MS60 no longer backhauls to MR60

[derlee]

A few days ago, I noticed that my MS60 diode is solid amber.

My setup:

MR60 is connected to an Internet (ISP's modem).

The same MR60 from Ethernet slot is connected to the wall.

A cable in the wall from the ground floor to the 2nd floor. It is Cat 5e cable.

On the 2nd floor, there is a 1Gbps switch connected to the wall (directly to MR60 but using 3 cables).

MS60 is connected to the switch.

It lights the solid amber diode, backhauled or not. If I bring it to the 1st floor without backhaul, it syncs with MR60 and lights a blue diode. If I bring it back to the 2nd floor, it's amber again, and the backhaul seems to be not working.

The Ethernet speed between a desktop on the 2nd floor and a desktop on the ground floor (so using the same cable in the wall) is ~870 Mbps and stable.

The firmware is the newest available, I tried resetting MS60, it seems to be working fine but it doesn't use backhaul.

Is there a way to "disconnect" or unpair MS60 from MR60, so if I bring it close and connect with backhaul there will be no way for them to sync wireless? I think I need to exclude Ethernet port failure in MS60 (however, the switch is blinking green when I connect MS60).

Can you help me, please?

[michaelkenward]

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@derlee wrote:

My setup:

MR60 is connected to an Internet (ISP's modem).

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And that  modem is?

What firmware version do you have on the device?

A number is more useful than "the latest". (It may not be by the time people read this.) There can also be newer versions, or "hot fixes", that do not show up if you check for new firmware in the browser interface.

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On the 2nd floor, there is a 1Gbps switch connected to the wall (directly to MR60 but using 3 cables).

MS60 is connected to the switch.

And the switch is?

[derlee]

Modem is FTTH Huawei HS8145V.

Netgear's firware is v1.1.7.134

The switch is TP-Link LS105G

[michaelkenward]

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@derlee wrote:

Modem is FTTH Huawei HS8145V.

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That is a modem/router. Have you set it up to avoid possible conflicts with the MR60?

Two routers on your network can cause headaches. For example, you can end up with local address problems. Among other things, the other router can misdirect addresses that the Netgear router usually handles, such as routerlogin.net or the usual IP address for a router, 192.168.1.1.

This explains some of the other drawbacks.

What is Double NAT? | Answer | NETGEAR Support

Unless you have specific reasons for using two routers – to create two separate networks for example – it is often easier to use just one router and then to set up the second router as a wifi access point (AP). Netgear advises this, as does just about every site you will visit.

It may be possible to put the modem/router into modem only (bridge) mode and then to use the second device as the router.

Huawei ONT Bridge Mode Introduction - Huawei Enterprise Support Community

Sometimes it is easier to put the second router into AP mode. But that has its own drawbacks:

Disabled Features on the Router when set to AP Mode | Answer | NETGEAR Support

[derlee]

Yes, it used to work a week ago (MS60's light was blue, allowing 5 GHz on the 2nd floor and full internet speed on Lenovo P1 Gen 4).

The Huawei FTTH operates as a bridge, and MR60+MS50 is in Access Point mode. Wherever I connect, I'm in the same subnet (192.168.100.1 is a gateway and all devices are in 192.168.100.xxx, no matter if wired to Huawei or wireless to Netgear).

I blame the firmware and I'm trying to manually update MS60 first, but when I try to select the firmware from the disk, the window (file pick-up window) freezes for a second and disappears, disallowing me to select the file - Chrome, Edge, Firefox, even on another device (Windows 11, Windows 10, Android 13, Android 9) - it just doesn't let me select the firmware file to upload.

I'm going to perform a factory reset.

Is there any way to downgrade firmware other than routerlogin.net?

[michaelkenward]

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@derlee wrote:

The Huawei FTTH operates as a bridge, and MR60+MS50 is in Access Point mode.

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It sounds a bit confusing at your end.

That's not right. If that really is the case, there's no router on that network.

Bridge means no router on the Huawei . Access Point disables the router on the MR60.

It should be Huawei as router and MR60 as AP or Huawei as bridge and MR60 as router.

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Is there any way to downgrade firmware other than routerlogin.net?

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You need to get into the browser graphical user interface (GUI) – usually through routerlogin.net or the IP address. Then you can follow this:

How do I manually upgrade firmware to my NETGEAR router? | Answer | NETGEAR Support

[derlee]

Okay, my bad. Huawei is ISP's device that turns the fiber into 4xGig Ethernet and Wi-Fi (disabled). It is also a router (not a bridge - sorry for the confusion) creating 192.168.100.xxx subnet with 192.168.100.1 gateway.

I couldn't select the file based on the instruction you shared (because the pop-up window to select the file was freezing and crashing) but I was able to do it from old Windows 7 with an old Opera browser.

I downgraded MS60 and then MR60 to V1.0.4.96_2.0.41, and did the factory reset. It didn't ask for the firmware update, though.

By default, MR60 created a subnet 192.168.1.xxx, so I enabled Access Point (LAN setup disappeared in Netgear's control panel), turned off the firmware's auto-update, all devices took 192.168.100.xxx (from Huawei's DHCP), and everything works like a week ago - MS60 lights blue, in the routerlogin.net in the Attached Devices the MS60 shows up as wired (Backhaul Status = Good), and it works like a charm.

However, the website panel shows V1.1.7.134_2.0.65 in both MR60 and MS60, but the app shows V1.1.7.134_2.0.65 in MR60 and V1.0.4.96_2.0.41 in MS60... it doesn't want to update, but for some reason, it works with the firmware mismatch.

And I'm unable to access the setup in the Android App when connected to the satellite - only from MR60.

I won't be touching it!

Thanks for the hints!

[michaelkenward]

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@derlee wrote:

By default, MR60 created a subnet 192.168.1.xxx, so I enabled Access Point (LAN setup disappeared in Netgear's control panel)

That is a consequence of adding one router to another router. You end up with confused IP addressing.

A less messy approach is to bridge the Huawei. But if the MK6X works as required in AP mode, and you don't lose important features that way, fine.

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turned off the firmware's auto-update, all devices took 192.168.100.xxx (from Huawei's DHCP), and everything works like a week ago - MS60 lights blue, in the routerlogin.net in the Attached Devices the MS60 shows up as wired (Backhaul Status = Good), and it works like a charm.

I have no idea why you turned off the firmware update. It is unlikely that it had anything to do with what was happening on your network. That was more likely to be a configuration issue, and it is no surprise that devices did not know how to connect, breaking the backhaul.

If you want to access the browser graphical user interface (GUI) on the MK60 or the MS60, you should be able to find their IP addresses in the Huawei's controls. Then you can put those into a browser and check the firmware.It is generally a good idea to see have the same firmware versions on the MK60 and the MS60.