Re: New RBR750 / RBS750 Firmware Version 4.6.3.16 Released

Jeffoz · ‎2021-09-27

What a mess. Never issues anymore lately after a rough start straight after release. Now in the morning suddenly instead of my own SSID I was on Ori13. Guess that's the back haul or something? My satellite is connected wired but it shows up as a client now, not a satellite anymore.

Internet works again but all this stuff started after this bad updates I guess.

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-09-27

What Firmware version is currently loaded?

Is the RBS directly connected to the back of the RBR or is there a LAN switch in between the RBR and RBS? If so, brand and model please.

Has a power off for 1 minute then back ON with the ISP modem and Orbi system been performed since last update?

@Jeffoz wrote:
What a mess. Never issues anymore lately after a rough start straight after release. Now in the morning suddenly instead of my own SSID I was on Ori13. Guess that's the back haul or something? My satellite is connected wired but it shows up as a client now, not a satellite anymore.

Internet works again but all this stuff started after this bad updates I guess.

Jeffoz · ‎2021-09-27

Latets one. 4.6.3.16. No switch between. Powered off everything, reboots, all doesn't matter. This FW is just bad and we will have to wait until there is a new one. It's just sad you can't deactivate automated updates.

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-09-27

Be sure the RBS updated to v16 as well.

Are you using in wall LAN cableing?

Try taking the RBS to same room as the RBR and connect it to the back to check using a good quality LAN cable. CAT is is recommended.

Remove the RBS from the RBRs web page then try the connection.

@Jeffoz wrote:
Latets one. 4.6.3.16. No switch between. Powered off everything, reboots, all doesn't matter. This FW is just bad and we will have to wait until there is a new one. It's just sad you can't deactivate automated updates.

Kevin923846 · ‎2021-09-27

This is exactly how it started for me. After I decided to do a a full factory reset all was lost. What a nightmare. The most frustrating part is that these issues were apparently reported during beta and NG still pushed this crap out to their unsuspecting customers.

Jeffoz · ‎2021-09-27

I use yes. Just patch panels basically extending cabling. I will just wait Fury as it's clearly firmware related, don't want to do a lot of changes while it's firmware related. I just wanted to post so it adds up to the rest of the messages so it's clear for Netgear there is an issue. I send the same to Darren alresdy as well. Appreciate your help and dedication always though!

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-09-27

Ok, was just wondering if the RBS would sync up right with it connected while near the RBR. Rule out in wall cabling.

Hoping NG will get this fixed soon.

Good Luck.

@Jeffoz wrote:
I use yes. Just patch panels basically extending cabling. I will just wait Fury as it's clearly firmware related, don't want to do a lot of changes while it's firmware related. I just wanted to post so it adds up to the rest of the messages so it's clear for Netgear there is an issue. I send the same to Darren alresdy as well. Appreciate your help and dedication always though!

orbiuser1975 · ‎2021-09-27

This is a sublte issue that I think was also introduced in the v4 firmware. My original setup (v3) allowed for a wired backhaul through an unmanaged switch, which stopped working upon the update. To date, wireless backhaul is buggy, saying that it is connected sometimes by 2.4GHz and 5 GHz randomly, and even though showing connected, I'll catch the satellite blinking with white LED as if it has just rebooted. Doing a factory reset with the router and the satellite in the same room and about 15 ft. apart, I'll get a "Poor" 5 GHz status - WTF? The only thing that has worked consistently is a CAT5e cable directly between. I'm sharing all of this so other users aren't surprised when they try and get poor results...

@FURRYe38 wrote:
Ok, was just wondering if the RBS would sync up right with it connected while near the RBR. Rule out in wall cabling.
Hoping NG will get this fixed soon.

Good Luck.
@Jeffoz wrote:
I use yes. Just patch panels basically extending cabling. I will just wait Fury as it's clearly firmware related, don't want to do a lot of changes while it's firmware related. I just wanted to post so it adds up to the rest of the messages so it's clear for Netgear there is an issue. I send the same to Darren alresdy as well. Appreciate your help and dedication always though!

lngtme-orbi-usr · ‎2021-09-28

2 firmware updates, 1 RMA, 3 months, and multiple interrupted Zoom sessions later, I'm still faced with recurrent disconnections and flashing white/blue lights. This is incredible. Honestly, how am I supposed to retain my trust in Netgear's products?

