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Forum Discussion
Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion
do we need to do nvram wipe for this 2.1.1.16 Firmware just released today? noticed it downloaded automatically.
Just in case you all haven't seen it, there's an issue with Android and Google products and how they handle casting. I unplugged my Google Home, Minis, and Chromecast devices from the network and my router has not had a reboot in the past 23 hours. I'm using the beta 2.1.2.10 firmware and I would see a reboot almost anytime I unlocked my Android phone.
Here's the original post by user newbeb on the OrbiOS 2.1.1 thread:
I found a few article this morning where it looks as if there is a problem with the Google Cast protocol and android devices waking from sleep mode across multiple router vendors. The longer a device is in sleep, the more discovery packets it sends when it wakes up, into the 100,000s.
Here is the article that I found that seems to tie it together: https://www.myce.com/news/confirmed-issue-google-cast-causes-temporarily-wifi-drops-around-world-834....
It looks like there might be other issues with Google cast devices and MDNS packets as well like: http://www.androidpolice.com/2018/01/12/google-home-max-appears-killing-wifi-networks/.
I do have a Chromecast on my network, but I so I might unbox my Orbi again and see if that is the culprit...
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing, robertcdh.
For the broader audience: of course, one would expect Netgear to have learned of this long ago, since the first reports date to last October (long before 2.1.1.16 firware was released) and use of Google / Android devices is commonplace.
Therefore, still no viable excuse for Netgear's ignorance, skipping QA, releasing garbage software last month, and not fixing it by now.
Ok - after reading the Google articles, I have disabled Guest mode on both my Chromecasts and just updated the firmware on the Orbi system to the latest Beta. We'll see how this goes.
I did have a reboot last night around midnight, and the wifi kept dropping - after reading about the Chromecast issues, that makes sense. I noticed that when I was using my chromecast to watch Youtube TV, my phone was completely useless over wifi.
What difference should it make to disable guest mode on the chromecast?
rawmill wrote:Ok - after reading the Google articles, I have disabled Guest mode on both my Chromecasts and just updated the firmware on the Orbi system to the latest Beta. We'll see how this goes.
I did have a reboot last night around midnight, and the wifi kept dropping - after reading about the Chromecast issues, that makes sense. I noticed that when I was using my chromecast to watch Youtube TV, my phone was completely useless over wifi.
I'm prety sure it's not the guest mode on the Chromecasts. We have 5 and I've tried 2.1.1.16 with it on and off - there is no difference here. Previously I wrote on this topic saying I'd seen no reboots and everything was working great; I'm sorry to report that 2 days ago with nothing new added to the network the Orbi started random reboots about 20 times a day where it had been rock solid for 10 days. If it were just me and my installation I'd guess that a chip was failing or there was some other hardware issue like an unstable power supply or something but I kinda doubt it now. I have since tested several earlier firmwares that have been mentioned here as stable ut the reboots persist with them as well. I have until the 1st of February to return these to Amazon so I am hoping NG makes a fix available befor then; but my Velop system arruves tomorrow and if it's stable, bye bye Orbi. I am becoming less than enamored with Netgear especially in terms of support. You don't get any kind of substantive reply until you respond to 6 or six form replies asking you to make sure the power is on or your modem has been rebooted etc. I had to return an Arlo system previously that simply didn't work for more than 15 minutes - if you're reading this NG, you're really blowing what was once a good reputation...