Firmware V1.12.0.18 Discussion

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YabbadabbaDoooo wrote:

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cohoman wrote:

I've been having the same disconnect issues with the latest firmware (V1.12.0.18). It seems the WiFi is connected to my Android smartphone and tablet, but the internet is not available. My wife reported to me she's been having the same issue with her iPhone as well. Very frustrating. I tried to downgradt to V1.9.1.12, but I can't seem to get the main router to accept the firmware (the web page just spins and spins and doesn't finish). I'm at the point now of ditching this system and going back to a conventional single-Router system (not Netgear!).

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Try a Factory Reset and try to load the FW of the Satellite(s) first.  May have to plug in directly to them with Ethernet.    Even if you get the system to take a rollback without a factory reset, in my experience something still doesn't work right unless you do a clean load.  

 

Also, if you can return the system for a full refund you will be better off than those of us who missed our window of opportunity.  Even if you get it stable and working as it is supposed to, it is a crapshoot whether the next FW update jams up your system.  

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Thanks for the advice. I bought this router system from Costco, so I do have the ability to return it for a full refund. I originally decided to go with this system because the back half of my house has a weak connection to my WiFi router. I've tried everything, but there's something in the walls that seems to block the signal between the front and back of the house. The Orbi system seems to work well so far as signal strength, but the constant internet disconnects is very frustrating. I'm leaning towards returning the system and going back to a single router. I may need to find a way to hardwire two routers together to get better coverage between both halves of my house.

Cohoman.. I have a similar house.  One story, spread out with the main service plug in (modem and router) in one corner of the house.  Fireplace and walls between that and Master bedroom in opposite corner of the house.  I was using a Netgear R6100 and an extender but the speed was horrible from both.  I have 125Mbs Down cable internet so I needed something like the Orbi.  When it was working as advertised for about 3 weeks, it was the best I had ever seen.  Sadly as you know that doesn't last.  If I were you, I would run a 100ft Cat 5 cable from your modem (may need to buy an Ethernet Port Switch) to the part of your house that a single router won't reach.  Then you can plug in another single router there and possibly just run it on 5Ghz if you don't need broader coverage.  That is what I think I am going to do as soon as it cools off enough to go through my attic.  It isn't as hard as it sounds.  You are fortunate to have bought your system from Costco.  I have heard from others on this Forum that they have the best return policy of anyone.  

In the meantime, after a factor reset and clean load, followed by at least one power cycle, try changing the 2.4 and 5 Ghz channels, turn off anything not really necessary like Beamforming, MI-MUMO, etc.. and see what happens.  You may also want to try changing MTU size to 1500.  I read that was a solution NG Tech Support finally came up with for a user in another thread.  

Good luck.  

My two satellite system is currently working, but it was down for a month. The symptoms on my system were that the satellites showed as attached devices, showed that they were not transmitting on either channel on login to the device, and were obviously non-functional. The router continued to operate. I rolled back to v.1.11 and everything worked. However, I was not able to block the autoupdate despite jumping through the various hoops in this thread. I went through two levels of phone support. The first tier suggested replacing one of the satellites. (At the time it was consistently flashing magenta while the other was solid blue but not connected). That did not make alot of sense to me, as both were non-functional and there was obviously a firmware problem. Second tier support was really very professional but ultimately advised me to await a firmware update that should take about a week. (This was all two or three weeks ago). I posted an honest Amazon review while shopping for a replacement system. I explained this was a great system when it worked, but it stopped working  with issues that have not been addressed. The review engaged a more poractive support level. I was advised to go through RMA to replace both satellites. I agreed but told them I was skeptical a replacement would work since the system would operate on the earlier firmware. After the RMA was initiated, I received a phone call from an engineer. He asked whether I have spaces in my password. I told him that I used a passphrase consistent with best practices recommendations. He suggested that removing the spaces would fix my issues, indicating that he had reproduced this in his office. He called while I was at dinner, and I did not have enough time to discuss the issue with him. However, I eventually had a chance to take out the spaces, and it did not fixed the problem. Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to do more than reboot the system after the password change, and I never had a chance to discuss whether the proposed fix entailed something more. The new satellites were delivered shortly thereafter, I set them up, and they have been working consistently for the last several days (on 1.12.0.18 firmware). I have had a few brief wifi drops since, but no other problems.

My point here is that I wish I had the opportunity to test the "no spaces" hypothesis more. It is certainly dumb to not allow spaces in a password. However, two things changed to take my satellites from functional to non-functional. I removed spaces from the password, and I got entirely new satellites. If someone has the same symptoms on 1.12.0.18, I would suggest removing spaces from the password and performing a factory reset of all components to determine whether there is a "spaces" problem. If that does not help, I would conclude that some satellites have a hardware based incompatibility with v.18 firmware.

No spaces in my WIFI password- wish the problem was that simple.

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cohoman wrote:

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I may need to find a way to hardwire two routers together to get better coverage between both halves of my house.

 

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If you don't care about the high networking speeds that Orbi provides, and can still return the Orbi, I would recommend trying some AV2 powerline ethernet devices. Those are much better than AV first generation in terms of actually being able to connect.

