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niqolas619's avatar
niqolas619
Aspirant
Sep 30, 2024

RBSE960 satellites won't connect to router nor computer via wired

Both of my satellites just randomly stopped connecting one day about a month and a half ago - just now getting some time to look into it. Not sure if they grabbed an auto FW update or something - I hadn't changed anything manually on them or with the network recently.

 

Both satellites just come up with the blinking white LED on the front indefinitely. I spent about an hour and a half on the phone with tech support doing every combination of holding the factory reset button for a minute with the satellite unplugged from power, plugged into power, and on and off ethernet connection to the router and to a laptop. Tried using the sync button and it makes the flashing white light skip one beat but then that just continues. All of this was done with just one of the satellites. We also tried resetting the router to factory settings.

 

Once I re-setup my system, the Orbi app shows 0 of 1 satellites. I'm assuming it only knows about 1 because of all the fussing we did with the other one. 

 

I've tried plugging one of the satellites into my computer directly and I get nothing showing up for it in ifconfig. Navigating to the manual FW update section of the web Orbi login, I have no satellites showing up in there to update.

 

According to the Orbi app the router is on FW V7.2.6.31. Clicking Details for the 1 satellite that is not connecting shows a mac address but no FW version and no serial number.

6 Replies


  • niqolas619 wrote:

    I've tried plugging one of the satellites into my computer directly and I get nothing showing up for it in ifconfig.


    I have read that Orbi AX satellites have a default web access at 192.168.10.250.  To test this, the computer and satellite should be connected to each other (and to nothing else.  just the two devices.)  The computer should be set to a Static IP address in 192.168.10.x (any value besides 250).  Open a web browser to 192.168.10.250, which should  bring up the satellite web home page.

     

    I would test this myself, but I do not have an AX satellite (of any model).

     

    If it turns out  that the satellite is on a different firmware than the router, this method of access would allow the satellite to be manually updated to the same firmware version as the router.

    • niqolas619's avatar
      niqolas619
      Aspirant

      I was able to talk to the problematic sattelite via the method CrimpOn suggested. I downgraded that FW to v21 and rebooted, but I'm still not able to get this satellite recognized in the Orbi app. I had high hopes for this, because prior to this the satellite just seemed dead to the world. This at least shows me that something is still operational inside it, it just isn't communicating enough to sync up.

       

      I've since downgraded the Orbi router to v21 as well. So now I have that router and both satellites on v21, with one satellite working as expected and the other not accessible via the app sync process.

       

      Is there a web or direct connect way to sync up satellites outside of the app?

      • niqolas619's avatar
        niqolas619
        Aspirant

        I should say, too - the white LED just continues to flash white at 1Hz on the front of the satellite. Documentation seems to say that the LED should go to solid white at some point after booting, but that's not the case for me.

         

        For the satellite that was previously not working but I was able to recover by downgrading the FW, it was showing the same behavior - only flashed white forever, never went to solid. 

         

        Not sure if any of this is meaningful. At the least it's frustrating that both working and non-working devices don't match the documented behavior.

  • If the RBR updated before the RBS were updated, you'll need to downgrade the RBR back to prior version of FW. Then manually update the RBS first, then the RBR lastly.


    Also we can't recommend v.31. Been too many users reporting problems with it and NG is aware of this. 

     

    V.21 is the most stable version of FW. 


    niqolas619 wrote:

    Both of my satellites just randomly stopped connecting one day about a month and a half ago - just now getting some time to look into it. Not sure if they grabbed an auto FW update or something - I hadn't changed anything manually on them or with the network recently.

     

    Both satellites just come up with the blinking white LED on the front indefinitely. I spent about an hour and a half on the phone with tech support doing every combination of holding the factory reset button for a minute with the satellite unplugged from power, plugged into power, and on and off ethernet connection to the router and to a laptop. Tried using the sync button and it makes the flashing white light skip one beat but then that just continues. All of this was done with just one of the satellites. We also tried resetting the router to factory settings.

     

    Once I re-setup my system, the Orbi app shows 0 of 1 satellites. I'm assuming it only knows about 1 because of all the fussing we did with the other one. 

     

    I've tried plugging one of the satellites into my computer directly and I get nothing showing up for it in ifconfig. Navigating to the manual FW update section of the web Orbi login, I have no satellites showing up in there to update.

     

    According to the Orbi app the router is on FW V7.2.6.31. Clicking Details for the 1 satellite that is not connecting shows a mac address but no FW version and no serial number.