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New - RBR850 / RBS850 Firmware Version 7.2.6.21 Released
New Features: 09/08/2023
- Supports Separate SSID IoT network.
https://kb.netgear.com/000064267/How-do-I-enable-or-disable-the-Internet-of-things-IoT-network-on-my-Orbi-WiFi-6E-System
https://kb.netgear.com/000064269/How-do-I-change-the-Internet-of-things-IoT-network-name-SSID-and-password-on-my-Orbi-WiFi-6E-System
- Mixed Mode WPA2/WPA3
Enhancements:
- Improves the stability of connections between router and satellites
- Improves satellite firmware upgrade stability
Security Fixes:
- This firmware addresses security vulnerabilities. For more information about security vulnerabilities, visit https://www.netgear.com/about/security.
Yes, this IS A MAJOR FW version jump from v4.
Download Link:
https://www.netgear.com/support/product/rbk852.aspx
Please navigate to the link below for step-by-step instructions on how to update your RBR850/RBS850:
Be sure to update the RBS FIRST, then the RBR lastly.
I HIGHLY recommend after the FW is loaded on the system and it's back to ready, power OFF all Orbi units and the ISP modem/ONT for 1 minute. Then back ON with the ISP modem/ONT first, then RBR then RBS.
The best advise we can give people is to start a new config, power on one RBS and wait for some SOLID light or most often blue or magenta. And then add the RBS WIRELESSLY via the WebUI. Power off the RBS. Then rinse and repeat with any additional RBS(s). Pair RBS one at a time even if you have more than one. For ethernet connected RBS, after things come up wirelessly, you can move to wired backhaul but don't start with wired backhaul for those RBS that are ethernet connected. Wirelessly connect and sync RBS first before ethernet connecting RBS.
NOTE: Orbi app or the routers web page may not report seeing new FW updates. NG may not push this to there auto update services immediately and may activate the newer FW update being seen on there auto update services at a later time. User will have the choice to manually update if you want too.
NOTE: The Disable Auto Update feature only prevents ANY new FW from being installed if available. This does NOT prevent the system from checking NG services to see if new FW is available. If new FW is available, this will be displayed as a notification to the user on the RBRs web page only. It will be up to the user to upgrade FW or not.
A factory reset maybe needed if problems are encountered after the FW update:
https://kb.netgear.com/31486/How-do-I-reset-my-Orbi-system-to-factory-default-settings
NOTE: Recommend setting the default DHCP IP address pool range to the following after applying and a factory reset: 192.168.#.100 to 192.168.#.200
This article applies to:
Let us know how it works for you...
Update went smooth, no issues so far.
159 Replies
Is there a view in the Orbi web interface/mobile client to see, to which SSID the clients are connected to? Especially introducing the IoT SSID, would be nice to see...
for some reason post firmware update access to the admin console is glacially slow. Doesn't matter how close/far i am in the chain to the RBR. already did one complete factory reset plus a new flash of the firmware. any ideas?
update: cts/rts to 2347 seems to have improved things immensely.
What browser are you using? Try other browsers to see if problem follows.
Be sure to clear out all browser caches before entering the routers web page?
Try 192.168.1.1?
Do other PCs or laptops exhibit this same issue?
Is Armor or SPC enabled on the RBR?
spoonelli wrote:
for some reason post firmware update access to the admin console is glacially slow. Doesn't matter how close/far i am in the chain to the RBR. already did one complete factory reset plus a new flash of the firmware. any ideas?
RBR is in AP mode - wired backhaul - two ethernet connections from fios router to lan ports (not WAN) - same setup that has worked flawlessly for a while. no armor or SPC.
tried across different browsers and machines.
CTS/RTS seems to have done the trick
FURRYe38 wrote:
What browser are you using? Try other browsers to see if problem follows.
Be sure to clear out all browser caches before entering the routers web page?
Try 192.168.1.1?
Do other PCs or laptops exhibit this same issue?
Is Armor or SPC enabled on the RBR?
spoonelli wrote:for some reason post firmware update access to the admin console is glacially slow. Doesn't matter how close/far i am in the chain to the RBR. already did one complete factory reset plus a new flash of the firmware. any ideas?
I've been using this firmware for several weeks and largely believe experience has been good. I do believe there's a bug, however, in the web interface. It regularly reports one of my satellites with a "poor" backhaul status:
Things always showed "good" under previous firmwares and I didn't move the locations of my Orbi devices. When I view the system via my phone app, it reports all "good". Additionally, when I power-cycle my system, I receive the blue light on satellite #2 indicating a healthy connection to the router. Hence, I assume this must be a glitch/bug. I've been ignoring the "poor" report and devices are communicating just fine w/ Satellite #2. Just thought I'd pass along...
