Model : TD-W8980

Hardware Version : V1

Firmware Version : 0.6.0.1.8

ISP :

My router has been behaving very unpredictably over the last month or so. I'm aware of the USB software bug that seemed to be indicated as affecting this model of router so, just in case I'd been hacked and in the hope of fixing the odd behaviour, I decided to upgrade my firmware to the latest version.

I downloaded the new firmware file TD-W8980_V1_150514.zip from the TP-Link website and extracted the files to a folder. I then disconnected the modem from the phone cable and connected it to my PC via an Ethernet cable.

I logged into the router (192.168.1.1), went to System Tools->Firmware Upgrade and selected the TD-W8980v1_0.6.0_1.8_up_boot(150514)_2015-05-14_11.16.43.bin file from the folder I had extracted.

The status bar moved across to completion. I then attempted to access the router status page by navigating to 192.168.1.1 and was presented with a completely blank web page, but with the browser tab titled TD-W8980. Everything else about the router was functioning as normal (internet connection working, wifi, etc).

I tried a few things but kept coming up with the blank page using Microsoft Edge browser (default browser for Windows 10). After a few tries I loaded Internet Explorer 11 and tried to navigate to the status page and was presented with the normal login screen.

As a software developer I have extended tooling available to me and so in the Edge browser I tried right-clicking and selected View Source. When the F12 tools came up the Console had an error indicator displayed. I selected that tab and the following error was listed:
SCRIPT5009: 'INCLUDE_GERMANY_SPEC' is undefined

The referenced value is found in the main page javascript:
if (INCLUDE_GERMANY_SPEC && $.isFD)
{
$.isFD = 0;
$.loadMain("qsStart.htm");
}
else
{
$.loadMain("status.htm");
}

While I can spin up IE11 to check my router status I would ideally like to just be able to use Edge as it is now my default browser. It's something I need to do quite often as my ADSL is incredibly flaky and so the connection quality often drops to 10% of the typical connection speed requiring a reboot of the router (which I like to do using the router status System Tools->Reboot so I don't have to walk to the other side of the house).

If this breaking issue is resolved can you please notify me so I can upgrade to the new firmware?