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-09-28

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WiFi-6/New-Online-Update-4-6-3-16-RBR850-RBS850/m-p/2144840/hi...

Thalador · ‎2021-09-28

Stupid garbage Netgear! Once again in the middle of a work call the router decides to reboot itself. Netgear needs to fix this garbage now. MONTHS and it is still not fixed.

_scottie_ · ‎2021-09-28

I have the RBR750 running firmware V4.6.3.16_2.0.51. Within the last two weeks or so, I have been experiencing high packet loss making Microsoft Teams meeting quite frustrating.

If I run a "ping -t 8.8.8.8", I can often see >1% packet loss. Teams often reports >40% packet loss (it has a "Call Health" feature).

I sit about 20 feet from the main router with no obstructions in the way. I don't know if it is this last firmware or not, but for roughly the last 10 months, my system had been rock solid.

Edit: I should note I also have a "ping -t 192.168.1.254" (my router) that also is experiencing the same packet loss. Additionally, I have a wired device bypassing my Orbi (connected directly to my router) with 0% packet loss to 8.8.8.8.

Also note: my Orbi is running in AP mode.

m0n0ph0n · ‎2021-09-28

I'm also affected with random diconnects since the new v4 firmware was 'released'. And yes, I did the reset stuff and everything. Read through all of this, nothing helped.

To be honest, the whole thing just shows how unprofessional Netgear (or at least the responsible product team) works. With not being able to provide a stability for standard function (no fancy setup), I have serious doubts that complicated things like security are covered reliably.

As others are so kind and already invest a lot of time supporting with troubleshooting and debugging (resets, downgrade, switching things on/off), I can also provide my help with some advices to Netgear on how these issues can be solved 😉

Distrubute a new FW update that reverts to an older (working?!) version asap, if there is any.
Fire the whole FW development team application team. Not only the developers, also product managers and especially testers.
Get a new team with skilled people to reimplement the Firmware from scratch.
Unfortunatly we would get rid of the late 90's looking web user interface but I could live with that.
Force the (new) Netgear team to use the product they build.

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-09-28

@Thalador @_scottie_ @m0n0ph0n

You guys can go back to v3x10 if your systems are working badly.

Revert to v10 on the RBS first then on the RBR lastly using this:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WiFi-6/RBK750-Series-Firmware-Update-v4-6-3-7/m-p/2130584#M185...

You'll need to block the v4 updates using this:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WiFi-6/RBK750-Series-Firmware-Update-v4-6-3-7/m-p/2131307#M186...

If not, you'll need to contact NG support directly and let them know whats going on.

Were also seeing better operation with RBS and RBR being fully unplugged from power for 24hours with v16 loaded. If someone was to try something say over night before you go to bed, then when you get up in the morning and power them ON and see the behaviors.

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WiFi-6/New-Online-Update-4-6-3-16-RBR850-RBS850/m-p/2144840/hi...

jdk1120 · ‎2021-09-29

I've also been experiencing this disconnect issue for quite some time now with the v4 firmware. The new update has been better but the issue persists. I recently turned off AX mode in 5G and it seems to improve things a bit..

NG support has been kicking the can down the road for me unfortunately. They just reply back in 2 weeks asking for the log files and after I don't hear back. The case has been open since August. I'm now out of the 90 day support window so I'm not sure what to do once this window is over but the same issue lingers. Well, I guess I know which mesh router not to recommend to friends and family...

claudiut · ‎2021-09-29

I've been experiencing the same random drops in connection as well as slowness after this firmware upgrade. What a nightmare! After going through some of the comments there I've disabled AX mode and things have improved slightly, but still experiencing some issues.

Any idea when NG is going to fix this? It's a frickin' nightmare and they don't seem to care at all. Garbage brand!

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-09-29

Might try this:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WiFi-6/New-Online-Update-4-6-3-16-RBR850-RBS850/m-p/2144840/hi...

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WiFi-6/New-Online-Update-4-6-3-16-RBR850-RBS850/m-p/2145457/hi...

