A quick update. We're about to release an updated version of OrbiOS 2.1.4 in the next few days through our auto-update mechanism for all Orbi models. When it goes live, you should see a prompt in the Orbi Mobile App (or the WebUI) to upgrade your firmware. In addition to the connectivity fixes in 2.1.3, has a few additional bug fixes from the last release (2.1.3). Orbi Product Mangement

How about you give us the option to turn OFF AUTOUPDATE. Or STOP automatic updates all together! When you guys roll out the updates FORCED Orbi resets and looses all my settings and takes down my internet and home security system as I’m not home. That’s a fantastic feature! SO sick of this POS not working reliability.

So I have done some testing with this new version. Just as I have done with every past version since the packet loss issue began. Here is my testing setup for this occasion. There were a total of five devices on my network arranged as such: A simple router providing DHCP with no internet connection. (10.0.0.1) RBR50 Orbi Router in AP mode. (10.0.0.2) RBS50 Orbi Satellite. (10.0.0.3) Testing laptop. (10.0.0.40) Synology NAS (10.0.0.42) All my testing was done via the testing laptop and always connected to the Orbi Sattelite. The Orbi units where running on wireless backhaul with line of sight of each other. I ran packetloss tests on three targets: simple router, Orbi Router (AP mode) and Synology NAS. Keep in mind there was no internet access during this time and no other devices where on the network. As usual, I did a full factory reset on the Orbi units. Here are my results: First up is the simple router on 10.0.0.1 as we can see there is heavy packet loss, as has been with the latest firmware versions on this particular models. A notable difference is that the packet loss pattern is now concentraded in larger chunks. Previos versions would generate a more scattered pattern with thinner lines. Next is the Orbi router on 10.0.0.2 this is an interesting result because we see no packetloss at all. Keep in mind for this probe all my traffic went from the testing laptop, to the Satellite unit, through wireless backhaul and into the Orbi Router. This clears up any suspicion of the wireless backhaul being the reason of the packet loss. Could it be that my humble router (10.0.0.1), providing DHCP to the network is to blame? This is the result of the same test and same network but this time the target was the Synology NAS. Surprisingly the packetloss is back with the same pattern as we observed on the router (10.0.0.1). This seems to confirm the wireless backhaul is definetly not the cause for this issue. This points to the ethernet ports of the Orbi Router as the failure point. The same devices on the same network arrangement rendered no packet loss on all the same tests when running firmware V2.0.0.74. This strongly suggests the issue is due to some factor in the newer firmware. Here is a short Q&A of other variants I tried before typing this post: Did you tested with any other devices apart from that silly router (10.0.0.1) and the Synology NAS (10.0.0.42)? Yes, practically with anything that had an ethernet port in my home. TVs, game consoles, STB, bluray player, printers, etc...The results where always the same. Could it be that some of the ethernet ports of your Orbi units are defective? This was one of my first concerns. So I repeted the tests by trying differnet ethernet ports for each device, each time! The only thing that actually made a difference was... firmware version! Maybe your testing laptop has a faulty network connection? I thought this too and repeated the same tests with two other laptops and iOS devices. The results where the same. Did you do a full factory reset on the Orbi units? / Configured from scratch? / Updated the Satellite first and Router second? Yep Tried changing the position of the Orbi Router and Satellite? I don't see how this affects anything considering the results. But, yes I did tried several locations on my house. Maybe your ethernet cables are bad? Incredibly, my frustration is so big at this point that I actually took the time to test CAT5, CAT5e and CAT6 cable for all tests and devices. What is the brand and model of your _______ device? At this point it doesn't matter since I tried with so many devices and still the only fix was rolling back to V2.0.0.74 Maybe the Orbi units are fine and the other devices are running some weird network configuration? This is the main reason I repeated (painstakingly) the test with all kinds of devices, managed and unmanaged, old and new, etc..(see above). The results remained the same. More importantly, all packetloss patterns went away, from all tests, as soon as I reverted back to firmware 2.0.0.74 on the Orbi units. I hope this post is of some use to someone out there on my same situation. Online gaming, VoiP calling, FaceTime Video and that kind of thing are greatly degraded when packet loss is present (specially at the massive rates I'm seeing on my Orbis). Sadly, packet loss is not so noticiable when one is accustomed to a bad ISP service. I'm lucky to be in an area with excelent providers to choose from that provide amazing service. So it is an important matter for me since I work from home.

