New Firmware 2.3.5.30

[chrisuk]

[Bug Fix] Fixes the Ethernet backhaul boot-sequence issue.

What is the boot-sequence issue?

[DatabaseJase]

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@clammerds wrote:

Release Notes:
[Bug Fix] Fixes issues with the Apple HomeKit connectivity.

[Bug Fix] Fixes the wireless crash and reboot issue when the router is under stress.

[Bug Fix] Fixes the WiFi disconnection and IOT issue.

[Bug Fix] Fixes the guest isolation issue for multicast and broadcast traffic between the main host and guest.

[Bug Fix] Fixes the Ethernet backhaul boot-sequence issue.

[Bug Fix] Updates the OpenVPN certificate from MD5 to SHA-256.

I wonder why these first 6 fixes aren't included in the release notes on the download page?  I only noticed them when I clicked the link in the router admin pages before doing the update.  Seems these are some of the most important fixes.

[DatabaseJase]

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@chrisuk wrote:

[Bug Fix] Fixes the Ethernet backhaul boot-sequence issue.

What is the boot-sequence issue?

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I'm hoping it fixes the issue I had when one of the satellites (RBS50) insisted it had wired backhaul to the router (RBR50) when ever it was power cycled.  This satellite is connected to a netgear gigabit hub, which has our TV, Sky Q, Sonos Soundbar, and an Xbox One X connected, but the RBS50 uses wirelesss backhaul to the RBR50.  This is/was a big issue for me as it meant I had to disconnect the network hub before power cycling the RBR50 and then wait for the backhaul to register as wireless before reconnecting the hub. That's almost ok if I'm around but a pain for the rest of the family if I'm not.

I suspected the Sonos was causing the confusion here since it acts as a AP for all other Sonos speakers (you can see from the Orbi software that it "thinks" all Sonos speakers are wired to this RBS50) or it could be the Sky Q box that acts as an AP for the Sky Q Mini (again the Orbi "thinks" the Sky Q Mini is wired off this RBS50 even though the Sky Q Mini is actually plugged into the RBR50).  I prefer to wire up all devices I can to keep WiFi sort of dedicated to mobile phones, tablets, Nintendo Switch, etc.

Just for info the RBR50 isn't central in our house since it is in the study/games room where our gigabit fibre (FttP) comes into the house (I'm using (EDIT: AP) Router mode with the fibre router in bridge mode) so I use a more central RBS50 plus one more RBS50 upstairs (chaining is disabled).  That's why the Sky Q/Sky Q Mini setup might seem backwards when reading this post.

[FURRYe38]

What is the model# of the ethernet switch in the configuration? Be aware that some features of switches don't work well with Orbi. 

Also be sure that Daisy Chain is disabled for only one RBS installed. 

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@DatabaseJase wrote:

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I'm hoping it fixes the issue I had when one of the satellites (RBS50) insisted it had wired backhaul to the router (RBR50) when ever it was power cycled.  This satellite is connected to a netgear gigabit hub, which has our TV, Sky Q, Sonos Soundbar, and an Xbox One X connected, but the RBS50 uses wirelesss backhaul to the RBR50.  This is/was a big issue for me as it meant I had to disconnect the network hub before power cycling the RBR50 and then wait for the backhaul to register as wireless before reconnecting the hub. That's almost ok if I'm around but a pain for the rest of the family if I'm not.

I suspected the Sonos was causing the confusion here since it acts as a AP for all other Sonos speakers (you can see from the Orbi software that it "thinks" all Sonos speakers are wired to this RBS50) or it could be the Sky Q box that acts as an AP for the Sky Q Mini (again the Orbi "thinks" the Sky Q Mini is wired off this RBS50 even though the Sky Q Mini is actually plugged into the RBR50).  I prefer to wire up all devices I can to keep WiFi sort of dedicated to mobile phones, tablets, Nintendo Switch, etc.

Just for info the RBR50 isn't central in our house since it is in the study/games room where our gigabit fibre (FttP) comes into the house (I'm using (EDIT: AP) Router mode with the fibre router in bridge mode) so I use a more central RBS50 plus one more RBS50 upstairs (chaining is disabled).  That's why the Sky Q/Sky Q Mini setup might seem backwards when reading this post.

