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Forum Discussion
Access control issue/bug with Orbi 2.7.1.60
Since I upgraded to the latest firmware, the Access Control feature in Advanced...Security in the UI doesn't work properly. When I turn access to certain devices off, it is also turning off access to devices that still show as "turned on." I have even disabled Circle to discount that as the problem. Also, while using the app to turn devices on/off, I frequently receive a "Please try again" message if I turn off more than 1 device, this never used to happen.
I am beyond frustrated as I have been trying to figure this out for a few days and am planning to roll back to the prior version of the software. Hopefully this is investigated and a fix/resolution can be achieved.
36 Replies
I am having very similar issues with my RBK50 setup. Access Control is randomly blocking previously allowed devices. It's like a game of whack-a-mole: I re-enable one, and another gets blocked. I saw similar issues with a firmware update a year or so ago and it took a zillion complaints here before Netgear took action to address it.
Moderators, are you watching this? Here we go again!
For the record, I did a factory reset -- and it didn't solve it. So I downgraded the firmware to v2.6.1.40 and life is so much better. I'm quite certain that there is an incompatiblity between MAC address filtering ("Access Control") and this v2.7.1.60 -- possibly exacerbated by IP address reservations. But on the verge of this being the third decade of the 21st century, there is no excuse for these venerable features to be thought of as exotic -- it should just work!
Agreed, reset does not help. There does appear to be some sort of issue resolving MACs or something with 2.7.1.60.
In the meantime, I am back on 2.7.0.70 and life is good.
complete newbie here but regularly follow these posts to see how to resolve issues that continuously arise and not even sure if this is the right post to drop my experience but i've struggled with my orbi system since 2.7.1.60 and the corresponding last 2 ios app updates. I have not had the ghosting access control issues but I was not able to see any devices in device manager in the app but was able to see everything in web gui. I had emailed NG a week or two ago and they responded somewhat quick asking for contact info and time to chat which I knew was going to lead to the standard reset of everything and redownload of ios app so I held out and didn't respond. Today, I got fed up and dove in on my own.
2.7.1.60 appeared to have been released at the same time as the second to last ios update (most recent i have is 2.7.0.28). When i ran ios update, i checked for updates and 2.7.1.60 was there so it automatically ran. It was flawed to say the least and my 2 satellites really never took it, none of my devices were connecting, even though it said it installed correctly. I didn't notice this or check until about a week after the update so I ran the manual updates on router and satellites with the files from Orbi's site then did a power cycle of the main router and satellites. That seemed to fix and allow my devices to connect to the satellites but still couldn't see any devices in device manager on app. I was hoping it would come around with the 2.7.0.28 ios app update this week but it didn't.
Will try to lay out my baseline settings throughout but when i upgraded firmware and app, I noticed that access control was automatically enabled and my guest network SSID was now being broadcast. Neither of those were enabled before the upgrades. I do not and have never used circle or the parental controls.
I hardwire each of my satellites direct to main router through my wall jacks via my wall closet. I read somewhere that disabling daisy-chain topology may increase wifi speeds and given i'm hardwire wheel and spoke it made since to me to disable awhile back.
So this morning, i powercycled and then factory reset via pinhole on the main router and satellites. I connected laptop hardwire to router to run new setup through web gui. It worked suprisingly easier than i remember back in April when i was on a 2 hr call with NG tech when there was a similar firmware upgrade issue. It actually showed the router and satellites as having 2.7.1.60 installed straight away, i'm not sure if that held from before the reset or they automatically downloaded as part of the reset reboot.
Now the fun part, the factory reset re-enabled daisy-chain topology and I noticed that my satellites were not .2 and .3 in their IP addresses and the system seemed to fumble around a little bit trying to link them in a stable fashion but didn't stick around to wait. I disabled daisy-chain which automatically reboots the system. The whole system got very unstable, satellites wouldn't stay connected and the wifi kept disconnecting and reconnecting repeatedly for a good 20/30 min at least but what i did notice is that in some shape, form or fashion the satellites seemed to be trying to get back to .2 and .3 position. I was also still hardwired into the router via laptop which i think had taken either the .2 or .3 position which i thought may not be allowing the system to settle out. When i unplugged laptop from router and they seemed to settle in. However, although router and satellites were showing 2.7.1.60 as current firmware in the web gui and both sattelites were saying connected in attached devices, one of the satellites status kept flipping back and forth saying downloading firmware and/or waiting for connection on the firmware update tab in the web gui. At one point, it said update failed. So I was going to do a manual install but it wouldn't let me connect to the satellite via my hardwire into the other sattelite so after i powercycled the troubled satellite i hardwired into that same troubled satellite and ran web gui, the firmware download issue seemed to resolve itself and now i'm able to see all devices in device manager.
All that being said, I think it may have something to do with the order in which the satellites are connecting to the router to establish their baseline, secured connection. If i was fully wireless, i think i would have tried to use a different SSID after the reset so that all my devices couldn't reconnect before satellite links were established and stabilized. After that, I think you should be able to change SSID and all devices will connect back up.
Only other customized settings I have are IP passthrough from ATT router, reset my Orbi IP handouts to start with 190 (seemed to fix some corporate VPN issues i was having back at beginning of pandemic). I turned off 20/40 coexistence on 2.4 (sorry neighbors) and enabled implicit beamforming and MU-MIMO. I was allowing IPv6 but seemed to create some conflicts on one of my Sony TVs so subsequently turned it off. Lastly, i have armor enabled.
not sure if this helps anyone on here contemplating the reset but figured i'd post it since i know how much i appreciate all the posts from everyone else, they're helpful to those of whose are not as well versed in this arena.
When connecting the RBS, it's recommended to first sync the RBS, one at a time to the RBR wirelessly. I would do this near or in same room as RBR. Setup a IP address reservation for the 1st RBS ON the RBR or host router. Do same for 2nd RBS. Once both RBS are wirelessly connected and IP reserved, ethernet connect 1 RBS at a time to the RBR. Once both are ethernet connected and show WIRED for the connection status ON the RBR, turn the RBS OFF and then place at there remote locations.
And Daisy Chain should be disabled if your RBS are in Start or Spoke formation around the RBR.
The original problem with v2.7.1.60 continues to be an issue with v2.7.2.102.
Netgear, please fix this issue. The Security/Access Control page in the web browser UI behaves erratically. There is definitely some sort of MAC or IP conflict issue that has not been fixed. Turning on/off access for a device is impacting connectivity of other devices on the network.
Unfortunately I had to disable auto updates (thanks for not including this option in the UI) because after re-installing 2.7.0.70, the router auto-updated itself overnight to 2.7.2.102. I would like to be able to install a more recent version of the firmware someday.
