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Forum Discussion
NETGEAR EX8000 added as a third satellite to an ORBI mesh WiFi?
Can an EX8000 AC3000 Nighthawk mesh extender be added as a third satellite to a ORBI AX4200 (RBR750) mesh WiFi? Bought the EX8000 a year ago and now I got the ORBI. The ORBI with 2 satellites is good...
What version of FW do you have loaded on the EX8000?
I would presume it's not working a MESH, rather as a extender.
What does the status show on the EX8000 web page when it's connected to the RBR?
The EX won't appear as a satellite. I know my EX7500/7700 didn't.
Isnt wrote:I tried booting up mine and it connected to my orbi network and as far as I could tell worked as a mesh, it was not seperated from the rest of the network. I just don't know to what extent it was a mesh because it did not show up as a satellite. Interestingly enough the EX8000 is identical to the Orbi RBR50 as far as specs go. So I wonder if it is possible to put the orbi firmware on to it somehow. I tried uploading the orbi firmware and it rejects it, so it would potentially take some modification of the firmware to do so it seems. But I wonder if anyone has done this?
Yeah, it is working as an extender most likely. The funny thing is I noticed devices connecting to it seemlessly and being on the internet. Here is a screenshot of the status:
Also, I have the latest firmware.
However! I took the latest Orbi firmware source code, recompiled it with the EX8000 hardware info and was able to flash the EX8000 with it. However, once it flashed the EX8000 was bricked. I was able to recover it using TFTP and the stock EX8000 firmware. But I'm going to explore more to determine how I can get the Orbi firmware on to there without bricking it. I don't think it will be easy or feasible though.
Welp, the Orbi and EX8000 motherboard's are the same except a few differences, one being the EX8000 doesn't have a bluetooth radio, so that'll be a showstopper right there most likely as I'm sure that's how they initially connect to each other. So, Orbi firmware on EX8000 is most likely a no go.