Hello,

I have a RBR50 running V1.12.0.18 for weeks without issue. I moved the physical position of the router device and its uplink moved to a different port on my HP1910 switch. Ever since this move (or perhaps it was simply a power off/on), the router device is showing the magenta solidly and is not manageable. I use a Sophos UTM firewall to assign IP addresses (MAC address mapping aka DHCP reservation) so I always know that my PCs and devices will have the same IP address (even when they are set to use DHCP). I am able to manage (like other people have noted) the satellite device (which displays no light ring so all is well), and I can see the wireless network is working correctly and internet works for wireless devices. But the router device cannot be managed by what should be its reserved IP.

I did a power reset on the router device and I noticed that pings to the DHCP reserved IP address did work for around 10-30 seconds and then loss of pings. I checked my firewall DHCP log and it showed the following:

2017:08:16-07:15:09 firewall dhcpd: DHCPDISCOVER from b0:b9:8a:59:ab:42 via eth0
2017:08:16-07:15:09 firewall dhcpd: DHCPOFFER on 10.4.1.25 to b0:b9:8a:59:ab:42 via eth0
2017:08:16-07:15:14 firewall dhcpd: DHCPREQUEST for 10.4.1.25 (10.4.1.1) from b0:b9:8a:59:ab:42 via eth0
2017:08:16-07:15:14 firewall dhcpd: DHCPACK on 10.4.1.25 to b0:b9:8a:59:ab:42 via eth0
2017:08:16-07:15:19 firewall dhcpd: DHCPDISCOVER from b0:b9:8a:59:ab:42 via eth0
2017:08:16-07:15:19 firewall dhcpd: DHCPOFFER on 10.4.1.25 to b0:b9:8a:59:ab:42 via eth0
2017:08:16-07:15:24 firewall dhcpd: DHCPREQUEST for 10.4.1.25 (10.4.1.1) from b0:b9:8a:59:ab:42 via eth0
2017:08:16-07:15:24 firewall dhcpd: DHCPACK on 10.4.1.25 to b0:b9:8a:59:ab:42 via eth0
2017:08:16-07:16:01 firewall dhcpd: DHCPRELEASE from b0:b9:8a:59:ab:42 specified requested-address.
2017:08:16-07:16:01 firewall dhcpd: DHCPRELEASE of 10.4.1.25 from b0:b9:8a:59:ab:42 via eth0 (not found)
2017:08:16-07:16:01 firewall dhcpd: DHCPRELEASE from b0:b9:8a:59:ab:42 specified requested-address.
2017:08:16-07:16:01 firewall dhcpd: DHCPRELEASE of 10.4.1.25 from b0:b9:8a:59:ab:42 via eth0 (not found)

The HP switch shows the correct MAC address and the IP address (that the firewall has assigned to the RBR50) under the switch's ARP Management: Arp table. RTSP Port fast (aka port edge) was on for the port it was changed to. Turning off Port fast did not help.

Despite what https://kb.netgear.com/23664/How-do-I-locate-my-router-s-IP-address tells us, that the management IP should be 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1, using Wireshark to look at ethernet traffic led me to find that the IP was really 169.254.29.170.

Using this self-assigned IP, I was able to get to the management page (after I changed my computer to be in that IP range) and try out the suggested trick of setting the Advanced: Advanced Setup: Router/AP mode to be AP mode (even though it is already selected), and hitting apply. After the Orbi rebooted, it was able to pickup the DHCP reserved IP from the firewall and hold onto it for more than a minute. But only until the next reboot. Then it would do the usual sequence:

1. Obtain from DHCP an IP address.
2. Release the IP address
3. Become self-assigned.

Just to be sure my Sophos UTM was not to blame with some sort of DHCP reservation problem, I cleared the DHCP leases on the firewall. Then I rebooted the orbi but with the reservation removed from the firewall. As expected, the Orbi got an IP from the DHCP pool and then released it 10 seconds later and became self-assigned. Same sort of nonsense recorded in the firewall DHCP log as above, except where ever it said "(not found)", it was showing "(found)"

The trick of "selecting" AP mode and doing a reboot only works until you next reboot the Orbi router. Setting the "Choose IP Address settings on this access point" from "Get dynamically from existing router" to "Use fixed IP Address (not recommended)", and then setting the fixed IP to be the same as the DHCP reservation I had on the firewall, seems to be the best option for me to continue to have a manageable Orbi (so I can see Attached devices), which withstands Orbi reboots. You can only set the fixed IP when in this Router/AP mode screen as the other Internet Setup screens are disabled.

Don't ask me why other people are finding it helpful to do the opposite of what was my solution - going from the Router/AP mode of using "Use fixed IP Address (not recommended)" to "Get dynamically from existing router".

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