Re: Intermittent DNS Errors and WiFi Issues

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-04-21

The ER-X isn't too bad for users to setup though I agree can be complex. Though out of the box the ER-X works well. Only thing I had to do is enable HW NAT so it would work on 1Gb WAN to LAN. After that, it's a solid router. I used mine for past 6 months doing heavy downloads of software builds.

BriceLB · ‎2021-04-21

I use a peplink Balance 20X as a router. I connected the Orbi AX6000 Router in AP mode in a LAN port and I disabled the internal AP of the peplink. Everything works fine except that the RBR850 reboot around once a day at random times. I have 3 satellites RBS850 and they reboot 2 to 3 a week on average. I still don't understand why the reboots. I am on the firmware V3.2.18.1_1.4.14.

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-04-21

Might post a new topic regarding your mysterious reboots. Maybe we can help you troubleshoot that.

@BriceLB wrote:
I use a peplink Balance 20X as a router. I connected the Orbi AX6000 Router in AP mode in a LAN port and I disabled the internal AP of the peplink. Everything works fine except that the RBR850 reboot around once a day at random times. I have 3 satellites RBS850 and they reboot 2 to 3 a week on average. I still don't understand why the reboots. I am on the firmware V3.2.18.1_1.4.14.

stsh · ‎2021-04-21

Wow... long thread.

Guys, DNS issues are basically caused by the location of resolv.conf file. Move it out of /tmp and it'll work perfectly. I too had the same problem and it was fully resolved a few months ago after moving that file and restarting the dnsmasq process while pointing to the new file.

It's a matter of just a bad QA and laziness by Netgear. Call them and demand that they fix it.

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-04-21

And can you explain how to move that file to us?

@stsh wrote:
Wow... long thread.
Guys, DNS issues are basically caused by the location of resolv.conf file. Move it out of /tmp and it'll work perfectly. I too had the same problem and it was fully resolved a few months ago after moving that file and restarting the dnsmasq process while pointing to the new file.
It's a matter of just a bad QA and laziness by Netgear. Call them and demand that they fix it.

stsh · ‎2021-04-21

@FURRYe38 wrote:
And can you explain how to move that file to us?
@stsh wrote:
Wow... long thread.
Guys, DNS issues are basically caused by the location of resolv.conf file. Move it out of /tmp and it'll work perfectly. I too had the same problem and it was fully resolved a few months ago after moving that file and restarting the dnsmasq process while pointing to the new file.
It's a matter of just a bad QA and laziness by Netgear. Call them and demand that they fix it.

Anyone with basic linux skills should be able to do it.

Send a magic packet to the router to enable telnet. Login using your admin account.

look at the processes and find the dnsmasq. Notice how it points to the /tmp/resolv.conf ???

just copy the resolv.conf to another location. I created one in /tmp/somename/ but anything will work as long as it's not in the actual /tmp

And then strart the dnsmasq process again but poiinting to the newly created file. Kinda like this:

/usr/sbin/dnsmasq -h -n -c 0 -N -i br* -r /tmp/somename/resolv.conf -u root

this should resolve the dns issues until the box is restarted.

If you want the new path to survive restart you'll have to be a bit more creative with a tiny bash script to run on startup and do this for you.

make a file called dnsmasq in /overlay/upper/usr/sbin - it will hide the original from the os. Edit the file and insert a few lines to do what we just did above. Create a directory and a resolv.conf file inside. And add 2 dns servers into your new resolv.conf file

and then start the dnsmasq process.

The basic idea is that when os starts it'll run your new dnsmasq which in turn will make a new resolv.conf and start the real dnsmasq process but using the new conf file. Simple.

There are might be better ways to run a script on startup but this works so why not? But let me reiterate. This is a workaraound for a problem created by the stupidity and laziness of NG. And they should really be the ones to fix this

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-04-21

You able to do that on current recent version of FW? I presume no as NG removed telnet feature a few versions back. Even using the telnet enabler doesn't work anymore.

Work around seems kind complex for those who do not have "basic linux" skills.

stsh · ‎2021-04-21

you might be correct regarding telnet. I did this a few months ago on an older firmware. Not sure about the new one.

