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RBRE960 Xfinity xFi Conflict
I just installed a new RBRE960 in AP Mode to replace an RBR850 system. For some reason, the 960 seems to be causing the Xfinity XB7 Modem to reset periodically - sometimes every few minutes. It may be stable for hours, but then it gets into a funk where it will not work, and I must shut down the Orbi and re-enable the xFi WIFI.
I replaced the xFi modem yesterday with a new XB7 after contacting Xfinity support about the problem - they were on the phone while the modem kept restarting and they said, "it seems possessed, let's replace it!". 🙂 We thought that was the answer as it was stable all day/night until this morning - then the constant restarting began again. So, I have pulled the 960 for the moment and put the 850 back online to make sure the problem is specific to the 960. So far the 850 is solid, but then the 960 was yesterday too.
So this is a head scratcher. I'm leaving the 850 in place for a few days and if all is good I'll put the 960 back in. If the problem persists with only the 960, I'll call Netgear support and see if they have any ideas - if not, the blazing fast and otherwise awesome 960 might have to go back. 😣
I'm also thinking to flip things and put the xFi into Bridge mode and the 960 back into Router mode to see if that works, but even if that works, the incompatibility will still be concerning.
I found one old topic with a 7xx Orbi that seemed similar, but there was no resolution posted.
I appreciate any ideas if anyone has seen similar.
Support gave me some new firmware to try last Friday and it been solid all weekend. They've been great. I'll give it a few more days and if all goes well, I can mark this solved.
37 Replies
Similar problem here with Orbi 960. My xFi modem actually restarts: yellow flashing, green flashing, white. And of course during that time the Orbi loses the Internet. Then it all comes back up and the process starts again in a few minutes or maybe a few hours. However, once the "cycle" starts, I usually have to power off the Orbi and re-enable the xFi wifi to get my network back.
I was replacing an 850 system that had one Sat. The 960 system has two Sats. But I think I have experienced the issue with both 960 Sats powered off - wired or wireless backhaul doesn't seem to affect it, but maybe I need to experiment with that more..."after hours".
I put the 850 back online today to see if the problem is specific to the 960. I should know after 24 hours if no issues with the 850. But so far like night and day - I could not get the xFi / 960 to work this morning after a few power cycle attempts, yet the 850 came right up and no issues so far.
I'm also concerned that this may have started a few weeks ago for me too and I just didn't catch it because it was not so severe and was happening in the middle of the night so I may not have noticed it every time. If that's the case, then it may be that the 960 aggravates the issue so that it happens more often. 🤔
I have not tried the xFi in Bridge mode yet and while some aspects of that are appealing, I'd rather not be forced into it.Why are you using the xfi in router mode and the RBKE in access point mode?
Just curious because you could try it how you say with the xfi in bridge moe and the rbke in router mode.
Also, how are the satellites connected? hardwired backhaul? wireless backhaul? Running through a switch?
plemans wrote:Why are you using the xfi in router mode and the RBKE in access point mode?
Just curious because you could try it how you say with the xfi in bridge moe and the rbke in router mode.
Also, how are the satellites connected? hardwired backhaul? wireless backhaul? Running through a switch?
There are tradeoffs of features that xFi provides versus Netgear features depending on which device gets to be the router. In fact, it may be better with the Orbi as the router. I originally set it as an access point so I could get familiar with the Xfinity features and performance. Since it has been working fine, I had no need to put the Orbi back in Router mode.
SATs are wired direct to the RBR and RBR direct to xFi gateway.
The 850 has been up solid for 24hrs now in AP mode. So, I'm starting to think there is a problem with the 960 doing something to make the xFi restart. I'll give the Bridge Mode a try later - it will be at least an interesting data point for what will probably be a support call to Netgear.
Interesting results last night. I have been thinking back through this issue and it occurred to me that this did work when I first set it up and certainly long enough to get through the setup and beyond. In fact, my first RBKE963B kit worked fine and long enough for one of the RBS960 SATs to die - literally would not power up. So support suggested since the kit was new, to return/replace rather than get a refurb RBS. So I did. And I was able to get that new kit set up as well.
So what made it stop working after the setup went smoothly? Post setup things I did:
- changed the SSID and password from the default
- put the Orbi into AP Mode
- reserved IP addresses on the xFi Router for the RBR and RBSs.
- turned off "IoT network".
I think that's it - setting this up is easy and fast - not much to do. It was stable for a few hours and then the xFi reboots started.
My plan was to back out of each step to see what caused the problem since the first kit was up for a few days before the replacement came.
Last night I removed the IP reservation for the RBR and restarted everything - leaving the two RBK SATs powered off. Both the xFi and RBR came up working fine. 🤔 So I re-reserved the IP address for the RBR and restarted it. This time was less smooth with a few restarts and WIFI dropping in and out. I was about the clear the IP reservation and restart, but it finally settled down.
After an hour, I powered up a wired RBS (IP addresses still reserved). No issues. After an hour, I went to bed. I have to do this stuff late at night or the household will freak out! 🙄
This morning - 10 hours later, all still solid and the logs show no restarts in the middle of the night. I power up the 2nd RBS (wireless backhaul) and it comes right up. All solid for a few hours now.
I feel like I need to repower everything to make sure it's working correctly and not just a fluke.
