do we need to do nvram wipe for this 2.1.1.16 Firmware just released today? noticed it downloaded automatically.

Installed the v2.1.1.16 firmware this morning because the release notes said it would solve the problem of the satellite NOT listing the attached devices. Not only did this new firmware NOT fix the satellite problem, it seem to have effected the stabilty of my router. My router has rebooted itself twice in the span of four hours. However, in the interest of full disclosure, I did NOT do a factory reset on either the router or the satellite after I installed the v2.1.1.16 firmware. I did do a fresh reboot though. I've actually gone back to v2.0.0.74 firmware to try and get my network stable again.

All these firmware problems might be excusable if Netgear was a newby, but Netgear has been making routers for decades. I've been using Netgear routers for decades and I never had a problem with firmware updates causing issues. This release of v2.1.1.16 firmware looks like a classic case of insufficient testing. Sure when you first install the firmware everything looks fine, but three hours later, all the attached devices have dissappeared from the satellite and the router has rebooted itself twice. Someone at Netgear seems to have dropped the ball and it is NOT giving me a good feeling about this product. If the Netgear software engineers did their job correctly, there wouldn't have to be a magic sequence of updating the satellites before the router, or doing a factor reset or not, or doing a resync or not. Unless Netgear fixes these firmware issues, word is going to get out that Orbi is NOT a very good router system after all. I checked with Amazon and I have until the end of January to return my Orbi RBK50. If the next firmware release doesn't fix the stability and functional problems, I going to send this puppy back to Amazon for a refund. If ASUS every brings a mesh wifi system to market, you can bet that it will be rock stable, it will function as advertised, and it will have all the features that you wish Orbi had.

I was auto-upgraded to 2.1.1.16 as well, from 1.11.0.20, a few nights ago. When I woke up and started running all my checks (each nodes debug.htm to check the system uptime), i noticed the upgrade. I went ahead and power cycled both the satellite and router, so that they can have similar uptimes. For the first few hours, the satellite main page and the router attached devices page were in sync, but afterwards (not sure how long it took), the satellites main page shows NO attached devices, the router attached devices page shows some devices are on the satellite, and, now, the Orbi Android app, which was just upgraded to 2.1, does NOT show which node you are connected to (it used to before). Its hard to tell what is a display issue, and what is not. But, on my phone, using wifi analyzer (far proc version), i can see which mac address i am connected to, and when i am close to router, i connect to router...when i am closer to satellite and FAR from router, i switch to satellite. Even though the device pages do not reflect that. Unfortunately, 2.1.1.16 did NOT do anything to improve the random rebooting. I woke up this morning to a satellite uptime of 22 hours, and a router uptime of 4 hours. That 4 hours elapsed corresponds to around 5 AM, and everyone was asleep. I have posted numerous times my journey with Orbi (2 versions of RBK50, one from amazon(returned), and one from Walmart (currently testing)). I have tried different power outlets, all sorts of configuration options (daisy chaining on/off, fast roaming on/off, etc...). I do NOT have any phones or devices with Android Oreo. My satellite and router are about 45-50 feet apart, and separated by a single wall and there are no interfering channels from neighbors. Really want Orbi to work, since Walmart had the RBK50 set for only $200, but based on reading almost every thread on Orbi in this forum and other places, it doesnt seem like there will be a "magic" firmware release that fixes it all. I appreciate all the posters here, relaying what information they can, in the hopes that we can maybe help find a pattern of why things happen to some, but seemingly, not to others. Keep on keeping on, i guess! For those that DO have stable systems, could you check your router and satellites debug.htm page,and check the system uptime for them? I am guess that some folks dont even know about that, and there systems may be rebooting as well, but they are unaware? Longest uptime i had was about 38 hours, and that was on 1.11.0.20 (auto upgrade to 2.1.1.16 happened). thanks everyone for your contributions!

