Android 8 Crashes Orbi

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.

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SenorSharkFin wrote:

Hooray!!!  Google is rolling out a fix starting tomorrow for this issue.  

 

https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/7634752

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

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. 

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Jramlow wrote:

.... Netgear has not even acknowledged the issue exists. At least not from the Orbi side.  

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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 

Seriously? If Netgear was paying attention they would have acknowledged there was a problem sooner, and worked hard to get a patch out like TP-link and Linksys did

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. 

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/