Try moving the RBS closer to the RBR.
Try swapping RBS with each other to see if status changes or moves with RBS.Did you power OFF the Orbi system for 1 minute then back ON after FW was updated?
Quaksyx wrote:
I've been using this firmware for several weeks and largely believe experience has been good. I do believe there's a bug, however, in the web interface. It regularly reports one of my satellites with a "poor" backhaul status:
Things always showed "good" under previous firmwares and I didn't move the locations of my Orbi devices. When I view the system via my phone app, it reports all "good". Additionally, when I power-cycle my system, I receive the blue light on satellite #2 indicating a healthy connection to the router. Hence, I assume this must be a glitch/bug. I've been ignoring the "poor" report and devices are communicating just fine w/ Satellite #2. Just thought I'd pass along...
I certainly did power off/on as suggested. Additionally, I finally factory reset router and satellites and set up from scratch, which didn't alleviate the "poor" back haul status issue. I will point out that if I hover on the config page it will intermittently also read "good" on Satellite #2 (and flip back to "poor" after hovering longer). Perhaps I will try moving the units, however, I will say that I have Ring cameras outside the home and under previous firmware one of the cameras would frequently report a weak internet signal; with this firmware I've had no issues with Ring, which is an improvement.
I've had the RBR850 and 1 satellite since they came out. I've been checking for updates via the ORBI iOS app and there never seemed to be any, so I thought the auto-update feature must be working.
Not until I began to look for information on the RBR850 support for VLANs did I discover that, in fact, there have been firmware updates. Many firmware updates, none of which my RBR850 received.
Here's the 'before' portion via the AP's admin screen from today:
And after a manual update:
Now, my Orbis sit behind a pfSense security gateway, but the Orbi's are not prevented from going out to the WAN via a firewall rule.
Is there a reasonable explanation other than a problem with the Netgear's update process?
_dood
Have seen others with Orbi sitting behind firewall devices that can and do seem to block some traffic from getting from the Orbi system or Orbi app to certain NGs AU services. I've not had this issue however mine doesn't sit behind a firewall device.
It's recommended to check NGs download site or here in the forums for notices of FW updates that you can and is recommended to manually update Orbi systems using a web browser. Be sure to update the RBS first then RBR lastly.
_dood wrote:
Many firmware updates, none of which my RBR850 received.
According to the RBR850 support site, v7.2.6.21 is the first update since v4.6.14.3
The release notes show this became available on Sept 8, 2023. Over the years, Netgear seems to have a distinct pattern regarding firmware updates:
- New firmware appears on the support site where some users discover it and choose to update to it. Despite a Quality Assurance process (that is not publicly documented - perhaps thought of as a Trade Secret) and (in this specific case) a beta test period involving a number of community volunteers, more wide-spread use tends to uncover unexpected situations.
- Depending on what these early adopters report, at some point (again not documented) Netgear causes router firmware to be able to detect the new firmware and install it. Generally, this is more than one month after it shows up on the support site. (in some cases several months) Of course, customers who do not look at the firmware update web page or the Orbi app will not be aware of this. In past years, at least one firmware update was pulled because of negative feedback and did not make it to this step.
- At yet another point in time, Netgear can cause the web interface and Orbi app to throw up a prominent announcement on their home page, "New Firmware Available". Again, customers who do not look at the web or Orbi app will not be aware of this.
- Finally, Netgear may elect to use their option to force the update without notice. (It's in the Terms and Conditions that no one reads.) And, yes, customers who do not look at the web interface or Orbi app are blissfully ignorant.
This update to the 750 and 850 product firmware was substantial. (Hence the abrupt jump from version 4 to version 7.) Netgear may have felt that less than a month is too soon to move on from Step 1.
Thank you for that explanation. Maybe the jump from version 4 to version 7 appears that way for RBR850, but that same software stack has had many more updates for other products (4-->5-->6-->7).
Love my Orbi, too. Though thinking of looking for a WAP that supports VLAN tagging.
Since the firmware upgrade on both my two satellites and router, I've been seeing intermittent internet disconnections. When I look at the router and the connection to the WAN, I see that the DHCP lease time is changed to 49710 days which I believe means "infinite lease". The only way to solve this is to reboot the router. Trying to release and renew has no effect.
