NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Orbi RBK50 keeps rebooting!
Hi there,
Just got my shiny new ORBI RBK50 system and after working well for 2 days, The system keeps rebooting every few hours. The satellite stays on and reconnected to the main unit once it is up but have no idea why its rebooting. I have the latest firmware 2.0.0.74 installed. I have updated to the 2.0.076 firmware as well (for the WPA2 Krack fix) but that has made no change. I have swapped the power supplies (incase that was the issue) as well changed the Orbi router to a different power socket.
Any ideas??
I don't want to send it back because when it is working it works great, but I can't have the network dropping every few hours.
Regards,
Devon
54 Replies
I would try a factory reset and if that did not work then look at having the unit replaced.
Is it a proper reboot or a loss of of wifi connectivity?
- Already done the factory reset and got the RMA for a new unit. One thing I have noticed after running a constant ping to the router for the past day... it reboots every 6 hours, give or take 30 seconds... sounds like that could be a firmware issue?
Mine would not reboot but lose connectivity to my AT&T gateway from time to time.
The replacement has been perfect.
If you're using the latest firmware, this is the issue. Read the other posts regarding the lasted release. Complete disaster.
nope, rolled back to 2.0.76, same issue. Stable after the initial factory reset, then, once it reboots itself (memory leak?) it **bleep**s the bed and runs really slow no matter how many reboots you do. Pathetic.
i have tried 3 of the current firmware versions, all with the same result. The router keeps rebooting. Both units were at 2.0.74 when I got them from Bestbuy. This is why I upgraded them booth to V2.1.1.12 and they still reboot randomly.
Mee too. It keeps rebooting or re-initializing every few hours. Sometimes, it reboots when I do a speedtest, or start a large download. I've seen other threads on this - people just troubleshooting one PC, but all my devices (SmartThings hub, security cameras) are reporting a disconnection and reconnection throughout the day. I am on the beta V2.0.0.76. Others are warning not to download the latest firmware. Any opinion on this? I've had this unit for nearly a year - with the ridiculous short warranty period means I cannot RMA. I am warning my neighbors to check out these forums for reported problems before making a huge purchase like this. I love the wifi coverage, but dissapointed with the short warranty and all these problems. I feel sorry for a non-techy person.
You can manually load any of the firmware versions from here https://www.netgear.com/support/product/RBK50.aspx#download plus any betas that you may have down loaded to your computer.
So I would try the latest version (while there have been a number of issues reported, it's certainly not a complete disaster, it's been faultless here) to see if that works and roll back if needed.
However, I am of the opinion that once these reboot issues start there is something happening locally that firmware does not seem to address.
Take DarrenM advice and contact support to arrange for an RMA.
Streak2 wrote:You can manually load any of the firmware versions from here https://www.netgear.com/support/product/RBK50.aspx#download plus any betas that you may have down loaded to your computer.
So I would try the latest version (while there have been a number of issues reported, it's certainly not a complete disaster, it's been faultless here) to see if that works and roll back if needed.
However, I am of the opinion that once these reboot issues start there is something happening locally that firmware does not seem to address.
Take DarrenM advice and contact support to arrange for an RMA.
Thanks. I will try this firmware update. I don't have a backup router as I donated my near-perfect R7000 to my brother-in-law. As I mentioned before when I tried to contact support, I am presented with an option to purchase support. I've had this unit for nearly a year, and out of warranty.
I'm also having reboot issues. And more problematically, some of the wireless devices just don't come back online at all after the router reboot.
I was using my Orbi router as a single router. Just went back to R7000 for wired, and Orbi in AP mode. That seems to work better.
I have installed Smokeping on my wired Odroid XU4 to track connectivity to various from it to devices.
Hardware topology is like this :
- Odroid XU4 using gigabit LAN port
- hooked up to Trendnet 16-port gigabit switch
- R7000 LAN port #1 goes to same Trendnet switch
- R7000 LAN port #2 goes to Orbi router in AP mode
- R7000 WAN port goes to MB8600 cable modem
- two Orbi satellites, using wireless backhaul
Here are some of the relevant stats :
Ping to R7000 wired router.Ping to MB8600 wired cable modem.Ping to wired Orbi router in AP mode.Ping to Orbi satellite 1 with wireless backhaul.Ping to Orbi satellite 2 with wireless backhaul.Ping to wemo switch #1, wireless 2.4 GHz.Ping to wemo switch #2, wireless 2.4 GHz.Ping to Juicebox #1, wireless 2.4 GHz.Ping to Juicebox #2, wireless 2.4 GHz.Orbi router log showing reboot.
