NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Gooner21
Sep 27, 2022Aspirant
Access Control blocking 1 device and unable to change to allow
Hi Guys Just out of the blue, my work laptop is being blocked by Access Control on my Orbi router (RBR50) I've tried both options of slecting the device and choosing "Allow" and clicking the r...
- Dec 17, 2023
This is an older thread, but hopefully will help someone. After several different approaches, I believe I've finally figured out this issue. Turns out, the older Genie software has an Allowed Device quantity limit, which includes both connected and unconnected devices. Once you reach that limit, the software will not Allow any other devices (ie, added to that list). Inane in today's age of wireless everything, but (almost) understandable when Genie was written.
The work-around solution is to clear out any outdated devices from your Unconnected listings - a list which simply grows and gets forgotten throughout the life of the router. Clear up 5 entries, gain 5 more entries for the Allow list. If you reach a point where you hit another "Blocked" device that can't flip over to "Allowed," you'll need to delete some more (hopefully) outdated devices. If you run out of Unconnected Devices to delete from the list and are still facing this issue, it's a sign that you need a newer router.
I've since swapped to a newer device that does not run on Genie. But, for those that might still need these routers, I hope this helps resolve the issue.
bugwan
Apr 02, 2023Aspirant
Hi all, I have a solution that worked for me just now.
For most of today, four devices on my network randomly stopped accessing the internet. It took me ages to find out why and I finally found them all in the blocked devices list on my Orbi - RBR40, running latest firmware - V2.7.3.22.
Same as the OP, I couldn't remove the last device - it just kept coming back. So I ended up blocking another device (printer) on my network, then allowing the one that kept getting blocked. That worked. So I finally unblocked the printer and now everything is working again, without a factory reset. It's almost as if it 'needs' one on the block list and until it has another device added, the stuck one remains there...
Hopefully Orbi fixes this with an update, but for now this worked for me.
Good luck!
- JohnnyHuttJun 19, 2023AspirantTHANK YOU!! That got the original issue solved but now the newly blocked item is in the same boat as my old blocked item. So it helped. Kind of. Now I’m back with the same problem but for an older device that I don’t really use. So it’s a workaround but not ideal. This whole access control thing really needs to be resolved by these companies.