I tried the 3.9.5 upgrade today (should have read this forum first) - it failed with the router now in a loop trying to reboot. However I can't get the box into TFTP mode. Holding reset while powering on does not lead to the three LEDs at the left lighting up. I get WAN2, USB, WCF and 5G lights flashing with DSL on solid. After a minute or so I get the looping boot up sequence. Anybody seen this?

That sounds like the correct lights for the router to be in TFTP server mode, you only have two minutes to upload a correct firmware file before the router will reboot.
In TFTP server mode, the router's ip address should be the default of 192.168.1.1.

This may help

https://www.draytek.com/support/knowledge-base/5222

regards

Colin

Thank you for your advice. I was thrown by the many different versions of the TFTP firmware update guides on the Draytek website. Even my query to Draytek support resulted in the wrong advice. There appear to be at least two different accounts of what the lights on the 2862ac should look like when in TFTP mode. You were very helpful in pointing me to the correct article. To be on the safe side I restored my previous version of the firmware (3.9.1.3) - the .all version would not work with the same symptoms as before (looping boot up). I resorted to the .rst version which did work and my saved config file got me back up and running again.
Which poses the important question - why is there a firmware upgrade available that turns £250.00 worth of equipment into a brick. I have now wasted a day on this when I need to one getting on with other things - however is suppose it has been educational!

Has anyone managed to get the latest 3.9.5 firmware to load?