I've been having this same issue. Persisting through several firmware versions, since I purchased the devices in April. I had to call support at one point and was on the phone for hours as we factory reset, reloaded firmware, power cycled for hours. Eventually we were able to get them functional, satellite sync'd and clients connecting. Though to be honest, I've no idea what combination of the several steps we tried fixed the issue or if any of them did at all. Seemed more of a happen stance that the services happened to work as intended eventually.
They stayed stable for a good month and a half or so, and then issues started up again. Devices couldn't connect, satellite continuously going in and out of sync when using wireless backhaul. When wired, the satellite stays synced, keeps its IP, but wireless devices still have problems.
Extensive troubleshooting again, update firmware, factory reset, every possible combination of boot order and sync command given. Devices that I statically IP'd had no issue, nor did devices hard wired into it.
Changed the DHCP scope range , which would almost be a partial fix, more devices would connect. Changed again, stayed stable for 3 days or so.
DHCP seems to be the culprit here. Or more specific, DHCP over wireless. Possibly something as simple as DHCP service intermittently not being able to listen on the wireless interface, and when it does, its brief, and problems show up again when the leases expire and need new ones. Speculating because of the limited view into the device we have.
Either going to return them and pick up a different mesh system, or just setup DHCP server on one of my windows machines and be on the lookout for firmware fixes. Haven't decided.
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
What is the size of your home? Sq Ft? What is the distance between the router and 📡 satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS📡 to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.
Is the RBS directly connected to the back of the RBR or is there a patch panel and or LAN switch in between them?
What CAT# LAN cable are you using? CAT6 is recommended.
What channels are you using? Auto? Try Auto and 48 on 5Ghz. Or try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz. Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?
Not sure why this got moved to its own thread. I was more trying to help others that came across the last one like I did.
I assume the line of questions are a generic discovery to help pinpoint issues, not issue specific.
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
What is the size of your home? Sq Ft? 1400 sqft1 What is the distance between the router and 📡 satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS📡 to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected. about 20ft minimal interference in between. When DHCP is working, backhaul always shows solid. Currently have it wired though, but have moved it from right next to the RBR to different spots in different rooms. Issues persist.
Is the RBS directly connected to the back of the RBR or is there a patch panel and or LAN switch in between them? Directly
What CAT# LAN cable are you using? CAT6 is recommended. CAT5E or CAT6
What channels are you using? Auto? Try Auto and 48 on 5Ghz. Or try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz. Radio band isn't too saturated that Auto does its job at finding less congested bands. Use site survey tool to check. Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?
I saw a reply to the other thread and also that your post got moved to a new one.
I did suspect that there was an issue with the orbi router DHCP server for wireless for the primary wifi, since the guest and wired clients always worked.
I tried to use a spare dd-wrt router and use that as a DHCP server, disabling the orbi router DHCP services. The modem was still connected to the orbi WAN port. The orbi router cannot connect to the orbi satellites (both wired and wireless) so I lose the mesh function when I do this and I think it's because the orbi router is not able to commnuicate/assign IP addresses to the satellites. I tried to power cycle and reset the satellites but none of this worked.
Is it possible to use a spare router for DHCP server and still be able to use the satellites? How do I configure this?
What is the size of your home? Sq Ft? 1400 sqft1 What is the distance between the router and 📡 satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS📡 to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected. about 20ft minimal interference in between. When DHCP is working, backhaul always shows solid. Currently have it wired though, but have moved it from right next to the RBR to different spots in different rooms. Issues persist.
20ft to TOO close in between the RBR and RBS. 30 feet or more is needed. Even wire connected. Also for 1400 sq ft, Only the RBR and maybe 1 RBS is needed. Try turning down the power on the RBR from 100% to 25%.
Is the RBS directly connected to the back of the RBR or is there a patch panel and or LAN switch in between them? Directly
What CAT# LAN cable are you using? CAT6 is recommended. CAT5E or CAT6
What channels are you using? Auto? Try Auto and 48 on 5Ghz. Or try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz. Radio band isn't too saturated that Auto does its job at finding less congested bands. Use site survey tool to check. Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?
