Yesterday 3/9, starting at about 6AM EST, my Orbi system is disconnecting my Nest Cameras and Thermostat and my work laptop every 10-20 mins or so. I have about 20 devices connected to my mesh system, and my NEST devices and my work laptop seem to be the only devices being dropped consistently, at least that i can verify right now. I have two Xbox's running at the same time for streaming and gaming, my sons PC does not drop, phones don't drop, etc. But since yesterday, every 10 mins or so my work laptop and Nest devcies drop from the network, then reconnect after about 2-3 mins. I have had the Orbi AX system for about 3 weeks (coming from the AC version) and my performance across my network has been stellar - until yesterday morning at 6AM EST. I've tried soft rebooting the system, i've power cycled everything, and the issue persists. I have not tried downgrading firmware. My Firmware version is 3.2.10.11

After adding updates1.netgear.com to the blocked sites list my RBR850 was no longer able to reach out for updates last night and is still sitting on 3.1.5.23. The only wacky thing is that the RBS (satellite) did manage to reach out and has upgraded to 3.2.9.2. That doesn't appear to be an issue because I have not experienced dropped connections with the satellite on this version. For those of you who want to try this and you are using your Orbi in router mode, all you will need to do is:1) In the Advanced\Security\Block Sites page add a keyword for updates1.netgear.com (make sure to hit the apply button in the upper right after adding the keyword).2) Revert your RBR850 firmware to 3.1.5.23.3) Confirm you are still seeing updates1.netgear.com on the Block Sites page.4) Click on Administration\Firmware Update and wait a few moments. You should see the web GUI say that the service is unreachable under the status column for the RBR850. If you are using the Orbi in AP mode the same principal applies, but you will need to add updates1.netgear.com to the blocked sites on your upstream router rather than the Orbi. I hope this helps people get on with their digital lives while netgear figures out what they have broken.

So I had started this thread, and while waiting for NG to follow up with a solution or new FW, I had been "mostly" stable by downgrading to old FW 3.1.xxxx. I keep following the thread for new updates, and saw a post on how to block the update URLS so that the Orbi's stopped trying to auto download and install the newer FW each night. I did that today, factory reset my router and satellite, stayed on FW 3.1.xxx and added the URL update sites to my blocked list. Now, I'm having the exact same issue all over again, even this time it's impacting more devices. I'm at a total loss on this issue at this point. Could their botched FW have actually impacted the hardware of the Orbis? Meaning even on older stable FW, the issue is going to present itself at some point? It has to me. Once I pull the Orbi network down and replace with an Arris Surfboard mAX Pro system, everything is fine. The Orbis are horribly broken at this point and at the worst possible time. Can someone from Netgear please reach out to me and let me know how to get a refund for my system? The only fair thing to do from NG's side is to offer refunds for impacted customers that have had to move to a new system to keep their networks stable during these Covid19 times. I can't simply wait for weeks and weeks until they determine root cause, fix and redeploy. Maybe i'll come back to the system in the future, but for now they are just paperweights, and offer no useful value to so many of us users.

Actually, you can see their server. If you telnet into the router you can see the updates server by using the following command: nvram show ver | sort That will show you ftp and https servers. For examplever_check_ftp_svr1=updates1.netgear.comver_check_ftp_svr2=updates1.netgear.comver_check_ftp_svr3=updates1.netgear.com :ver_check_https_svr1=http.fw.updates1.netgear.com So, in theory adding updates1.netgear.com to the blocked list should prevent the router from being able to pull automatic updates. I'm not 100% positive this will stop the nightly updating, but it appears to have prevented the web gui from knowing whether updates are available. You can confirm this by looking at the firmware update page. It will show service unreachable. I'm crossing my fingers that this will work, but I have to wait until midnight to know for sure.

Hi all, just want to add my discontent with how Netgear is handling this issue. I too have regular drop-outs of video conferences, calls, VDI sessions since March 9. I spend hours trying to solve it and will later tonight try to downgrade even further. I already downgraded to an earlier firmware but the system updated to V3.2.9.2_1.2.4. For a $700 router this is unacceptable. Due to the coronavirus situation both my wife and I have to work from home, and both of us can't really work efficiently with constantly being dropped out of calls or VDI sessions. If the workaround mentioned above does not work, I'll have to buy a new router tomorrow morning. Very unhappy.