If this continues, i may need to revert.
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
Be sure your using a good quality LAN cable between the modem and router. CAT6A STP is recommended.Has a power off for 1 minute then back ON with the ISP modem and router been performed since last update?
Be sure to restart your network in this sequence:
Turn off and unplug modem.
Turn off router and computers.
Plug in and turn on modem. Wait 2 minutes for it to connect.
Turn on the router and wait 2 minutes for it to connect.
Turn on computers and rest of network.
Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update? A complete pull of the power adapters for a period of time after the factory reset then walk thru the setup wizard and setup from scratch with a wired PC and web browser. https://kb.netgear.com/22697/How-do-I-install-my-NETGEAR-router-using-the-router-web-interface
Recommend setting the default DHCP IP address pool range to the following after applying and a factory reset: 192.168.#.100 to 192.168.#.200.
https://kb.netgear.com/24089/How-do-I-specify-the-pool-of-IP-addresses-assigned-by-my-Nighthawk-router
https://kb.netgear.com/25722/How-do-I-reserve-an-IP-address-on-my-NETGEAR-router
I would power OFF the ISP modem for 1 minute. Factory reset the router and power it off. Power ON the ISP modem and let it sync. Then power ON the router and walk thru the setup wizard again using a wired PC and a web browser.
Press the back reset button for 15 seconds then release.
https://kb.netgear.com/31486/How-do-I-reset-my-Orbi-system-to-factory-default-settings
https://kb.netgear.com/000062081/How-do-I-erase-the-configuration-settings-on-my-Orbi-WiFi-System
hcheng25 wrote:
Since the firmware upgrade on both my two satellites and router, I've been seeing intermittent internet disconnections. When I look at the router and the connection to the WAN, I see that the DHCP lease time is changed to 49710 days which I believe means "infinite lease". The only way to solve this is to reboot the router. Trying to release and renew has no effect.
If this continues, i may need to revert.
Thank you for your suggestions. My ONT is a Adtran 411 (https://help.sonic.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000419668-Adtran-411) through Sonic Fiber. We have Cat6 wired through the house from our recent re-model. The ONT is located in our garage, with ethernet to the closet in the center of our home. I have two satellites on opposite corners of the house to get coverage. We live in a SF home, so we have long 'shotgun' style narrow houses.
I have powered down the device as you have outlined prior to your message, given adequate times for power down and capacitor discharges, and unplugged the fiber / ethernet cables from the ONT and plugged them back in just to make sure. I was even on the phone with Sonic to make sure the ONT was fully up and registering on their network prior to plugging in the NG router back in.
The only thing I've tried new today is as you suggest, do a factory reset by holding the reset button. I saved off my previous settings to a backup file, reset the router and the satellites, and then re-loaded my configuration.
I did not change my LAN DHCP IP pool from 100-200 (it's currently at default 2-254). I forgot.
Like I said, i was not having any of these issues with prior firmware revisions and this only occurred once I updated to the 7.2.6.21 release.
I'll let you know if my intermittent disconnects are still occurring.
Manual upgrade to new firmware from 4.x went fine. Only issue I had was a solid blue light on the satellite. After update I could see everything connected fine and FW updated fine on both router and satellite. I power cycled the satellite and eventually the solid blue disappeared.
This update was performed this evening 11/27/2023 and will report back here in case of issues.
Next time, besure to power sysble BOTH RBS and RBR off then then back ON.
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
Enjoy. 📡
Coness wrote:
Manual upgrade to new firmware from 4.x went fine. Only issue I had was a solid blue light on the satellite. After update I could see everything connected fine and FW updated fine on both router and satellite. I power cycled the satellite and eventually the solid blue disappeared.
This update was performed this evening 11/27/2023 and will report back here in case of issues.
- it is still necessary after this FW update that the ethernet cable between the router/modem en the RBR850 is connected to the lan port and not the yellow internet port, when the RBR850 is set to AP mode (in a RBK853 system).
Kind regards.Yellow WAN port is needed in router or AP mode.
Strange issue here, not sure why as it never happened before. (Also not with this FW which has worked flawlessly from day one)
Suddenly I experience slower WIFI speeds on my ORBI 853 set. Still stable but somehow slower.?? I have not changed anything in settings, positions of the satellites... nothing.
When I do I speed test with the ORBI app on my router it runs at full speed (1GB connection).
So I guess the speed in-house is fine.
But the speed on my connected devices on WIFI is somehow slower than normal. Previously about 800 MBIT /sec on my desktop pc. But now apx. 600 MBIT.
