ORBI PRO first install - does not work - incredible lack of support

[Ginosergio]

I bought an Orbi Pro 9 months ago because there was an offer on Amazon and I was buying a new home. Just in these days I am finally in my new home, and now trying to setup the Orbi.

The 2 satellite are already mounted by the electricians high in the walls, they have current and are connected via cables and switches to my primary router, TIM internet provider in italy.

Now I am trying to setup the Orbi Router.

I am using my smartphone Galaxy S21 and the ORBI APP.

I follow all of the APP instructions, I am connected to the ORBI66 wifi network, but then I am stuck with the APP that say "orbi not found".

Already granted Wifi control to the orbi app, already tried a reset of the primary router, a reset of the Orbi router, nothing works.

Another attempt, I pick up my iphone and connect it to the ORBI66 wifi network. It ask for the password, I enter the passord on the sticker of the router. Now the iphone try to go to a web page "www.routerlogin.net" but get blocked because it say Cert_Authority_invalid....  I launch safari and enter the url manually, and allow to reach the page. Now I see a Netgear long page with many options, but what is relevant is the part that say "Trying to connect to your control panel ? - You may not be connected to your router's wifi network". That's incredibile, I AM CONNECTED !!!

I want also to point a very bad situation in the support section of the netgear site. There is no way of sending an email, or ask for help, if you don't register the product, and each of my attempts (at least 10) entering my serial number, end up with "unable to complete, try again later"

I bought netgear because I thought it was a serious and reliable brand, but this first impression is a real crap.

Please Help!

Just to complete the situation, the ORBI router is connected to a switch, that is connected to the primary router.

But I do not think THIS is the problem.

Ginosergio

[schumaku]

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Ciao Ginosergio

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@Ginosergio wrote:

I bought an Orbi Pro....

The 2 satellite are already mounted by the electricians high in the walls, they have current and are connected via cables and switches to my primary router, TIM internet provider in italy.

Now I am trying to setup the Orbi Router.

...

Just to complete the situation, the ORBI router is connected to a switch, that is connected to the primary router.

But I do not think THIS is the problem.

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Afraid, I fear this makes up several issues you are experiencing.

The way I'm reading your installation?

• You have to routers installed on your network
• Somehow the Orbi Pro and the TIM router are interconnected, probably in a wrong way
• The two Orbi Satellites are also connected (wired) to a switch connecting to the TIM router LAN subnet
• Your Orbi Router isn't configured, it's still in router configuration
• It's unclear on what is connected where....

What I would suggest:

1. Operate the Orbi Pro system in router mode
2. Only connect the Orbi Pro Router WAN/Internet port to the TIM Router LAN (at the cost of dual NAT)
3. Connect the Orbi Pro Router LAN Port with your switch
4. Connect the two Orbi Pro Satellites on the LAN ports (there are only LAN ports) to your switch

Now you have the chance that things are not interconnected...

[Ginosergio]

Hi Schumaku, thank you for your help.

I attach an image, please confirm that it is what you suggest. I will have problems in moving the satellites but I will try.

First question, what do you mean with "Operate the Orbi Pro system in router mode" ? How ? I can not access any configuration page right now....

Second question: after setting up the system like the picture, I have to connect my PC ethernet port to a LAN port of ORBI Router and try again  www.orbilogin.net  , I suppose ?

Last: can I try to configure the ORBI Router keeping the satellites OFF ? Or using only one of them ? I suppose they are already paired....

thank you

[schumaku]

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@Ginosergio wrote:

I attach an image, please confirm that it is what you suggest. I will have problems in moving the satellites but I will try.

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Yes, this is the idea I had in mind.

Of course, you can also connect the satellites direct to the Router LAN ports direct.

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@Ginosergio wrote:

First question, what do you mean with "Operate the Orbi Pro system in router mode" ? How ? I can not access any configuration page right now....

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Default is router mode, that's ok for the moment.

