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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
Well maybe an odd thing. Things have changed as we see. Seems to be in flux.
Yay! After being somewhat stable for a while now my system auto updated to the latest firmware V2.1.3.4. Satellite is now continuously loosing the connection to the router. Thank you Netgear!!!
Perform a full factory reset on both router and satellite(s) then set up from scratch.
joelinhowrote:Yay! After being somewhat stable for a while now my system auto updated to the latest firmware V2.1.3.4. Satellite is now continuously loosing the connection to the router. Thank you Netgear!!!
Yes that is my intention. But not so easy for my wife and kids that get home before me and find a network that is not working because of this auto update. Would have been nice if I could control when to update to minimize suffering due to angry wife and kids.
They REALLY need to give users the option to DISABLE auto-update. Please VOTE:
Auto updated overnight. A few things refused to reconnect until explored manually (work laptop and a nest thermostat). However, all appears to be working as it should with good wireless speeds from the satellite.
One quick feature question. Is there a reason, in this new age of IoT, we can't identify objects in the Attached Devices tab as "Smart Thermostat" or "Smart Speaker" when these are becoming amongst the most common IoT devices? How about at least groupings for "Smart Home Devices". Network Device seems a little too basic when I can select silly things like iPhone 5 or iPod Touch....
Havok_ I have mentioned this to the Moderators many times in several threads for a while to update the list it is severely outdated but no one has bothered to edit the list they have, takes 5 mins to enter additional relevant entries.. it is not going to happen no one cares we already spent the money.
- Had so much issues with my last rbk53 unite netgeAr told me go return it get a new one. So i did and everything works well over 2 months they close the case and oh nooo **bleep** hit the fan! Same issues starts without any settings or firmware changes! Smh !!!! So they re open it get me to update to this latest firmware but guess what yall I am supposed to get 400-480 mbps i get a constant 250-280 mbps hard wired or wireless. Direct from mu modem im getting 480mbps on this rbk53 with this update its half. The last update which worked for 2 months i got a excellent 400-480 mbps constantly till it crashed. Whyyyyyyyyy Netgear WHYYYYYYYY! Fix all your bugs already we are sick of this honestly! Look at the speed difference from now & 1 month ago.... smh
- Not to be mean or anything. I had jus shares off issues with netgear but speed has never been one of them. I am on gigapower and wireless or hardwired in to satellite I get close to 350. Hard wiring in to main router I get 940 ish. Or above 800 most of time. There are a lot of factors that go in to speed. I truly haven’t had any speed issues.
Who is your isp? It could be at times the cable provider is little slower if a lot of people are online.
Are you plugging directly in to router or satellite?
Do you have QOS on? If so turn it off it might be slowing down your test results.i connected my laptop to my modem i get a constant 400-480 mbps and once i connect my modem to my router and hardwire my laptop to my orbi router I get same speeds with 2.0.1.7 any beta firmware after that I tried I got lower speeds. I switched back to 2.0.1.7 and boom back to fast speeds wired and wireless then my firmware carshed and now Im on this new firmware and down goes my internet speed. Has been consistant with not dropping the connnection that I have to say (so far)
What mfr and model# is your ISP modem? There a built in router here by chance?
Perform a full factory reset on both router and satellite(s) then set up from scratch.
Sevo123wrote:
Had so much issues with my last rbk53 unite netgeAr told me go return it get a new one. So i did and everything works well over 2 months they close the case and oh nooo **bleep** hit the fan! Same issues starts without any settings or firmware changes! Smh !!!! So they re open it get me to update to this latest firmware but guess what yall I am supposed to get 400-480 mbps i get a constant 250-280 mbps hard wired or wireless. Direct from mu modem im getting 480mbps on this rbk53 with this update its half. The last update which worked for 2 months i got a excellent 400-480 mbps constantly till it crashed. Whyyyyyyyyy Netgear WHYYYYYYYY! Fix all your bugs already we are sick of this honestly! Look at the speed difference from now & 1 month ago.... smh- Its a motorola or arris and no wifi on it. Its just then modem. It also got replaced just incase it was the modem but same thing.
