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Forum Discussion
Orbi MR 2.1 Update 3/23/18
Our teams are still working through the issues, but I wanted to provide a quick update on OrbiOS 2.1. We usually wait to release our software until it's available across all Orbi product lines, but in a departure from our normal processes, we’re going to the release BETA software for our products in a staggered manner. The first wave to be released are only for the RBR50 and RBS50, which is used in the RBK50 and RBK53 (Costco) kits. If you have a kit that includes a different hardware product (including RBK52W, RBK40 series or RBK30 series) or a RBK50 or RBK53 with an add-on satellite (RBS40, RBW30), please hang tight. We’re not quite done with it yet, but will update this thread when it’s ready.
Edit for clarity: This release supports both Circle & Ethernet backhaul
Edit2: Updated with the 2nd wave of firmware for RBR40, RBS40, RBR20 and RBS20. This supports the following SKUs: RBK40, RBK43, RBK44, RBK20, RBK22, RBK23.
Edit3: Updated for RBW30, to support RBK30, RBK33, RBK52W, and others
We’re not yet going to push this release this for auto-firmware upgrade, and will let you know before we do. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Support.
Rel Notes:
- Fixes issues where Internet access is not available on some devices, but available on others.
- Fixes an issue where Satellites get disconnected from Router
- Provides protection for the MDNS packet flood issue
- Addresses an issue where websites set to unmanaged are unreachable
- Multiple other connectivity & RF improvements
BETA MR 2.1.3 software can be found here:
RBR50: http://files.netgear-support.com/go/?a=d&i=rFfsb14M2q
RBS50: http://files.netgear-support.com/go/?a=d&i=0UBXh9aus6
RBR40: http://files.netgear-support.com/go/?a=d&i=dnNl6nqBSj
RBS40: http://files.netgear-support.com/go/?a=d&i=FEaFlGNCuW
RBW30: http://files.netgear-support.com/go/?a=d&i=x990UeDEdo
RBR20: http://files.netgear-support.com/go/?a=d&i=IOMUioMSLU
RBS20: http://files.netgear-support.com/go/?a=d&i=S5JDrBEG2f
How to do a manual firmware upgrade: https://kb.netgear.com/31573/How-do-I-manually-upgrade-firmware-on-my-Orbi-Satellite
Orbi Product Team
761 Replies
Happy to report that I installed beta 2.1.3 on Mar/24 and have not had any issues or disconnects.
- AP Mode. I use Gargoyle 1.10.0 on a Linksys WRT1200AC as my router. QoS enabled
- 18 wired devices (powerline & switches to the RBR50), 16 wireless 2.4Ghz & 21 wireless 5Ghz
- Daisy-chain enabled (no ethernet backhaul)
- Implicit BEAMFORMING enabled
- MU-MIMO enabled
- I enabled all these options for the sake of activating them, not sure if it helps my set up
- Fast roaming gave me several issues with 2.1.2.18 , so I will wait a week before enabling it
- I have not tested Guest Network yet
So far no issues (knocking wood), good speed very close to my provider's speed (250 Mbps)
Good that Netgear is focusing on reliability and not features.
After a week without issues with BEAMFORMING, MU-MIMO enabled, I enabled Fast roaming and issues started to happen. Though the router was connected to Internet the clients did not, and I needed to reboot the router once a day.
I went back to have Fast Romaing disable and will share exprience in a week.
setham wrote:
Happy to report that I installed beta 2.1.3 on Mar/24 and have not had any issues or disconnects.
- AP Mode. I use Gargoyle 1.10.0 on a Linksys WRT1200AC as my router. QoS enabled
- 18 wired devices (powerline & switches to the RBR50), 16 wireless 2.4Ghz & 21 wireless 5Ghz
- Daisy-chain enabled (no ethernet backhaul)
- Implicit BEAMFORMING enabled
- MU-MIMO enabled
- I enabled all these options for the sake of activating them, not sure if it helps my set up
- Fast roaming gave me several issues with 2.1.2.18 , so I will wait a week before enabling it
- I have not tested Guest Network yet
So far no issues (knocking wood), good speed very close to my provider's speed (250 Mbps)
Good that Netgear is focusing on reliability and not features.
