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Solved
Solution to fix Orbi Satellite flashing white forever/failed upgrade
TL;DR
If your satellite upgrade fails and is stuck with the white pulsing led forever, follow Netgear's instructions for a manual upgrade, but do not download their TFTP2.exe file, use this one on ...
- When the satellite is in Recovery mode, it will not ask for a DHCP address, and instead will only use 192.168.1.1. Also, you'll have to have it connected directly to your computer. If router is set for that subnet, it'll already take 192.168.1.1, so you'll have IP conflicts and likely be unable to see the satellite with an IP scanner. You *might* be able to reassign the router's IP, but then again you could just save a lot of trouble by connecting the satellite directly to computer. Plus a direct connection has the lowest chance for a corrupted upload.
Should mark this thread as solved so others will know.
lightmaster wrote:
TL;DR
If your satellite upgrade fails and is stuck with the white pulsing led forever, follow Netgear's instructions for a manual upgrade, but do not download their TFTP2.exe file, use this one on Sourceforge instead. Run the Client GUI, it won't ask for a password and doesn't need one.
Full Post:
I came here because I tried to update a RBR40 and RBS40 and while the router upgraded fine, the satellite's upgrade failed and left it in the permanent boot up state. I read another post on here where someone was looking to fix this issue and ended up returning their system since he/she couldn't fix it, and since their thread is now locked, I wanted to post how I got it fixed.
Symptoms: Attempted Satellite upgrade through router's webgui, and satellite never reconnected to the router. Satellite then had an odd pulsing white light on the top, not a smooth fade on and fade off pusle, but a fade on and sudden off pulse (different from the initial pulsing of it booting up the very first time. Reset button was entirely unresponsive and would not reset the satellite no matter how long it was held in. Computer connected to satellite via Ethernet and manually set to an IP of 192.168.1.5 could not ping the satellite.
Solution: Found this page where Netgear discribes manually upgrading your router or satellite via TFTP2.exe program, however not only did the manual upgrade fail, but the power light did not flash as they indicated.
Instead of going solid amber -> flashing amber -> flashing green, mine went solid amber -> flashing amber -> a single flash of green -> flashing amber. After this flash of green, I attempted to ping my satellite and was suprised that the ping was successful. The TFTP2.exe I downloaded that Netgear referenced however, would say "Erasing" for a second, then "Upgrading", then freeze halfway and fail. So I connected back to wifi and found this TFTP utility from Sourceforge, last updated in 2013! I ran the program listed as "Client GUI". It looked very different from Netgear's, and didn't ask for a password like Netgear's did, but once I disconnected from wifi again and attempted the manual upgrade, it said that it sent the .img file successfully! 10 seconds later the top light on the satellite flashed red for a fraction of a second, and then the power led turned solid green. 10-15 more seconds, and the top light started a nice fade on, fade off pulse like it had the very first time, and after a couple more minutes, it turned blue and was successfully connected to the router. No need to sync them or anything.