The only change I can think of that was a week ago when Internet stopped working due to changes from my Internet provider. They told me that I no longer had to loop the signal from their router and into my ORBI system. So now the seperate fiber box is directly connected to the ORBI router instead of looping through their router.
So instead of 3 boxes, I only have fiber box connected to ORBI router. When I changed that i was online again.
Could that small change lead to WIFI speed issues? Can't think that could be the reason as the wired devices have full speed?
Any ideas?? Tried rebooting both ISP hardware (Fiber box), ORBI router and my 2 satellites?
(Haven't done a factory reset, as I would like to avoid that here in the Christmas holiday where everyone is home)
Any ideas if I have to change something in setting to solve it?
Help!!!! this firmware update i am having some problem with.
I thought it was all going pretty straight forward, updated the satellites and then the router.
restart the router, got the white flashing light and then it went out, no blue light.
reset the router to factory settings and now it just flashs white light and then a fixed white light.
I tried putting an ethernet cable into the router to get back in to see what was up, but with no luck.
i have done all the usual stuff, restart the modem etc.
Any ideas?
This discussion started in Sept, 2023 and has now reached over 90 posts. It becomes really confusing to figure out what is going on when someone comes in at the end. How many of those previous 90+ posts are relevant to their situation?
It might be more productive to start a new conversation by stating what seems to be the problem.
Assuming this is the same Orbi 850 system from 2021, was it just now updated to firmware v7.2.6.21?
Page 10-11 of the user manual does not mention a blue light on the router.
https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RBK852/RBK852_UM_EN.pdf
The LED flashing white and then going out appears to indicate "success".
If the router is Factory Reset again and allowed to power up, does the default WiFi signal appear?
(the one printed on the product label on the bottom of the router)
It is not clear what happened when attempting to use an Ethernet cable with the (router? satellite?)
ok i got it up late last night, everything up and running. 🙂
To be honest not entirely sure what got it going.
The only thing i noticed was that i was able to get the "routerlogin.com" to work and then it said it was changing the ip address to 10.0.0.1.
Was able to then configure it as before.
Thanks
The only thing recommended after the system was updated would have been powering OFF the RBS and RBR for one minute then back ON. Then observe. If problems were seen then a factory reset and setup from scratch would have been next step.
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
Dsteve wrote:
Help!!!! this firmware update i am having some problem with.
I thought it was all going pretty straight forward, updated the satellites and then the router.
restart the router, got the white flashing light and then it went out, no blue light.
reset the router to factory settings and now it just flashs white light and then a fixed white light.
I tried putting an ethernet cable into the router to get back in to see what was up, but with no luck.
i have done all the usual stuff, restart the modem etc.
Any ideas?
Hi,
I like to leave the update of my router to itself: when it informs me that there is an update. Strangely, for this update it still tells me that there is no new version of router firmware. Is it normal that for a such a long period of time, the servers for Europe - or where ever they really are - (I am living in Austria) are not making this update available for the users ?
- I’ve read the site that tells how to update the Firmware on the 850. I just don’t trust myself to do it. I’m not good at this stuff and I depend on internet too much. I’m experiencing slower speeds over both Wi-Fi and Wired lately. Can someone walk me through this process please? I’m hoping that the firmware update will resolve my speed issues. Knowing my luck it won’t help anything. I don’t know what’s going on. It’s annoying though. I always assumed a 1 gig connection would be flawless all the time.
Find you a friend, family member or a tech service in your locale city to have them help you with updating your system:
https://www.reddit.com/r/orbi/comments/1abok3u/manually_update_firmware
- Might someone on here be willing to step me through it? I have Reddit. We could DM back and fourth. I can’t imagine it’d take too long. Also, once I do it, I’m sure I could do it again next time without the assistance.
- When it says above “ Recommend setting the default DHCP IP address pool range to the following after applying and a factory reset: 192.168.#.100 to 192.168.#.200” where do we change this please?
mikeinlondon wrote:
When it says above “ Recommend setting the default DHCP IP address pool range to the following after applying and a factory reset: 192.168.#.100 to 192.168.#.200” where do we change this please?Anyone else having an issue with FW v7.2.6.21 and satellites now not allowing the Guest network internet access? If a guest is connected to the router itself, they have internet access.
Satellites are individually ethernet connected to the router. If the satellites are wirelessly connected instead, the guest network works.
Gone through the usual factory reset, re-applying the FW, etc., etc.