As you can see, my Juicebox #2 , which is connected to the Orbi AP via Wifi, went down shortly before 2am. And then never reconnected. It's averaging 21.15% for the last 3 hours. And still hasn't reconnected.I looked at the Orbi reboot log, and it showed a reboot at 1:56am ! I was watching a movie at that time and not doing anything with the computer.
Meanwhile, at those same times, you can see zero packet loss for pings to the wired R7000, cable modem, and internet (google DNS).
Clearly the Orbi AP reboot is the root cause of the problem. It is strange that the Juicebox #2 won't reconnect after the Orbi reboot, though. What this means as a consequence is that the electric car plugged to it may stop charging.
There is also some noticeable on all the Wifi devices being monitored (numbers for the last 3 hours only):- Wemo switch #1 averaging 1.14% packet loss
- Wemo switch #2 averaging 0.94% packet loss- Orbi satellite #1 averaging 1.15% packet loss
- Orbi satellite #2 averaging 3.03% packet loss
- Juicebox #1 averaging 1.4% packet loss
I found this thread searching for the same issue.
Just setup my Orbi RBK50 yesterday and was blown away by the performance and tossed my Actiontec into storage box.
And just now, my workstation (connected by Ethernet) drops connection, the network connection shows disconnected. I check my phone, Orbi offline. Comes back online shortly after with no issue.
firmware version: V2.0.0.74
There is a 2.1.1.16 firmware available NETGEAR Support RBR50 / RBS50 Firmware Version 2.1.1.16
Has anyone that installed this able to report if this addresses the issue?
Bug Fixes:
- Fixes the issue where connected devices do not display on the Attached Devices page.
- Fixes the issue where connected devices on the Attached Devices page do not displays the correct Orbi that they’re connected to.
- Fixes the issue where the CPU usage is high when the Orbi in AP mode.
xlerate wrote:There is a 2.1.1.16 firmware available NETGEAR Support RBR50 / RBS50 Firmware Version 2.1.1.16
Has anyone that installed this able to report if this addresses the issue?
I installed it the day it was released, and it's been working great for me. However, I've never had any issues with random reboots in the past either.
I've been on .16 for a few days without any reboots/weirdness. On thing to keep in mind: the grass is not always greener. I have a 4500 sq ft house with over 100 nodes...have been through Google Wifi and Velop. Orbis is best so far, even with glitches.
I am having the same issue on 2.0.0.74.
Yesterday, I made some changes to my DHCP configuration to ensure that some devices always get assigned the same IP. Ever since then, my Orbi system has been restarting itself every few hours. It's very annoying - I have dozens of devices (including a lot of smarthome equipment), so the network going down makes my whole home not work right.
Will try the latest firmware when I find some time.
There is another thread going on right now about Google Home, and they've come to a similar conclusion we have - it probably isn't the Google Home, but it could certainly be a device that interacts with it? Or even more specifically, those of us with a Google Home are more likely to have Android phones.
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Google-Home-causing-disconnect-reboot-of-Orbi/m-p/1455362
In my case, I got the Orbi a few days before I left for the holiday. I have a Galaxy Note 8. Annoyingly it was rebooting daily (sometimes several times a day). I felt so bad that it'd do that to my dogsitter, but got home and it had gone 6 straight days with NO reboots. Of course, she has an iPhone.
I've been home for 24 hours and it's already rebooted once. I know it's not a lot of evidence, but the pattern certainly fits. SOMEHOW, a Galaxy Note 8 - or Pixel - or possibly other Android phones - are causing the Orbi to reboot.
One additional note - it's unacceptable that a client device can cause a $300 router to force reboot.
I doubted that a client could do such a thing to a router, but I had my wife and son take their androids off of the wifi and it has been running 16+ hours with no issue. Previously, 3 hours was about the best I could get. I had her disable wifi during sleep (wifi settings, disable wifi during sleep = set it to never) and had her rejoin wifi and so far, so good. I think this article points out what is happening: https://9to5google.com/2018/01/15/google-chromecast-home-wifi-outage/
Hope that helps!
Mike
Interesting, my Orbi was rebooting several times a day but all of a sudden became stable and stayed up for over 7 days, however this lunchtime it decided to lock me out of the internet even though the modem was happily connected, ended up I did a power cycle and it came back up however since 1pm its rebooted 4 times.
On checking the debug page the CPU utilization seems very high at times for a router that is doing very little at the time, seems to have settled down now to between 5%-20%.
On firmware 2.1.1.16 and showing nothing connected to the satellite but there are 4 wired NAS devices connected that I can access happily so its all working but not displaying on either the Router or Satellite.