Orbi Pro satellite with v2.1.4.16 hoses LAN

[ds-will]

Hi everyone,

Tech support guy here at a small business.

Somewhere over the weekend of 7/1, our Orbi Pro system seems to have auto-updated its firmware to v2.1.4.16.  On Monday we came in and the network was absolutely hosed -- we literally thought we had been hacked for awhile.  Running a packet capture, the network was getting flooded, mainly with ARP requests from the ~115 devices we have on the network.  Long story short, we eventually traced this back to the Orbi Satellite (SRS60) being connected.  Disconnect the satellite, everything is fine.  Reconnect it, and within minutes the same issue.

We ruled out network intrusion via wireless by changing the password.  Same problem.

After a full factory reset on the Orbi system, everything was fine for about one week.  Then, same issue out of nowhere.  Disconnect satellite, all is good.  Reconnect, and network gets flooded.

I've seen a few similar reports on here of networks going down with this latest update, but I didn't see anyone running a packet capture, or providing greater detail.

We run the Orbi in AP mode -- it is not routing.  Around 115 total devices on the network, probably 1/3 of those via wireless, the others upstream from the Orbi on the LAN.  The satellite is connected with a wired backhaul.  One suggestion I saw on these forums was to toggle daisy chain topography, which makes no difference (and seems like it shouldn't make a difference as it appears to only apply to wireless backhaul).

Any thoughts or suggestions here?

[DaneA]

Hi @ds-will,

Welcome to the community!  

Since it seemed that the problem started when the firmware was auto-updated to v2.1.4.16,  I suggest you to try to revert the firmware of both Orbi Pro router and satellite back to v2.1.3.2.  You can download firmware v2.1.3.2 here.  Be sure to perform a factory reset on both Orbi Pro router and satellite after downgrading the firmware then reconfigure the settings from scratch.  Observe if the same problem will occur.

Regards,

DaneA

NETGEAR Community Team

[ds-will]

Happy to try this @DaneA, but what will keep it from auto-updating again?

[DaneA]

@ds-will,

I advise you to try first the steps I suggested from my previous response then observe if the firmware will auto-update. 

There is no option to disable automatic firmware updates within the web-GUI of the Orbi Pro WiFi System.  With regard to this, I suggest you to open a chat or online support ticket with NETGEAR Support here at anytime and raise this concern as a feature request.  

Regards,

DaneA

NETGEAR Community Team

[ds-will]

Hi @DaneA

There's very real money lost in bottom-of-the-barrel troubleshooting like "do the downgrade, and see if it maybe auto-upgrades again."  I'd really expect something better out of a business system.

[SDplinker]

RBK23 here.... just installed 2 days ago.  Wired backhaul wrecks the entire LAN.  Also on 2.1.4.16.  Bummer - maybe return for the Google wifi if wired backhaul is going to do this.  

[DavidGo]

Our Orbi engineering team are working on a fix at the moment and plan to release a new firmware, tentative ETA is end of August. Will update further once we have a definite ETA.

Regards

DavidGo

[ds-will]

Any update on this?

[DavidGo]

Followed up on this and ETA has been pushed out to end of September. 

thanks

DavidGo

[ds-will]

Wow... over 2 1/2 months to push a fix... I want to thank you forum folks for being responsive, but for a system this expensive, I would have expected something from the dev team much faster. 

[greatlytroubled]

Any update on when this update will be pushed?

Having the same issue with ethernet backhaul on both satellites.

[DaneA]

Hi @greatlytroubled,

Welcome to the community!  

A new firmware has been officially released for the Orbi Pro WiFi System which is firmware v2.2.1.210.  I suggest you to upgrade the firmware of both Orbi Pro router & satellite.

You can download firmware v2.2.1.210 on this link.  Let us know the results.

Regards,

DaneA

NETGEAR Community Team