IP Address does not change after flashing new version of Open WRT software

After flashing the openwrt.bin file onto the router, the red light turns off and continues to be off for a number of minutes. After that time the red light comes back on the ethernet connection on my laptop is connected again.

However, unlike the in the Readme instructions the IP address and root password of the router are not changed after the flash. The router is still available at 192.168.8.1 and when sshing into the device with root@192.168.8.1 the password that I set up for it at the beginning is still the root password.

What has changed is that the web interface is no longer available at 192.168.8.1 (which matches the description in the README that I have been following).

Is it that my flashing of the Open WRT software did not work, or is it that the README needs to be updated to reflect that the IP address does not change and that the Root password did not reset?

Thanks