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Forum Discussion
BUG: KERNEL CRASH in 9.13.1.2, Orbi 970
After being up about 28 hours, one of my 970 satellites did a restart. The bug log reports that the reason was a kernel crash.
It was at about 1:30 AM local time, so little or no action going on. The 970 is on a UPS. Here was the debug screen, and I included a link to the debug log zip file in my Dropbox, it was too big to attach; the debug log was run for about 3 minutes, this morning. Let me know if you need more info.
Debug log:
43 Replies
Will need to know what you did after FW was updated on the system.
Updated manually or via AU?
FW updated and you continued to use the system after the reboot?
After FW updated, power cycled the system OFF then back ON and continue?
Factory reset and setup from scratch after FW was updated?
Would need some feedback on these questions:
Will need to know what you did after FW was updated on the system.
Updated manually or via AU?
FW updated and you continued to use the system after the reboot?
After FW updated, power cycled the system OFF then back ON and continue?
Factory reset and setup from scratch after FW was updated?
Updated manually or via AU? Manually
FW updated and you continued to use the system after the reboot? Reboot from update, then PC everything
After FW updated, power cycled the system OFF then back ON and continue? Yes
Factory reset and setup from scratch after FW was updated? No
Unzip the debuglog and check the content of the file oopsdump. Search for the strings :
Internal error: Oops
Crash shutdown device
You should have some evidences with the timestamps
I have seen your file in dropbox andn opened. I saw below crash evidences.
I suggest that you create NG Support ticket and request for escalation to 3rd Level with log file and those evidences :
bcnss[39]: ERR: Crash shutdown device QCN9224_PCI2 with driver_state 0x107
bmhi mhi2: CRASHED - [DID:DOMAIN:BUS:SLOT] - 1109:0003:01:00SUBSYSTEM=mhi DEVICE=+mhi:mhi2
bmhi mhi2: Fatal error received from wcss software!
cnss[38]: ERR: Crash shutdown device QCN9224_PCI1 with driver_state 0x107
bmhi mhi1: CRASHED - [DID:DOMAIN:BUS:SLOT] - 1109:0002:01:00SUBSYSTEM=mhi DEVICE=+mhi:mhi1
bmhi mhi1: Fatal error received from wcss software!
ar_wal_mlo_ipc.c:2063 Assertion (!g_wal_mac_core_cfg.dbg.force_crash_on_partner_chip_crash_indication
Have you figured this out?
Never heard back. I am on later firmware now, have not had another crash.
Most of my issues (especially unexpected router crash / restarts few times per day) have been resolved after the RMA (replacement) of router (only router, not the Router+ Satellite) , before
With new router and fw 9.13.1.2, I have seen uptime of 60 days! Before the RMA my record was max few days only.
I suggest that you proceed if RMA, if accepted by Netgear.
. In addition to hardware replacement, fw 9.1.3.1.2 also resolved lots of bugs (at least in AP mode). The overall system stability and performance is musch better in my use case, RBR is in AP mode.
Looking fw to try the new firmware 9.13.2.1 , when NG fix the wrong packaging issue in the zip file...
I assume you have 970 Orbi series? Try these steps and wait to see if it fixes the crashes:
- 9.13.2.1 is the latest version - https://www.netgear.com/support/download/?model=RBE973S&_ga=2.38375275.974127454.1697786862-475167439.1689166105 Update manually or via the router admin web page (Advanced Tab -> Administration-> Firmware Update
- On the router admin web page, Advanced tab, Administration -> Logs: In the section "Include in Logs, turn everything OFF. At the top, click the Clear Log button.
Then let it run and see if the panics continue. If they do, open a support ticket - get the ticket number and post it here, I'll also send that to our engineering contact who may have some ideas.
Yes, I have 970. My support ticket is 49350608
This firmware zip contains the old firmware; they packaged it wrong.
Yeah, they were running beta firmware. Netgear finally published it into production on Oct 31st 2025 but mistakenly packaged the wrong version. It's really frustrating because the community Mods keep locking down the threads when people bring up the issue.
