Some domains related to cryptocurrency mining are blocked and possibly crashing my Orbi RBK853

I've been having issues with my Orbi router blocking certain domains related to cryptocurrency mining, and possibly crashing my router. I've never been able to access getmonero.org from behind my router, but if I'm connected directly to my cable modem I can access it just fine. So I know it's not my ISP and it's not my host machine. Since changing NOTHING except removing my Orbi router fixes the issue I can only conclude that the Orbi is blocking the domain. I don't have anything on my Orbi "block sites" or "block services". DNS resolution of getmonero.org works fine, but TCP connections always return "Connection refused".

Recently I've been having issues accessing flexpool.io as well. I mine ethereum when my PC is idle (I have solar so the energy costs are not an issue) and have used flexpool.io in the past for this, but starting a month ago or so I started seeing weird behavior where connections to flexpool.io were intermittently blocked. Just like with getmonero.org, DNS resolution was fine, but the actual TCP connections would always return "Connection refused". Then a few days ago after firing up my Ethereum miner for the first time in a few weeks my router crashed entirely. I couldn't get in to the management interface or anything, I had to do a factory reset. I didn't think it could possibly have been my network access to flexpool.io that crashed the router so I fired things back up again today. Everything looked fine at first, flexpool.io was loading fine and I was mining ETH successfully, but lo and behold after a few hours of mining connections to flexpool.io stopped working again. The Orbi hasn't crashed yet but I assume it's already in some kind of corrupted state and will probably do a factory reset anyway.

It's absolutely blowing my mind that network traffic to crypto sites is nuking my $1k mesh wifi router, but I don't know what else to conclude at this point. Any ideas on further troubleshooting I can perform here?

My firmware version is V3.2.18.1_1.4.14. My model wasn't available in the dropdown menu above, but I have the RBK853 AX6000 (Amazon link). Main router plus 4 satellites.

Troubleshooting

7 Replies

mgalgs
Aspirant
Jun 07, 2021
Curious if anyone with an Orbi system can try accessing getmonero.org as a simple test since that's so reliably "blocked" for me. If you don't want to load it in a browser a simple `curl` test is fine:
❯ curl -L getmonero.org curl: (7) Failed to connect to www.getmonero.org port 443: Connection refused
Curious to see if anyone else can reproduce this issue because some searching online for other reports has proved fruitless.
- CrimpOn
  Guru - Experienced User
  Jun 07, 2021
  mgalgs wrote:
  Curious if anyone with an Orbi system can try accessing getmonero.org as a simple test since that's so reliably "blocked" for me.
  I have the original Orbi RBR50, and getmonero.org loads fine in web browser.
  My PC is using the Orbi to resolve DNS, and the Orbi DNS is currently set to 1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8
  (No Armor. No Parental Controls.)
- CrimpOn
  Guru - Experienced User
  Jun 07, 2021
  mgalgs wrote:
  Curious if anyone with an Orbi system can try accessing getmonero.org as a simple test since that's so reliably "blocked" for me. If you don't want to load it in a browser a simple `curl` test is fine:
  ❯ curl -L getmonero.org curl: (7) Failed to connect to www.getmonero.org port 443: Connection refused
  
  Curl is not the sort of thing most PC users would turn to. (Yes, it is available at least on my Windows 10 machine)
  Would you mind sharing what sort of system this is?
  - mgalgs
    Aspirant
    Jun 07, 2021
    This is affecting every system on my network. I've reproduced it under Linux, Mac OS, iOS, Android, and Windows (yes I have an OS addiction problem, I know).
    
    The system that I confirmed CAN access getmonero.org after plugging directly into the modem (bypassing the Orbi) is a Manjaro Linux system.
FURRYe38
Guru - Experienced User
Jun 07, 2021
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
Do you have Armor enabled by chance?
- mgalgs
  Aspirant
  Jun 07, 2021
  FURRYe38 wrote:
  What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
  It's actually a Netgear Nighthawk CM2000. But if I plug my PC directly into the modem I don't see these issues, so I don't think it's an issue with the modem.
  
  FURRYe38 wrote:
  Do you have Armor enabled by chance?
  No, it's disabled.

Forum Discussion

Some domains related to cryptocurrency mining are blocked and possibly crashing my Orbi RBK853