Xiaomi Mi Router 3C recovery from System Error (Orange/Red LED)

Here’s how to un-brick the Xiaomi Mi Router 3C if it gets stuck in a System Error state (steady orange LED showing on the front of the unit) and upload a fresh firmware to bring it back to life.

Note: For my sanity I will refer to the red LED as orange) as it’s clearly not red.

  1. Visit the MiWiFi website and download the latest firmware (website is in Chinese, I recommend using Google Translate to navigate this website)
    1. Switch to the ROM section
    2. Download the Stable ROM for R3C (latest release at time of writing is 2.12.15)
  1. Connect an ethernet cable to the WAN Port ethernet connector (that’s the blue port closest to the power supply connector).
    Connect the other end of the ethernet cable to your computer/laptop (if your laptop does not have a ethernet port use a USB to Ethernet adapter)
  2. Find a paper clip and when ready pull the power cable on the Xiaomi Mi Router then press down firmly on the Reset button and re-connect the power supply
  3. Continue to hold down the Reset button for up to 10 seconds or until the front LED colour changes from steady orange (System Error) to flashing orange (Safe Mode)
  4. If the LED colour fails to change to flashing orange after some time rinse and repeat by pulling the power cable and re-connecting until the unit enters Safe Mode
  5. Here’s where things get interesting… if an IP address is automatically assigned to your device you can skip to step 6 (thanks DD).

    If an IP address has not been automatically assigned to your device then jump back to the first step and move the ethernet cable from the WAN Port to LAN Port 1 (shown as a single dot, beside the other LAN Port with two dots) on the Xiaomi Mi Router 3C.

    You will need to manually assign a IP address on your computer as the DHCP server on the router is not enabled in Safe Mode, set the following network options for your ethernet connection:

    1. IP address: 192.168.31.5
    2. Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
    3. Default gateway: 192.168.31.1
    4. Preferred DNS server: 192.168.31.1
  6. Open up your preferred browser and enter http://192.168.31.1 into the address bar
  7. Upload the firmware file you downloaded earlier and wait a few minutes
  8. If the front LED does not change to blue within 5 minutes pull the power cable and put it back in and wait another few minutes for the router to boot up
  9. Check for nearby WiFi SSID’s, the Xiaomi Router should be available to connect and configure
  10. Undo your ethernet connection changes and configure your Xiaomi Router

That’s it.

Published by

Michael Visser

I'm a WordPress Plugin developer, UAV & Raspberry Pi enthusiast and general tinkerer. This visser.io domain serves as my development playground for non-WordPress Plugin projects.

23 thoughts on “Xiaomi Mi Router 3C recovery from System Error (Orange/Red LED)”

  1. Mine flashes around 11-12 secs for about é secs and goes back to static orange, does that mean its still in recovery mode?I still can’t access it via 192.168.31.1 (tired Wan and lab ports)

    It’s a ax3600 so I wonder if something is different

  2. I try this on mi wifi mini, but not work. Router can’t start in safe mode (yellow light blinking). Please for advise?

  3. I tried with the detailed instructions but could not able to connect my router through LAN/WAN port, although lights are blinking. I could not able to assign IP4/6 manually and my win 10 system showed error.
    So at last what I did to wake up my router is by holding the reset button for 30 seconds in power off mode. This worked for me and after getting blue light I again did hard reset by pressing reset for 10 seconds. Thats all…. everything is working like a charm.
    Kudos….

  4. Hi, I did all the steps correctly even switched wan port to lan port but can’t reach the upload page to upload the firmware can you please help it will be really helpful.

  5. Hi i have bought one Mi router 4C today. But it is stucked on orange light suddenly, how do i solve this problem?

  6. Hey, I did all the steps but I can’t get to the router page to upload the firmware. Any ideas?

    I’ve tried switching the wan port for the lan ports, but nothing seems to be working.

  7. Tal vez me puedas ayudar con mi problema, tengo mi router 3c, pero despues de 6 meses de uso, lo cambie de lugar y le conecté el cable, pero con gran sorpresa que ha quedado el indicador led en amarillo y no se puede indentificar vía wifi y por cable menos.
    intenté con el botón de reset y tampoco ha funcionado, queda en led amarillo titilante y hay que desconectarlos.
    intenté actualizarle el firewire y nada.
    existe alguna otra solución?

  8. This is better procedure to recover Mi WIFI router corrupted ROM (Steady RED LED). worked on my Mi miniWifi.
    Download any Xiaomi’s firmware/ROM.
    http://www1.miwifi.com/miwifi_download.html

    Rename downloaded file to miwifi.bin
    Put/copy miwifi.bin into a USB flash drive (must be FAT/FAT32)
    Plug said USB drive to router’s usb port
    Unplug router’s power
    Press reset button and then re-plug the power
    Keep pressing reset button until the orange status LED starts blinking
    wait until the LED turns blue. By Default it’ll boot up with 192.168.31.1 IP address and DHCP is working on LAN ports.

    It’ll boot up with default setting and you need to reconfigure everything again.

    Good Luck.

    1. Hola a Todos,

      he seguido todos los pasos aquí descritos y no me ha funcionado ninguno, si alguien me puede ayudar y7o requiere más imformación sobre mi router Xiami 3C la suministraré lo antes posible.

      Hi all,

      I have followed all the steps described here and none has worked for me, if someone can help me and I need more information about my Xiami 3C router, I will provide it as soon as possible.

  9. i got this problem with r2d router, but my orange light never blinks, no matter what i do, this is so frustrating…

  10. Updated
    I am getting the firmware upload page in Chinese. I selected the file and clicked on the blue button. After that two sentences in Chinese appear.
    But light still orange

  11. I am able to bring router in safe mode (orange light blinking) but after that firmware upload page is not opening . I tried step 5 but not working

      1. hola a todos, he leido todos los comentarios y he aplicado los pasos para instalar la ultima versión del firmewire para mi routes xiomi 3C, pero aún sigue con el led amarillo encendido fijo.

        hello to all, I have read all the comments and I have applied the steps to install the latest version of the firmwire for my routes xiomi 3C, but still with the yellow LED on steady.

        my router version does not have usb input

  12. Hello thank you for your how to guide.
    I tried it and it worked but I had to connect the cable to the WAN port not LAN port to get to the firmware upload page , and it worked with DHCP as i didn’t need to change the ip of my Pc manually.
    Request you to update your article with that info

    Thank you
    DD

    1. Hi DD, thanks for writing. I’ll update the Post above as if that’s the case then it’s much easier using the WAN port. Can you confirm that you have a Xiaomi Mi Router 3C that does not have a rear USB port. 🙂

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