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-04-21

I think v25 was last version that you could enabletelnet and it worked.

stsh · ‎2021-04-21

@FURRYe38 wrote:
I think v25 was last version that you could enabletelnet and it worked.

guess what. You are correct.

This crap updated itself, most likely a few days ago. This might also be the reason I started having this upnp issue all of a sudden. In any case the dns change is most likely gone and the telnet access is also gone.

At the moment I only see one solution. Unplug the internet to block it from updating itself. Downgrade the router and ap. Enable telnet and change all the nvram parameters related to auto update to disabled. And then do the same as above.

It's just an untested idea but looks like too much pain to go through this. Might be easier to eat the cost and get a decent router from a different vendor.

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-04-21

You can try the following to see if blocking the update services will work:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/RBR850-Frequent-Disconnects-Starting-March-9th-AM-EST/m-p/1...

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Firmware-auto-update-domain/m-p/1499659/highlight/true#M22873

@stsh wrote:
@FURRYe38 wrote:
I think v25 was last version that you could enabletelnet and it worked.
guess what. You are correct.
This crap updated itself, most likely a few days ago. This might also be the reason I started having this upnp issue all of a sudden. In any case the dns change is most likely gone and the telnet access is also gone.
At the moment I only see one solution. Unplug the internet to block it from updating itself. Downgrade the router and ap. Enable telnet and change all the nvram parameters related to auto update to disabled. And then do the same as above.
It's just an untested idea but looks like too much pain to go through this. Might be easier to eat the cost and get a decent router from a different vendor.

stsh · ‎2021-04-22

Why am I not surprised?

@FURRYe38 wrote:
You can try the following to see if blocking the update services will work:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/RBR850-Frequent-Disconnects-Starting-March-9th-AM-EST/m-p/1...
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Firmware-auto-update-domain/m-p/1499659/highlight/true#M22873
@stsh wrote:
@FURRYe38 wrote:
I think v25 was last version that you could enabletelnet and it worked.
guess what. You are correct.
This crap updated itself, most likely a few days ago. This might also be the reason I started having this upnp issue all of a sudden. In any case the dns change is most likely gone and the telnet access is also gone.
At the moment I only see one solution. Unplug the internet to block it from updating itself. Downgrade the router and ap. Enable telnet and change all the nvram parameters related to auto update to disabled. And then do the same as above.
It's just an untested idea but looks like too much pain to go through this. Might be easier to eat the cost and get a decent router from a different vendor.

msinex · ‎2021-04-22

I'm by no means an expert from a networking standpoint and don't really want to have to do my own coding. Just looking for a stable router that will work with the Orbi where I can do things like static IP, port forwarding, etc. Oh...and DNS service that works...that would be good. Any other experiences out there that have worked? Thanks!

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-04-22

Block only the specific update addresses. Do not block netgear.com as a wild card or to there main site. Just try to block the update addresses to see if that prevents the system from updating. I believe I tried it once and tested it by checking for FW and the RBR displayed a message that "services were not available".

@stsh wrote:

Why am I not surprised?

@FURRYe38 wrote:
You can try the following to see if blocking the update services will work:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/RBR850-Frequent-Disconnects-Starting-March-9th-AM-EST/m-p/1...
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Firmware-auto-update-domain/m-p/1499659/highlight/true#M22873
@stsh wrote:
@FURRYe38 wrote:
I think v25 was last version that you could enabletelnet and it worked.
guess what. You are correct.
This crap updated itself, most likely a few days ago. This might also be the reason I started having this upnp issue all of a sudden. In any case the dns change is most likely gone and the telnet access is also gone.
At the moment I only see one solution. Unplug the internet to block it from updating itself. Downgrade the router and ap. Enable telnet and change all the nvram parameters related to auto update to disabled. And then do the same as above.
It's just an untested idea but looks like too much pain to go through this. Might be easier to eat the cost and get a decent router from a different vendor.

stsh · ‎2021-04-22

I tried. Does not work. The screenshot demonstrates that even blocking netgear.com page does not work. They must have some sort of override for this domain.

