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psheld's avatar
psheld
Tutor
Mar 19, 2022
Solved

Orbi RBK753 has chucked my Airplay speakers off the network after firmware update

Orbi AX4200 WiFi 6 High-Performance Router (RBR750). (It doesn't fill me with confidence that this community forum doesn't have my Orbi model available in the selection field above. But heh ho.)   ...
  • psheld's avatar
    psheld
    Mar 23, 2022

    The speakers connected to the AVM once it was changed to the same SSID and password as the Orbi, and then would not connect to the Orbi. Nice try 🙂

    So I printed off every single setting and did a full factory reset of the Orbi network. I then reconfigured it just as I had done before, and found myself saying "A-HA!"

     

    Now I don't know exactly when I changed Orbi to WPA3?  Was it a day before or after the firmware update? Not more than that surely. Seemed harmless, or the right thing to do in fact, but could this be the culprit rather than the firmware update?

     

    So I got everything back exactly as before but with WPA2, crossed my fingers, and before I went to check the speakers I heard their little chime indicated wi-fi connection was established! 🎉

     

    I went to check KEF.com and found they do not recommend open networks or WEP (no surprise there!) And they add: "The WPA2 security protocol is recommended." Note, KEF does not say: "The speakers are not compatible with more recent security protocols such as the three years old WPA3."

     

    But if the effect is indeed related to the cause here, it would seem that KEF should indeed include that sentence in its documentation, or even better, get their kit compatible with WPA3. I will point them to this thread.

    Thanks Mikey94025 and thank you FURRYe38, and thank you [at]netgear on Twitter.

     

     

FURRYe38's avatar
FURRYe38
Guru - Experienced User
Mar 23, 2022

Can you set up the other wifi router for same SSID name and password that's on the Orbi system, long enough to get the speaker devices connected to it. Once the speakers are fully connected, turn OFF the 2nd router and see if the speakers migrated and connect to the Orbi wifi...

psheld's avatar
psheld
Tutor
Mar 23, 2022

Thanks FURRYe38. I will try it this evening, but I don't think it will work.

 

The KEF app clearly states that the speakers get the SSID and password, it's just the Orbi network does not then allow them to join. So I'm not sure why the speakers successfully connecting to the AVM increases the chances of them connecting to the Orbi network.

 

Attempting to connect the speakers the AirPlay way shows the AVM as an available network to join the speakers to, but has never shown the Orbi network since the firmware upgrade. So again, I see no reason why this will change with the process you recommend.

 

But I'll give it a go in the spirit of trying anything!!

(By the way, I use a well-known password manager, so there's no fear I'm mistyping!)

  • psheld's avatar
    psheld
    Tutor
    Mar 23, 2022

    The speakers connected to the AVM once it was changed to the same SSID and password as the Orbi, and then would not connect to the Orbi. Nice try 🙂

    So I printed off every single setting and did a full factory reset of the Orbi network. I then reconfigured it just as I had done before, and found myself saying "A-HA!"

     

    Now I don't know exactly when I changed Orbi to WPA3?  Was it a day before or after the firmware update? Not more than that surely. Seemed harmless, or the right thing to do in fact, but could this be the culprit rather than the firmware update?

     

    So I got everything back exactly as before but with WPA2, crossed my fingers, and before I went to check the speakers I heard their little chime indicated wi-fi connection was established! 🎉

     

    I went to check KEF.com and found they do not recommend open networks or WEP (no surprise there!) And they add: "The WPA2 security protocol is recommended." Note, KEF does not say: "The speakers are not compatible with more recent security protocols such as the three years old WPA3."

     

    But if the effect is indeed related to the cause here, it would seem that KEF should indeed include that sentence in its documentation, or even better, get their kit compatible with WPA3. I will point them to this thread.

    Thanks Mikey94025 and thank you FURRYe38, and thank you [at]netgear on Twitter.