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Orbi RBR50 frequently losing connection
I've had the Orbi RBR50 for nearly 2 years with no issues. Just a couple days ago, however, it has suddenly started losing connection several times a day. The connection is fine when I connect my PC directly to my modem, so it appears to be a problem with the router.
It will stay disconnected for a while until I manually reboot, or until it randomly recovers after a while. At one point websites on a browser would continue to (slowly) load, while other services or apps did not. Usually it just completely loses connection, however. Using Windows troubleshooter tried to suggest a problem with the DNS server.
Firmware is updated to v2.7.2.104.
50 Replies
Please do a search for Firmware v2.7.2.104.
Lots of problems being reported. If I say anything I get slapped around.
Or.....you stay with your original post here and wait for others to flood you with 100's of questions attempting to fix a fouled firmware version.
Your choice....enjoy
Cenex22 wrote:It will stay disconnected for a while until I manually reboot, or until it randomly recovers after a while. At one point websites on a browser would continue to (slowly) load, while other services or apps did not. Usually it just completely loses connection, however. Using Windows troubleshooter tried to suggest a problem with the DNS server.
Firmware is updated to v2.7.2.104.
Did the problem begin soon after updating firmware to 2.7.2.104?
If the Orbi recovers by itself, does anything show in the Orbi log file?
One way to verify the problem being related to DNS is to open a command prompt (DOS Window) and do some ping tests.
i.e. ping some actual IP's, such as:
50.59.168.94
107.154.76.95
If you get ping responses from them, then ping by domain name:
usc.edu
toyota.com
(These are the domain names that should respond with 50.59.168.94 and 107.54.76.95)
It is a mystery to me how any specific firmware version seems to work perfectly for some users and cause horrible problems for others.
For certain, it is intolerable to live with such a situation. If this continues, I see two paths forward:
- Stick with 2.7.2.104, and attempt to get a "clean" installation:
* save a copy of the config, do a Factory Reset, and during the new setup load that saved config.
* if that doesn't cure it, then do another Factory Reset and set the whole thing up from scratch - Do a Manual firmware load to a previous version, such as 2.5.1.16.
(and perhaps do a Factory Reset on it as well.)
Neither of these options is simple or convenient. But, having the internet die several times a day is a huge motivator.
I started having similar issues this past Sunday morning and its still an issue. I had google DNS, Cloud Flaire, and Open DNS listed in that order in my orbi router. Just to make it simple for troubleshooting purposes, i set it to automatically pull from ISP and that for worked for several hours, but then it stopped working again. Workaround was I statically set my current PC that I'm using to post this comment to use google DNS. Everything else in the household that uses DHCP and uses my Orbi router for the DNS is affected by this. This a big issue has I have several devices that doesn't allow to statically configured IP, let alone just DNS.
Issue has appear to crop for many users this past weekend. Not sure if its related to Daylight savings time.
Not sure about the rules on posting links to other sites, but check out reddit and search for "Orbi dropping DNS"
My RBR50 firmware version is currently at V2.7.2.104 and have been on it for a good month..
Latest (currently) firmware V2.7.2.104
Connections failing on all home devices - DNS failure.
Log on to the main router and do anything like:
- change from ISP provided DNS
- hard-coded DNS servers (tried the ones from my ISP as well as OpenDNS addresses)
- Reboot the device
Any of these things seem to "fix" the issue temporarily. Seems to occur every few hours.
Hopefully Netgear is aware of the cause and working on a fix!!
- Stick with 2.7.2.104, and attempt to get a "clean" installation:
Thanks for all the assistance and recommendations. I checked out the reddit thread, and it's bizarre to think this could somehow be related to the time change. But the common thread seems to be that this just inexplicably started recently for numerous people.
Anecodotal reports are sparse, but it almost sounds like a factory reset and/or loading a previous firmware version isn't going to help. I will still try that tonight, but I won't remain optimistic that it will help.
I was looking at downgrading to older firmware, but since the current version (claims to) include security updates, I am hesitant.
I think the "reset the DNS settings" is easy enough for a short term before I look for another solution / product / vendor.
jimih wrote:I was looking at downgrading to older firmware, but since the current version (claims to) include security updates, I am hesitant.
I think the "reset the DNS settings" is easy enough for a short term before I look for another solution / product / vendor.
Roll your firmware back. You and your network will be find
Let us know if checking the NTP settings helps. We just went thru the time change and RBR should have tracked this. Saw others posting that NTP settings maybe effecting this. Seems that v104 has been working for DNS then all of a sudden had problem in DNS just recently.
Cenex22 wrote:Thanks for all the assistance and recommendations. I checked out the reddit thread, and it's bizarre to think this could somehow be related to the time change. But the common thread seems to be that this just inexplicably started recently for numerous people.
Anecodotal reports are sparse, but it almost sounds like a factory reset and/or loading a previous firmware version isn't going to help. I will still try that tonight, but I won't remain optimistic that it will help.
I am having this issue as well. it started the day the time changed. Strange thing about it is the rbr50 shows no connection to internet, yet all wired devices still have internet access and some wireless as well such as my TV and alarm system. but all phones, tablets, and Wireless PCs Have no internet. Also the connection Is Slow. I Tried The latest firmware today and thought it was resolved, but started again tonight. please help.
