours ago, mariushm said:

You could also try to actually fix it .. if you're lucky it's just the magnetics (isolation transformer) behind the ethernet jack damaged or some esd/overvoltage protection diodes blown.

Such components can be replaced if you have some basic skills with a soldering iron.

I don't have much skill doing this type of repair but I'd like to get into it. Do you know of any videos that do this type of repair?