Dear Mr. Netgear: Orbi is supposed to be a consumer product. I'm a consumer not a IT professional. Telnet, Putty is not the solution for a consumer product. Orbi RBK50 is not listed on the netgear website under business prodcuts. Please give us a check box

I FIXED IT! I went out and bought Google Wi-Fi. Everything is working better than it has since prior to bringing the Orbi home. This whole ordeal has left a very bad taste in my mouth as far as Netgear is concerned. Also went to the store to buy a new switch and just couldn’t bring myself to buy a Netgear one. Anyone want to buy an Orbi mesh with faulty firmware?

tsigI have had Orbi for over a year and just switched to a google Wi-Fi and I have to agree, it crushes Orbi in many areas mostly in stability, ease of setup and Google integration (ability to configure the router away from home using the app). My WiFi speeds are almost the same as I got with Orbi except now my Wi-Fi no longer drops whenmy kids are in the middle of a game, as Orbi has done for the entire year I had it no matter what firmware rev I ran on them. Also, Google prompts and ASKS YOU if you would like to perform a firmware upgrade. I have never had a hardware manufacturer PUSH a firmware out without user input.I have been in IT for over 30 years and I am Cisco certified (CCNP). It is simply unacceptable to have a router that randomly stops routing internet traffic and drops your Wi-Fi connections no matter how fast your backhaul is (when it works). I have never been happy with orbi since the day I borought it home and now I have never been happier with a home WiFi as much as I am with Google WiFi. Even my kids commented on how much better the Wi-Fi has been this week.

OrbiOS 2.1.4 availability | NETGEAR Communities

257 Replies

RonV42
Luminary
Apr 28, 2018
I received the update Wednesday and has been running smoothly on my two satellite system. Each satellite is using Wifi backhaul with the router in the middle of the house. Didn't have to run any factory reset. I have over 60 devices connected including Roku's, Xboxes, and phones, 40 are wireless. If I look I have a good connections to the RBS50's and RBR50. I haven't done a factory reset for over 6 months now when I participated in a prevoius beta.
Mjacobs732
Tutor
Apr 28, 2018
Updated on 5/26. Tried to watch Netflix on LG OLED TV on 5/27. No dice: LG didn't connect to system. Almost got fired from my tech support role in our household. Did factory reset. Connection seems OK now.
- loomis1975
  Luminary
  Apr 29, 2018
  Waited till RBS40 had autoupdate 2.1.4 available.
  
  RBS50Y just got 2.1.3 the other day, so didn't want to wait for that one.
  
  Used the autoupdate for the first time in forever for 2.1.4 to RBS50/RBS40/RBR50. Worked like a charm, was back up and running and stable in 5 minutes or so. I did go ahead and reboot the RBS50Y 3 minutes after I started the autoupdate for good measure.
  
  Correct daisy chain was reestablished and everything seems to be working fine.
  
  Now for the long term stability test.
  
  I am one of the fortunate ones that hasn't had to master reset or turn off features to troubleshoot this year.
SwedBear
Tutor
Apr 29, 2018
My experience in short: It might be the combination of Daisy Chain and wired Ethernet that is the issue. it seems it was for me. Oh, and also - DO NOT AUTOUPDATE, expecially not with known issues with 2 or more satellites.

------------

I have 1 RBK50 and two RBS50. Both satellites have been using wired ethernet backhaul. Up until yesterday everything worked fine. I was running 2.1.3.x beta and had no big issues. The only thing I can remember is my wife complaining a few times her iPhoneX have some issues keeping a connection but every other Apple-product (4 iPads) have had no issues.

Speeds around 800-900 Mbps via wired (I got 1 Gbps fiber) and my Mac Book Pro easily gets around 500-600 Mbps via WiFI.

This morning my son wakes me up at 6 AM saying the Internet is down. I let him use my phones network via hotspot and started investigating later in the morning.

I noticed that after I turned both satellites off Internet worked again.

I factory reset both the router and the sateliites (I didn't actually notice the firmware had been updated but guessed I had to restart from scratch to find the issue) and set up both satellites via WiFI. Everything worked fine.

I took one of the satellites down to the garage and hooked it up to Wired Ethernet. Everything seems to work fine. I then hooked up the 1st sateliite that is in our livingroom to wired ethernet since "why not. I have ethernet there so might as well use it". In a minute or so the admin showed this satellite also was wired. And then the whole network went down. Could not access admin via wired connection.

Removed the wire and let the satellites use WIFI again: the network came up again.

While writing this I rememebered people talking about Daisy-chain. Sine I do not use it (I might later as I want to place a satellite in a room that is close to the garage but far from the router and which has so-so coverage) I turned it off. Router and satellites rebooted and I then hooked the second satellite up to wired ethernet again. And this time the network has not gone down.

I'm going to continue monitoring the network to see if it continues to stay up.

