NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.

Forum Discussion

anpanmant's avatar
anpanmant
Follower
Apr 03, 2022

RBK50 bricked? Cannot factory reset, no LED blink with power reboot

I am experiencing a "brick" situation that has been widely reported here and the Netgear Forum in the last 2 years or so. Today, I just suddenly lost connections to all my devices at home. There is no power outage or anything... I am wondering if anyone has found a solution and would appreciate an update.
Setup:
RBK50 with 2 satellites (purchased in Feb 2019), firmware up to date last checked 1 month ago
Huawei HG8045 modem provided by network provider
Modem -> RBK50 -> Netgear Nighthawk S8000 -> 2 Satellites
Symptoms:
  • Power LED at the back is on constant green
  • I have reboot modem, router, switch for numerous time. I have also switched the Cat6 cables that connect them
    • Plugged my modem into my PC directly and it works. Modem has "Power" and "PON" light on. The lan port light are not on even though it is connected to the Orbi.
  • The TOP (connection) LED of ORBI is completely off. DEAD AND GONE no matter what you do.
    • During reboot, usually there is a blinking white light. The white light doesn't even come on when I reboot now.
    • I cannot factory reset it. I have tried both default 15s methods and the 30-30-30 method that has been recommended. It does not even go into the amber/orange light at all no matter how long I press.
  • As the unit does not even enter the amber blinking status, I cannot use Tftpd64 method to flash the firmware. My PC simply cannot just detect the LAN connection to the router even though I have set the IP manually according to the instructions.
How my situation is different from the reported ones:
  • After reboot (power off then on), my PC and phone can still see my Wi-Fi. However, it cannot connect to the Wifi (i.e. IP configuration failure).
  • The Wi-Fi will be on only for a few minutes after it is rebooted. It's unstable.
Is my Orbi dead? Obviously it is out of warranty... I am surprised there are so many similar cases reported and completely lose faith in this brand. I may go for Google or Asus in 24 hrs.
Any insight would be appreciated.
Other cases reported on Reddit and Netgear Forum:

1 Reply