I’m not sure why my post submitted before I was finished, but here’s the rest.When I connected my older system back into my router, my problems seemingly went away. I wasn’t able to get anything working properly with firmware downgrades or with resets, etc.However, after a day or two my old router began experiencing the same exact disconnects. And it was still on an older version of the firmware. I tried resetting that one and got it working for an hour until it started disconnecting again. That one was the RBR40 running 2.3.5.0.I ended up hooking up the RBR850 again and doing a very religious reset after manually installing 3.2.10.11. First I reset from the configuration page, then telnet, and finally with the manual reset button. I wanted to take no chances that something was still funky.Weirdly enough, I stumbled upon the realization that the system was not playing nicely with devices if they were set up using a static IP or with DHCP coming through another device, such as a home server. Using the router as DHCP cleared up a lot of my issues. But I was still dropping Pings approximately every 6.2 minutes on each WiFi band according to the PRTG Network Monitor I installed. The drops reduced a little bit when hardwired, but not by much.I again reset the RBR850. And this time it changed the CTS/RTS Threshold back to 64. I noticed at that level that my ping graphs leveled out somewhat. So instead of having huge peaks and valleys for response time, it started leveling out to a more consistent amount.Playing with it a little more, I tested lowering that threshold to 25, which I know is low. Now my pin times to the router are nearly consistent, only varying by about 1 ms on Wi-Fi. Since making these changes, I have had no connection drops at all. it has been logging for nearly 3 hours now and my connection seems to be stable.To recap:I’m not really sure why my old router started experiencing the same disconnects even though the firmware version was still the version from July 2019. Malware?Resetting the device and downgrading never seemed to work. But when I reset the device in three different ways before setting it up again, it seemed to be much more stable, even with the latest troubled firmware.It did not seem to like the fact that it was not servicing clients itself with DHCP. (Reduce the frequency of disconnects by about half.)It seems to love the lowered CTS/RTS Threshold. (Totally eliminated disconnects)I know some of my stuff, but I’m not a network engineer. Why all these things I did seem to be working, I do not know. But I seem to be sitting pretty right now.Maybe this will get someone thinking about how these different things work together so that we can survive until Netgear fixes it.

RBR850 Frequent Disconnects Starting March 9th AM EST

361 Replies

DPirkl
Tutor
Mar 17, 2020
How do you "Check your CTS and RTS values, if the are at 64, you might want to set them to 2347. If things are working at 64, leave it." I can connect to the router and login in but I cannot find where to check these settings.
thanks
- FURRYe38
  Guru - Experienced User
  Mar 17, 2020
  Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings
Wombatmatty
Guide
Mar 17, 2020
Hey guys.

Frequent browser, first time poster. I’ve been kind of following this thread because I’ve been having the same problems. But I have stumbled upon something for my set up that I want to share just in case it helps anyone. Obviously this is with a grain of salt, but you never know. I just stumbled upon it.

So like many of you, I have gone to the new system from one of the older generations. Everything was fine until about a week ago. Then I started running into the disconnects. I followed every single suggestion in this thread to the letter. Nothing really seemed to help.

A few areas that I was really leaning towards:
1) DDOS/DOS attack based upon modem and router logs.
2) Windows 10 networking issues based upon isolated complaints from recent cumulative updates.
3) Malware infection due to recently published vulnerabilities.
- Wombatmatty
  Guide
  Mar 17, 2020
  I’m not sure why my post submitted before I was finished, but here’s the rest.
  
  When I connected my older system back into my router, my problems seemingly went away. I wasn’t able to get anything working properly with firmware downgrades or with resets, etc.
  
  However, after a day or two my old router began experiencing the same exact disconnects. And it was still on an older version of the firmware. I tried resetting that one and got it working for an hour until it started disconnecting again. That one was the RBR40 running 2.3.5.0.
  
  I ended up hooking up the RBR850 again and doing a very religious reset after manually installing 3.2.10.11. First I reset from the configuration page, then telnet, and finally with the manual reset button. I wanted to take no chances that something was still funky.
  
  Weirdly enough, I stumbled upon the realization that the system was not playing nicely with devices if they were set up using a static IP or with DHCP coming through another device, such as a home server. Using the router as DHCP cleared up a lot of my issues. But I was still dropping Pings approximately every 6.2 minutes on each WiFi band according to the PRTG Network Monitor I installed. The drops reduced a little bit when hardwired, but not by much.
  
  I again reset the RBR850. And this time it changed the CTS/RTS Threshold back to 64. I noticed at that level that my ping graphs leveled out somewhat. So instead of having huge peaks and valleys for response time, it started leveling out to a more consistent amount.
  
  Playing with it a little more, I tested lowering that threshold to 25, which I know is low. Now my pin times to the router are nearly consistent, only varying by about 1 ms on Wi-Fi. Since making these changes, I have had no connection drops at all. it has been logging for nearly 3 hours now and my connection seems to be stable.
  
  To recap:
  
  I’m not really sure why my old router started experiencing the same disconnects even though the firmware version was still the version from July 2019. Malware?
  