I'm seeing the same behavior and suspected that's why the satellites keep going out of sync as well.
I can't imagine turning off DHCP on the orbi would (by design) disable mesh functionality. At least I hope not.
My next steps are going to be:
1. Setup Windows Server virtual machine and configure a DHCP scope
2. Turn off Orbi DHCP
3. See what happens.
Is there a way to see the current DHCP table on the Orbi? Clients, leases and all that? Also, is there a way to dump all reservations, clear it out, short of reconfiguring DHCP? Besides the "attached devices" which I can't imagine is everything that has a lease.
Reason I ask is, IF there is no issue with the Orbi DHCP service itself, I have a hunch on what's happening but I need to see that table to be sure.
hiltxan any chance you have any apple devices on your network as well? iPad, iPhone, Mac? I have a few, and wondering if the "Limit IP Tracking" feature (which masks and changes the devices network MAC address) is confusing the orbi DHCP and essentially using up all the available DHCP leases because it thinks they are separate devices each time it changes. No confirmation on this, just a hunch if it turns out that DHCP is working fine on the Orbi
I have noticed that when the router dies, only 20-30% of the devices are able to connect. It's usually the windows laptops and some TVs that are still able to connect to primary wifi. Most apple devices and other smart home devices (switches, lights, thermostats) are all unable to connect, which makes me think it has to be a netgear ORBI issue rather than device specific or even just related to apple devices.
So far I enabled email logging on someone's suggestion and it has remained stable so far, but I haven't had any power outages or things that can trigger it so I'm just waiting until the next episode.
Interesting. So the mail logging is acting as some soft of keep alive for the DHCP listener/service on your end it looks like.
I did end up building a server VM and installing DHCP there. Turned off DHCP service on my router, and it’s been golden since. Not a single issue. So i don’t believe it was the private wifi address feature causing it from my apple devices either, and this confirms it.
I’ve rebooted my router several times since then as well, and stability has been consistent.
I spoke too soon - email logging does not fix the problem. I tried unplugging and plugging in the router and again had the same problem again. It takes me now 2-3 minutes to reset the entire thing since I’ve gotten so quick at it and know exactly what’s wrong. But if I’m not home, my wife or grandparents will not be able to fix it.
The logs do not show any errors except reassigning IP addresses to the same devices over and over again, like stuck in a loop. This time I could not even get a DHCP address assigned through a wired connection when it died. I needed to assign a static IP to the laptop to access the router (which showed no errors in the logs) but still could not get internet.
I saw there was a new firmware out and updated but the same problem exists. This new firmware is also more buggy and less stable then the previous one so now I’m getting dropped wifi. I seriously think there is something wrong with the DHCP server portion of the netgear orbi and that this is out of the scope of any technician I can get over the phone or netgear support so basically out hundreds of dollars with an unstable router.
How did you setup your DHCP server on VM and is there any reason why a separate dd-wrt router with DHCP didn’t work when I tried it? Are your satellites wired or wireless and are they able to function as well? My dd-wrt router was unable to find the satellites and assign IP addresses so the mesh system did not work. I’m trying to figure out exactly how the routers and satellites communicate and find one another for the initial setup.
Problem: DHCP on orbi router does not work after a power outage or will die in a month. About 10 or so devices can connect to the router. Satellites can connect and wired connections sometimes will work and get assigned an IP address.
Solution: Set orbi router to AP mode. Just disabling DHCP didn't work (wired/wireless satellites couldn't connect). Plug in cable from dd-wrt router to WAN port of orbi router (if plugged into LAN port of orbi router, wireless satellites couldn't connect.)
After all this troubleshooting, the netgear orbis have remained stable after power unplugs with satellites connected (both wired and wireless) and DHCP server from dd-wrt router.
I'll use this fix for now until it stops working. Just really annoyed that I spent $400 on this system but still having so many issues. I thought about spending $400-$600+ to buy an ASUS mesh or ubiquiti system, but after reading reviews it seems like every brand has issues and there is no perfect system.
