Massive packet loss over Ethernet backhaul

Do you get any packet loss with the Laptop directly connected to the Orbi router. Disconnect the satellite from the configuration.

Confirming that your using v2.2.1.210 FW? 

How was the satellite connected to ethernet? After the satellite was connected wifi? 

For wired back haul:
Set up IP address reservations for each satellite and devices on the router as you add them to the router. The satellites need to be set up via wireless first. Then connect 1 satellite at a time to the ethernet LAN cable. Wait 5 minutes and the top led on the satellite should turn on BLUE. Set up an IP address reservation for the 1st satellite. Continue to do the same thing for the 2nd satellite. Then follow up with your devices.

Was the FW updated via auto update or manually? 

If auto update, you might do this, re-load the FW file on to both units manually. After loading do a full factory ERASE on both units and setup from scratch. Add the satellite wireless first, then connect the ethernet cable. 

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Mooose wrote:

I believe I have read all the threads on this topic and tried the suggested solutions that are relevant to my particular network. My apologies if I have missed something!

 

My Orbi RBK50 (one router, one satellite) connected through the router WAN port directly to the fiber-optic to Ethernet converter supplied by my ISP has been reasonably stable lately.

 

However, I recently implemented Ethernet backhaul and suddenly Infuse Pro on my Apple TV would stop in the middle of playing video stored on my Drobo every 10-20 minutes.

 

This was my original setup:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After some initial testing I concluded there were massive amounts of packet loss (some tests up to 30%) happening somewhere.

 

I can detail all the things I tried to narrow the issue down to the Ethernet backhaul if it is interesting, but I finally ended up trying the most basic setup I could imagine:

Both laptops have wifi disabled.

 

I still see massive packet loss between the two laptops, and also from a device connected to wifi through the router to the laptop wired to the satellite:

 

64 bytes from 10.0.0.36: icmp_seq=1572 ttl=128 time=8.543 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.0.36: icmp_seq=1573 ttl=128 time=4.581 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.0.36: icmp_seq=1574 ttl=128 time=3.300 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1575
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1576
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1577
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1578
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1579
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1580
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1581
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1582
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1583
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1584
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1585
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1586
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1587
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1588
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1589
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1590
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1591
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1592
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1593
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1594
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1595
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1596
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1597
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1598
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1599
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1600
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1601
64 bytes from 10.0.0.36: icmp_seq=1602 ttl=128 time=3.282 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.0.36: icmp_seq=1603 ttl=128 time=3.505 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.0.36: icmp_seq=1604 ttl=128 time=3.237 ms

 

I have unchecked "Enable Daisy-Chain Topology", no difference.

 

I have applied new firmwares as they have been released, currently both are at V2.2.1.21.

 

If I unplug the Ethernet backhaul cable (which I have replaced with a short high-quality Cat 6 cable for the test) and restart the satellite and wait for the 5G backhaul to be established I can ping both 10.0.0.33 and 10.0.0.36 with little or no packet loss from the wifi, and zero loss between the two wired laptop wired laptops.

 

--- 10.0.0.36 ping statistics ---
2078 packets transmitted, 2078 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 1.651/3.443/23.380/1.186 ms

 

Ping statistics for 10.0.0.33:
Packets: Sent = 2075, Received = 2075, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 13ms, Average = 2ms

I can't think of any other explanation other than that the Ethernet backhaul is at fault. I've tried multiple devices connected in different ways and multiple cables connected to different ports.

 

Simply disconnecting the Ethernet backhaul and leaving everything else the same greatly alleviates the problem.

 

However, I really want to use Ethernet backhaul as it decreases my latency for the Nintendo switch (included in the "Stuff" normally wired to the satellite) by 20-40%.

 

Any suggestions?

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I have wired backhaul so I thought to try to simulate your case, so I connected my laptop with a LAN cable to the router, disconnected the wifi network (did not disable wifi) in the laptop, started command prompt and typed the ping message, and guess what, I got packet loss exactly as you did, BUT.....

While trying to collect some date from Orbi I noticed that my speakers (usually connected to the satellite) started to blink indicating no network then I saw they got attached to the router, waited few minutes, I saw that my router rebooted, so I disconnected the laptop.

When I looked in the laptop IP configuration I noticed that I had it set up for a static IP address (192.168.10.101) outside the Orbi subnet and remembered that I did this setting last time when I was configuring a VoIP router for a friend. I really don't know how I managed to get LAN connectivity with this settings but it seems that somehow the wifi was sending the packets not the LAN port.

Of course the family at this point started to complain about loss of internet and I did not want to try again.

What I concluded from this short test -together with my previous experience with Orbi- is the following:

1. Orbi LAN ports are very sensitive to the wired devices connected to it
2. This "sensitivity" is more evident when you have wired backhaul
3. I should be cautious with devices that have wireless capability when using them as wired devices in Orbi, they can cause loops and system instability.

At this point I'm not sure what made my Orbi unstable when I connected my laptop, is it the bad LAN port configuration, or the loops caused by combination of wired and wireless connections in the same device.

I will try again later and see if I can simulate this case again. Meanwhile I have the following questions:

• Do you have any static IP settings in your wired computers?
• Are you sure that wireless is completely disabled in those computers
• Does the same issue happen if you disconnect one of the computers (one at a time) and ping from the other computer to any other device (wired or wireless), repeat the the same with the other computer? It can be only one of the computers is causing this issue.
• Is Daisy Chain Disabled? you mentioned that but please make sure it's unticked.

Another test that I would like to do, at later stage, to avoid loops in backhaul, is to disable the wireless backhaul (with telnet commands) and see if this will do any improvement.

I would try doing a factory reset on the system and setup from scratch and run some test to see if the problem continues with ethernet backhaul connected with the satellite.

Is there any ethernet switches in between the router and satellite or is the satellite directly connected to the router? 

No need to check the ISP service. Reason for mentioning this is that your devices are getting a 10.#.#.# IP address which means the Orbi detected a DHCP server in front of the Orbi which maybe using the same IP address as the Orbi does, 192.168.1.1 so the Orbi will change the default IP address for the LAN side to something else. In this case 10. 

I have been trying to post an update since last night. It looks like posts are successfully submitted (success, click here to go to your post) but then they disappear. Looking around the forum interface I found a list of rejected posts, but none on the awaiting approval list.

The post is only text, 4262 characters, copied from a plain text editor. What am I missing?