@claudiut wrote:

I've been experiencing the same random drops in connection as well as slowness after this firmware upgrade. What a nightmare! After going through some of the comments there I've disabled AX mode and things have improved slightly, but still experiencing some issues.

Any idea when NG is going to fix this? It's a frickin' nightmare and they don't seem to care at all. Garbage brand!

COMountainGoat · ‎2021-09-29

My router and one satellite updated overnight, blowing up a backup I was running. The other two satellites didn't update and dropped out of sync and offline.

Auto update is bad enough. Not being able to disable it when it's this buggy is unacceptable. Net gear has lost all credibility when it comes to firmware quality. How on earth can they look in the mirror pushing this garbage without the ability to disable it?

anyone tried using a pihole as the dns server configured in the router and blocking the update servers in it? I really don't want to have to buy a separate router/firewall upstream of the orbi, but that's my next step...or just selling the sucker and buying a system with less consumer hostile policies.

wjbridge · ‎2021-09-30

@COMountainGoat wrote:
My router and one satellite updated overnight, blowing up a backup I was running. The other two satellites didn't update and dropped out of sync and offline.

Auto update is bad enough. Not being able to disable it when it's this buggy is unacceptable. Net gear has lost all credibility when it comes to firmware quality. How on earth can they look in the mirror pushing this garbage without the ability to disable it?

anyone tried using a pihole as the dns server configured in the router and blocking the update servers in it? I really don't want to have to buy a separate router/firewall upstream of the orbi, but that's my next step...or just selling the sucker and buying a system with less consumer hostile policies.

I use Adguardhome to block updates. My config is below. So far it has worked and I am still running v3 of the firmware.

# Block Netgear Updates
||explore.netgear.com^
||devcom.up.netgear.com^
||downloadcenter.netgear.com^
||http.fw.updates1.netgear.com^
||updates1.netgear.com^
||devcom.up.netgear.com^
||netgear-devrecog.fing.io^
||netgearup-dev.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com^

alphanstein · ‎2021-09-30

I use OpenDNS, just blocked up.netgear.com so it won't transact unless I allow it. Very simple to do in their user interface since I block/unblock domains for the kiddo's often.

tak1313 · ‎2021-10-01

@alphanstein wrote:
I use OpenDNS, just blocked up.netgear.com so it won't transact unless I allow it. Very simple to do in their user interface since I block/unblock domains for the kiddo's often.

I've used OpenDNS in the past, and it's quite good, if not just a tad slower than other DNS servers - and a simple basic consumer account (that includes blocking) is completely free.

But I THINK I've read in a post that it didn't work for someone tried blocking updates through such a service, and it didn't work - it's part of one of these crazy threads about NG's incompetence.

I THINK the poster found that although the URL was http, it was actually coming through https (which usually isn't blocked).

BUT, I remember at the time of reading it, I questioned in my head if the poster cleared the router's cache before coming to the conclusion because it didn't seem like so, but the post was fairly short without such detail. If the the IP was not cleared from the cache, the router would not have gone out for the DNS resolution, and would have just used the IP in the cache.

Dd852 · ‎2021-10-03

I’m just adding my voice to those with problems on this firmware. Previous was solid. Frequent blue flashing as if trying to resync. Frequent restarts. I’ve tried the unplugging/waiting trick. And yes 30 minutes seems to make things better but not for ever.

I have a 1gb line in directly to a 850 acting as router. Two satellites in a daisy chain. Usually about 22 devices on the system.

Extremely frustrating- the only logical explanation why waiting works is an overheating - perhaps because of repeated calls to the Armor or parental controls? Neither of which I want or use? Otherwise why would waiting for anything other than cooling things off?

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-10-03

Well, users can downgrade to v10 and block FW updates. Seems to be working for those who have until NG gets all this figured out.

Dd852 · ‎2021-10-03

I’m sure that’s possible but looking at the contortions one has to go through to downgrade and block updates, it doesn’t seem very appealing. Surely it would be easier for netgear to push the last working firmware as an emergency upgrade rather that forcing people to telnet in and adjust internal parameters

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-10-03

Well thats up to NG and when ever they get it fixed. In mean time, users can try the downgrade:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WiFi-6/RBR850-Firmware-4-6-3-16-Internet-langsam/m-p/2146741/h...

Or wait it out.

Up to you.