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Forum Discussion
RBRE960 keeps dropping internet connection
hi there, after almost a year of working flawlessly, my RBRE960 started dropping internet a couple of months ago. - the status on the orbi dashboard changes to WAITING - the fibre modem ligh...
What Firmware version is currently loaded?
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.
How many RBS are deployed?
What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
https://kb.netgear.com/31030/What-do-the-LEDs-on-my-Orbi-mean
malachi1 wrote:
hi there,
after almost a year of working flawlessly, my RBRE960 started dropping internet a couple of months ago.
- the status on the orbi dashboard changes to WAITING
- the fibre modem lights continue behaving as normal
- after a few minutes, the orbi light will turn red
- unplugging/plugging in the modem cable to the orbi "fixes" the problem (no need to reboot the orbi)
the logs in Advanced -> Administration don't show anything that look related.. everything looks "normal".
sometimes i can go a few days without problems, other times it happens multiple times a day.
i've tried unplugging it for a bit, changing the cable from modem to orbi etc. there've been no changes to the setup.
thanks for replying! appreciated
current firmware: V7.2.6.21_5.0.20
i bought a new cat6 cable for the modem a few weeks ago in case that was it (the modem and base station are only a couple of feet apart), but it didn't make any difference.
the fibre modem says Chorus (they handle fibre infrastructure here in NZ) Optical Network Terminal Model Type 200.
the QR code on it links to: https://www.chorus.co.nz/q/model-type-200
satellites: i have 2 RBSE960
size of the house is around 185 m^2, so 1991-ish square feet? 2 floors.. i have the main orbi upstairs, and the 2 satellites in separate rooms a good distance from each other (and the base station). is there a way i can check if they're too close? the backhaul status for both satellites is good
orbi lights are all good, except when it drops the internet connection in which case the base station light turns red
I'd have the ISP check the ONT logs for any think they may find during this time frame when you've noticed the RBR is OFFLINE from the ONT and red in front. This led indication means the RBR is not getting internet services correctly from the ONT.
malachi1 wrote:
thanks for replying! appreciated
current firmware: V7.2.6.21_5.0.20
i bought a new cat6 cable for the modem a few weeks ago in case that was it (the modem and base station are only a couple of feet apart), but it didn't make any difference.
the fibre modem says Chorus (they handle fibre infrastructure here in NZ) Optical Network Terminal Model Type 200.
the QR code on it links to: https://www.chorus.co.nz/q/model-type-200
satellites: i have 2 RBSE960
size of the house is around 185 m^2, so 1991-ish square feet? 2 floors.. i have the main orbi upstairs, and the 2 satellites in separate rooms a good distance from each other (and the base station). is there a way i can check if they're too close? the backhaul status for both satellites is good
orbi lights are all good, except when it drops the internet connection in which case the base station light turns red
Situations like this are very difficult to diagnose. My guess is the ONT is going to say, "Everything's fine here. No problems at all."
A couple of years ago, I used this same technique to discover that a Windows 10 laptop did not wake up correctly. If I closed the cover (to keep the cat from walking on the keys), when I opened the cover again, there would be no internet. The laptop was wired directly into an Orbi router How can there be NO internet???
Capturing the DHCP traffic on that Ethernet cable soon discovered a pattern:
- Laptop says, "Tell me my IP"
- Orbi says, "Offering you this IP"
- Laptop says, "Tell me my IP"
- Orbi says, "Offering you this IP"
- Laptop says....
And this went on indefinitely. If I restarted the laptop, it worked correctly. If I opened the Network troubleshooting wizard, it worked correctly. The only thing that fail (every time) was opening the lid.
In this case, I would do the same thing. After the ISP says, "Here's your IP good for 300 seconds.", I would expect to see the Orbi router say (150 seconds later), "Please renew my IP". And then the ISP say, "Here's your IP good for 300 seconds." Over and over, 156 times every day.
If even one time, the ISP fails to respond, the Orbi will have to abandon the IP and begin the process again. DHCP uses the connectionless UDP protocol:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol#Operation
If either the DHCP request or the DHCP offer message doesn't get delivered, the whole process can fail. The renewal can have worked correctly 100's of times (maybe even 1,000's of times), but it takes only one packet collision to spoil the whole thing.
If the DHCP lease was the typical 86,400 seconds, then the Orbi has half a day to finally get a response from the ISP. With a 300 second lease, there isn't much time to recover.
If the ISP technical support has a response, I'd love to hear what it is. (Hint: there is a BIG sign at the front of the room where all the support staff can see it: "Tell them it's their router. They should rent one of ours."
