RBS50 Firmware very old, can't update

The most recent firmware for these devices is:

RBR50 and RBS50 - v2.7.5.4

https://kb.netgear.com/000065539/RBR50-RBS50-Firmware-Version-2-7-5-4 

 

RBS40 - 2.7.4.24

https://kb.netgear.com/000064873/RBR40-RBS40-Firmware-Version-2-7-4-24 

 

The process recommended by most users on the Community Form is this:

• Download the router and satellite firmware *.zip files from the support web sites.
• Extract the actual firmware images from the *.zip files (and remember where they are on the computer)
• Open a web browser and connect to each satellite in turn. Log in with the Orbi credentials ("admin" and password). Select the menu item Firmware Update. Browse to select the correct image file, and upload.
• After all satellites have been updated, use the web browser to log into the router and navigate to the Firmware Update page.  Select the Manual Update tab at the top of the page.  On that page, browse to the location of the router firmware image and upload it.

I see two issues:

 

First: That version 1 firmware is really old.  It is impossible to update directly from that version to the latest firmware.

Netgear released a version in 2019 specifically to make it possible to transition from the older versions to the newer versions:

https://kb.netgear.com/000060612/RBR50-RBS50-Firmware-Version-2-2-1-212 

This requires two steps: (1) update satellite firmware to this version, then (2) update satellite firmware to the desired version.

 

Second:

There have been numerous posts on the forum recently about major issues with the AX series products when the router and satellite are on different firmware releases  (BIG TIME PROBLEMS)  It is not entirely clear whether this is a problem for the original Orbi WiFi5 systems (or not).

 

As you may have noted above, the RBS40 firmware was not updated in Feb 2023 when the RBS50 firmware was.

 

My advice (for what it's worth) is to update everything to v2.7.4.24 and "see what happens".