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[DatabaseJase]

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@FURRYe38 wrote:

What is the model# of the ethernet switch in the configuration? Be aware that some features of switches don't work well with Orbi. 

Also be sure that Daisy Chain is disabled for only one RBS installed.

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It isn't a switch, it is just an 8 port hub (5 ports would have done but wanted to have some spare) so no firmware, etc.

I want DC off because of this issue with the RBS50 defaulting to wired backhaul otherwise it can prevent the upstairs RBS50 from functioning if it is sending traffic through this one.  Also both RBS50s have good strong connections to the RBR50 so no issue with them both going direct.  Anyone upstairs doesn't require super bandwidth since it is likely a phone or tablet (I've done speed tests and over the fibre even these devices register 200mbps+ connections).  Appreciate the advice though. 🙂

[FURRYe38]

So is this hub only 100Mb supporting? I don't remember any HUB supporting anything over 100mb connection rates on the LAN ports. If it is, this will be a bottle neck for anything connected to it. HUBs are older LAN HW and not used much any more. Switches are preferred and most switches support 1000mb now days. 

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@DatabaseJase wrote:

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@FURRYe38 wrote:

What is the model# of the ethernet switch in the configuration? Be aware that some features of switches don't work well with Orbi. 

Also be sure that Daisy Chain is disabled for only one RBS installed.

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It isn't a switch, it is just an 8 port hub (5 ports would have done but wanted to have some spare) so no firmware, etc.

I want DC off because of this issue with the RBS50 defaulting to wired backhaul otherwise it can prevent the upstairs RBS50 from functioning if it is sending traffic through this one.  Also both RBS50s have good strong connections to the RBR50 so no issue with them both going direct.  Anyone upstairs doesn't require super bandwidth since it is likely a phone or tablet (I've done speed tests and over the fibre even these devices register 200mbps+ connections).  Appreciate the advice though. 🙂

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[ekhalil]

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@ekhalil wrote:

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@clammerds , @gr8sho 

In 2.3.1.60 there was an issue where the Satellite will get "crazy" and starts affecting the whole system. Symptoms of the issue is that devices will start disconnecting wifi and moving between Satellite and Router every few seconds.

The fix for this issue in 2.3.1.60 was to delete the Satellite from the Router and factory resetting of the Satellite and then syncing the Satellite with the Router (by adding the Satellite as if it was new). That solved the issue in 2.3.1.60 every time this happened. This used to happen every month or more for me.

This exact same issue is also present in 2.3.5.30, BUT the above workaround does not work in 2.3.5.30., which made this software not useable for me. I see waves of wifi disconnects daily and I could not do anything about that. I tried many things but that did not help. Only powering off the Satellite solved the issue.

My analysis of this issue is that it's related to wired devices connected to the Satellite as well as to mesh audio systems. So probably only people with such configuration will see such issues.

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I had some time during the weekend and decided to give 2.3.5.30 another chance.

I did automatic upgrade from 2.3.1.60 and everything was upgraded and restarted in minutes.

Few hours later I started to get the same wifi disconnects that I saw the last time I tried this software.

During the wifi disconnects I noticed the following in the Orbi Attached Devices in the web GUI:

1. There are two speakers (mesh speakers) that are shown as wired to the Router, while they are wireless attached to Satellite. They stay showing as wired all the time.
2. All other wireless devices, including the other mesh speakers, changes frequently to show as wired from time to time, looks like all devices show as wired at the first time they attach to Orbi then change back to wireless after few seconds.
3. At certain instant I noticed that all wireless devices attached to Orbi on 5 GHz to Router or Satellite are showing as wired to the Router!
4. Wired devices were not affected at all during the whole time. The kids were watching a movie on Apple TV (wired to Satellite) and there was no single interruption during the whole monitoring period, which exceeded 2 hours.
5. Looking in the Orbi logs I see DHCP events for those devices that were changing from wired to wireless.

After monitoring for some time, I factory reset those two speakers and re-attached them to Orbi.

From that point on, everything seemed calm and stable. No wifi disconnects after that.

Looks this software is again sensitive to the attached devices, a bad device can cause the whole system to go down! This is the second time that my mesh speakers have caused me a major breakdown in Orbi. By major I mean Orbi is completely not functional for wireless devices (wifi disconnects every few seconds on all devices).