netgearguy & godspeedI'm on of those "no trouble found" folks. My uptime is currently 1 day, 3 hours, 45 minutes, which corresponds to the time I upgraded to 2.1.16. I have had zero issues since day 1. And, since I'm a cord-cutter who streams TV wirelessly from DirecTV Now through a Roku, I'd notice pretty quickly if I had dropped connections. I'm also a Pixel 2 XL owner, and there have been reports that other Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL owners have had reboots.I don't know what makes my setup different, or perhaps I'm lucky. But everything has been rock solid for the two months I have had the system. I'm running in AP Mode with Google Fiber as my ISP. I currently have 16 devices connected, but can have anywhere up to 50. Four Rokus, Nest, my Pixel 2 XL, my wife's iPhone, a Fire tablet, some other phones, my Windows 10 PC, my wife's laptop, security cameras, SmartThings Hub, some WeMo switches, Google Home, 2 Google Home Minis, 2 Raspberry Pis, a WiFi connected garage door opener, etc.

Decided to throw everything i could at the Orbi tonight...to try and fix the random reboots of both router and satellite. My Orbi is in AP mode, with an Asus AC68 acting as router. Router is assigned an ip address manually (outside DHCP reserve list), and Satellite is saved on a particular DHCP reserve IP. 1. both R (router) and S (satellite) are on 2.1.1.16, via auto-update2. Manually apply 2.1.1.16 firmware on S, wait till up.3. Telnet into S and do an NVRAM erase, commit, and reboot.4. Wait for it to come up, and use a pin to reset S.5. Manually apply 2.1.1.16 firmware on R, wait till up.6. Telnet into R and do an NVRAM erase, commit, and reboot.7. Wait for it to come up, and use a pin to reset R.8. Unplug modem (Arris SB6183), and change my cabling so that it goes Modem -> Orbi R9. Plug modem back in, and use the Orbi android App to begin and finish configuration.10. Use Windows PC to go to router admin page, and the ONLY thing i change here is the timezone, and then set it to AP mode (fixed IP).11. Unplug modem again, and change my cabling so that it goes Modem -> Asus AC68 -> Orbi R12. Plug modem back in At this point, i go back into the Orbi admin menu and change the 2.4 Ghz channel from AUTO to 6 (least congested in my area). Daisy chain is enabled by default, and i am going to leave it be for now, even though i only have 1 satellite. I wanted to make as little change as possible from the default settings. It took a few minutes, but on the attached devices page (on router), my devices start showing up, some connecting to router, some satellite. On the satellite status page, the list of connected devies is also populated, at least for now. Fingers crossed.

Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

437 Replies

godspeed
Apprentice
Dec 21, 2017
Decided to throw everything i could at the Orbi tonight...to try and fix the random reboots of both router and satellite.

My Orbi is in AP mode, with an Asus AC68 acting as router. Router is assigned an ip address manually (outside DHCP reserve list), and Satellite is saved on a particular DHCP reserve IP.

1. both R (router) and S (satellite) are on 2.1.1.16, via auto-update
2. Manually apply 2.1.1.16 firmware on S, wait till up.
3. Telnet into S and do an NVRAM erase, commit, and reboot.
4. Wait for it to come up, and use a pin to reset S.
5. Manually apply 2.1.1.16 firmware on R, wait till up.
6. Telnet into R and do an NVRAM erase, commit, and reboot.
7. Wait for it to come up, and use a pin to reset R.
8. Unplug modem (Arris SB6183), and change my cabling so that it goes Modem -> Orbi R
9. Plug modem back in, and use the Orbi android App to begin and finish configuration.
10. Use Windows PC to go to router admin page, and the ONLY thing i change here is the timezone, and then set it to AP mode (fixed IP).
11. Unplug modem again, and change my cabling so that it goes Modem -> Asus AC68 -> Orbi R
12. Plug modem back in

At this point, i go back into the Orbi admin menu and change the 2.4 Ghz channel from AUTO to 6 (least congested in my area). Daisy chain is enabled by default, and i am going to leave it be for now, even though i only have 1 satellite. I wanted to make as little change as possible from the default settings.

It took a few minutes, but on the attached devices page (on router), my devices start showing up, some connecting to router, some satellite. On the satellite status page, the list of connected devies is also populated, at least for now.

