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Forum Discussion
kjx
Apr 26, 2024Apprentice
Orbi 970 Constants Reboots - Solved!!! (Router overheating is the cause)
I bought a Orbi 970 system with two satellites in mid-February. Had it hooked up to a 5-Gig symmetric internet service. Didn't have any issues for weeks as I only put a few devices on it while ot...
- Apr 28, 2024
Netgear opened a support case on their own seeing this thread and reached out to me.
Gave them all the details they asked for to help them investigate.
Hopefully this leads to a solution that helps future adopters of this hardware have a seamless experience because the Orbi 970 is spectacularly good outside of this.
FNGeer007
Jun 02, 2024Guide
I purchased the 970 bundle with 2 sats as soon as it was available (I think back in November of 23) and have had this same issue every since. I've gone round and round and round with support trying to solve the reboot issues. Finally noticed the unit seemed extremely hot. Put a fan on it, not a single issue for a month.
Recently I moved the entire network setup to an area with far more open space and thought it would be fine so didn't plug in the fan.... Nope, reboots and crashes 2 days in. Plugged the fan back in and all is working again. I feel this is a horrible design flaw. I live in Alaska and it's not a hot climate. đ
- kjxJun 04, 2024Apprentice
I don't have any update from engineering, except support reaching out asking if this is still a problem, and/or if anything has changed. For how much they charge for these devices, it's very unfortunate that this wasn't discovered prior to starting large-scale manufacturing - adding fans could have been so relatively easy at design time and wouldn't have cost much in the bill of materials.
- tpgnavy85Jun 27, 2024Tutor
This is the only known thread I have seen on this issue, and I also opened a case with Netgear on Tuesday over this issue. After an hour of analysis, they asked me to swap power supplies with one of the satellites and monitor uptime. So far after 2 days, no reboots, but mine have been pretty random over the last 2 months. I also measured thermal output of the RBE971, mine also shows about 90F under a relatively low network load. Have the RBE971 more out in the open now vice in an enclosure with a fan running over it, and it seems more stable right now. I also have applied engineering thinking, even asked support if I could try an engineering-level firmware with better logging to monitor the crashes (existing logging is just crap, only monitors minor events, which are lost when the router reboots), and they didn't sign up for that. I tend to agree there is an engineering flaw in the cooling system of the RBE971, and overheating seems to be causing the random reboots. But Netgear will not admit that at this point.
- tpgnavy85Jun 27, 2024Tutor
Just curious, in your configuration, do you have the fan blowing in from the top to cool, or blowing to pull hot air out from the RBE971?
- FURRYe38Jun 27, 2024Guru - Experienced User
My fan sits on top and pulls from the RBR below upwards.