  Resetting the device and downgrading never seemed to work. But when I reset the device in three different ways before setting it up again, it seemed to be much more stable, even with the latest troubled firmware.
  
  It did not seem to like the fact that it was not servicing clients itself with DHCP. (Reduce the frequency of disconnects by about half.)
  
  It seems to love the lowered CTS/RTS Threshold. (Totally eliminated disconnects)
  
  I know some of my stuff, but I’m not a network engineer. Why all these things I did seem to be working, I do not know. But I seem to be sitting pretty right now.
  
  Maybe this will get someone thinking about how these different things work together so that we can survive until Netgear fixes it.
  - warpdag
    Apprentice
    Mar 17, 2020
    You might have narrowed it down, the router might be confused with external DHCP, and that could explain why I'm having problems with wired backhaul in AP mode (DHCP server is on another router).
MeGrimlock
Apprentice
Mar 18, 2020
So I had started this thread, and while waiting for NG to follow up with a solution or new FW, I had been "mostly" stable by downgrading to old FW 3.1.xxxx. I keep following the thread for new updates, and saw a post on how to block the update URLS so that the Orbi's stopped trying to auto download and install the newer FW each night. I did that today, factory reset my router and satellite, stayed on FW 3.1.xxx and added the URL update sites to my blocked list.

Now, I'm having the exact same issue all over again, even this time it's impacting more devices. I'm at a total loss on this issue at this point. Could their botched FW have actually impacted the hardware of the Orbis? Meaning even on older stable FW, the issue is going to present itself at some point? It has to me. Once I pull the Orbi network down and replace with an Arris Surfboard mAX Pro system, everything is fine. The Orbis are horribly broken at this point and at the worst possible time.

Can someone from Netgear please reach out to me and let me know how to get a refund for my system? The only fair thing to do from NG's side is to offer refunds for impacted customers that have had to move to a new system to keep their networks stable during these Covid19 times. I can't simply wait for weeks and weeks until they determine root cause, fix and redeploy. Maybe i'll come back to the system in the future, but for now they are just paperweights, and offer no useful value to so many of us users.
- FURRYe38
  Guru - Experienced User
  Mar 18, 2020
  Please reach out to one of the forum moderators to see what they can help you with.
  https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/ORBI-RBR850-frequent-disconnects-to-WoW-server/m-p/1875896/highlight/true#M2242
  Looks like NG has figured this out.
  MeGrimlock wrote:
  So I had started this thread, and while waiting for NG to follow up with a solution or new FW, I had been "mostly" stable by downgrading to old FW 3.1.xxxx. I keep following the thread for new updates, and saw a post on how to block the update URLS so that the Orbi's stopped trying to auto download and install the newer FW each night. I did that today, factory reset my router and satellite, stayed on FW 3.1.xxx and added the URL update sites to my blocked list.
  
  Now, I'm having the exact same issue all over again, even this time it's impacting more devices. I'm at a total loss on this issue at this point. Could their botched FW have actually impacted the hardware of the Orbis? Meaning even on older stable FW, the issue is going to present itself at some point? It has to me. Once I pull the Orbi network down and replace with an Arris Surfboard mAX Pro system, everything is fine. The Orbis are horribly broken at this point and at the worst possible time.
  
  Can someone from Netgear please reach out to me and let me know how to get a refund for my system? The only fair thing to do from NG's side is to offer refunds for impacted customers that have had to move to a new system to keep their networks stable during these Covid19 times. I can't simply wait for weeks and weeks until they determine root cause, fix and redeploy. Maybe i'll come back to the system in the future, but for now they are just paperweights, and offer no useful value to so many of us users.
  - RafS
    Apprentice
    Mar 18, 2020
    This was just posted on another thread in this forum by a mod:
    
    Hi Orbi Community!
    
    We have identified the root cause of the issue and fix will be available. Please do not block Orbi update servers so you can receive the fix. We will provide update once affix is on server.
    
    Regards,
    Blanca
    Community Team
ScottD67
Star
Mar 19, 2020
I was one who had downgraded and blocked upgrades a few days ago. This configuration was relatively stable for me. Last night I removed the block and both my router and satellite upgraded to 3.2.9.2 overnight. When I went to the firmware page this morning around 6am ET a new update to 3.2.10.11_1.2.12 was visible so I also took that upgrade. I've been on wifi calls and video conferences for about an hour and haven't seen a drop yet (previously I was seeing drops every 10 minutes). I also have not seen my Arlo basestation or Echos go offline (they were also going offline about every 10 minutes). So far so good.
- ScottD67
  Star
  Mar 19, 2020
  Still good after 4-5 hours of heavy use this morning. Lots of streaming, video conferences, wifi calls and no drops to report on the IOT devices where it was happening earlier. FWIW I was stable after downgrading to v3.1.5.23_1.0.46 on both the RBR and RBS. I removed the site block which let both the RBR and RBS upgrade to 3.2.9.2 overnight last night and then I forced the RBR and RBS to pull 3.2.10.11 when I saw it available this morning. I never did a master reset in that process.
  - FURRYe38
    Guru - Experienced User
    Mar 19, 2020
    Thanks for letting us know. Hope it keeps working for you. Be sure to do a backup configuration to file for safe keeping. Saves time when or if a reset is needed.
    
