Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
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Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

amenic
Apprentice

Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

Intermittent DNS lookup failures RBR850
I've been using the Orbi RBR850 for several months now and I'm constantly having issues with DNS that I've NEVER experienced with any other router I've ever used including several Netgear products.

 

I'm currently running the most recent version fo the firmware V3.2.16.6_1.4.4

 

I'm using openDNS servers for DNS look up as well.

 

The issue occurs on every machine on my network (Linux, Mac, Windows, Chromebook) which are all using the router for DNS lookups.

 

The error pages produced by the web browser vary but every once in a while, I'll see an error along the lines of

 

"DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN"

 

I cannot seem to reproduce the problem via nslookup or dig but it does consistently (intermittently) happen via all major web browser software I use.

 

Is anyone else having this issue and know of a solution?    The chromebooks are particularily sensitive to it and in ALL scenarios it will eventually work without any type of intervention / configuration changes etc.    It's almost like an issue with the caching mechanism used by the router?

 

Please help!   This is the most money I've ever spent on a router and I really don't know what I've paid the extra money for if not better support / software.    Wifi 6 and mesh is good and all but it's the same old software Netgear has been using for eons.

 

I'm pretty annoyed that Netgear official support sputters out after a measely 90 days as well...

 

Thanks!

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 1 of 89
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?

 

Are you using custom DNS addresses or letting the RBR auto detect DNS from your ISP? 

Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update?

 

90day warranty is mostly industry wide. 

Message 2 of 89
amenic
Apprentice

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

Does this router use dnsmasq?

 

I wonder if it's just hitting concurrent connection max?

 

Is there a way to see that in a log file?

 

 

Message 3 of 89
amenic
Apprentice

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?

 

This isn't the problem.   The modem is a 'dumb' modem, doesn't route, dhcp, dns etc. 

 

Are you using custom DNS addresses or letting the RBR auto detect DNS from your ISP? 

 

Custom, using openDNS as mentioned (was using the same service on my old netgear router I upgraded from and the same modem and never had this problem)

 

Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update?

 

No factory reset yet.   The problem is annoying but this MOSTLY works.

 

Message 4 of 89
Mikey94025
Hero

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

This has been previously reported and plaguing other Orbi AX customers.  IMO it is not something particularly wrong with your hardware unit and a problem in the latest firmware.

  1. https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/RBR850-frequently-issuing-DNS-REFUSED-responses/m-p/1926207...
  2. https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/Intermittent-DNS-Errors-and-WiFi-Issues/m-p/1950768#M5458

I see it very often while web browsing in my browser, where it quickly refreshes and tries again to display the page.  I also see it exhibited when I go a URL bookmark for this Negear Community forum and intermittently (maybe 5%-10% of the time) it displays some Netgear forum Authentication error page and simply retrying then gets me in.

Message 5 of 89
amenic
Apprentice

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

Yea when it's really bad the Chromebooks will fail the "internet" check (always DNS) which makes the system think the Internet is down when it's not.

 

I've also seen Windows fail this simlar check and think the NIC has no network connectivity BUT this doesn't stop it from working.

 

 

Message 6 of 89
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

Not sure, you can enable log capture and debug them yourself and see. router IP\debug.htm

Message 7 of 89
amenic
Apprentice

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

Best I can tell (from reviewing posts here), this is soundly an issue with the dnsmasq implementation on the router.  It's either a buggy version and / or a bad config.    NG could fix this in less than a day if they spent some time on it....

 

 

Message 8 of 89
amenic
Apprentice

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

Well the good news is that it looks like I can fix this myself.

 

I got telnet access and was able to check out NG's dnsmasq implementation which is pretty lack luster and has tons of room for improvement.

 

The configuration file for dnsmasq is complete commented out, they are relying on flags on the daemon launch entirely.

 

Here's what they are:

 

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

 

 

-h, --no-hosts Do NOT load /etc/hosts file.
-n, --no-poll Do NOT poll /etc/resolv.conf file, reload only on SIGHUP.
-c, --cache-size=<integer> Specify the size of the cache in entries (defaults to 150).
-N, --no-negcache Do NOT cache failed search results.
-i, --interface=<interface> Specify interface(s) to listen on.
-r, --resolv-file=<path> Specify path to resolv.conf (defaults to /etc/resolv.conf).
-u, --user=<username> Change to this user after startup. (defaults to nobody).

 

 

I'm going to tinker with these values and see if I can better optmize this.  If I fix it I'll share my solution. 

 

Pretty sure not running cache is bad.....

