HELP!!! Orbi 960 Series AXE11000 | Hardwire speeds of router and satelite fine, wifi drops randomly

SLK-Purdue Do you think a 30-30-30 reset would help at all? 

---

SLK-Purdue wrote:

I have experience this problem with 850 hardware and send extensive test results to Netgear.  My belief (without explicit evidence) is that the power-on "reset" on the satellite is incomplete and does not reset "factory" or "out-of-box" conditions.  The satellite retains information which is causing issues during pairing and syncing.  I don't have a good solution for this other than to suggest you reset and pair satellites wirelessly and one at a time with only that satellite powered on.   After wireless pairing and sync, wired will usually work.   Good luck and I hope Netgear can isolate and correct this soon.

 

Scott

 

ps. I have never seen the satellite with a solid white as described in the pairing instruction in the WebUI for anything other than a first-time out-of-box device.  I believe that is also a clue.

---

I don't believe 30-30-30 is relevant for newer hardware.   The purpose of this procedure was to bleed off any charge held by the capacitors that were using to keep data in "non-volatile ram".  With the coming of flash ram, there was no longer any relationship between data retention and remaining charge on the board.  Orbi 960 series keep "NVRAM" parameters in flash.

Scott

K. Was wondering. I only had one event not similar to this thread, just where I got a FW from another and it was loaded well on his unit but mine didn't seem to like it and could not normally FR the RBR. I had to do a 30-30-30 reset and got the RBR working normally again. Was only one experience like this. Was on my 960 series. I can't attest to weather the process did anything or did, just know that it corrected what ever was in a bad state. 

I would agree though, I've always had some level of doubt on the actual FR process and what it does and doesn't do beside just wiping out user configurations and settings. I would like to see a more complete FR process on all units. Button or Web UI ERASE. Seems to be needed. 

What is a 30-30-30 reset? 

I spent 3 hours on phone with L2 support, did factory resets on everything. Worked for maybe 6 hours and it is doing it again... 

To escalate to L3 support they need more information, and said it could take weeks or months.... 

Any other ideas here? I am about to buy a Linksys and be done with it... 

Could it be one wifi item interfering with everything? I haven't added anything I can think of. 

Thank you for your responses thus far, I appreciate it very much. 

I have a couple other questions if you happen to have some knowledge around them:

• Could a device or group of devices cause this? 
  • I ended up setting un an entire new network with a new name and have about half my devices connected. (20-30) I ran 60+ for 11 months with no issues prior to this, so I am slowly adding things back to see if that could be the cause. The main items I have offline are my 10 Nest Cameras (As they were always the first to drop offline). As they are a few years old, could that be the cause? Should I isolate them to the IOT 2.4ghz network? 
• I have one satellite that intermittently shows a poor backhaul status. Could that be a factor? 
  • I am going to hardwire the backhaul, but wanted to pose the question
• Any other things I can look at to try and determine what was/is the cause? The logs don't tell me much, but I am not very savvy in that respect. (I was basically looking for errors or some differences in what was captured, which I could not). 
• Any other thoughts or advice are appreciated. 

I have seen no evidence that other devices contribute to this issue.

I would try to sync wirelessly first and then revert to wired.  I have had better luck with wireless sync.

Scott

Any ideas what it could be? 

I hooked up a Linksys Velop system with two satellites and was getting the same thing happening. Made me think its either devices or interference from somewhere I can't detect. 

Also the new network name has made it stable for a bit, do you think there could have been some legacy cache or something in the old one perhaps? 

Sorry.  No clues.

Scott

Update:

New network is still stable, Ive added a device or two a day with no issues so far. 

Has anyone else ever had anything like this? Could it have been some legacy cache or something like that causing some sort of intermittent interference? 

I can't come up with anything else, and NetGear support hasn't been helpful either. 

Open to any opinions, ideas, or otherwise. Thank you

I spent the day troubleshooting what sounds like your issue. I have a 960 router with 5 satellites on a wired backhaul. My hardwired devices get 1.7Gbps. 6 Ghz at 900Mbps.  5Ghz at 450Mbps.  5Ghz dropped to 15-50Mbps.

I performed 3 factor resets, tried AP and Router mode, and tested with and without satellites.  I thought I found the issue with Apple's Limit IP Address Tracking, but this only impacts connections to the satellites, not the RBRE.

I just changed the password on my 6E connection and the issue stopped.  I'm waiting for another occurance and a callback from Netgear.