As for auto-update. I find it inexcusable. In my situation I had the time and opportunity to go through and set everything up again. However, I also have a RBK30 Orbi network in our "summer-house" where also one of my backup-NAS are situated. If that one goes down I will not be able to get to there until in a few weeks. The idea that you push out a firmware update that has KNOWN issues with 2 or more satellites is absurd to me. And the amount of people posting here about the issues they've had from the auto-update show that it really is not a good idea. I test a lot of network stuff and no other router I've used and tested has auto-pushed a firmware. The router is simply to important piece to accidently bring down via an autoupdate.
- Elofi
  Tutor
  Apr 29, 2018
  I have the same situation and I noticed the daisy chaining network is enabled by default with the new firmware update. I disabled the function since my satallite is having poor signal and the connection through wire was the only solution. however, I rebooted only the RBR50 router and did not rebooted my two stallites RBS50.
  
  I hope after the reboot it will be fixed.
  
  Thank you for the hint. I will update you after a little while.
  - Yamamoto
    Star
    Apr 29, 2018
    Update......
    
    system was working fine for a few days (no daisy chain, not ethernet) until yesterday
    
    router on 2.1.4.10
    
    rbs50 on 2.1.4.10
    
    rbs50 on 2.1.4.10
    
    rbs50y was on 2.1.2.20 until yesterday, then updated to 2.1.3.4 (this is where the problems began)
    
    After the rbs50y upgrading to 2.1.3.4, we had trouble loading certain websites. After disconnecting all satellites, and only using the router, the problem persisted. Come to find out disney circle started to become a problem, after the firmware upgrade on a satellite. Even after I unplugged all satellites.
    
    Looking into the circle filtering, nothing is being filtered, I even set all users so that all websites are allowed, I still could not load some websites. The status bar in safari would just hang. Circle said we accessed the problematic websites with not problem filtering, yet the site would not load.
    
    When I disabled circle, all websites loaded no problem. I reset circle and set it up again, and same problem.
    
    for some reason, the new versions of firmware, 2.1.4.1 is now triggering problems with Disney circle.
    
    NETGEAR, ALLOW US TO DOWNGRADE TO A STABLE FIRMWARE WITH NO AUTO UPDATES.
    
    YOU ARE MAKING A FOOLISH BUSINESS DECISION. THIS WILL PROVE TO BE A LIABILITY FOR SOMEBODY ON YOUR STAFF.
- Elofi
  Tutor
  Apr 29, 2018
  I have tried what you said "SwedBear" and it is working so far. I guess this is the soluition for the firmware, for who is using wired to connect to satallite, the new firmware will enable the daisy channing which enable the poor signal over the wired connection, and this is what created the bug.
  
  Good luck everyone :)
turns2stone
Apprentice
Apr 29, 2018
FURRYe38

So I got a little brave today and tried to establish wired backhaul with this firmware. Both RBS50 (and of course RBS50Y) were doing fine with wireless backhaul. So, I plugged satellite #1 into LAN. After about 5 minutes, the web interface reported Wired backhaul.. yeah!

Then I got brave and plugged satellite #2 into LAN. Crash, boom, bang! Brought the entire system down. Had to reboot router, and all three satellites. Also had to unplug LAN from both satellites and set up the entire system again with Wi-Fi backhaul. Once I had everything back into a steady state, I tried plugging satellite #1 into LAN again, and did get it working via wired backhaul. But I'm not going to try with satellite #2. I have zero confidence it will work.

TL;DR - wired backhaul seems to work a bit better with this firmware, but still too unstable to advertised as a "feature" IMO.
FURRYe38
Guru - Experienced User
Apr 29, 2018
Link to SwedBears process:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/OrbiOS-2-1-4-availability/m-p/1560759/highlight/true#M29582
bryandmlee
Apprentice
Apr 30, 2018
I updated from 2.1.3.4 to 2.1.4.10 two days back and everything is still working fine, one RBR50 router & one RBS50 satellite. If it helps anyone, I updated using my MacBook Pro plugged in via Ethernet and updating from the update prompt in the firmware settings.
Heliix
Guide
Apr 30, 2018
AmitR

That last 2 updates you pushed, knockled out my router. (the last and this one)

both times I am traveling a week for work. This knocks out our alarm system and home automation.

This is not acceptable. i have had the Orbi for only 4 monts and i cant return it.

Please how can i return for a full refund for the the Router and 2 satelites?

MikeS
- Sdiver2489
  Apprentice
  Apr 30, 2018
  Anyone have any ideas of what I can try to do to fix my Rainmachine? It's the only device that drops its connection after a few days. The only thing to get it back to normal is to disconnect it and reconnect it to the router. I don't think even a reboot of the rainmachine works.
  