I'm now closely monitoring the network for any issues. So far so good.

[DatabaseJase]

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@FURRYe38 wrote:

So is this hub only 100Mb supporting? I don't remember any HUB supporting anything over 100mb connection rates on the LAN ports. If it is, this will be a bottle neck for anything connected to it. HUBs are older LAN HW and not used much any more. Switches are preferred and most switches support 1000mb now days.

Apologies, I've got my terminology wrong.  It is an unmanaged switch which does support 1000mb: Netgear GS908

Throughput downloading UHD content to the Sky Q box and Xbox One X game updates shows speeds relative to the 1000mb ports.

Hopefully not pre-empting any issues but this firmware does seem more stable than previous as I've not had to restart any of the sattelites since installing the update.  Hope I don't regret posting that!

[pablohoney]

I'm having issues too with a Bowers and Wilkins A7 wireless Speaker that is in the same room as the satellite, connects to the satellite fine initally but then drops and decides to connect to the main Orbi in diferent room where the signal quality is worse as per the Bowers and Wilkins app!  Seems to be a legacy wifi chip issue on the speaker as it only picks up band "b" in the wifi spectrum. I also have and LG E8 OLED tv that is right beside the satellite and it conencted wirelessly. It will change connection to the main router that is in a different room for no apparent reason!!!  Is this an SSID issue I wonder in the devices themselves or the Orbi? Why would the devices connect to a router that has worse signal strength to the one that it was connected to???

[FURRYe38]

Ok, had to check on this. 

Your model shows Energy Efficient Ethernet Support (IEEE 802.3az). This is Green Ethernet features. Sometimes this feature doesn't work well with Orbi. If yours is working, then you should be ok. If you see any problems with the Orbi or the RBS, you might temporarily take out this switch and direct connect the RBS and see if any behaviors change. 

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@DatabaseJase wrote:

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@FURRYe38 wrote:

So is this hub only 100Mb supporting? I don't remember any HUB supporting anything over 100mb connection rates on the LAN ports. If it is, this will be a bottle neck for anything connected to it. HUBs are older LAN HW and not used much any more. Switches are preferred and most switches support 1000mb now days.

Apologies, I've got my terminology wrong.  It is an unmanaged switch which does support 1000mb: Netgear GS908

Throughput downloading UHD content to the Sky Q box and Xbox One X game updates shows speeds relative to the 1000mb ports.

Hopefully not pre-empting any issues but this firmware does seem more stable than previous as I've not had to restart any of the sattelites since installing the update.  Hope I don't regret posting that!

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[ekhalil]

@Christian_R I notice that there is an issue in the latest software packages that show wrongly the connection type for the attached devices to the Satellite, especially when using wired backhaul.

Attached Devices in the web GUI will randomly show the status of wireless devices as wired. I used to see this in previous softwares, but then the status used to change back to the correct status quickly. In the latest packages, the status will stay wrong for long times, and together with this I see wifi disconnects.

My theory, is that the Router -for some reason- looses contact with the Satellite's parameters and -by default- sets the connection status of the device to wired (probably using the wired status of the satellite). It seems that then the Router will push this status to the Satellite and there the wifi disconnections will start? Just a theory!

Facory resetting the Satellite used to solve such issue for some time until the same issue starts again.

Is it possible to get developers to look into this please?

Thank you

[OKinNJ]

Recently updated RBR40 to 2.3.5.30. After doing restarts, resetting to factory defaults, still have several issues not present in previous version:

1. After about 24 hours, access to management interface disappears, including attempts with the Orbi iOS app, and via Edge or Chrome on Windows 10 PC. On PC, neither orbilogin.net nor direct 198.168.1.1 works. Curiously, the old Windows Netgear Genie partially works, showing the network map (altho it shows most devices as "wired", which in wrong) - login not required for this, apparently.

2. Some time after the management interface becomes inaccesible, the RBR40 starts indicating no internet connection (magenta light on top), yet internet access is fine. I think eventually internet access actually does disappear. Only way to recover is via restart. Bummer. Think I'd like to just got back to previous version, which was fine for my uses; where do I  find that?

Setup is straightforward: RBR40, RBW30, and Arris TMS 1602 cable modem (no router there).

