NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Solved
Satellite's show 'waiting for connection' always in Firmware Update (V2.5.1.16)
Hi... I have an RBR50 Router and two RBS50 Satellites.... My router and satelittes were on V2.5.1.8 but I was not getting any connectivity to the Satellites on the Firmware Update page... they both j...
Okay, I have solved this issue...
I gave up on trying to put satellites into a Ethernet wired location that defines a perimeter of my house... Router in the middle of the house on main floor networking closet, Satellite #1 in the middle of the basement in the networking closet, and Satellite #2 in the far garage (with Ethernet). The issue here was that while they were great Ethernet wired locations, they were horrible for Wireless Backhaul communcation between the RBR50 and the two RBS50's. Im concluding that Ethernet) is not a substitute for this as the Orbi devices *need* to have wireless communication at all times, even if they are using Ethernet Backhaul.
The new locations are 'closer in' to the RBR... basement location is in the room directly below the RBR location on the main floor and the second satellite is now in the Laundry room right before the garages start, so it is in the main house floorplan with obstacles, but no exterior walls to go through)
With this topology, Im obviously on Wireless backhaul and not Ethernet backhaul, but at least the satellites are showing as connected.
REMEMBER: Just because a satellite is listed in Connected Devices and in the Satellite section, it does *NOT* necessarily mean it is synced with the router and sucessfully backhaul communicating... I had both Wired and Wireless icons showing in that section and my satellites did not appear to be doing anything. The only reliable way I have determined to tell that the Satellites are actually connection to the RBR50 and functioning to route wifi traffic between them and the RBR is via two ways..
1. Firmware Update Page.... if it says 'Waiting for connection' they are NOT connected to the RBR.
2. Orbi App - Will show the Satellites as Red or Green dots by their icons with the actuall RBR connectivity status.
I am going to try and get a couple RBW30s or RBS20's to put into the locations where I current have my RBS50's to see if I can move the RBS50's back into a nice Ethernet connected location but use the smaller satellites to hop communication from the distant RBS50's back to the RBR50. So, another $200 getting thrown at this problem, but hopefully that should make things much more reliable.
In closing, this has been frustrating, but alas, it is important to understand the topology. The Netgear interfaces certainly are not all that clear in communicating the full status of all the Orbi devices because there seems to be somewhat conflicting info depending on where you look, this was really the crux of my confusion. I hope that Netgear can continue to get the UI more polished and the Orbi App is actually fairly nice.. so I appreciate it.
Both RBS50's seem to work fine when they are in the same room on Wireless communication with the RBR50. It's when I go to LAN backhaul that everything falls apart and the RBR50 and Orbi app shows the RBS's as offline.
Is the MAC address on the RBS50 the same via Wireless AND LAN (port 1?).... Im not sure what you are attempting to suggest with the IP reservation... my DHCP server hands out the same LAN IP Address to the RBS50's after a reboot... so they are essentially 'reserved'... but the RBS50's certainly show two different IP addresses between WiFi and LAN... however, they are the same after a power cycle and move to their respective locations. In summary, my DHCP will give both the WiFi and LAN RBS50 interfaces, the same IP address (via reservation) after a power cycle.
Im hesitant to go through the process of a factory reset on the RBR firstly because of the pains, and secondly, because of the other recent thread (started the same day) by another person who did go through the same factor RESET on the RBR and is having a very similar issue to me. We are both on the 2.5.1.16 firmware (not that I think it is a firmware issue, I was having the same issue on previous firmware versions as well, for years).
I suspect I need to understand the topology requirements for the Wireless communication between the RBR50 and RBS50, because Im assuming that the LAN backhaul connection can completely replace that functionality? I may be wrong, not clear.
Okay, I have solved this issue...
I gave up on trying to put satellites into a Ethernet wired location that defines a perimeter of my house... Router in the middle of the house on main floor networking closet, Satellite #1 in the middle of the basement in the networking closet, and Satellite #2 in the far garage (with Ethernet). The issue here was that while they were great Ethernet wired locations, they were horrible for Wireless Backhaul communcation between the RBR50 and the two RBS50's. Im concluding that Ethernet) is not a substitute for this as the Orbi devices *need* to have wireless communication at all times, even if they are using Ethernet Backhaul.
The new locations are 'closer in' to the RBR... basement location is in the room directly below the RBR location on the main floor and the second satellite is now in the Laundry room right before the garages start, so it is in the main house floorplan with obstacles, but no exterior walls to go through)
With this topology, Im obviously on Wireless backhaul and not Ethernet backhaul, but at least the satellites are showing as connected.
REMEMBER: Just because a satellite is listed in Connected Devices and in the Satellite section, it does *NOT* necessarily mean it is synced with the router and sucessfully backhaul communicating... I had both Wired and Wireless icons showing in that section and my satellites did not appear to be doing anything. The only reliable way I have determined to tell that the Satellites are actually connection to the RBR50 and functioning to route wifi traffic between them and the RBR is via two ways..
1. Firmware Update Page.... if it says 'Waiting for connection' they are NOT connected to the RBR.
2. Orbi App - Will show the Satellites as Red or Green dots by their icons with the actuall RBR connectivity status.
I am going to try and get a couple RBW30s or RBS20's to put into the locations where I current have my RBS50's to see if I can move the RBS50's back into a nice Ethernet connected location but use the smaller satellites to hop communication from the distant RBS50's back to the RBR50. So, another $200 getting thrown at this problem, but hopefully that should make things much more reliable.
In closing, this has been frustrating, but alas, it is important to understand the topology. The Netgear interfaces certainly are not all that clear in communicating the full status of all the Orbi devices because there seems to be somewhat conflicting info depending on where you look, this was really the crux of my confusion. I hope that Netgear can continue to get the UI more polished and the Orbi App is actually fairly nice.. so I appreciate it.
At some point you may want to dive into the ethernet net problem and see what is causing the ethernet connected RBS to not work right.
CAT# can be one factor. CAT6 would be minimum recommended.
Bad cabling.
Bad cable terminations and jacks or bad jack wire configurations could cause problems.
IF you have any LAN switches or patch panels in between the RBR and RBS could cause problems.
I run all CAT6A and CAT6 for my network.
Use D-Link DGS-105/108 and HP ProCurve 1400/1800 series switches
No issues seen when I connect my RBS via ethernet while on v16 or prior versions of FW.
Status seen in the RBRs connected clients page will reflect what the status is for the connected RBS.
Good Luck.
