@NinjaMonkey LOL, yeah, that was me that started that thread on the Open-WRT forum, but I haven't had the time/inclination to pursue it without help from the community to answer basic questions....

@Clive_A - Thank you for the reply, and the yes the info is helpful, if disheartening. The search for a better home networking solution continues. Sad that I have to take TP-Link off the list.

@KimcheeGUN - no hardware should blindly accept an arbitrary firmware file (esp. in a user-facing GUI!) - .zip or wrong model shouldn't even be allowed to attempt, there should absolutely be some...

We finally got the hardware controller (OC200) upgrade, to find out gateway needs an update for most of the new features, but none available. Edit: Official download pages (both US and EN) only show...

@Hank21 1 - No, controller wasn't bricked, nor even in a bad state. It simply wouldn't attempt the upgrade. 2 - Yesterday I started having lots of "slowness" that was dropped packets, even between...

Pretty much what's in the subject. Log into controller "System Settings" page, Hardware Controller section. Select "Browse", select the unzipped firmware image...