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ORBI RBR50, RBS50 and other satellites (RBS20 & [RBR40 -> RBS40 hack])
So I have ORBI RBK50 (1xRBR50, 2xRBS50 ) [Orbi AC3000 ?] And recently one of my RBS50 is no longer functioning. I have my whole place wired cat6a, and use the ORBIs only for : phones, tablets/guest wifi , and other IOT junk. All my critical stuff is wired. Sadly I was seeing that one of my RBS50 is not functioning (BOTH its wireless function and its wired ethernet switch functionality seems dead. The dead RBS50 still has the white blinking halo on the top but no matter what i do cant get it to work as wither wireless extension or a wired/backhaul switch).
I found some RBR20s online and tried adding them to the RBR50 router - they do eventually show up in the ORBI apps "device manager" as RBS20, but they never seem to show in the apps "network map" or be actually usable to extent the signal to the garage and where my other (presumed dead) RBS50 was... any thoughts??
Its been very frustrating - as this was a $$ system and I expected it to last longer than 4 years - for me the wireless speed was never good enough.. so all my critical stuff is hardwired (using a dedicated switch & NOT using the EHTERNET orbi ports) - the only thing the ORBI ethernet ports are used for is the wired backhaul just in case the wifi is out for some reason.
It be great to see if there was a way to run some diagnostic stuff to see if i can bring this seemingly non-working RBS50 back from the grave, or figure out a way to use/configure these other ORBI's i picked up (2xRBS20 and 1xRBR40) as additional satellites.
Like i was saying at the moment I cant seem to get the RBS20s to be recognized, and show up in the wireless "network map".
The RBR40 is still in the box not plugged in.
I've heard of a hack that you can turn a RBR40 into another satellite [eg RBS40] using firmware hack (which I might be able to link with my working RBR50) , but like I said at the moment just trying to get the RBS20s to work and or figure out why my one RBS50 is unresponsive. Any help would be greatly appreciated....
ORBI RBR50, RBS50 and other satellites (RBS20 & [RBR40 -> RBS40 hack])
3 Replies
There are several steps that can be taken to attempt to revive the satellite:
- Get out a paperclip and do a factory reset on it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMw4ePACgc4 - Download the satellite firmware from the Netgear support site
https://www.netgear.com/support/product/RBS50.aspx#download
and attempt to "flash" the firmware directly to the satellite using TFTP or nmrpflash:
https://kb.netgear.com/000059633/How-to-upload-firmware-to-a-NETGEAR-router-using-TFTP-client
https://kb.netgear.com/000059634/How-to-upload-firmware-to-a-NETGEAR-router-using-Windows-TFTP
https://github.com/jclehner/nmrpflash
This requires a computer (desktop/laptop) with an Ethernet connection, which is becomming a problem in many households and consumers move to smartphone and tablets (sigh).
To connect those separately purchased RBS20 satellites, I would:
- Factory reset them (because they may have been previously sync'd to a different router, and
- Use the Orbi web browser interface menu item "Add Orbi Satellite".
i finally got 2 of the older rbs20 satellites to work.
Sadly cant seem to get my other rbs50 working -- it powers up - the power led is green and the halo is flashing white.
Did numerous resets with paperclip - tried TFTP
PS S:\MY_DOWNLOADS\nmrpflash-0.9.18.2-win32> tftp -i 192.168.1.1 put RBS50-V2.7.4.24.img
Connect request failedtried nmrpflash also to no avail
PS S:\MY_DOWNLOADS\nmrpflash-0.9.18.2-win32> .\nmrpflash.exe -L
PS S:\MY_DOWNLOADS\nmrpflash-0.9.18.2-win32> .\nmrpflash.exe -i net26 -f RBS50-V2.7.4.24.img😞 might have to sell as parts .....is there a way to force the unit to upgrade itself using the USB2.0 slot on the RBS50 ?
My TV can update software using a USB stick, but (sadly) not any of the Orbi units. Netgear removed the USB port completely after the first models came out.
TFTP was quite an adventure for me. There is this distinct window of time during the startup when the unit looks for a TFTP connection. Too early: no good. Too late: no good. I was so frustrated after failing five times in a row that I was eyeing the trash can (either that or a hammer) and thought, "try one more time." The sixth time I hit it just right, and the firmware took.
TFTP is also sort of an ordeal because the computer running TFTP has to be connected only to the Orbi unit and has to have a static IP (because it cannot get an IP address from the network). All that cabling and re-cabling....
As I recall, when doing TFTP, the router is supposed to be at 192.168.1.1 and the satellites at 192.168.1.250. (But, it has been a couple of year and my memory never was all that great.)
- Get out a paperclip and do a factory reset on it.