Sevo123 wrote:
Had so much issues with my last rbk53 unite netgeAr told me go return it get a new one. So i did and everything works well over 2 months they close the case and oh nooo **bleep** hit the fan! Same issues starts without any settings or firmware changes! Smh !!!! So they re open it get me to update to this latest firmware but guess what yall I am supposed to get 400-480 mbps i get a constant 250-280 mbps hard wired or wireless. Direct from mu modem im getting 480mbps on this rbk53 with this update its half. The last update which worked for 2 months i got a excellent 400-480 mbps constantly till it crashed. Whyyyyyyyyy Netgear WHYYYYYYYY! Fix all your bugs already we are sick of this honestly! Look at the speed difference from now & 1 month ago.... smhDid you retest the speed directly from the modem immediately preceding or after the last test from the router? The reason I ask was had a similar situation but was basing my comparison of what I saw directly to the modem from four weeks ago until the speed drop last Friday. Realized I hadn't ruled out other possibilities and retested PC directly to modem again after router and... same slower speed I saw on the Router. I have Comcast as a provider and I logged into my 24down/8up cable modem and see that Comcast was only lighting up 8 of my downstream channels. Rebooted the Cable Modem twice and no change, went to the Comcast Status page for my region and low and behold they were listing outages. After 3 days Comcast seemed to sort it all out and I was back to a full 24 channels down and speed was back to what I was expecting both connected to the modem and router. Connection to ISP at times ever had about 13% packet loss. I live in the North East.
- I tried both ways. It was confirmed that the modem is goving out excellent speeds constantly but my rbk53 unit is giving lower speeds and this is because of these firmwares. The older firmwares are giving same fast speeds as the modem. My old unit once Netgear made me switch out get a new one... Support gave me a beta firmware about 1 month ago but same issues so I sticked to the firmware they removed 2.0.1.7 i think ... the speeds were perfect plus I had wired backhaul. Then my system crashed randomly and I got this new firmware. Now were back to slow speeds Im 100% its a firmware issue.
What is the recommendation for the update process and the best settngs to avoid disconnects etc?
My experience had been quite stable and I was on the "bad release". I updated last night, as it was now advertised. The router and satellite appeared to have updated fine. Do I now need to do a factory reset, if so, which unit first?
Also any settings that we should not be using, I have the fast roaming and MU-MIMO etc all enabled.
Thanks
Mark
I would do the manual update. Update the Satellite(s) first, then send the update file to the router. After FW has been updated, do a FULL Factory reset on both router and satellite(s) then set up from scratch. Do not load any prior saved config router files. Set up from scratch first, the router, then make sure wireless is working there. Then set up the Satellites. After all is set up, save off a new router config file.
I recommend using IE11 or FF browsers to do the FW update. Be wired with the router and satllites when doing the FW update.
If you don't have much or any MIMO supporting devices, features llike MIMO can be disabled. if you only have 1 satellite, disable Daisy Chain.
MarkSewellwrote:What is the recommendation for the update process and the best settngs to avoid disconnects etc?
My experience had been quite stable and I was on the "bad release". I updated last night, as it was now advertised. The router and satellite appeared to have updated fine. Do I now need to do a factory reset, if so, which unit first?
Also any settings that we should not be using, I have the fast roaming and MU-MIMO etc all enabled.
Thanks
Mark
- Couple of quick ones:
- Is the officially released firmware v.2.1.3.4 for RBR50 & RBK50 different in any way from the beta version offered previously? Reason I ask is that my HP printer disconnects from the RBR50 router, whether connected by wireless or an Ethernet connection. Only fix has been to power cycle the printer to reconnect. My system has been stable with this one exception which was never an issue prior to beta/official v.2.1.3.4
- Is it ok now to add my RBW30 plug-in satellite back in? If so, what firmware should be applied to work properly with the RBK50 devices at v.2.1.3.4?
Thanks.
Go in and set a static IP address ON the printer or set up a reserved IP address ON the router for the printer.
