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Forum Discussion
dbwiddis
Mar 24, 2020Star
Orbi RBR50 + Circle frequent DNS failures
I've spent the better part of the past two weeks troubleshooting some DNS issues. They are similar to those reported recently here and probably here and related to similar reports as long as a year ...
- Mar 24, 2020
I've already given up trying to get Orbi to function as a proper Router + Disney + Armor, because it's nothing but trouble. To get Orbi to a stable state, I have to disable practically everything that I could disable, including its internal DNS and DHCP client. I'm currently keeping Orbi for its WiFi capability and delegate all other router functions to DIY pfSense Router Firewall.
I went through a similar pain before I settled on the current setup, which has been holding up quite well during Stay-At-Home order.
- SB8200 -> pfSense -> Orbi AP Mode with static DNS servers and IP address
I settled on pfSense because I need a reliable Gigabit Router with enterprise class DNS resolver, DHCP, Firewall, DNS Filtering, VPN, plus a whole bunch of other features that I don't really need. If you're comfortable with installing pfSense, it's worth a shot.
SW_
Apr 01, 2020Prodigy
daisycat wrote:I have the same issue. I upgraded my firmware to V2.3.5.30 and still no luck.
If you're comfortable with telnet cmd, try the workaround suggested by dbwiddis :
...
Eventually I found that using the GUI to "release" and "renew" DHCP solved the problem without a reboot, and after a bit more research, traced the problem to the "dnsmasq" service running on the router as part of Circle. I was (and am) able to recover the DNS by telnetting into the router and executing "/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart".
...
Some users have also been successful working around DNS issue with factory reset, daily reboots, or disabling Circle. YMMV.
kgividen
Apr 01, 2020Guide
Here is something interesting that isn’t making a lot of sense to me. I disabled circle via the admin console. However, I didn’t reboot the router. So circle still seems to be active because I added a computer and the app on my phone notified me plus it’s blocking YouTube on my kids machines etc. and I’m able to add/remove things to profiles.
However, I’m at like day 5 or so without any outages. So I’m not sure what to think about that one. Maybe the problem had been fixed or there is some glitch that was fixed when I “disabled” circle. I’m hesitant to reboot my router but figured I’d throw this out there. It seems circle related but not sure how yet.
However, I’m at like day 5 or so without any outages. So I’m not sure what to think about that one. Maybe the problem had been fixed or there is some glitch that was fixed when I “disabled” circle. I’m hesitant to reboot my router but figured I’d throw this out there. It seems circle related but not sure how yet.
- FURRYe38Apr 01, 2020Guru - Experienced User
What happens if you power OFF the RBR for 10 seconds then back ON?
kgividen wrote:
Here is something interesting that isn’t making a lot of sense to me. I disabled circle via the admin console. However, I didn’t reboot the router. So circle still seems to be active because I added a computer and the app on my phone notified me plus it’s blocking YouTube on my kids machines etc. and I’m able to add/remove things to profiles.
However, I’m at like day 5 or so without any outages. So I’m not sure what to think about that one. Maybe the problem had been fixed or there is some glitch that was fixed when I “disabled” circle. I’m hesitant to reboot my router but figured I’d throw this out there. It seems circle related but not sure how yet.