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Forum Discussion
electramet
Jun 25, 2025Aspirant
Orbi 970 startup issues with 4 or 5 satellites
We purchased an Orbi 970 with 3 satellite and added 4 all connected through a netgear 10g ethernet switch. We noticed some issues on boot up where they may boot up as wireless, or stuck in config sy...
electramet
Jun 25, 2025Aspirant
Latest firmware 9.12.5.3_1.3.4 all firmware is auto updated and is latest.
All 4 wired are connect to the netgear XS508M 10gig switch the router between the satellite are the only things on the switch.
definitely 2 wired and the wireless are less 30 feet. Two others wired maybe be slight longer like 40feet.
we are aware of the limit of what seems to be 4 wireless that is why we went with wired connections. I could easily with to 3 wireless and 2 wired.
MetroNet out of lexington is the internet provider. not sure of the modem.
We are using good quality industrial lan cable.
FURRYe38
Jun 25, 2025Guru - Experienced User
Well latest FW is here: Orbi Firmware Releases | NETGEAR Communities
What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR 📡 and RBS 🛰️ to begin with depending upon building materials when wired or wirelessly connected. Less than 30 feet will be too close.
I bellieve that even regardless of wireless and wired mixes RBS, the hard limit is four RBS connected to the RBR total. Maybe running into this limit and thus it's not working correctly after the 5th RBS gets connected.
What is the CAT# LAN cable being used?
- electrametJun 25, 2025Aspirant
the tech note you sent indicates 6 satellites is the maximum.
i will measure and there is cement walls and some steel rebar between them which is why we went with wired.
- FURRYe38Jun 25, 2025Guru - Experienced User
What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
Be sure you fully read the KB article as there are differences seen there.
Ah, ya, concrete and steel, will be problematic for any wireless MESH system.
I would turn OFF all RBS and run with just one at the remote location that has ethernet connection there. What I would do is first wirelessly sync the RBS near the RBR first to make sure it syncs fully, then ethernet connected to the back of the RBR. Make sure it sync's good there. All this while in same room as the RBR. Then once the ethernet BH is good, power OFF the RBS and place back in remote location with ethernet connection, connect ethernet to back of RBS and power it ON. Test and see if RBS connects fully over ETH BH. IF it does, then go to add another RBS. Use same process as above.
Do this for first 4 RBS only though.
- electrametJun 28, 2025Aspirant
The final answer in all this is the tech note about being able to support more than 4 using ethernet backhaul wired connection is wrong. I believe this is because bugs in the firmware of the boot up portion of the Orbi 970 because 5 will come up all good about 1 in 20 reboots and once they all come up good, they stay good until the next reboot. I have tried every combination from all wired and exactly the combination of what the tech note says. Once you add that 5th satellite sync problems happen on boot up randomly but not in cases. Each boot results in a different case of how many work.
As a life long programming, I think someone hard coded an array to 4, loop, or some other wild pointer error in the boot up sequence.