Might check to see what modes and security settings the printer supports. Some don't support AES. Try setting a manual channel on 2.4Ghz to 1,6 or 11.Chairman007wrote:
Couple of quick ones:
- Is the officially released firmware v.2.1.3.4 for RBR50 & RBK50 different in any way from the beta version offered previously? Reason I ask is that my HP printer disconnects from the RBR50 router, whether connected by wireless or an Ethernet connection. Only fix has been to power cycle the printer to reconnect. My system has been stable with this one exception which was never an issue prior to beta/official v.2.1.3.4
- Is it ok now to add my RBW30 plug-in satellite back in? If so, what firmware should be applied to work properly with the RBK50 devices at v.2.1.3.4?
Thanks.- Hi Furry ... just some feedback. I was assuming that the orbi stability issues were the cause of my printer disconnecting. Wasn’t able to fix it by the latest beta which fixed all other stability issues. Solved by resetting the HP Officejet 6968 to factory condition and removing and reinstalling software. All A-ok now ... no longer disconnecting.
Started off a month ago with a perfectly functional system with 4 Apple Airport Extreme access points. My network has its own router, switches, etc. All I was looking for is a system that was more flexible to provide Wi-Fi in more places around the home. So first I had to replace the 4 wired access points. I think I read there was some limit on Satellites so I started with just 3 thinking maybe the device range could compensate until I added more after initial testing.
Got RBK50 and one RBS50 (for a total of 3 components). Wired them all. This was ~17 days ago so didn't realize this was all broken. Unwired everything and postponed project waiting for new firmware. Installed 2.1.3.4 last week. Wired everything. Each RBS50 connects back to the main switch. The RBK50 is connected to the same switch. So I have 2 problems now.
1. The first RBS50 seems to work fine and reports as Good and Wired. The second does not. It flips between multiple states. Initially I saw Wired/Poor for a while. Disconnected an Arlo Hub that I had plugged into a spare port on it. Restarted it. Now it seems to be sticking with 5G/Good. Not using wired even though it is wired. I have nothing else (other than the switch line) plugged into the first RBS that does work so the difference here is a mystery.
2. The RBK50 always has a purple light on top. For no reason. Despite connections through it working perfectly fine and uptime on the main connection and router has been 100%, it's always purple. This is concerning.
I'd like to get these resolved, and time is running out. The last thing I want is to return all of this, but I only have a few more days. At least #1 must be solved before then to verify that each component has a proper wired connection after which I need to do final speed testing and range testing before deciding to stick with this.
Did you ugprade to this version of FW? v2.1.3.4? If so, did you do a factory reset on all devices then set up from scratch?
How big is your home? SqFt?
What is the distance between the router and Satellite(s)?
cyphers72wrote:Started off a month ago with a perfectly functional system with 4 Apple Airport Extreme access points. My network has its own router, switches, etc. All I was looking for is a system that was more flexible to provide Wi-Fi in more places around the home. So first I had to replace the 4 wired access points. I think I read there was some limit on Satellites so I started with just 3 thinking maybe the device range could compensate until I added more after initial testing.
Got RBK50 and one RBS50 (for a total of 3 components). Wired them all. This was ~17 days ago so didn't realize this was all broken. Unwired everything and postponed project waiting for new firmware. Installed 2.1.3.4 last week. Wired everything. Each RBS50 connects back to the main switch. The RBK50 is connected to the same switch. So I have 2 problems now.
1. The first RBS50 seems to work fine and reports as Good and Wired. The second does not. It flips between multiple states. Initially I saw Wired/Poor for a while. Disconnected an Arlo Hub that I had plugged into a spare port on it. Restarted it. Now it seems to be sticking with 5G/Good. Not using wired even though it is wired. I have nothing else (other than the switch line) plugged into the first RBS that does work so the difference here is a mystery.
2. The RBK50 always has a purple light on top. For no reason. Despite connections through it working perfectly fine and uptime on the main connection and router has been 100%, it's always purple. This is concerning.
I'd like to get these resolved, and time is running out. The last thing I want is to return all of this, but I only have a few more days. At least #1 must be solved before then to verify that each component has a proper wired connection after which I need to do final speed testing and range testing before deciding to stick with this.
I upgraded to the 2.1.3.4 in the OP of this thread. I did not do a factory reset *after* I upgraded to that firmware. I did try that on a prior release, probably the one it shipped with.
Home is 4,200 sqft, but has 3 levels and some metal in the walls so notable issues with Wi-Fi which is why in the past I used 3-4 access points and why I want each unit wired.
