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weezered's avatar
weezered
Aspirant
Oct 07, 2021

RBS850 Satellite Not Detected - Nonstop Blinking White Light

Hi, I have been unsuccesfully trying to add my add-on satellite to my main system for days now. I have an AX6000 Orbi Wifi 6 RBK853 (1 RBR850 Router and 2 RBS850 Satellites) + another RBS850 add-on satellite that I bought separately running FW# V4.6.3.16. All wired backhauled since we live in a 3-storey concrete house.

 

I bought this system earlier this year and is now out of the technical support period (very disappointing considering the price of this system). After having some troubles in the initial setup with picky satellites not syncing well, I generally am okay with the performance the past few months. My problems started when I upgraded to the latest firmware (V4.6.3.16) last week. After the upgrade, wifi signal kept on dropping in my devices. I couldn't see 1 out of 3 of my satellites in the app while in the attached devices page of the web interface shows that my satellite is disconnected. But the satellite itself was lit Blue LED light and I have internet connection. In short, it was unusable given that we do online schooling and work from home. 

 

What I have done to resolve this problem are the following:

1. Reboot everything -- did not work.

2. Factory Reset the whole system - Worked but the new system setup only recognized the 2 satellites bundled in the original purchase of RBK853. Internet is now okay and stable. However, now my problem is that I have been trying for days to connect my add-on satellite but it is not being detected. 

3. Add-on Satellite problem: 

- I have tried reseting using a paper clip pressing the reset button at the back many many times. Pressing the reset pin until the LED lights yellow. Then waiting a few minutes for satellite to power up and tried adding satellite to the main router using the app and the web interface. App says Satellite not detected while web interface says Setup Failed. 

- I have tried reseting and adding the satellite both wireless and wired backhaul.

- I have tried rebooting the modem, router, and satellite (reset and reboot everytime), both app and web interface still can't see my satellite. 

- I think I must have done the reset more than 15x already in the past 3 days. 

- I have also tried just plain taking the adapter on and off and waiting to power up and add satellite. Waited a few minutes, 1 hour, 24 hours as I have been reading in the forums. 

 

I am so frustrated that I have to pay Netgear to just to get support for a product that is just 6 months old. I don't know what else to do. My whole 3rd floor does not have wifi connection now. I hope the community can help out. I would really appreciate it. 

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

6 Replies

      • weezered's avatar
        weezered
        Aspirant
        Oct 08, 2021

        Thanks for the help. I tried the 30/30/30 reset using a timer, yellow LED indicator flashed in the end and went back to pulsing white light. Still couldn't add the satellite to the main RBK853 system. I also tried manually pressing the sync button on the router and on all satellites including the add-on RBS850 that I'm having trouble with. No luck.

         

        As for the FW version, I am now on 4.6.3.16 for the Router + 2 satellites. For the add-on satellite having a problem, I am not sure. So the problem started when I upgraded to 4.6.3.16 for the whole system, 1 router + 2 bundled satellite + 1 add-on satellite. Then when the network was acting up I downgraded all system back to Ver 4.6.3.9 (Satellites first then router). Connected 3 satellites sucessfully but unstable with a lot of connection drops, so I factory reset everything and the system came back up automatically updating to V4.6.3.16 and recognizing the bundled 2 satellites.

         

        I keep referring to the 2 bundled satellites separately as it is already online and has the same default Orbi SSID - Orbi29. The add-on RBS850 that I'm having a problem with has a different default SSID. I figured since it is not factory set as a bundle that's why it wasn't added automatically during the factory reset setup. It needed separate addition into the system but the pulsing white light is stopping the main router from recognizing it. So going back, I am not sure if it stayed in V 4.6.3.9 or was upgraded with the others to V 4.6.3.16. I have a feeling it is still in the former. But I couldn't check as its last known IP address is no longer accessible. I can't access it directly using a LAN cable connecting directly to the satellite and using 192.168.1.1 nor 192.168.1.250 as I have read in other threads. 

         

        I agree with other people that not having access to technical support for product quality issues for an expensive system is an injustice.