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@Ginosergio wrote:

Second question: after setting up the system like the picture, I have to connect my PC ethernet port to a LAN port of ORBI Router and try again  www.orbilogin.net  , I suppose ?

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The Orbi Router WiFi 6 system will assign a LAN IP by DHCP to the PC. Yes, then you should be fine. In case your Web browser does insist for a https connection, you can ignore the expected browser warning. The default certificates can't provide a correct https connection, because these are self-signed.  Check the default gateway IP address, so start with http://[ip-address]/ 

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@Ginosergio wrote:

Last: can I try to configure the ORBI Router keeping the satellites OFF ? Or using only one of them ? I suppose they are already paired....

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Not the hardcore Orbi Pro geek - I expect there is no WIFi wireless pairing required, because of the direct network connection.

If your Orbi Pro WiFi 6 router is connected to another router (here the TIM lan) that is already operating with the 192.168.1.x LAN scheme, the LAN scheme of the Orbi Pro WiFi 6 router is automatically changed to 10.0.0.1, and the DHCP address range is changed to 10.0.0.2–10.0.0.254.

This might require a cold boot of the satellites, the router, and the PC connected.

[Ginosergio]

Hi

here is the report

- connections made as suggested

- My ISP Router IP was 192.168.1.1, I changed it to 192.168.1.2 just to be sure

- launched the new configuration from orbi app. Connect to ORBI wifi. Same result: orbi not found

- launched chrome on my phone pointing to 192.168.1.1:  not found

- launched url 10.0.0.1: found, and finally with "advanced" option I can bypass the certificate error

- I finally get the configuration procedure via browser. The procedure also find my 2 satellites.

- at the end, I get a "table" that list the router and the 2 satellites, with the firmware version, then it say there is a new firmware, and download it for the router and satellite 2. Satellite 1 is listed as "not connected" even if it was found some minutes before.

- I try to reset the satellite, disconnect and reconnect its ethernet cable, after some minute its light become purple, the another minute, the light is blue (connected?) and the web page now show "waiting" on its line

- I refresh the page a couple of time, then suddenly the page does not work anymore, I get the netgear site, that say "you are not connected to your ORBI wifi".

- completely pissed, I disconnect the router from the ISP modem and bring it back where I want it to be; I reconnect it to the lan, but via a switch as it was before.

- some minutes later, on my smartphone, the page at 10.0.0.1 works again, and I reach again the firmware update page. I don't care about the missing satellite and I click "update all"

- I see a bar that slowly fills. At the end the page disappears and do not work anymore

- after many many minutes, the page reloads and show the admin login. 

- I login into the page and find all the configuration options, but the second satellite is still missing.

another problem:

I can reach the router page at  10.0.0.1/index.htm  with my smartphone, connected to ORBI Wifi, but I can NOT access this page for example from my pc even if it is in the same LAN as the ORBI Router, that is always connected also via ethernet....

can you help ?

thank you so much

Ginosergio

[schumaku]

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@Ginosergio wrote:

I can reach the router page at  10.0.0.1/index.htm  with my smartphone, connected to ORBI Wifi, but I can NOT access this page for example from my pc even if it is in the same LAN as the ORBI Router, that is always connected also via ethernet....

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What LAN IP is the PC adapter configured to? It must be in the same IP subnet. With DHCP enabled, I would expect it does receive a correct IP config for the 10.0.0.x network, including subnet mask and default gateway.

[Ginosergio]

My PC takes the IP from the TIM ISP Modem, and it is 192.168.1.100

now I understand that it cannot reach 10.0.0.1 that is a different net, but I have to keep it on 192.168

Can I configure ORBI  to have IP  192.168.1.1  ???

That is the default IP, I also moved my ISP modem IP, to free that for him !

Thank you again for your huge help

Ginosergio

[schumaku]

No, this is the outer network for now.