  Never had this issue with my old Asus router.
  - FURRYe38
    Guru - Experienced User
    Apr 30, 2018
    What channels are you using on the router? try manual channel 1, 6 or 11.
    
    Any other wifi neighbors near by? How many?
    
    Try setting WPA and TPIK only and test.
    
    Try disabling MIMO, Daisy Chain and Fast Roaming.
    
    What is the distance between this rain machine device and the router or satellite? Feet?
    
    Sdiver2489 wrote:
    
    Anyone have any ideas of what I can try to do to fix my Rainmachine? It's the only device that drops its connection after a few days. The only thing to get it back to normal is to disconnect it and reconnect it to the router. I don't think even a reboot of the rainmachine works.
    
    Never had this issue with my old Asus router.
- RavenFan80
  Guide
  May 01, 2018
  Same issue(s) and tested the Google Wifi and will not be going back to Orbi. The systems CRUSHES the orbi when it comes o stability and is also comparable when it comes to speed.
  - Retired_Member
    May 01, 2018
    I have the RBK50 with 3 satellites and have been virtually trouble free for about 9 months. This new firmware is now causing several internet disconnects/day which I have never had before. Using a CM1000 cable modem.
Heliix
Guide
May 01, 2018
I did not pay $525 for a WiFi system to be NETGEARS beta testers!!!!

Give us the ability to disable auto upates..

2 updates 2 bricks..

please stop by to sign the petition to give us the abiltiy to disable auto updates

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Petition-to-disable-auto-updates/m-p/1561982#M29828
- tagteam
  Virtuoso
  May 01, 2018
  Better off voting at the Idea Exchange:
  
  https://community.netgear.com/t5/Idea-Exchange-For-Home/Orbi-System-Disable-automatic-firmware-updates/idi-p/1430660
- tsig
  Luminary
  May 02, 2018
  Heliix wrote:
  
  I did not pay $525 for a WiFi system to be NETGEARS beta testers!!!!
  
  Give us the ability to disable auto upates..
  
  2 updates 2 bricks..
  
  please stop by to sign the petition to give us the abiltiy to disable auto updates
  
  https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Petition-to-disable-auto-updates/m-p/1561982#M29828
  
  If the first update brickeded your system, how could you possible appy a 2nd one?
cheeky
Tutor
May 01, 2018
ARG!!! Now I'm having the same HomeKit issues I was having after the botched 2.1.2.x update. The Home app is expeiencing consistent issues with 'not responding' devices when they are clearly online and connected.

Repeated issues with devices not responding that was only solved after going back to V2.0.1.4. I got to enjoy 2 weeks of blissful stability after you pulled that update. Now you've FORCE AutoUpdated to 2.1.4.10 and I'm having the *exact* same issue.

The inability to control how and when my hardware is updated is a HUGE problem. You have a bug in this firmware that clearly maifests itself after updating OFF 2.0.1.4 and I cannot go back to the last stable firmware version without the damned thing autoupdating nearly immediately after downgrading.
- budy
  Luminary
  May 01, 2018
  Homekit relies solely on mDNS (aka Bonjour). There are a number of apps available on iOS and macOS, which will tell you which Homekit devices are present on your network. Look for the HAP entries and verify, that the IPs of your Homekit devices are present. If they're not, than something might be blocking the mDNS broadcast on your network.
  
  As far as I can tell, nothing has changed between either 2.1.2.18, 2.1.3.4 and 2.1.4.10 regarding Homekit, but I do have only one Homekit-Bridge on my network.
  - ZoneMaster
    Apprentice
    May 01, 2018
    Something MUST have changed in the 2.1.4.x! I updated to 2.1.4.14 last week (& I was probably running 2.1.4.10 just prior to that).
    
    I lost ALL mDNS/Bonjour discovery late last week for the first time ever.
Philiposan
Aspirant
May 02, 2018
Amit thank you and your team for you persistence in improving the Orbi product and its firmware. I am a new user and installed about 3 weeks ago. I did download the 2.1.4.10 firmware Version for both the main router and the two satellite units. While the system runs beautifully and fast (often over 290 mps) I still am getting problems with drop off of the Internet once or twice a week which requires me to power down the router to get it to reset. Since the new firmware update I have not had to power down and reset my Comcast Wi-Fi modem however and that is an improvement. Is there a possibility that a new firmware update will make the system more stable so it doesn't drop off? Or is there a setting I should consider right now in the system control software to eliminate the problem?

Forum Discussion

OrbiOS 2.1.4 availability