- I have installed the beta on my router and 1 satellite. Also enabled Beamforming, along with fast roaming, but not MU-MIMO. Mind you I just installed 1 day ago but I have been rock solid. We will see if it holds up. I have read the 72 hr mark seems to be where issues arise.
Not seeing any of my iOS devices off line or loose connection. iPhone 6sP is on 11.2.5 currently. I'm holding off on updating to.6.
I'm using Beamforming only on mine. All other items disabled. 1 Satellite 40ft distance from router.
I find it ridiculous that you all have to jump over hoops and waste a lot of time fixing Netgear's problem. One of my satellites is literally fried and Netgear isn't doing anything about it.
You have to turn off all of the features they offer just to make it reliable? C'mon.
Well doesn't mean that others arent' having the same issue.
Others are having good experiences and some still. Only reason to at least try to help out.
If your having issues then escalate it up to NG support. Contact one of the forum moderators on here and ask.
Fried? Doesn't mean much with out more information. And since you moved on from NG to something else, I guess it doesn't matter here now.
Good Luck.
ckimmelshuewrote:I find it ridiculous that you all have to jump over hoops and waste a lot of time fixing Netgear's problem. One of my satellites is literally fried and Netgear isn't doing anything about it.
You have to turn off all of the features they offer just to make it reliable? C'mon.
I have reached out to Netgear via email, twitter, and here on the board with no response.
My "dead" satellite is just that. Dead. No light other than green LED on the back (the working satellite has a white LED on). It won't show up wired or wireless. I have soft and hard-cycled/reset it a dozen times or more now.
Yes, there will be many issues with routers, PCs and software. Endless cat and mouse game.
I don't see anything related to upnp on those two artcles though.
For anyone wanting to test there router out, try this to check for any upnp issues:
https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
Good Luck.
The articles I linked last time were merely to illustrate that while direct attacks are not often targeted at the individual, router security is still an important element of security.
I can see how the way my answer was formatted might have been a bit confusing though.
Ironically, you linked to www.grc.com which I am very familiar with and almost linked myself before I thought I would just drop the topic. You might want to take notice of the following:
“The UPnP protocols were never designed to be exposed to the public Internet, and any Internet-facing equipment which does so should be considered defective, insecure, and unusable. Any such equipment should be disconnected immediately.”Quoted from the UPnP Exposure Test page at:
Well maybe for some. However in most cases some users need the use of uPnP. For me I do espeically in gaming. Again, ZERO issues in using it over the years. All up to the users I guess.
Good Luck.
- I can confirm that Circle is working once enabled on RBR50 & RBS50.
Hi again... (last for today :-) )
i've connected my satellite with wire via BPL (powerline devolo), it too far to use a real wire.
Will see tomorrow if it works better or not...with wire backhaul
i think you know that orbi's connected device page is very buggy, i have too many device in the list, and one is connected to my satellite (with wifi , that's ok) and to my router (with wire ! false ).
I did not have any problems with previous version, but I went ahead and updated to the beta.
Now on the satellite I am getting disconnects... but just one device. It's a La Crosse c84343 weather station. It constantly (like once a minute) disconnects and then comes back online and requests DHCP address. My log is now filled with DHCP messages from that device. If it helps, that device is quite close to the satellite.
I have not done a hard reset of the satellite - I will do that next.
So far, this seems to be my only issue with the beta (knock on wood) but like I say, this is a new issue.
Do a reset on both Satellite and router.
Also can try disabling MIMO, Daisy Chain and Fast Roaming to see if this helps any.
Jeremyinsfwrote:I did not have any problems with previous version, but I went ahead and updated to the beta.
Now on the satellite I am getting disconnects... but just one device. It's a La Crosse c84343 weather station. It constantly (like once a minute) disconnects and then comes back online and requests DHCP address. My log is now filled with DHCP messages from that device. If it helps, that device is quite close to the satellite.
I have not done a hard reset of the satellite - I will do that next.
So far, this seems to be my only issue with the beta (knock on wood) but like I say, this is a new issue.
My guess is there is something wrong with DHCP ....
You cannot set lease times ... which, at my office, days after people are gone, their device still shows up as "connected"
So far, my Ipad has not had a problem after giving it a static IP.
steve8411wrote:My guess is there is something wrong with DHCP ....
You cannot set lease times ... which, at my office, days after people are gone, their device still shows up as "connected"
So far, my Ipad has not had a problem after giving it a static IP.