    Enjoy. :smileywink:
    ScottD67 wrote:
    Still good after 4-5 hours of heavy use this morning. Lots of streaming, video conferences, wifi calls and no drops to report on the IOT devices where it was happening earlier. FWIW I was stable after downgrading to v3.1.5.23_1.0.46 on both the RBR and RBS. I removed the site block which let both the RBR and RBS upgrade to 3.2.9.2 overnight last night and then I forced the RBR and RBS to pull 3.2.10.11 when I saw it available this morning. I never did a master reset in that process.
xnolightx
Star
Mar 19, 2020
I'm not having stellar results today. I pulled the latest firmware (V3.2.10.11_1.2.12) hours ago and at first things seemed to be stable. In the last half hour I've had 3 disconnects from VPN and about 10 disconnects from Remote Desktop. I did not perform a hard reset before upgrading, so that might be the next avenue.

I don't want to be pessimistic, but if that doesn't work I'm not going to spend any more time troubleshooting this. I'm just too busy at the moment to have an unstable internet connection.
- FURRYe38
  Guru - Experienced User
  Mar 19, 2020
  I would factory reset and setup up from scratch when you get a chance too to see if this helps any.
  xnolightx wrote:
  I'm not having stellar results today. I pulled the latest firmware (V3.2.10.11_1.2.12) hours ago and at first things seemed to be stable. In the last half hour I've had 3 disconnects from VPN and about 10 disconnects from Remote Desktop. I did not perform a hard reset before upgrading, so that might be the next avenue.
  
  I don't want to be pessimistic, but if that doesn't work I'm not going to spend any more time troubleshooting this. I'm just too busy at the moment to have an unstable internet connection.
FURRYe38
Guru - Experienced User
Mar 24, 2020
Please let us know if this has been finally resolved for you and how your system is working. This issue has been fixed by NG on there side and wasn't a FW issue. A reload of FW maybe neeeded if you haven't done this already. Other user have reported that the problem has been fixed for them since 3/19.
MeGrimlock wrote:
Yesterday 3/9, starting at about 6AM EST, my Orbi system is disconnecting my Nest Cameras and Thermostat and my work laptop every 10-20 mins or so. I have about 20 devices connected to my mesh system, and my NEST devices and my work laptop seem to be the only devices being dropped consistently, at least that i can verify right now. I have two Xbox's running at the same time for streaming and gaming, my sons PC does not drop, phones don't drop, etc. But since yesterday, every 10 mins or so my work laptop and Nest devcies drop from the network, then reconnect after about 2-3 mins. I have had the Orbi AX system for about 3 weeks (coming from the AC version) and my performance across my network has been stellar - until yesterday morning at 6AM EST.

I've tried soft rebooting the system, i've power cycled everything, and the issue persists. I have not tried downgrading firmware.

My Firmware version is 3.2.10.11
- tigerisak
  Guide
  Mar 25, 2020
  I still have major issues with my stream disconnects from my IPTV even after the FW-update. Everything is hardwired. Same issue with Apple TV and my LG Smart TV. Any ideas?
  - warpdag
    Apprentice
    Mar 25, 2020
    First of all, the firmware was never updated.
    Upon many requests, we were given some half baked "cloud" excuse.
    
    Now, some of us are forced to move on and buy another AP.
    Even though speeds were good, disconnects are not acceptable.
    Time to sell on fleabay, the router still sells at a decent price.
    Good luck to y'all.
    Eventually, they might get it right (it will take quite a while).
    And please stay safe, we're living in strange times.
    Retiring from this forum once and for all...
jakevsnake
Aspirant
Mar 29, 2020
I have been trying to get the RBK852 setup to work consistently without causing internet issues for my Wifi devices. Ive updated firmware and modified setting according to suggestions on this board. For $700 I didnt expect to be a beta tester. This thing is going back to Best Buy and I will get something else. Huge disappointment as I have enjoyed my RBR50 for the past few years but now my money goes elsewhere.

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RBR850 Frequent Disconnects Starting March 9th AM EST