Primary wireless not working

Question

I've been having this same issue. Persisting through several firmware versions, since I purchased the devices in April. I had to call support at one point and was on the phone for hours as we factory reset, reloaded firmware, power cycled for hours. Eventually we were able to get them functional, satellite sync'd and clients connecting. Though to be honest, I've no idea what combination of the several steps we tried fixed the issue or if any of them did at all. Seemed more of a happen stance that the services happened to work as intended eventually.
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They stayed stable for a good month and a half or so, and then issues started up again. Devices couldn't connect, satellite continuously going in and out of sync when using wireless backhaul. When wired, the satellite stays synced, keeps its IP, but wireless devices still have problems.
Extensive troubleshooting again, update firmware, factory reset, every possible combination of boot order and sync command given.&nbsp;Devices that I statically IP'd had no issue, nor did devices hard wired into it.&nbsp;
Changed the DHCP scope range , which would almost be a partial fix, more devices would connect. Changed again, stayed stable for 3 days or so.
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DHCP seems to be the culprit here. Or more specific, DHCP over wireless. Possibly something as simple as DHCP service intermittently not being able to listen on the wireless interface, and when it does, its brief, and problems show up again when the leases expire and need new ones. Speculating because of the limited view into the device we have.&nbsp;Either going to return them and pick up a different mesh system, or just setup DHCP server on one of my windows machines and be on the lookout for firmware fixes. Haven't decided.
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Model: RBR/RBS 750 | Router and 1 satellite
Backhaul: Wired at the moment
Firmware:&nbsp;V4.6.8.5_2.1.9
Router connects directly to ONT.&nbsp;
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FURRYe38 · Answer

What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
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What is the size of your home? Sq Ft? What is the distance between the router and 📡 satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS📡 to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.
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Is the RBS directly connected to the back of the RBR or is there a patch panel and or LAN switch in between them?&nbsp;
What CAT# LAN cable are you using? CAT6 is recommended.&nbsp;
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What channels are you using? Auto? Try Auto and 48 on 5Ghz. Or try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz.Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?
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Atlantis6694 · Answer

Not sure why this got moved to its own thread. I was more trying to help others that came across the last one like I did.

I assume the line of questions are a generic discovery to help pinpoint issues, not issue specific.

What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft? 1400 sqft1
What is the distance between the router and 📡 satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS📡 to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected. about 20ft minimal interference in between. When DHCP is working, backhaul always shows solid. Currently have it wired though, but have moved it from right next to the RBR to different spots in different rooms. Issues persist.

Is the RBS directly connected to the back of the RBR or is there a patch panel and or LAN switch in between them? Directly

What CAT# LAN cable are you using? CAT6 is recommended. CAT5E or CAT6

What channels are you using? Auto? Try Auto and 48 on 5Ghz. Or try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz. Radio band isn't too saturated that Auto does its job at finding less congested bands. Use site survey tool to check.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

hiltxan · Answer

I saw a reply to the other thread and also that your post got moved to a new one.

I did suspect that there was an issue with the orbi router DHCP server for wireless for the primary wifi, since the guest and wired clients always worked.

I tried to use a spare dd-wrt router and use that as a DHCP server, disabling the orbi router DHCP services. The modem was still connected to the orbi WAN port. The orbi router cannot connect to the orbi satellites (both wired and wireless) so I lose the mesh function when I do this and I think it's because the orbi router is not able to commnuicate/assign IP addresses to the satellites. I tried to power cycle and reset the satellites but none of this worked.

Is it possible to use a spare router for DHCP server and still be able to use the satellites? How do I configure this?

FURRYe38 · Answer

Atlantis6694&nbsp;wrote:
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What is the size of your home? Sq Ft? &nbsp;1400 sqft1What is the distance between the router and 📡 satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS📡 to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected. about 20ft minimal interference in&nbsp;between. When DHCP is working, backhaul always shows solid. Currently have it wired though, but have moved it from right next to the RBR to different spots in different rooms. Issues persist.
20ft to TOO close in between the RBR and RBS. 30 feet or more is needed. Even wire connected. Also for 1400 sq ft, Only the RBR and maybe 1 RBS is needed. Try turning down the power on the RBR from 100% to 25%.&nbsp;
Is the RBS directly connected to the back of the RBR or is there a patch panel and or LAN switch in between them? Directly
What CAT# LAN cable are you using? CAT6 is recommended. CAT5E or CAT6
&nbsp;
What channels are you using? Auto? Try Auto and 48 on 5Ghz. Or try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz. Radio band isn't too&nbsp;saturated that Auto does its job at finding less congested bands. Use site survey tool to check.Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

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Atlantis6694 · Answer

I'm seeing the same behavior and suspected that's why the satellites keep going out of sync as well.&nbsp;&nbsp;I can't imagine turning off DHCP on the orbi would (by design) disable mesh functionality. At least I hope not.My next steps are going to be:&nbsp;1. Setup Windows Server virtual machine and configure a DHCP scope2. Turn off Orbi DHCP&nbsp;3. See what happens.&nbsp;Is there a way to see the current DHCP table on the Orbi? Clients, leases and all that? Also, is there a way to dump all reservations, clear it out, short of reconfiguring DHCP? Besides the "attached devices" which I can't imagine is everything that has a lease.&nbsp;Reason I ask is, IF there is no issue with the Orbi DHCP service itself, I have a hunch on what's happening but I need to see that table to be sure.&nbsp;hiltxan any chance you have any apple devices on your network as well? iPad, iPhone, Mac? I have a few, and wondering if the "Limit IP Tracking" feature (which masks and changes the devices network MAC address) is confusing the orbi DHCP and essentially using up all the available DHCP leases because it thinks they are separate devices each time it changes. No confirmation on this, just a hunch if it turns out that DHCP is working fine on the Orbi&nbsp;

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Primary wireless not working

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