Firmware V1.12.0.18 Discussion

My two satellite system is currently working, but it was down for a month. The symptoms on my system were that the satellites showed as attached devices, showed that they were not transmitting on either channel on login to the device, and were obviously non-functional. The router continued to operate. I rolled back to v.1.11 and everything worked. However, I was not able to block the autoupdate despite jumping through the various hoops in this thread. I went through two levels of phone support. The first tier suggested replacing one of the satellites. (At the time it was consistently flashing magenta while the other was solid blue but not connected). That did not make alot of sense to me, as both were non-functional and there was obviously a firmware problem. Second tier support was really very professional but ultimately advised me to await a firmware update that should take about a week. (This was all two or three weeks ago). I posted an honest Amazon review while shopping for a replacement system. I explained this was a great system when it worked, but it stopped working  with issues that have not been addressed. The review engaged a more poractive support level. I was advised to go through RMA to replace both satellites. I agreed but told them I was skeptical a replacement would work since the system would operate on the earlier firmware. After the RMA was initiated, I received a phone call from an engineer. He asked whether I have spaces in my password. I told him that I used a passphrase consistent with best practices recommendations. He suggested that removing the spaces would fix my issues, indicating that he had reproduced this in his office. He called while I was at dinner, and I did not have enough time to discuss the issue with him. However, I eventually had a chance to take out the spaces, and it did not fixed the problem. Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to do more than reboot the system after the password change, and I never had a chance to discuss whether the proposed fix entailed something more. The new satellites were delivered shortly thereafter, I set them up, and they have been working consistently for the last several days (on 1.12.0.18 firmware). I have had a few brief wifi drops since, but no other problems.

My point here is that I wish I had the opportunity to test the "no spaces" hypothesis more. It is certainly dumb to not allow spaces in a password. However, two things changed to take my satellites from functional to non-functional. I removed spaces from the password, and I got entirely new satellites. If someone has the same symptoms on 1.12.0.18, I would suggest removing spaces from the password and performing a factory reset of all components to determine whether there is a "spaces" problem. If that does not help, I would conclude that some satellites have a hardware based incompatibility with v.18 firmware.