Message 9 of 89
Retired_Member
Not applicable

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

Message 10 of 89
Mstrbig
Master

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850


OpenDNS, as well as most 3rd party DNS servers are not reliable, since so many people are working from home. So there may be your problem. You'd be better off using your own ISP's DNS servers as they are less used by the masses. I was using a combination of OpenDNS and Google, as well as tried speakeasy, 1,1,1,1, cloudflarenet, Level3 and more. I just ran a DNS benchmark and Open is was down the list as being slow right now. There's only so much bandwidth certain DNS servers can handle. 

 

Message 11 of 89
aparkins30
Aspirant

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

I think I figured this out (at least for me)

 

I was having the same issues - Orbi defaults to setting itself up in router mode (versus access point).  Since my modem is a modem/router, I disabled the wifi on my modem, set my modem up with an IP passthrough specific to the Mac ID of the Orbi router, then set the Orbi up as an access point.  Fingers crossed but so far so good, haven't been seing the issue anymore.

Message 12 of 89
aparkins30
Aspirant

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

To be more specific I used orbilogin.com, logged into the settings, advanced tab, advanced expanding option (left side, bottom), router/AP mode, selected AP mode.

Message 13 of 89
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

I would remove the RBR850 in AP mode from the IP passthru on the modem. THere would be no firewall or security in this configuration. SO you'd want to use the modems firewall for your security meaure while you have the RBR in AP Mode. FIrewall is disabled on the RBR when in AP mode. 

Message 14 of 89
aparkins30
Aspirant

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

Didn't realize that, thanks for taking the time to reply.  Just adjusted the settings.

Message 15 of 89
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

AP mode on any wifi router or MESH router system, firewall is disabled. 

Message 16 of 89
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

And if you have a router upstream from the RBR while it's in router mode, this IS a double NAT configuration which can cause these problems. Just turning OFF the wifi doesn't resolve this. 

Message 17 of 89
Mikey94025
Hero

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850


@aparkins30 wrote:

To be more specific I used orbilogin.com, logged into the settings, advanced tab, advanced expanding option (left side, bottom), router/AP mode, selected AP mode.


This made your intermittent DNS issues go away by taking your Orbi out of the loop for DNS requests.  By putting your Orbi into AP mode, your upstream modem/router IP becomes your computer's gateway IP and DNS server (not the Orbi).  It's when the Orbi is in Router Mode and the gateway IP that for some reason the Orbi causes intermittent DNS errors (even though the Orbi is just forwarding the DNS requests to your ISP or to your configured DNS addresses).  Another workaround is to change the Windows network connection's DNS server IP from the Orbi's IP to the ISP or configured DNS address (also taking the Orbi out of the loop for DNS requests).

 

Message 18 of 89
MarcinR
Aspirant

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

Does anyone know if there's some ETA from Netgear to fix the Intermittent DNS issue on RBR50? It's barely usable. I'm thinking of giving it back to the reseller as faulty thing. How much time can it take to the company for fixing trivial problems?

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 19 of 89
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

Have you contacted NG support about this? 

 

NG doesn't give information on when new FW verisions are released. 


@MarcinR wrote:

Does anyone know if there's some ETA from Netgear to fix the Intermittent DNS issue on RBR50? It's barely usable. I'm thinking of giving it back to the reseller as faulty thing. How much time can it take to the company for fixing trivial problems?


 

Message 20 of 89
Mstrbig
Master

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

I contacted Netgear about this issue, as it is evident on every RBK853 and RBK753 system we installed. I got a response that they will look into it. after 2 weeks of waiting, I contacted support again and go the same answer.

Doing some tests it appears if you disable WIFI6, the DNS issue goes away, which would be unacceptable to customers hat purchased these for the sole purpose of having reliable WIFI6. Moderators here should relay this is a serious issue with these 2 models.

Message 21 of 89
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

Users need to contact NG support the NGs support lines. 

Users can also directly PM forum moderators as well. 

 

Message 22 of 89
musicbravo
Guide

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

Seems like this is the same issue we discussed in a separate forum. I have started using rbr850 as a router again as I needed to block port 25 and my vm superhub3 did not afford me this option. Since doing this, the dns issues have returned. Think orbi will be back in ap mode soon and my ageing R7000 will get the outing as router again. I was working with the techs on this issue a while ago
Message 23 of 89
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

Are you using the DMZ or IP pass-thru on our Virgin Hub when you have the RBR in router mode? Or is the Virgin Hug bridged? 


@musicbravo wrote:
Seems like this is the same issue we discussed in a separate forum. I have started using rbr850 as a router again as I needed to block port 25 and my vm superhub3 did not afford me this option. Since doing this, the dns issues have returned. Think orbi will be back in ap mode soon and my ageing R7000 will get the outing as router again. I was working with the techs on this issue a while ago

 

Message 24 of 89
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Intermittent DNS lookup failures on RBR850

Message 25 of 89
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