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Unable to bring up Orbi management login page
Something strange seems to have happened this morning. Yesterday my RBR50 and four RBS50 satellites were functioning just fine, and had been since late December when I added the last two satellites....
OK I'm back in business.
I ended up doing the factory reset, but now I don't think that was actually necessary.
After the factory reset I spent an hour or more re-syncing my 4 satellites, changing the router's IP address to 192.168.21.1, and then adding address reservations for the 20-odd devices that are using my LAN.
Then I went through all the settings of the router to make sure I had set everything up the way it was before.
When I came to "Always Use HTTPS to Access Router" under Web Services Management in Advanced Setup, I didn't remember how I had set that before, but it seemed it would be useful to avoid the constant nag from the browser when I load the Orbi web page.
THAT WAS A MISTAKE!!
After it was applied, it kicked me out, and then I had the exact same issue as before.
I remembered reading that Firefox was the recommended browser, and since I was having no luck with either Chrome or Edge, I downloaded Firefox and voila, it worked. Firefox seems to have more detailed handling of certificate issues. In this case Netgear's certificate was a year or more out of date. Firefox let me proceed anyway, where Chrome and Edge would not.
So in Firefox I immediately unchecked the HTTPS box, and now once again I can access the Orbi from any browser.
My guess is that something got upgraded or revised in Chrome and Edge recently, and today was the first time I tried to access the Orbi management page since that happened. I really have no idea.
But at least now I have Firefox installed in case I have future problems accessing Orbi's page.
ICPete wrote:
When I came to "Always Use HTTPS to Access Router" under Web Services Management in Advanced Setup, I didn't remember how I had set that before, but it seemed it would be useful to avoid the constant nag from the browser when I load the Orbi web page.
THAT WAS A MISTAKE!!
After it was applied, it kicked me out, and then I had the exact same issue as before.
Interesting account. That "use https" setting has bitten people before.
I haven't see your "workaround" before. People usually just disable that to restore sanity.
Your Firefox solution doesn't tie in with my experience. Maybe it is a version thing.
When I first tried that setting, I was on Firefox. I was till left high and dry.
Just shows that it isn't a good idea to rely in just one browser on your system.
Agreed; browser issues are always this huge black box to me.
Maybe Firefox worked because it was a new install, so there was nothing related in the cache.
However I had already tried clearing the cache, cookies, etc in Chrome and Edge, to no avail.
It certainly could be that Firefox' latest version, which I downloaded, has some new features to help deal with certificate issues, while Chrome and Edge are more designed to just be "idiot-proof". If they don't like the certificate, they just tell you the site is not responding.
Since the inability to reach the Orbi management page was new and sudden behavior, I initially assumed there was something "broken" within the router.
But at this point I'm much more convinced it was something that changed in Chrome since whenever I had last accessed the Orbi (may have been several weeks ago). I usually allow Chrome to upgrade whenever it suggests there's a newer version. Maybe that's a mistake...
ICPete wrote:
I'm much more convinced it was something that changed in Chrome since whenever I had last accessed the Orbi (may have been several weeks ago).
This is correct. There are some long conversations on the forum (within the past 10 days) about the Chrome update that refuses to connect to the Orbi https site. It also affects Edge (based on Chrome?) and Opera. My guess is that before too long, the Firefox browser will include the same feature.
Wow, thank you for letting me know!
That's my bad for not spending enough time looking around the forum for related issues; I did search for topics related to not being able to access the web page of the Orbi router, but obviously I didn't search well enough or long enough!
This is very good news, as it means there's definitely nothing "wrong" with my Orbi system.
I'm going to make sure my Firefox browser never gets updated; there should be a place to uncheck for automatic updates.
ICPete wrote:
This is very good news, as it means there's definitely nothing "wrong" with my Orbi system.
Wrong.... well, maybe. I read enough of the discussions for my head to spin.
Notice what happens with Edge:
First, Edge complains about the self-signed SSL certificate. Then when the users says, "Continue..." it pops another complaint "ERR_SSL_KEY_USAGE_INCOMPATIBLE"
My plan is to continue using the unencrypted web interface. When the browser complains "Not Safe", just tell it to go there anyway and the browser quits complaining.
CrimpOn wrote:
ICPete wrote:
I'm much more convinced it was something that changed in Chrome since whenever I had last accessed the Orbi (may have been several weeks ago).
This is correct. There are some long conversations on the forum (within the past 10 days) about the Chrome update that refuses to connect to the Orbi https site. It also affects Edge (based on Chrome?) and Opera. My guess is that before too long, the Firefox browser will include the same feature.
Browsers sure are getting picky about "security" stuff. Throw in Windows and other defence mechanisms and is getting harder and harder to keep up with everything.
I find that while Edge does try to be over protective it also has clear(ish) prompts and ways to penetrate the "here be demons" threats.
I don't have Chrome on my main PC. Just Edge and Firefox, each of which has its own separate raft of apps and addins, making it impossible to do everything in just one browser. So much for industry standards.
Be sure to save off a back up configuration to file for safe keeping. Saves time if a reset is needed.
https://kb.netgear.com/000062080/How-do-I-back-up-the-configuration-settings-on-my-Orbi-WiFi-System
ICPete wrote:
Agreed; browser issues are always this huge black box to me.
Maybe Firefox worked because it was a new install, so there was nothing related in the cache.
However I had already tried clearing the cache, cookies, etc in Chrome and Edge, to no avail.
It certainly could be that Firefox' latest version, which I downloaded, has some new features to help deal with certificate issues, while Chrome and Edge are more designed to just be "idiot-proof". If they don't like the certificate, they just tell you the site is not responding.
Since the inability to reach the Orbi management page was new and sudden behavior, I initially assumed there was something "broken" within the router.
But at this point I'm much more convinced it was something that changed in Chrome since whenever I had last accessed the Orbi (may have been several weeks ago). I usually allow Chrome to upgrade whenever it suggests there's a newer version. Maybe that's a mistake...
