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Forum Discussion
(Yet another) Problem with LAN breaking down between Router and Satellites
Hello, I have found quite a few (older) threads here from users that used to have problem with their LAN connection breaking down between devices connected in various scenarios on the main unit and...
I also have a RBR20 and 2 RBS20 satellites. However my RBR20 is in AP mode. I have the latest firmware and do not have the issues you’re experiencing. Have you changed the location of any of the ORBIs? I’m into home automation as well but use an ISY994i as my controller. I realize that doesn’t relate to your connectivity problems. Assuming you had solid connectivity at one time, it sounds like you’re getting interference now or an Orbi has been relocated. However, since I’m not in router mode with my RBR20, it could be a firmware issue as you suspect. Do you have fast roaming turned ON? I had problems with that in the past and turned it OFF. Is your transmit power at 100% ? MIMO turned ON?
I have not relocated any Orbi , at least not vastly. I mean when I de-dust the place where each Orbi device is, yes they may be moved a few centimeters (2-3-5max cm) but that's it.
Fast roaming is OFF
Transmit power is 100% for both 2.4 and 5Ghz
And MIMO is ON
I am leaning towards firmware issue(s) as interference would be affecting my devices under all circumstances. However this is not the case. To make an example using my aforementioned robot-vacuum , it is possible to control the vacuum from 2 clients.
1. From Xiaomi Mi Home which is the official client (app) of the maker company and utilizes a client->server->device topology. That means that when I log onto the app I am actually loging into the cloud server of Xiaomi which in turns has info on which external IP my vacuum is at (my IP) and whatever command I issue goes through the server, to the robot. In that scheme the vacuum is still able to respond no matter what. Very fast very accurately. Which means it's signal is not being interfered with. If it was ... the command arriving from Xiaomi Cloud , to my Router , to the Satellite and wirelessly looking for the vacuum would not be delivered, but it is.
2. From Home Assistant platform which resides in my local network. Home Assistant is a server-like program which issues commands directly to my vacuum through the local network. So Home Assistant is on 192.168.1.4 on Orbi Router (RBR20) and the vacuum is on 192.168.1.49 on Satellite-1 (RBS20) and of course as it vacuums it jumps locations to Satellite-2 or Router as well. When the logs of Home Assistant show it cant reach the vacuum on 192.168.1.49 two things are also true:
- I am able to ping my vacuum through a cmd ping 192.168.1.49 and it replies perfectly
- The Xiaomi App (mentioned in #1) is also able to reach my vacuum through the internet perfectly
This is what leads me to believe that there is something weird going on between the routing tables inside of Orbi. I don't know if it's the DHCP or the ARP or if it is even the sync that should be happening between the Router and the Satellites after every reboot - that could also be a possible culprit in a sense that it could have a bug in the process of passing the ARP tables from the Router to the Satellites.
After my original post I tried hard-rebooting Router and Satellites (turned off and on through their respective hardware buttons) something that I do not usually do since I prefer rebooting them through the management panel. Thought maybe there was a glitch that persisted through software reboots in some weird cache... How wrong I was.
Next test would be turning off the Satellite that seems to present the most problems. And monitor the logs for a few hours. I'll be back with more info.
Thank you,
George