You still can reach the moden (more the TIM Router LAN) from that 10.0.0.x network. It's in the route, the default gateway.

[Ginosergio]

Sorry I do not understand your answer

first step:

Can I put 192.168.1.1  as ORBI Router IP ?

[schumaku]

Well, many things are possible. However, currently you operate two routers, the TIM one, and the Orbi Pro. With this environment, you can't have to routers with two local networks, and the same LAN IP subnet. Said that before: You can't have the TIM LAN and the Orbi Pro WAN/Internet side one one LAN and IP subnet.

Possible alternate approaches would be to use the TIM router as the primary NAT router and operate the Orbi Pro as a pure Access Point (loosing the possibility to have the Orbi Pro handing more than one LAN IP subnet) , or change the TIM router to bridge mode, and terminate the IP on the Orbi Router WAN Interface (giving up the limited capabilities of the TIM router).

If you insist (for whatever unknown reason) to use 192.168.1.1 as the Orbi Pro Router LAN, you need to reconfigure the TIM router to use a different IP subnet than 192.168.1.0/24

EDIT: For what reason you think you must keep this 192.168.1.x network, and what for you need your PC connected direct to this network?.

[Ginosergio]

Understood.

Why I need the same subnet....

I bought the ORBI to have full Wifi coverage of my home. The TIM router can't reach all the surface.

Suppose I am in a remote corner of the home, I have my tablet connected to ORBI Wifi so in the 10.0.1.x subnet.

With this tablet I wish to watch a video that is on my NAS. The NAS is in the wired LAN, 192.168.1.x

I am quite a newbie for these things. I think that using ORBI in access point mode is ok for me... do I lose some functions in respect to router mode ?

If the functions are the same, which is the correct way to convert ORBI to AP, without messing up everything ?

thank you!

[schumaku]

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@Ginosergio wrote:

I bought the ORBI to have full Wifi coverage of my home. The TIM router can't reach all the surface.

Suppose I am in a remote corner of the home, I have my tablet connected to ORBI Wifi so in the 10.0.1.x subnet.

With this tablet I wish to watch a video that is on my NAS. The NAS is in the wired LAN, 192.168.1.x

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Nothing does stop you from hanging the (unknown) NAS network port to the LAN (made up from the Orbi Router LAN ports, from the Ethernet switch connected to that very same network and even on the Orbi Pro satellite you have spare LAN ports available. 

What NAS (make, model, firmware) do you have in place?

Is it configured as a DHCP client, so receiving it's IP config from the DHCP server? If yes, just change the connection and restart the NAS. If no, figure out on how you can change the NAS LAN configuration to DHCP.

[Ginosergio]

Sorry friend 

the NAS was just an example. I am a newbie but I have a very complicated LAN, the NAS is in DHCP but the TIM Router settings assign it a fixed IP, and the same for many other things in my house. I can not change my current configurations, it will be a mess, I would pass days to set it up again, and remember which things access what, etc...

If I can bring ORBI in the 192.168 subnet, configuring it as Access Point, that's enough for me

please explain how....

thank you

[schumaku]

How do I configure my Orbi router to act as an access point? 

You can revert the TIM router to use the 192.168.1.1 LAN IP. The Orbi Pro Router and the Orbi Pro Satellites will get a LAN DHCP address assigned.

Afraid, I'm a little bit lost why people buy expensive Orbi Pro kits, wiring everything up to a switched LAN, and using a minimum of the capability. 

[Ginosergio]

Sorry  azurabennet I do not understand the sense of your answer.

Anyway I finally "solved" configuring my orbi as an access point. Sorry i did not report this fact in this thread.

Anyway I am not completely satisfied with this product.

Using Access point I lose some functionality as someone already said

Then, I confirm lack of support fron Netgear

Last, I can access the web interface but everytime the browser gives me a warning for the certificate not valid, I have to bypass this block, like I am using an incredibly dangerous site, and this is weird.