The default DHCP lease time on the Orbi is 1 day (86400 seconds). It can be changed, but you need to be on the command line to do it:
# config set lan_lease=86400 # config commit [ now reboot the router to apply]
Just change the default value to whatever you want... with the usual caveat that if you are poking around on the command line and not sure what you are doing, you may just make things worse for yourself; but nonetheless, the option is there for those intrepid types.
EDIT TO ADD: I'm not sure that extending the DHCP lease time will actually fix anything in regards to the intermittent connectity drops that some clients seem to have. Personally, I prefer a longer lease time, but I've seen clients drop their connetion well before the current lease expires.
Jeremyinsfwrote:Now on the satellite I am getting disconnects... but just one device. It's a La Crosse c84343 weather station. It constantly (like once a minute) disconnects and then comes back online and requests DHCP address. My log is now filled with DHCP messages from that device. If it helps, that device is quite close to the satellite.
This issue is particular to the La Crosse weather station. For whatever reason, it gets very confused when both a 2.4G and 5G share the same SSID.
If you call their support line and chat a bit you will hear this about other routers and brands that share a common SSID. The trick to get it working again is to turn off the SSID broadcast for 5G (under Advanced wireless setup), then factory reset the La Crosse, link it up to the 2.4G SSID (which is the only one now being broadcast), power cycle the LaCrosse once the setup is complete and then re-enable SSID broadcast on 5G.
Make sure you are running the latest firmware on the LaCrosse as well.
This is not an Orbi issue but rather a LaCrosse issue that they are aware of.
Thanks for the info. Will definitely do what you suggest. However - why is this now a problem with the Orbi firmware update, when I had no problems before?
I installed this las night. So far its positive, but i can't comment further yet. I installed router and updated sattelites and did a factory reset on the router. Will have better idea in a week or so.
- Positive feedback, the system works well for me, coverage is awesome, speed much better than I had with my existing BT HomeHub which claims to have the best WiFi coverage... Pah. I have no more buffering or jitter with steaming with my TV and stb box connected directly to the main orbi router, even our second stb in the bedroom connected to a satellite no longer buffers or jitters. All devices connected to the mesh report max speeds so I'm happy. Only issue is the orbi app still not seeing the satellites.. No mega deal but I would like to see them in the app. When it comes to updating I can do it via the router Web page until they fix the app unless its related to my environment but I doubt that.
- I have also noticed all of my smart home devices responding much quicker to commands than before, ok talking milliseconds but it makes a difference when using Alexa for example to issue voice commands which has also improved.
I am still going strong today sitting at about 48 hours total. All is goooooooooooooooooooood. Not sure why a few people are having such huge problems :-(. Just curious if the people having so much troubles have Apple products on the network? If so they are all probably smearing the network with there AppleTalk tryin to connect to AOL!!!!
- The orbi mesh system has greatly improved our signal and speed in our 2,000 sq feet home, we have coverage in all rooms, however in the orbi app I do get satellites showing n/a or none, but the router shows them as being connected in the router Web page and all is good. We are on 2.0.0.56.
We hope the next beta available for your system will be even better.
markbaker007wrote:
The orbi mesh system has greatly improved our signal and speed in our 2,000 sq feet home, we have coverage in all rooms, however in the orbi app I do get satellites showing n/a or none, but the router shows them as being connected in the router Web page and all is good. We are on 2.0.0.56.Got this on Wednesday. Worked fine for almost 24 hours then dropped my internet connection. Switched back to my Velop and all was fine. They released this and I decidedx one more try. I reset the system reloaded the firmware and it seemed to be working pretty good. Then I started up on setting up my ring cameras and august locks. Both of therse reported a poor wifi strength. Which I thought was strange as I was within 20 feet of the satelite and it was on a wired backhaul. So I started looking into this some more and noticed standing within 8 feet of the Satelite both my ipad and iphone only got 2 bars on the signal strength.
I am pretty sure I am done with Netgear now. This is getting to be a pain each time they make a change to reset all this up just to find out they still did not get it done right. I have decided netgard products are not worth all this time. So its back in the box. I am not sured i even want to give this system to anyone i know. All it has been is trouble the last few months.
A day after updating, and so far no problems. The apparent issue I was having with iOS devices was very intermittent, though, so only time will tell. Will let it bake...