Thanks

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[ekhalil]

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@ekhalil wrote:

@Christian_R I notice that there is an issue in the latest software packages that show wrongly the connection type for the attached devices to the Satellite, especially when using wired backhaul.

Attached Devices in the web GUI will randomly show the status of wireless devices as wired. I used to see this in previous softwares, but then the status used to change back to the correct status quickly. In the latest packages, the status will stay wrong for long times, and together with this I see wifi disconnects.

My theory, is that the Router -for some reason- looses contact with the Satellite's parameters and -by default- sets the connection status of the device to wired (probably using the wired status of the satellite). It seems that then the Router will push this status to the Satellite and there the wifi disconnections will start? Just a theory!

Facory resetting the Satellite used to solve such issue for some time until the same issue starts again.

Is it possible to get developers to look into this please?

Thank you

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I made further investigation, and found a way to get rid of the wireless devices showing as wired in Orbi. This in turn seems to improve the stability of Orbi and stopped the wifi disconnects, so far!

I have wired backhaul, to sync my Satellite I used to first sync it using wireless backhaul and when that is done I plug in the Ethernet cable from the Router to the Satellite and sync using wired backhaul. This seems to be confusing for Orbi in 2.3.5.30, and probably earlier packages as well!

Now, I factory reset the Satellite and removed the Satellite in the Router's configuration, after that I synced the Satellite only using the wired backhaul.

Everything seemed to be working as it should after that.

I'll keep an eye on the system the coming days and see how things will go.

@Christian_R Appreciate it if you can look into this please.

[FURRYe38]

Has a power OFF of the ISP modem and RBR for 1 minute, then power ON of the ISP modem and let it sync, then power ON of the RBR. I would factory reset the RBR and seup from scratch here. Do not load any backup configurations from file. Don't enable Circle or Armor. 

Swap LAN cables between the ISP modem and RBR. 

How long does it take before you notcie that things start to fail? 

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between them to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.

What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and any unused channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or maynot be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

Try disabling the following and see:
Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).

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@OKinNJ wrote:

Recently updated RBR40 to 2.3.5.30. After doing restarts, resetting to factory defaults, still have several issues not present in previous version:

1. After about 24 hours, access to management interface disappears, including attempts with the Orbi iOS app, and via Edge or Chrome on Windows 10 PC. On PC, neither orbilogin.net nor direct 198.168.1.1 works. Curiously, the old Windows Netgear Genie partially works, showing the network map (altho it shows most devices as "wired", which in wrong) - login not required for this, apparently.

2. Some time after the management interface becomes inaccesible, the RBR40 starts indicating no internet connection (magenta light on top), yet internet access is fine. I think eventually internet access actually does disappear. Only way to recover is via restart. Bummer. Think I'd like to just got back to previous version, which was fine for my uses; where do I  find that?

Setup is straightforward: RBR40, RBW30, and Arris TMS 1602 cable modem (no router there).

Thanks

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[OKinNJ]

I have tried all the steps in the first suggestion, except swapping cable, which seems irrelevant to the loss of access to the management GUI.

I had to restart the RBR40 yesterday afternoon, as it had lost the Internet connection. Today, about half hour ago, I successfully logged into the RBR40, and saw all the attached devices, and the RBW30 showed good condition. Now, about 30 mins later, I can no longer reach the management interface - so less than 24 hours. But Internet access still working - altho that will fail in a day or 2, based on behavior in the last week or so (the top indicator is magenta). 

I am using default settings for everything (I reset the RBR a few days ago, and performed a new-system setup then). I don't have any significant WiFi interference, that I am aware of (nearest neighbors several 100 feet distant). And, again, things were all working fine before the update to 2.3.5.30.

I would prefer to downgrade to previous firmware, as that had worked fine for  a couple years.

(I am ignoring the possibility that there was a simultaneous failure of hardware, but I suppose that is possible).

Thanks

[FURRYe38]

You might try a manual load of the v30 verson. Just load the RBR, then factory reset and setup from scratch. If the problem still continues, possible issue with FW, however others have not posted about this particular issue with management. Try a downgrade as well. 

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@OKinNJ wrote:

I have tried all the steps in the first suggestion, except swapping cable, which seems irrelevant to the loss of access to the management GUI.

