Losing satellites repeatedly

[madbrain]

I have an Orbi AC3000 with 2 satellites (RBR50 + 2 x RBS50) for about a month. I'm running in AP mode.

I have had one or both of my satellites go away completely over time.

They would not come back online even after reboots.

The router's admin page shows either 0 or 1 satellite online.

Each of the satellite's admin page can still be accessed via Wifi, but they no longer broadcast a Wifi signal and AP is disabled on them.

The first time this happened about 10 days ago, the only fix was to do a full reset to factory settings, and then reset the SSID and password - leaving everything else as default.

Within 2 days, the satellites had been lost again.

I opened a case with Netgear support #28693064 . I was told to enable "implicit beamforming" and "enable MU-MIMO" in the advanced wireless settings.

Indeed, that fixed it at the time - both satellites came back online after doing this.

I requested the case remain open in case the dropout happened again.

The case autoclosed 2 days ago.

What do you know, one satellite has now dropped again.

I have attached screenshots of the admin pages for the router (192.168.0.30), and each satellite (192.168.0.31, 192.168.0.32) . As you can see, the first satellite at 192.168.0.31 is reported is online on the router's admin page. And its own status page shows it online.

However, for the second satellite at 192.168.0.32, you can see that Wifi broadcast is disabled, and AP is disabled. And despite that, there is text that claims "Your orbi satellite connection is up and running" . That is most definitely not the case ! And I have some very weak/dead signal in my 4600sq ft home built with very heavy materials.

I think at this point, it is likely a regression in the firmware. I don't recall having these issues back in June. Please assist !

[madbrain]

Looks like making any changes to Wireless advanced settings resets the satellites and brings them back up. I first disabled MU-MIMO, and then enabled it back on, and now my 2 satellites are back up . Until the next drop off .

FYI I'm using a Netgear R7000 as router (wired only, Wifi disabled) with static DHCP IP reservations for each of the Orbi devices.

[madbrain]

Well, the second satellite (in the master bedroom) started lighting in the middle of the night, and woke us up. And it is offline again, just like in the screenshot.

And no amount of changing the Wireless settings on the router will bring it back at this point. Or pressing sync on router & satellite. Or using "Add a satellite" in the router's admin.

Basically, the Orbi is completely useless at this point.

[ToddTodd]

I also have a two satellite setup with same issues. Both satellites completely nonfunctional.

[Cody1385]

I had the exact same problem with firmware V1.12.0.18. Tried reboot and factory reset but no help. Finally, I manually downloaded FW V1.11.0.20 for both Satellite and Router from RBK50 support website. Then manually uploaded the firmware file to both Satellite and Router. After they restarted themselves, the Router picked up both Satellites immediately. If you are out of options, you can try to downgrade the firmware.

[ToddTodd]

Thanks. I will give that a shot when I get a chance. It appears that this issue is blowing up in other threads. FYI, from the firmware thread, there is discussion about blocking automatic updates to prevent reversion to the broken firmware. The information there is not clear as to whether downgrading turns off auto updates or whether it is necessary to jump through additional hoops to block the bad firmware. 

[StaticEMI]

I have the exact same issue. My satellite is useless now. Netgear really needs to fix this ASAP! 

[StaticEMI]

Downgrading the firmware to the previous version worked for me also. Kinda sucks though because the new firmware fixes an iOS disconnect issue I've been having. Guess I'm stuck until they fix this.

[madbrain]

I had manually downgraded the firmware on my Orbi as well, which gave me some relief.

Unfortunately, it upgraded itself back to latest broken version today. Sigh. Both of my satellites were lost again, and no change of settings would bring them back. I just flashed back the old version once again.

I'm really, really upset with this. I'm beyond the return period of my retailer (Fry's) and wish I had never purchased Orbi.

[StaticEMI]

Does anyone know how to contact Netgear support without paying for it? Apparently I am out of my 90 day free support window. I would like to talk to them about this issue. Is there any email support?

I have to say I am very disappointed in Netgear's lack of support unless you pay for it. Seems wrong that I have to pay for an issue they caused.