The issue as I understand it is that the router stops resolving IP addresses (DNS service fails).
If there are connections that exist, they should continue since no new name resolution needs to happen.
I tried a couple things including changing the DNS setting from "Use These DNS Servers" (my original setting) to "Get Automatically from ISP" and this made things better for a few hours. Unfortunately the problem resurfaced with the changed setting - so it doesn't appear to be either setting.
I have also read that this started with the daylight savings time change - and this seems to correlate although I cannot think how that setting would *still* be causing the issue several days later. That being said, I did check the time zone and NTP settings (they were fine).
The best / simplest thing I can offer is to roll back to an older firmware version. The 2.7.2.104 seems to be the one experiencing the problem.
Today I rolled back to 2.7.2.102 and so far so good.
Caveat:
You may need to do a "factory reset" after applying the older firmware version. It may not happen every time, but I lost the ability to connect to the router after installing the old version and needed to push the tiny reset button and go through setting all my configurations again including WiFi name and password. (so either backup your configuration to a file or at least be ready to re-do the configuration).
I cannot say this permanently fixes the problem, but so far it has been ~12 hours and no issues.
I can say that if you have a mesh network (a router plus one or more satellites) that you do not need to change the firmware on the satellites - only on the router.
Good luck! Hopefully Netgear is working on a new version of firmware that does not have problems (Anyone? Netgear? Bueller? ...)
I dropped back to older firmware, 2.6.1.40, and I turned off the traffic meter function under advanced settings. It's been up 24 hours now without any random DNS problems.
I didn't notice before that Orbi at some point had switched from my set OpenDNS server addresses back to ISP provided DNS option, no idea how long ago that happened. I switched them back, but that obviously wasn't the DNS problem. It also appears that over time, the power levels option for 2.4 Gig changed and I hadn't noticed, they were back up to 100 percent, so had to drop it to 50 percent, I swear there used to be a 75 percent option in there.
I can't figure out why all the users had the issue right after the time change. I was on the latest firmware for quite a while with only some very slight very intermittent disconnection issues on only a couple devices happening.
I've had my RBR50 for over 4.5 years now, I haven't master reset it once, except while in various Netgear Beta projects, but those were years ago now.
r0b0tvampire wrote:See this post for options:
the key word is short term....until the next firmware update
Hi Orbi Community,
The issue has been forwarded already to engineers.
If you are willing to work on the issue, please send me a private message by clicking on this link and I will PM you requesting for more information. We appreciate your help working on this issue.
Regards,
Blanca
Community Team- Any update on this? I’ve noticed that I have had two updates over the weekend, but have been disconnected at least 3 times today. Very inconvenient when trying to work from home and need to be on calls!
Thank you
I'm def not a power user like some of the others seeem to be but wanted to share that these same issues occurred for me on the *.102 firmware and have continued on the *.104 firmware. Hopeing the engineers get this figured out quickly...working from home with a sketchy internet connection is no bueno!
byass wrote:I'm def not a power user like some of the others seeem to be but wanted to share that these same issues occurred for me on the *.102 firmware and have continued on the *.104 firmware. Hopeing the engineers get this figured out quickly...working from home with a sketchy internet connection is no bueno!
thanks
more of what we already suspected
Same issue, started Sunday morning after daylight savings change. Having to reboot 1 to 3 times per day. Tried downgrading firmware - Didn't work. Tried factory reset - didn't work. Tried changing NTP server - didn't work. WTF? I have not had this issue before with this product and wouldn't expect to, WTF?
MrTWA wrote:Same issue, started Sunday morning after daylight savings change. Having to reboot 1 to 3 times per day. Tried downgrading firmware - Didn't work. Tried factory reset - didn't work. Tried changing NTP server - didn't work. WTF? I have not had this issue before with this product and wouldn't expect to, WTF?
FYI....one of the moderators here have reached out about this. You may want to do the same.
For what it's worth I can verify the same thing is affecting the RBR40 model with firmware version 2.6.2.104. I knew something was hinky with DNS but had continued to blame Spectrum for this, until I read the Orbi Dropping DNS post. The symptoms and the first workaround fix is exactly what I'd discovered worked.
So, please Netgear, do not forget about the RBR40 on this problem as well. It doesn't show up on your list above, though that is what I have:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Orbi-randomly-stops-traffic-to-devices/m-p/2073261#M117231
you are not alone. Same to me.
I am having the same issue everyone else has reported. I beleive this issue started after DST. Please provide a fix ASAP. Thanks!
System became totally unstable due to .104 software which was written by a top moron.
Fix is stop using netgear NTP server.
Use time.google.com instead.
You cannot use the App for this either, use a web browser on your iPad or laptop.
The App is completely useless. Probably written by the same moron who wrote the .104 code.
It's a pity crap software makes such a potentially nice system totally worthless.
Also don't use Traffic Meter was one report that NG seemed to acknowledge by NG to one user was the cause of this problem. Others reported seeing same and having better results after it was disabled. Good Luck.
JJ126 wrote:System became totally unstable due to .104 software which was written by a top moron.
Fix is stop using netgear NTP server.
Use time.google.com instead.
You cannot use the App for this either, use a web browser on your iPad or laptop.
The App is completely useless. Probably written by the same moron who wrote the .104 code.
It's a pity crap software makes such a potentially nice system totally worthless.
