NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Android 8 Crashes Orbi
I've been tracking down an issue where my Orbi just suddenly drops wifi and reboots. I've isolated it to be associated with an Android device running 8.0 or higher. And I've proven it turning off w...
A few things that I've tried to narrow down the issue and something I've noticed:
- Factory Reset Nexus 6P (7.1.2 - Aug Security Patch) - Trying to confirm if issue can be reproduced on Android Device not running Nov/Dec/Jan Security Patch. (*All other Android Phones were disconnected from WiFi during this test)
- I've logged into my Google Account on the 6P
- Installed Google Home App
- Results: I can reproduce the issue and lock up WiFi after waking the device up after sleep over 1hr. So the issue can't be tied specifically or isolated to the 8.x (Nov/Dev/Jan Security Patch)
- Powered off all Google Home (Qty 1) and Google Mini's (Qty 2) - My Google Home's were added in Nov and around the time when these WiFi / Network issues started to appear. Does the reduction in Chromecast / Google Home devices lessen the mDNS storm?
- Pulled power from all Google Home devices for 30mins
- Connect Pixel XL (8.1 - Jan Patch) to WiFi - Power still off on all Google Home devices
- Let Pixel XL go into deep sleep, wake phone up from sleep
- Results: I can reproduce the issue and lock up WiFi after waking the device up after sleep over 1hr. So the issue can't be tied specifically or isolated to the (**physical**) addition of the Google Home devices in Nov. (**We'll touch on this more later).
- Disconnect Pixel XL / Nexus 6P from WiFi - I know many others have confirmed this in their testing, but just wanted to make sure I had the same baseline in my tests.
- Turned off WiFi on Pixel XL & Nexus 6P
- Disable "Turn on WiFi Automatically" feature in WiFi preferences
- Results: After 24hrs, I could not reproduce the issue and had zero router crashes or WiFi / Network interruptions. After the 24hrs had completed, I reconnected my Pixel XL to WiFi and could immediately reproduce the issue and interrupt WiFi & Network connectivity.
- Note: While a temp workaround, having our phones disconnected from WiFi isn't a logical solution / fix.
One thing that has my attention is that a lot of the main theories around these mDNS storms center around the Nov to Jan Security Patches and/or Google Home Devices. My initial test results wouldn't seem to directly align with these theories since I can reproduce the issues w/ a device on 7.x (Aug Patch) and w/ all my Google Home devices removed from the network and powered off.
That leads me to this thought... what else would be in common with the Nov timeframe and addition of Google Home devices on your network?..... the Google Home App.... Google Home App v1.26.30.8 was released on Nov. 14th 2017. Is it possible that in the redesign / release of this version that something changed in the Chromecast / Google Home mDNS discovery process? The majority of Android users are going to have this app regardless if they have Google Home devices or not.
Update: I've completely uninstalled the Google Home App from my 2 phones and after 6 hrs of testing and trying to trigger the issue, I can't reproduce this issue. This is the longest I've been able go in my testing w/o being able to trigger the issue.
Can someone else dealing with this issue also give this a try and uninstall the Google Home App from all your Android Phone / Tablets and see if you can still trigger this mDNS issue?
I know this doesn't provide a permanent fix, but if this also works for others we can try loading an older APK of Google Home.
I think you should share your results with Netgear support. They are not in the forum and while sneaking with the support, they doesn't seems to take this seriously/understand the magnitude. .
New firmware released today: https://kb.netgear.com/000053549/RBR50-RBS50-Firmware-Version-2-1-2-18
I just updated. It can't be any worse than the reboots. I had a wonderful 12 days without a reboot, then it started rebooting every hour, so I upgraded.
FWIW, the release notes for the new version make no mention of fixing the Android issue, so I would expect a separate release to be forthcoming for that.
- You are right, I just touch my phone and Orbi Rebooted 😐
These bug fixes in the release notes do look very similar to the referenced bug fixes in the most recent Beta release and most people said they still continued to experience the Android related issues while running this Beta.
Hopeful the next Beta has a fix for these mDNS / Android issues.
Hooray!!! Google is rolling out a fix starting tomorrow for this issue.
I hope Netgear continues to work on fixing the way the router deals with the problem though. This isn't going to be the last software problem on a network device... Also, it may take a week or longer for everyone to see the update from the Play store.
In the meantime, I've unplugged all my chromecast devices - don't know if that makes a difference. I am desperate now..so willing to try anything.
SenorSharkFin wrote:Hooray!!! Google is rolling out a fix starting tomorrow for this issue.
https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/7634752
Interesting... The article says it's an issue when BOTH an Andoid phone AND a Chromecast built-in device (i.e. Google Home) are on the same wifi network.
That would explain why I've had none of these disconnect issues - I have numerous Chromecast devices all over my house, but no Android phones.