Distance from Router to *broken* sat: ~25 feet, should also have very good wireless connection.
Distance from Router to *working* sat: ~60 feet, should have very poor wireless connection.
All wired connections are Gigabit Ethernet.
Previous code was operating very well in our location without any conn3ctivity our throughput related issues that were recongnizd. We are in fact heavy consumers of tv service streaming, home automation, and security video streaming. All items which rely of solid network connectivity and performance. While I probably should have left alone, I have now had this firmware running for 72 hours and am seeing several things:
-have had several different nest cams drop off the network for a 5-10 minute timespan, at least 3 total incidents which are more than just a fluke.
-iPad web browser requests stop, have to restart ipad to resume browsing
-ecobee drops out of HomeKit preventing operation and control from HomeKit
For us the last released firmware provided solid performance with none of the above issues, While these aren’t huge issues they are frustrating nuisances and not something you want to see ongoing.
Was a factory reset performed on the router and satellite(s) after the upgrade was processed then set up from scratch?
Whats the distances between the router and satellite?
After doing a factory set and if the problem continues, try disabling MIMO, Daisy Chain and Fast Roaming and see how it goes.
bsholbrookwrote:Previous code was operating very well in our location without any conn3ctivity our throughput related issues that were recongnizd. We are in fact heavy consumers of tv service streaming, home automation, and security video streaming. All items which rely of solid network connectivity and performance. While I probably should have left alone, I have now had this firmware running for 72 hours and am seeing several things:
-have had several different nest cams drop off the network for a 5-10 minute timespan, at least 3 total incidents which are more than just a fluke.
-iPad web browser requests stop, have to restart ipad to resume browsing
-ecobee drops out of HomeKit preventing operation and control from HomeKit
For us the last released firmware provided solid performance with none of the above issues, While these aren’t huge issues they are frustrating nuisances and not something you want to see ongoing.
Not intending to be repeatitive here, but for clarity both the connectivity and performance of the system were working as expected prior to this release. Homekit and Cameras remained connected and fully operational 24x7 for months. The only changes that were made were the firmware upgrades. I've gone through another factory reset and setup post firmware upgrade to make certain nothing was overlooked. I'll monitor over the coming days.
I'm certainly not support for the product, but I would assume many elements could be ruled out given that the system was fully functioning system prior to the firmware update. One of these I would think would be satelite placement?
For the time being beamforming, mu-mio- and fast roaming are all turned off. Previously when things operated as expected these were all turned on. It is aggrevating to recieve recommendations to turn off functionality that differentiates this product from others. We've paid a premium to use these elements, not turn them off.
What is the distance between the Satellite and Router? Mines 40ft est.
Manual channel 48.
What channels are you using?
FYI, managed switches will cause problems with wired back haul if and when you try this.
FURRYe38 wrote:
What is the distance between the Satellite and Router? Mines 40ft est.
Manual channel 48.
What channels are you using?
Maybe 25' at the most. I'm using Manual Channel 48 and 11 for 2.4, had 2.4 set to auto, but tried this to see if it would make a difference. I just turned my satellite back on. We'll see how long it lasts this time.
25 feet seems to be a bit close. Normal stand alone routers can handle this kind of range by themselves. You might see if you can place the Satellite at a farther distance. Also might test just the router alone.
Also try disabling MIMO, Daisy Chain and Fast Roaming.
I've been running the 2.1.3.4 Beta on my RBR50 router & (2) RBS50 satellites for a week now, and it's working great. I did do a paperclip reset on the satellites after upgrading from 2.1.2.18, but I have not factory reset the router.
The only negative change I've experienced with this FW is the satellite in a detached garage wouldn't connect to the router anymore (wasn't a great connection to start with). However, I purchased a Netgear Powerline 2000 kit, and Ethernet Backhaul is working flawlessly and much faster than the previous wireless connection.
The 2.1.3.4 Beta did fix:
Regularly dropped Verizon WiFi calling during calls (iPhone 8 Plus)
Complaints of broken audio on receiving end while on Verizon WiFi calling
"Not connected to Internet" issue on iPad Air 2 (while being connected to WiFi)
Belkin Wemo light controller being intermittently inaccessable by Alexa