I also asked ChatGPT with a stacktrace attached, and here's what it said:
That’s a real kernel panic dump — and it gives a lot of clues about what went wrong inside your Orbi 970.
Let’s break it down clearly 👇
---
🧠 Plain-English Summary
Your Orbi 970 crashed because a system process (d2d) tried to write to a null pointer (address 00000000) — meaning it attempted to access memory that doesn’t exist.
This caused the Linux kernel to panic and halt to prevent further damage.
So in short:
> A software component in the router firmware hit a programming bug — likely a memory management or networking issue — causing a system crash.
---
⚙️ Technical Details
From the dump:
Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000000
Internal error: Oops: 805 [#1] PREEMPT SMP ARM
Process d2d (pid: 5457)
PC is at skb_queue_tail+0x1c/0x48
Crash function: skb_queue_tail() — this is a Linux kernel function that handles network socket buffers.
Caller: unix_dgram_sendmsg() → part of the inter-process communication (IPC) system using UNIX domain sockets.
Process: d2d — this is almost certainly “Device-to-Device” communication service used by Orbi mesh nodes to talk to each other.
Fault: Null pointer dereference → means some buffer or pointer wasn’t properly initialized or got freed prematurely.
So the D2D (mesh communication) process tried to queue a network packet into a null socket buffer.
That’s a firmware bug, not a hardware failure.
---
🔄 Likely Cause
This is almost always due to:
A firmware bug in the D2D or NSS (Qualcomm networking subsystem) code.
Could be triggered by mesh sync, Wi-Fi backhaul instability, or a corrupted configuration.
The “Tainted: P” line (Tainted: P) means it’s using proprietary Qualcomm/Netgear kernel modules, so standard Linux debugging is limited.
dkarataiev I forwarded your ticket and a link here to engineering. Hopefully they jump in tomorrow!
dkarataiev please send an PM, attach a URL as reference to this thread, and add your ticket - to Straq . He is a Sr Engineer who has been working with us to diagnose and find solutions to problems users are having. Keep us posted how it goes!
Most of my issues (especially unexpected router crash / restarts few times per day) have been resolved after the RMA (replacement) of router (only router, not the Router+ Satellite) .
With new router and fw 9.13.1.2, I have seen uptime of 60 days! Before the RMA my record was max few days only.
I suggest that you proceed if RMA, if accepted by Netgear.
In addition to hardware replacement, fw 9.1.3.1.2 (released in June 2025) also resolved lots of bugs (at least in AP mode). The overall system stability and performance is musch better in my use case, RBR is in AP mode.
Looking fw to try the new firmware 9.13.2.1 (released Nov 2025) , when NG fix the wrong packaging issue in the zip file...
Very weird my Satellites updated to version 9.13.2.1 but not my Router... system works fine though... I'm scared that it might not last long without the Router also being updated to version 9.13.2.1 to match the Satellites.
If something happens, you can downgrade the RBS back to same version as what is on the RBR and turn OFF auto update.
NG is aware of the new FW being posted. There working on it.
FYI : The zip files for fw 9.13.2.1 are updated now. Both RBR + RBS zip files are correct on NG side. Please download and upgrade. Try this version. If RBR craches continue, request a RMA from NG.
Unfortunately, the new firmware didn't resolve the issue—same problem.
Have you factory reset the system and setup from scratch to check this?
What all do you have connected to 970 series system?
Unfortunately, the new firmware didn't resolve the issue—same problem.
dkarataiev did you ever check if you were logging - I had posted for you:
- On the router admin web page, Advanced tab, Administration -> Logs: In the section "Include in Logs, turn everything OFF. At the top, click the Clear Log button.
Then let it run and see if the panics continue.
Also - did you hear from Netgear Engineering when I posted the info for you how to contact them - any reply, need me to ping them?
I disabled logs a long time ago, and they are still disabled.
I haven't heard back from either the engineer or the Netgear support.
Thank you for your help! I appreciate this.dkarataiev Do you have any WiFi7 devices, if so, please brand and model#.