Good luck on the call from Netgear, they almost never call back. (In my experience, I always have to call back in and explain it to the next person). I got to L2 support, and to go to L3 apparently takes weeks to months... 

Your password change might work. I setup a new network name and have been slowly adding me devices back on and its been stable a few days now. Given they even sent me a new router, I'm not sure what else it could be. (Unless as noted a few replies up, the factory resets really don't clear out the satellites). 

Please do reply if you come up with anything or get any information from Netgear, this has been driving me nuts for weeks now. 

So I got the issue again yesterday and this morning, but it only lasted a brief amount of time, was not as slowed down as before, and I ultimately did not do anything to restore it. 

I want to think its interference from a neighbor, but I was running inssider (https://www.metageek.com/downloads/inssider-win/) and I wasn't seeing any interference or signal loss. 

Leaves me rather clueless, but figured I would share nonetheless. 

Next Update :

So all my satellites went offline yesterday and my speeds tanked. Only two came back on with the other saying disconnected. Speeds came back in the morning without me doing anything, and looking at the interference tool, I don't see anything. (All my signals / channels look green). 

The disconnected satellite would boot up to the blue light every time, even after I removed it and factory reset it 3 times!!!! If I hardwire to it, it still puts out good speed (800MBPs), but the app nor the Orbi login recognize it. I have no idea how its still working? 

I don't know what to do if I can't factory reset it. Is the only way to factory reset the entire system? I'd rather not do that again as each time it seems to take longer and longer to setup. 

A complete pull of the power adapters for a period of time after the factory reset then walk thru the setup wizard and setup from scratch with a wired PC and web browser. https://kb.netgear.com/22697/How-do-I-install-my-NETGEAR-router-using-the-router-web-interface
Recommend setting the default DHCP IP address pool range to the following after applying and a factory reset: 192.168.#.100 to 192.168.#.200.
https://kb.netgear.com/24089/How-do-I-specify-the-pool-of-IP-addresses-assigned-by-my-Nighthawk-router
https://kb.netgear.com/25722/How-do-I-reserve-an-IP-address-on-my-NETGEAR-router
I would power OFF the ISP modem for 1 minute. Factory reset the router and power it off. Power ON the ISP modem and let it sync. Then power ON the router and walk thru the setup wizard again using a wired PC and a web browser.

Press the back reset button for 15 seconds then release on the RBS first then RBR or kick of the RBR reset using the ERASE button on it's web page. 
https://kb.netgear.com/31486/How-do-I-reset-my-Orbi-system-to-factory-default-settings
https://kb.netgear.com/000062081/How-do-I-erase-the-configuration-settings-on-my-Orbi-WiFi-System

So I do have to factory reset the router again? I was trying to avoid it as everything is actually working great right now, but that rogue satellite doesn't seem to be recognized anywhere. 

Do you think if I factory reset the satellite again and let it sit with no power for awhile that could clear it? 

(Sidenote: Waiting on a call from Netgear as I sent them debug logs and some other information for L3 to look at)

Yes try a reset on the RBS. 

The best advise we can give people is to start a new config, power on one RBS and wait for some SOLID light or most often blue or magenta. And then add the RBS WIRELESSLY via the WebUI. Power off the RBS. Then rinse and repeat with any additional RBS(s). Pair RBS one at a time even if you have more than one. For ethernet connected RBS, after things come up wirelessly, you can move to wired backhaul but don't start with wired backhaul for those RBS that are ethernet connected. Wirelessly connect and sync RBS first before ethernet connecting RBS. 

FURRYe38 so just reset the satellite again or the router also?

Try a RBS on the RBS. Press reset button for 15 seconds then release. White for the front LED to blink white or pulsate WHITE for about 3 minutes. Then use the RBRs web page Add Satellite to add the RBS. I'd do this with the RBS near or in same room as the RBR. 

---

detroitsandman wrote:

FURRYe38 so just reset the satellite again or the router also?

 

---

Is that something you can adjust on the 960? 

I agree once I get either a refund or a replacement from NetGear, I'm likely to explore other options after this experience. 

Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

Did you try this already? 

Yeah I am pretty sure that was one of the many steps I took with Pro Support. 

They did just send me a beta firmware update to try, but I'm waiting to hear what the root cause was and how they fixed it before I waste any more time, effort, and energy on it. (Not to mention stress)

I'll share the root cause and whatever they send me with this thread as well.

So you bought a new same model system and that doesn't reproduce the problem right on current release FW?