Is there any way to disable the Chromecast on your phone? I found a setting on my Nvidia Shield which was an actual app called Googlecast. I was able to disable that. Could not find something similar to that on my Samsung Galaxy S8
I have removed my 4 chromecast devices, updated to the new firmware 2.1.2.18. I still get reboots. If I log onto my RBR50 and RBS50 (Pixel XL) within 1 minute the router reboots. NOTHING is getting fixed here.
Tpars wrote:I have removed my 4 chromecast devices, updated to the new firmware 2.1.2.18. I still get reboots. If I log onto my RBR50 and RBS50 (Pixel XL) within 1 minute the router reboots. NOTHING is getting fixed here.
Firmware 2.1.2.18 does not claim to address the Chromecast issue.
That issue appears to be on Google's end to fix, and Google is supposedly releasing an update tomorrow (1/18) for it.
- Thanks for letting me know
Let's all just keep in mind, that if these Google Chromecast issues are the cause of our reboots, its not all Google's fault. While they have bugs in there Chromcast infrastucture, a device on your LAN should not be able to overwhelm or reboot your router. 100,000 packets isn't even that much compared to a real DoS attack, which Netgear claims they have protections for. Other routers have protections (like rate control) that are stopping this from becoming an issue on their network.
Netgear needs to address this issue from their end. Otherwise the next bug (from any company) will just overwhelm the router all over again.
I would agree that the root cause for the issue appears to be Googles to fix however Netgear can't wash their hands of this. This router should have protections in place for this type of issue. It may be Google issue today but who knows who it will be tomorrow. Other manufacturers already have these protections in place OR are applying patches to handle this type of issue. Netgear has not even acknowledged the issue exists. At least not from the Orbi side.
I'm removed all my Chromecast devices (Google Home and Chromecast dongles) from my network. I've signed up for the Google Play Services beta (now running 11.9.73) on both Galaxy S7 edge phones. And removed the Google Home app from my phone.
With this config since, I haven't had a reboot and my phone would always reboot the network in the morning when I woke up (not this morning though). Its been a short amount of time, but I wanted to share it with all of you anyway.
Jramlow wrote:.... Netgear has not even acknowledged the issue exists. At least not from the Orbi side.
The Orbi Product Manager posted earlier that they are working with Google on a solution (post 348 in the "OrbiOS 2.1.1" thread).
This issue is pretty much exclusively on Google (they say it happens when BOTH a Android phone AND a Chromecast device [like Home] are present on same wifi network), and Google is releasing a fix tomorrow for it.
I don't disagree that Netgear should also be working on their end to prevent any similar such vulnerabilities in the future, but A.) they've acknowledged that they are in the process of making that happen, and B.) this seems like a very unique/rare combination of factors causing the crash - I wouldn't worry about it being some sort of common or easily-exploited vulnerability that needs immediate patching.
Google to Issue Fix Tomorrow for Slow WiFi-Chromecast Bug
https://www.droid-life.com/2018/01/17/google-home-chromecast-slow-wifi-fix/
Hydro130 you are correct. I missed the single sentence in a single post in a thread that was over 370 posts long which was posted at quarter after 12 last night. In the mean time this issue has been going on for well over a month. Many people have posted here. I personally know of one person who has been trying to work with Netgear tier 2 support since mid December and simply been getting the runaround. Linksys and TP-Link found this issue and brought it to the attention of google. Netgear appears to be playing catchup.
I am glad that they are working on prevention measures. I would not say its all that uncommon because wasn't it just a few weeks ago that Sonos had a flooding issue? I don't have Sonos so I can't really comment on it but I seem to remember seeing that there was a Sonos connected amp flood issue that was causing similar WiFi dropouts. I'm glad it isn't a vulnerability that we really need focused attention on.
My biggest beef is that I spent a lot of money on a one of the most expensive home mesh systems available and its been sitting in a box on my table because my network kept going up and down. I'm out of my 90 day support window and am directed here only to see posts indicating this is limited to a very small segment of the population as evidenced by the lack of articles posted by the news sites....at least until yesterday! Now, it is a big issue being covered by everyone.
As I said earlier, at least it is getting is well deserved attention now.
- I work for a big software company, and we regularly send out our employees today communities to check posts and identify any major issues to work on them right away. I've seen a few Netgear employees here, but it's normally something like send your details to support. Only last week, they asked for a detailed explanation of what's going on. I think the problem that people have with Netgear, is that they didn't get ahead of this in advance. There are so many threads on router reboot or constant internet disconnects for several weeks now. They really should have investigated this.
Read this thread to see how eero proactively implemented protection against this very issue. This is why I'll be staying with eero for good.
https://www.reddit.com/r/eero/comments/7qkjt8/does_eero_mitigate_this_chromecast_bug/