Fingers crossed.
- godspeed
  Apprentice
  Dec 21, 2017
  Just noticed something i had not seen before...
  
  Using Wifi Analyzer (Far Proc version on android) I now have 2 "hidden" 5 Ghz bands on channel 157. Looking at the MAC addresses of those 2 bands, one of them basically matches the Orbi Router MAC (last 2 characters different), while the other 5 ghz hidden band matches the Satellites MAC (again, just the last 2 characters different).
  
  In the past few weeks that i have been monitoring the orbi system, i have NEVER seen 2, what i assume, backhaul channels.
  
  Additionally, the 2.4 Ghz band now has 2 hidden networks on the same channel (6) as my SSID network.
  
  Can anyone using wifi analyzer (inSSIDer, etc) comment on how many hidden networks they have on the various bands (2.4 and 5)?
  
  NOTE: i do NOT have guest network enabled on the Orbi.
  - godspeed
    Apprentice
    Dec 21, 2017
    now that i think about it, the "new" hidden network i am now seeing is the other backhaul for use in the daisy chain topology? After my factory reset, i kept daisy chain enabled, even though i only have a single satellite.
    
    crap, thought i may have been on to something :(
howiedub
Tutor
Dec 21, 2017
back to the usual crappiness...phone gets stuck on 2.4ghz and now loses internet when it drops to 2.4ghz and I have to turn the wifi off and on. And it only connects to 2.4ghz unless i forget the network and log in again. And some of my devices are connecting back to the router instead of the closer satellite. On top of that, my smart TV will only connect to 2.4ghz when it was connecting to 5G before. Going back to the old firmware with security issues. At least the connection was stable. And everything just rebooted as I was typing this.
Tim4646
Aspirant
Dec 21, 2017
Netgear please test your firmware before releasing?, Orbi AC 3000 users now have no control over firmware updates as they will download automatically V2.1.1.16 is probably more unstable than all the previous updates and my Wi Fi speed has droped to 55 % of what it use to be, in version V2.1.1.12. Unfotunately when you install the older firmware versions orbi will automatically update back to the latest version. Please netgear give your customers control over auto updates? I spent a fortune on buying 3 addititional satalites and feel like I have been mug.
- ratickle
  Apprentice
  Dec 21, 2017
  In my experience today, once your manually load firmware, the auto-update feature seems to be turned off. After loading v2.1.1.16, I was experiencing frequent self-reboots of the router and a blank attached devices page on the satellite. This morning I did factory resets and manually forced both the satellite and the router back to v2.0.0.74. That was over 10 hours ago and no firmware auto-updates have occured. Also, no self-reboots have occured and my satellite is once again showing attached devices.
  
  My system came with v2.0.0.74 installed, but it auto-updated to v.2.1.1.12 during the initial setup. That was five days ago. v2.1.1.12 experienced frequent self-reboots and had the blank attached devices problem on the satellite. I had great hopes that v2.1.1.16 would solve these problems, but it did not. v2.0.0.74 is the only version that has run 10 hours without a self-reboot. My plan it to let it run without additional configuration changes to see how long it will go without a self-reboot. If it stays up for 6 or 7 days, I'll be satisified, since I normally schedule a weekly reboot of my routers anyway. Fingers crossed.
btonetbone
Guide
Dec 20, 2017
For those having stability issues and those without stability problems, do you have channels auto-selected or did you define them? I'm rock solid with stability and have manually selected mine (after reviewing what my neighbors all use). I'm wondering if maybe the issue lies in that setting?
Rich4
Aspirant
Dec 20, 2017
Finally spat the dummy and swapped back to my Netgear D7800 (and its issues). After being told to try 2.1.1.16 as a beta one day before public release I followed the usual process from factory default. My first thought when I saw my satellite connection and all my devices was "Thank you Netgear". 24 hours later and god knows how many unexpected reboots I'm giving up, a broken man. My neighbour's probably hate me by now, each time the stupid orbi reboots all my Google Homes and chromecasts start chirping away on wifi waiting for setup. Wifi analyser shows my spectrum saturated! I might revisit this very expensive piece of crap when I see the community start reporting satisfaction instead of frustration.
- jmschnur923
  Luminary
  Dec 20, 2017
  20 hours by debug.htm running fine. No attached devices showing on Sats. Attached info on the router is incorrect . I have an Ethernet connection to one Sat that shows as wired to router.
  