[JMU1998]

@StaticEMI and they take away options away from us with each Firmware so basically it is like "take this and like it" with no way to voice our opinions for free other than this forum which they "selectively" respond to what fits their myopic vision it is sad it is a great product Orbi a leader which is now sadly regressing rapidly to the bottom of the list because of lack of vision and open mind! no forcing people and taking away options is not the solution everyone's environments and needs are different. I hope Netgear listens Orbi still has massive potential just need a forward thinking Firmware approach.

[StaticEMI]

@madbrain Same thing just happened to me. My Orbi updated to the latest firmware and now I've lost my satellite again. I can't find a way to stop the Orbi from automatically updating. 

I also can't find out how to contact Netgear without having to pay for support. This is beyond terrible. I can't belive Netgear won't support their products and user. It woud be nice if they would at least acknoledge the problem and provide an estimate on a fix.

[DarrenM]

Hello StaticEMI

Send me a Pm with your name, email, and phone number I will get you in contact with support.

DarrenM

[GaryInEdmond]

I see by the photos you have up now that you have the latest firmware on both satellites so it's not the same problem that I had.  It's definitely not an isolated problem though as many others are reporting issues with their satellites.  

[SkyGeneral]

I too lost satellite connectivity. I was very frustrated and I called Netgear tech support, was put on hold for a long time, then they hang up. This happened three times then finally I got hold of a live person, I told him I was mad and I didn't want them to hang up again. They promised it wouldn't happen again. Then I was on hold for very long time (two and a half hours) then they hung up again. Cincinnati just bought the at Costco I was going to bring it back. It had been working very well for about 4 months. Before bringing it back, I tried moving one of the satellites closer to the router. I had to do a factory reset and set it up as a new system, but that worked it detected both satellites! It is now working again. Netgear tech support sucks, but I have to admit the Orbi is a pretty good system.

[Spamilton]

I've been troubleshooting my weak signal for a week and forgot about logging in to the satellite. I am having the same issue, where the satellite receives signal, but the wifi signals from the satellite are disabled. I have done a downgrade and a factory reset. It worked temporarily, but went back to disabled. It's like the new firmware did something permanent, at least until another update comes hopefully. It also doesn't show that any devices are connected to the satellite even though I have some hardwired to it, and they work. So it seems the issue isn't receiving the signal from the router, it's that wifi devices keep dropping connection from the satellite.

[DarrenM]

Hello Spamilton

Did you resync the satellites? also try to enable beamforming and mumimo in the advanced setup wireless settings.

DarrenM

[daxlogan]

FYI, I was having the same issues after the firmware upgrade. Solved mine by moving the satellite closer to the base unit, doing a factory reset on the satellite only, and then letting it sit for a while. The satellite would come up as a regular attached device (not an attached satellite) but then after about 20 minutes would shift to an attached satellite. Then I moved it back to the original location and powered it on (but did not do a factory reset), again it came up as an attached device but then moved to an attached satellite. It has been stable ever since.

[madbrain]

What "fixed" it for me with the previous firmware (1.12.0.18) was to change the main SSID and passwords to dummy ones, and set my regular SSID and password in the "guest" network. Apparently there was an issue for passwords containing spaces.

I'm running the latest firmware now (2.0.0.72) and have just reverted that workaround and disabled the guest network. I hope it will be stable. No issues so far.

[StaticEMI]

My issue turned out to be the same thing. I had spaces in my passphrase. Removing the spaces worked.

[madbrain]

I never removed the spaces, I just moved the SSID & password to guest network, since I didn't want to reconfigure all my Wifi devices.

With the new firmware, I put it all back on the main network and disabled guest network. All running fine, but it's less than 48 hours.

[daxlogan]

Update on this: I am still on the same firmware. Had a power outage yesterday and when everything came back up, the satellite was not connected as a satellite but instead as a regular WiFi attached device. All I did was was put a pin in the small hole in the back of the satellite (to do a factory reset), and after about ten minutes it came back up and connected as a satellite. My assumption is I will have to do this each and every time the power is interrupted to the base router or a satellite.