AV1200 are the best deal. Don't count on achieving more than 50 Mbps sustained, but that is good enough for internet - not good enough if you are doing large LAN transfers between hosts. You can then attach an AP to each of the powerline ethernet units.

The TP-link units I got are firmware upgradeable, but they do not automatically upgrade their firmware.

I can telnet into the main router (192.168.1.1) to change the nvram settings so it will not auto update the firmware, but how do I do that for the satellite units? I tried to telnet to their IP addresses, but I get a "cannot connect to remote host. connection refused".

Thanks.

Did you go to the IP/debug.htm and enable telnet on the satellite first?

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dazzywazzy wrote:

Did you go to the IP/debug.htm and enable telnet on the satellite first?

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Yes, I figured out my problem. from the browser I needed to first log into the IP address then I could access the debug.htm page to enable telnet. After that, I was able to upload the older firmware to that satellite device. So, I have my 2 satellites downgraded to the older firmware (V1.9.1.12) but now I can't seem to upload the same firmware version to the main router. I go to Manual Update and select the V1.9.1.12 img file and click update, then all I see in the browser is a spinning wheel. After several minutes I try to refresh the page and I see the latest V1.12.0.18 firmware installed.

You can try two things.

- Go down to 1.10 or 1.11 first, then 1.9. You may need to go 1.11, then 1.10, then 1.9

- Factory reset both then go down to 1.9

Good luck

Ok, after several page refreshes I was FINALLY able to get the main router and satellites firmware downgraded to V1.9.1.12. What an ordeal.

Now, after rebooting everything the main router is on the older V1.9.1.12 but the two satellite routers are back to the V1.12.0.18. They somehow upgraded themselves even though I logged into both of them and changed the nvram settings.

Crap. I'm giving up now. This is just not worth the hassle. Tomorrow I'm taking these back to Costco and will try a single router approach. Thanks for everyone's feedback and help.

Did you copy the NVRAM settings I posted, or someone elses?

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dazzywazzy wrote:

Did you copy the NVRAM settings I posted, or someone elses?

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Your's, I believe. I set the nvram settings for the router and the satellites.

Using the below, I've not had the router or satellite update for 8 days now

FWIW my NVRAM settings which I changed are below

Router:

orbi_auto_upgrade=0

orbi_auto_upg=0

auto_update=0

auto_check_for_upgrade=0

auto_upgrade_flag=0

fwupgrade_Method=MANUAL

Satellite:

auto_check_for_upgrade=0

auto_upgrade_flag=0

fwupgrade_Method=MANUAL

Settings I'm monitoring but haven't changed as I don't know the outcome

Router:

detect_update=899798033

manual_upgrade=109908109666630

green_download_upgrade_stat=0
upgrade_satellite_image=109908109666630

Satellite:

upg_status=1

upgrade_check=49902240

dazzywazzy wrote:

Using the below, I've not had the router or satellite update for 8 days now

 

FWIW my NVRAM settings which I changed are below

 

Router:

 

orbi_auto_upgrade=0

orbi_auto_upg=0

auto_update=0

auto_check_for_upgrade=0

auto_upgrade_flag=0

fwupgrade_Method=MANUAL

 

Satellite:

 

auto_check_for_upgrade=0

auto_upgrade_flag=0

fwupgrade_Method=MANUAL

 

Settings I'm monitoring but haven't changed as I don't know the outcome

 

Router:

 

detect_update=899798033

manual_upgrade=109908109666630

green_download_upgrade_stat=0
upgrade_satellite_image=109908109666630

 

Satellite:

 

upg_status=1

upgrade_check=49902240

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Yup, that's what I used. I modified those 3 specific settings on the satellite and did the "nvram commit" when I was done. For some reason, the satellite firmware upgraded to the newest version after I rebooted the satellite devices.

Could try changing upg_status=1 to upg_status=0 on the Satellite....If you feel like spending more time of course.

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@TXGunLover wrote:

No spaces in my WIFI password- wish the problem was that simple.

I was told the same thing, but it didn't make a difference.  Also, as someone else pointed out, not supporting spaces as part of a password would make the router non-compliant with basic wi fi standards.  

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Six weeks, 21 pages, 509 comments, no meaningful response from Netgear. 

bwherry I'd be wary of looking at Amazon reviews:

http://fakespot.com/product/netgear-orbi-high-performance-ac3000-tri-band-wifi-system-rbk50

By comparison:

http://fakespot.com/product/google-wifi-system-set-of-3-router-replacement-for-whole-home-coverage

You don't have to look at Amazon reviews, you can look at the tech reviews on the internet for the Orbi and Google WiFi. As to "fakespot", I haven't found it helpful. I don't really know what sort of algorithms they use, but as far as I've experienced, they aren't much good. Maybe they'll get better, or maybe I don't look at the sort of products where it would be helpful, but they've been wrong most of the time that I looked at their results. Gave up on them after a few tries.

RogerSC 

Fair call. Tech reviews are notoriously awful for products like this because they generally represent short term use at a single point in time for a product that changes over time. The same applies to customer reviews really.