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Forum Discussion
Solved
Orbi Outdoor Satellite Used to Work, Now Does Not
Greetings friends - any helpful ideas would be most welcome. Details below, but in short, I'm trying to get an Outdoor Satellite to reliably work.
The setup in the house is cable modem to the ...
Ok, the first thing I would do would be to manually update to most current firmware. You have a mish-mash of older versions which have known backhaul issues.
Do the satellites first. RBS50s should be updated to version .32.Regarding your router... you will have to update that to an intermediate version before going to the final version which is .32. The reason is because the newest firmware image is larger than the RBR50 used to allow. The intermediate version changes that parameter and allows you to load the final (larger version).
Here is the RBR50 Intermediate Firmware link:
https://kb.netgear.com/000060612/RBR50-RBS50-Firmware-Version-2-2-1-212
Here is the RBR Objective/final Firmware link (V.32)
http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RBK50/RBR50-V2.3.0.32.zip
Your "Y" is at the most current version so leave that alone.
Your RBW30 should be updated to 2.3.0.4. Here is the update link
http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RBW30/RBW30-V2.3.0.4_1.0.5.zip
You can always bookmark the Netgear Download Center: https://www.netgear.com/support/download/ forfirmware versions.
After completing your firmware updates of satellites and then router... I recommend doing a factory reset to clear out any odd settings or whatnot that might have followed you.
Then setup your router and make the SSID and password what it was before so all your devices join without having to reconfigure.
I think at the end of the day some of your stuff was running pretty outdated firmware so this should help at least with stability and backhaul.
I also think that when you reset it rejoins 2.4 and 5g.
You have already configured your IOT devices so they should fall right back in where they belong as long as you use the exact same SSID and password as before.
WIFI analyzer is indeed a phone app. You might want to load one and check out if anyone is stepping on your channels you are using
Message me or post on here if you have any questions.
Hi Chuck. Thanks for the reply. Here’s the firmware:
RBR50: 2.2.1.210
RBS50Y: 2.2.1.204
RBW30: 2.2.1.204
RBS50: 2.2.1.210
I haven’t done anything to specify daisy chain vs hub & spoke, but it appears to be hub and spoke. I think as I’ve been playing around with it I may have seen something daisychained, but I don’t recall what that was, and that’s not common.
The only thing that’s hardwired is the router. The satellites are all wireless.
The modem is Comcast’s; DPC3939. [Edit: This is in Bridge mode.]
I wasn’t sure about that with resetting the entire system, so thanks. This also reminds me that I’ve - following instructions I’ve found here - don’t something to the router so that it broadcasts different networks for 5 and 2.4; this was necessary for some of my IoT devices. That’s still in effect. Would you say a full reset of everything is likely to help?
I’m in a suburb immediately adjacent to a Chicago. I’d guess there is plenty of RF around. Not sure about the WiFi analyzer - is that an app for a phone?
RBR50: 2.2.1.210
RBS50Y: 2.2.1.204
RBW30: 2.2.1.204
RBS50: 2.2.1.210
I haven’t done anything to specify daisy chain vs hub & spoke, but it appears to be hub and spoke. I think as I’ve been playing around with it I may have seen something daisychained, but I don’t recall what that was, and that’s not common.
The only thing that’s hardwired is the router. The satellites are all wireless.
The modem is Comcast’s; DPC3939. [Edit: This is in Bridge mode.]
I wasn’t sure about that with resetting the entire system, so thanks. This also reminds me that I’ve - following instructions I’ve found here - don’t something to the router so that it broadcasts different networks for 5 and 2.4; this was necessary for some of my IoT devices. That’s still in effect. Would you say a full reset of everything is likely to help?
I’m in a suburb immediately adjacent to a Chicago. I’d guess there is plenty of RF around. Not sure about the WiFi analyzer - is that an app for a phone?
Ok, the first thing I would do would be to manually update to most current firmware. You have a mish-mash of older versions which have known backhaul issues.
Do the satellites first. RBS50s should be updated to version .32.
Regarding your router... you will have to update that to an intermediate version before going to the final version which is .32. The reason is because the newest firmware image is larger than the RBR50 used to allow. The intermediate version changes that parameter and allows you to load the final (larger version).
Here is the RBR50 Intermediate Firmware link:
https://kb.netgear.com/000060612/RBR50-RBS50-Firmware-Version-2-2-1-212
Here is the RBR Objective/final Firmware link (V.32)
http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RBK50/RBR50-V2.3.0.32.zip
Your "Y" is at the most current version so leave that alone.
Your RBW30 should be updated to 2.3.0.4. Here is the update link
http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RBW30/RBW30-V2.3.0.4_1.0.5.zip
You can always bookmark the Netgear Download Center: https://www.netgear.com/support/download/ forfirmware versions.
After completing your firmware updates of satellites and then router... I recommend doing a factory reset to clear out any odd settings or whatnot that might have followed you.
Then setup your router and make the SSID and password what it was before so all your devices join without having to reconfigure.
I think at the end of the day some of your stuff was running pretty outdated firmware so this should help at least with stability and backhaul.
I also think that when you reset it rejoins 2.4 and 5g.
You have already configured your IOT devices so they should fall right back in where they belong as long as you use the exact same SSID and password as before.
WIFI analyzer is indeed a phone app. You might want to load one and check out if anyone is stepping on your channels you are using
Message me or post on here if you have any questions.
Thank you so much for all of this - super helpful. I'll start with the firmware updates tonight. Might not tackle the reset until the weekend, so that I'm not scrambling into the wee hours if something goes bad. But on the topic of a reset, we're talking about resetting the router, and each of the satellites, right? Any particular order you'd add the satellites back in?
Now remember a reset will erase special configurations... did you say you split 2.4 and 5g networks? If so, this will rejoin them (shouldnt be a problem if you already have your devices configured) and restore the "mesh" functionality.
If I were need to do a reset, I would use the web gui (192.168.1.1) and do it from there at the router. You only need to do that once... satellites will "follow suit"
Chuck_M wrote:
Now remember a reset will erase special configurations... did you say you split 2.4 and 5g networks? If so, this will rejoin them (shouldnt be a problem if you already have your devices configured) and restore the "mesh" functionality.
The SSIDs are (2.4) whatever24 and (5) whatever. I assume I'd have to set the network up again as whatever24 to get the IoT devices to seamlessly join back up, right? That upsets my OCD impulses a bit.
With the advice below about disabling the 5ghz SSID, I'm not as worried about this any longer. I don't mind the idea of a reset followed by potentially having to add some devices back into it, to get a properly named and properly functioning network.
Chuck_M wrote:
If I were need to do a reset, I would use the web gui (192.168.1.1) and do it from there at the router. You only need to do that once... satellites will "follow suit"
Meaning the satellites will reset themselves if I reset the router from the web GUI?
And in terms of rebuilding the network, any special technique to use, or just syncing the satellites to the router as if they were coming out of the box?
Thanks for your help!
As an update, I did update the firmware on each device as you recommended. By the next morning, the router and the RBS50 had updated themselves to .44. That's handy - hopefully that means no need for manual updates going forward (the annoying piece is the iOS app keeps sending me notices that the router has updated).
The outdoor satellite is unplugged at the moment, as it didn't need a firmware update anyhow.
I've reoriented the RBS50 to face the garage - it's in the same spot physically, just the front of the device is now looking toward the garage, rather than facing into the house. With that change, and the firmware updates, I've got nearly max speeds in the garage -- without the RBS50Y on a shelf, unplugged. So that tells me it's unnecessary.
That leaves me to reset the router. There's a part of me that wants to revert to what I learned a long time ago with networking: Leave well enough alone. Things seem to be working exactly as I need them to at the moment. But, the iOS app reports that the satellites are sometimes green, sometimes magenta. I haven't noticed anything drop offline (my Nest cameras seem to be pretty good canaries for this, and they've been online consistently since the firmware updates). So, should I disregard what I see on the app, or is that another argument for nuking the whole system? The other question is whether the smart switches in the garage will remain connected; I'll evaluate that later today.