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-04-22

Until NG fixes this, most any other router will work. Even NG R series routers will work and put the Orbi AX in AP mode behind a different router with it's wifi disabled. Or try the IPv6 6to4 configuration as mentioned by @Mstrbig. I have done this as well had have not seen any problems.

If you haven't submitted a support ticket, I would recommend you do so, so NG knows more of you are having problems with this and they need to address this.

Good Luck.

@msinex wrote:
I'm by no means an expert from a networking standpoint and don't really want to have to do my own coding. Just looking for a stable router that will work with the Orbi where I can do things like static IP, port forwarding, etc. Oh...and DNS service that works...that would be good. Any other experiences out there that have worked? Thanks!

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-04-22

Is that on older version of FW? If so, then I get they may have an override. Only other suggestion would be to put a different router in front of the RBR and block those addresses from that router. That would stop that I presume.

@stsh wrote:
I tried. Does not work. The screenshot demonstrates that even blocking netgear.com page does not work. They must have some sort of override for this domain.

stsh · ‎2021-04-22

@FURRYe38 wrote:
Is that on older version of FW? If so, then I get they may have an override. Only other suggestion would be to put a different router in front of the RBR and block those addresses from that router. That would stop that I presume.
@stsh wrote:
I tried. Does not work. The screenshot demonstrates that even blocking netgear.com page does not work. They must have some sort of override for this domain.

Yes, that's on the older version. apparently you cannot block anything netgear. I'm sure I could come up with some creative way to edit the hosts file or something via telnet but I'm getting really tired of messing with this junk. Adding another box in front of it just to block the updates so we can hack into it to solve a problem sounds like too much effort. Easier choice would be to add a small separate dns server inside the network and not rely on this router for dns at all.

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-04-22

One can do that as well. I believe others have Pi-Holes set up.

@CrimpOn

energie · ‎2021-05-05

Just to let everyone know. I switched on the Orbi AX with latest firmware. It still has the DNS error. Based on the whole 'turn on ip v6 to 4 tunnel' I tried that workaround too. That also does not work. Which is to be expected.

Conclusion. Netgear firmware / DNS resolving is still broken.

Only real solution is to ditch the Orbi AX in the bin or put it in to AP mode with a third party router in front of it. Which is the most economical solution if you cannot return the Orbi AX.

inZania · ‎2021-05-05

I am in shock. I have spent the last 4 months trying to debug frequent DNS resolution problems, exactly as described through this thread. I never suspected that the Orbi firmware itself was responsible; I had been running in circles debugging everything else, even building a PiHole to bring DNS lookup under my control. When that didn't solve the problem, I realized that the problem had to be with my RBR850, and ended up finding this thread.

We both run businesses from home and have this problem multiple times per DAY. NetGear's defective product has literally cost us thousands and thousands of dollars in lost productivity.

msinex · ‎2021-05-05

My new TP link wired router came in the mail today, going to shift the Orbi over to AP mode over the weekend and hopefully put this mess behind me. Will certainly be the last NetGear product I ever purchase.

Retired_Member · ‎2021-05-05

I'm curious why I'm not experiencing this issue. I have the RBK850 in router mode with 2 RBS850's all running V3.2.18.1_1.4.14 with wired backhauls. I factory reset them a few months ago and I've never experienced this issue. Is there a certain scenario that causes these DNS issues?

energie · ‎2021-05-05

It's a firmware issue that affects all users running these Orbi AX in router mode.

Not to put a tinfoil hat on. But it's really strange that a user with no real posts. Post a comment regarding this issue. With an immediate thumps up from Furrye38 (who seems to be working for Netgear).

Netgear should fix the Firmware / DNS issue. They already did it for the Orbi AX pro series one year ago.

Stop this nonsense and fix the Firmware.

tak1313 · ‎2021-05-05

You can see from my other posts I am not a fan of Netgear anymore (never buying a Netgear product again). That being said, I never experienced the DNS issue except for a couple of times that I'm not 100% sure if that what it truly was. I switched to AP mode after my Asus router because of Orbi's truly s*cky controls, QOS ability, and the fact that I'm not going to pay Netgear for services that I can get for free with my Asus (AiProtection - parental controls are free too, but I don't need that). As an aside, no DNS issues with my Asus router.