Orbi RBK753 enters a boot loop every time the uplink goes down

Hi!

Thank you for your help.

Let me take them one by one:

How are you determininng the RR enters a boot loop? 

I see that the SSIDs go off the air, then they come back.

For several seconds after that, I see all 3 SSIDs: main, Guest and IOT. That is the typical behavior it has when it starts up.

Are you seeing the front LED as PINK or Blinking White?

The LEDs stay OFF all the time

How is the RBR configured for AP mode? Using Dynamic IP address configuration or Static IP address configuration? 

DHCP

What brand and model # host router is the RBR connected too? 

It's an x86 hardware with opnsense. But I had this same behavior when I had a router from my provider.

Review problems at the host router to help prevent connection issues with the RBR. 

That's not the issue. I can solve problems on the opnsense.

The problem is, sometimes I need to make settings on the opnsense where I bring it offline. Sometimes unintentionally, but it happens.

And then it's very frustrating, because with the Orbi constantly rebooting, I can't reach the opnsense anymore, to bring it online.

In any case, I don't think the solution to a bootloop of the Orbi should be "check the upstream connection". A bootloop is a very serious thing.

And, in order to solve issues with the upstream router, I need the Orbi to let me access the router in the first place.

That's what pissed me off yesterday: I could barely reach the router to solve the problem.

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.

No. I downgraded the firmware yesterday, but I still have that behavior (maybe the interval betweeon reboots is a bit longer, but maybe I'm just imagining that). No factory reset, though.

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

My range is 10.0.0.x.  But I would hate to have to type so many characters for IP addresses every time. I have a network where I have to type IPs fairly often.

Still, I don't think that's an excuse for a bootloop.

Is there any way to report this to Netgear as a bug? It's a pretty serious thing.

CrimpOn wrote:

Which WAN connection is this:

The connection to the pfSense box? or
The connection between pfSense box and the RBR750?

It's the first option.

I mean, I try to do various settings to implement some level of parental controls. Sometimes, I get that wrong and the opnsense doesn't allow either outgoing or incoming traffic to the internet.

Yesterday, to test the LED behavior, I did that intentionally and just cut internet access for only the IP of the Orbi router (not the satellites). The Orbi started to reboot, but everything else was working in between.

But so far, I never had an instance where the opnsense itself was unreachable through the Orbi because of routing settings.

So, for some seconds in between reboots, the opnsense is always reachable, which is how I eventually manage to restore the connection.

CrimpOn wrote:

If it is the link between pfSense box and the RBR750 then, of course, it is impossible to reach the pfSense box from anything connected to the Orbi 750 system.

That was unclear wording on my side. Routing wise, the opnsense is always reachable.

But I see the Orbi going off air, all wirelss connections lost on all devices, SSID absent for all devices, then after some seconds, all 3 SSIDs back (normal, IOT, Guest, even though the router itself doesn't have an option for IOT network in the settings, and this thing where all 3 are visible for a while is weird, but whatever), then only the normal SSID is on air, works for some seconds, then the cycle repeats.

CrimpOn wrote:

Definitely strange. The 750 user manual says:

Indeed. But I guess where there's room for one bug, there's room for one more.

Maybe the router just resets the WiFi module, while the OS itself keeps running. Although, I would expect that to be a shorter operation than the durations I see.

I'll try a factory reset as FURRYe38 suggested, I just need to find some time.

I was hoping to avoid this, because the pairing of satellites is honestly not the most seamless operation.