  router load is 9 %. AP mode.
  - allroadusa
    Guide
    Dec 20, 2017
    17 hours by debug.htm running fine. No attached devices showing on Sats. Attached info on the router is incorrect . I have 3 sats. 2 of them are daisy chain connected (wifi).
    Router load is 18 %. AP mode.
diesunddas
Guide
Dec 20, 2017
the only stable version is 2.0.0.74 (but with security-issues)
all newer versions has no security-issues, because they are not running..so they give us the best security results :-)))
- Retired_Member
  Dec 20, 2017
  diesunddas wrote:
  the only stable version is 2.0.0.74 (but with security-issues)
  all newer versions has no security-issues, because they are not running..so they give us the best security results :-)))
  
  what are your security issues?
sandsstl
Tutor
Dec 20, 2017
Installed V2.1.1.16 this morning.
I'm showing nothing connected to the satellite (including several Apple devices 10 feet away) and the attached devices page is refreshing every 5 seconds.
Doesn't look like this is a good update.
ratickle
Apprentice
Dec 19, 2017
Installed the v2.1.1.16 firmware this morning because the release notes said it would solve the problem of the satellite NOT listing the attached devices. Not only did this new firmware NOT fix the satellite problem, it seem to have effected the stabilty of my router. My router has rebooted itself twice in the span of four hours. However, in the interest of full disclosure, I did NOT do a factory reset on either the router or the satellite after I installed the v2.1.1.16 firmware. I did do a fresh reboot though.

I've actually gone back to v2.0.0.74 firmware to try and get my network stable again.
- kcasante
  Initiate
  Dec 22, 2017
  Same here!
  Router was atleast stable until this update now it's crashing while I'm VPN'd into my work.
  Bought this thing to stop network issues not cause them...
  There better be a fix soon or I'm looking into eero.
  
  Because of this router I can't stream my xbox to my PC anymore because it just doesn't play nice.
  https://gtrusted.com/can-netgears-orbi-be-used-to-stream-games-from-the-xbox-one-s-to-razer-blade-stealth
  I accepted that because I do other more important thing on the internet that needs a stable connection. Now even that is gone.
  Netgear PLEASE address this ASAP.
- Retired_Member
  Dec 20, 2017
  Amazing....at this rate I may never update my firmware. I'm still on 2.074 Did a second reboot in 3 weeks tonight. Total network down.
  
  Other than that the system seem stable. Doing what I need.
  - Retired_Member
    Dec 20, 2017
    Is there a proper way to perform a firmware update? Some manufacturers recommend a complete reset to factory default then do the update. What does Netgear recommend?
- webminster
  Luminary
  Dec 19, 2017
  ratickle wrote:
  Installed the v2.1.1.16 firmware this morning because the release notes said it would solve the problem of the satellite NOT listing the attached devices. Not only did this new firmware NOT fix the satellite problem, it seem to have effected the stabilty of my router
  Agree with respect to the satellite attached list - was OK until about 3 hours post upgrade, now list of attached devices is empty. Also, the router attached list isn't right, things connected to the satellite show attached to the router. And, other devices that are attached to one or the other aren't listed at all.
  
  Still major issues with connection accounting, 2.0.0.76 wasn't right, but this is still worse.
  - Cotedan
    Apprentice
    Dec 30, 2017
    Updated firmware to latest. All devinces connected to satellite show as WIRED to the main router, so I can’t tell if theyre connecting at 2.4 or 5. With former firmware, this was working fine.
    
    Also Genie network map often shows incomplete list of devices. Normally have 45-50 devices connected but Genie shows just 3-4 at times.

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Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion