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DarkSpock's avatar
DarkSpock
Aspirant
Jun 04, 2020

Satellite showing Orange Light in App

Hey all--   Not sure when it rolled out, but yesturday, I upgraded the firmware on my Orbi to v2.5.1.16 and since then the Satellite that I have downstairs has been showing a solid orange light in ...
CrimpOn's avatar
CrimpOn
Guru - Experienced User
Jun 04, 2020

My first thought is to confirm the situation with the Orbi web interface.  Open a web browser and navigate to http://orbilogin.net. Select the menu item "Attached Devices".  Satellites appear at the top of the page and indicate their connection as "Good" or "Poor".  If the web interface says "Good", I would tend to think that "All is good."

 

There is another way to check using telnet. (This  is more complicated.  I would not go that far if the web interface reports "Good").

DarkSpock's avatar
DarkSpock
Aspirant
Jun 04, 2020

I checked and the backend does indeed say it's poor. 

 

I followed another post's guide to try and fix poor backhaul status and so far it's not helped. 

 

I enabled Beamforming and MIMO

and I disabled Daisy Chain and  Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only.

 

After that didn't work, I moved the satillite to a higher and closer position downstairs, but it's still showing as a poor connection status. 

  • CrimpOn's avatar
    CrimpOn
    Guru - Experienced User
    Jun 04, 2020
    DarkSpock wrote:

    I checked and the backend does indeed say it's poor. 

    Beamforming, 20/40 coexistance and MIMO relate to the "user side" of the Orbi.  As far as I know, they are not relevant to the backhaul connection.  Eliminating Daisy Chain is useful because when Daisy Chain is activated the satellite(s) create a separate backhaul SSID to talk among themselves.

     

    Since the satellite is "portable", it would be simple to move it to different locations to see where you get a "blue light" on the satellite "ring light" (at the top) when it powers up.  https://kb.netgear.com/31030/What-do-the-LEDs-on-my-Orbi-mean 

    For example, in the same room with the router, it definitely should light up blue and be shown as "Good".

     

    I am at a loss to explain how one set of firmware could show as "good" and a newer firmware show as "poor" when nothing else has changed.

     

    If you are into this sort of thing, you can connect to the "inside view" of the Orbi router and see what it says specifically about the satellite connection.

     

    • On the Orbi debug page (http://orbilogin.net/debug.htm) check the box "Enable Telnet".
    • Open a telnet client program (Windows has one built in. There are free versions for Mac and Android) and connect to the Orbi router:
      telnet <ip addr of router>
    • Log in with the router credentials: "admin" and the web interface password.
    • Type this command:
      satelliteinfo wifi
    • This will display information about the satellite connection. Mine looks like this:
      {
      "mac address" : "A0:04:60:0D:96:FA",
      "hop" : "1",
      "bridge mac" : "A0:04:60:0D:96:FA",
      "backhaul conntype" : "5GHz",
      "backhaul rssi" : "-68",
      "backhaul macaddress" : "A0:04:60:0D:96:FD",
      "backhaul phytxrate" : "877",
      "backhaul phyrxrate" : "975",
      "backhaul parentmac" : "A0:04:60:1C:02:39"
      }
      I have emphasized the relevant information.  According to the published specs, the maximum theoretical rate between RBR50 and RBS50 is 1733mb.  Since my satellite is several walls away from the router, I am getting "close to 900".  Your RBR20 claims a maximum theoretical link rate of 833mb. https://www.netgear.com/images/datasheet/orbi/RBR20.pdf