I had to restart the RBR40 yesterday afternoon, as it had lost the Internet connection. Today, about half hour ago, I successfully logged into the RBR40, and saw all the attached devices, and the RBW30 showed good condition. Now, about 30 mins later, I can no longer reach the management interface - so less than 24 hours. But Internet access still working - altho that will fail in a day or 2, based on behavior in the last week or so (the top indicator is magenta). 

I am using default settings for everything (I reset the RBR a few days ago, and performed a new-system setup then). I don't have any significant WiFi interference, that I am aware of (nearest neighbors several 100 feet distant). And, again, things were all working fine before the update to 2.3.5.30.

I would prefer to downgrade to previous firmware, as that had worked fine for  a couple years.

(I am ignoring the possibility that there was a simultaneous failure of hardware, but I suppose that is possible).

Thanks

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[ekhalil]

3 days now and my Orbi network is more stable than any other time.

• Devices are roaming much better and more consistent in 2.3.3.50
• Most importantly, my speakers are connected all the time and I don't see any dropouts.
• No more wireless devices showing as wired in Attached Devices.
• Logs in Orbi are consistent (no missing log types), and not getting full very quickly as when I had the wifi disconnects.

All what I needed to do after upgrading to 2.3.5.30 to get the system stable is the following:

1. If you use wired backhaul, make sure that you sync the Satellite ONLY when the Satellite is wired to the Router to avoid having two different links between the Satellite and the Router.
2. If -after the upgrade- you see some devices that show as wired (in Attached Devices) while they're actually wireless, then disconnect those devices from Orbi (forget wifi in the devices, and -if possible- reset those devices) and attach again.

[OKinNJ]

Well, I downloaded the V2.3.5.30 firmware. Restarted the RBR40  so that I could login to the management page. When I tried to upload the .img file, I get an error - 500 internal system error. Could this be because I am trying to re-install a version that is already installed? I would hope for a more specific error message in that case. (And recall I had already done a restart a few days ago, and done a full setup with 2.3.5.30 installed. BTW the update to this version was done automatically.)

What else can I try??

Thanks!

[FURRYe38]

No you should be able to re-load FW code with out any error unless your using the wrong version of FW or using the RBS file instead of the RBR. 

What browser are you using? 

Try doing all this with the RBR disconnected from the ISP modem and you and just a wired PC with the RBR. Factory reset, skip the setup wizard. Get to the point of were you can log in. Then send the FW file using IE11 or FF browser. 

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@OKinNJ wrote:

Well, I downloaded the V2.3.5.30 firmware. Restarted the RBR40  so that I could login to the management page. When I tried to upload the .img file, I get an error - 500 internal system error. Could this be because I am trying to re-install a version that is already installed? I would hope for a more specific error message in that case. (And recall I had already done a restart a few days ago, and done a full setup with 2.3.5.30 installed. BTW the update to this version was done automatically.)

What else can I try??

Thanks!

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[pablohoney]

Ever since this latest firmware update my Ring Floodlight Cam and Ring Spotlight Cam that were staying connected to the satellite are now connecting but dropping and connecting to the main Orbi which is further away. Nothing has changed in my setup apart from the firmware update which is causing this. The recent firmware updates have caused me nothing but trouble and I am seriously questioning Netgear’s competence.

[OKinNJ]

I had been using  Microsoft Edge browser. So I tried IE as suggested. I still get an http 500 error, but with some additional info stating that the FW file is "incorrect". That seems to imply that this file is for a different product, but I had just downloaded the latest RBR zip file, and the extracted file I was trying to upload to the RBR40 is named RBR40-V2.3.5.30.img, so that seems correct.

Now I have done a complete re-set of the RBR40. All the clients are attached, and things seem mostly normal; but when I  try to upload the .img file I still get the same http 500 error.

I am stuck. 

Thanks

[FURRYe38]

Ya, seems odd. 

When you have a chance, download the prior version of FW for the RBR and see if this applies to the RBR or the error appears. You should be able to load any version of FW. Possible the RBR maybe in a bad state...Something to contact NG support about. 

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@OKinNJ wrote:

I had been using  Microsoft Edge browser. So I tried IE as suggested. I still get an http 500 error, but with some additional info stating that the FW file is "incorrect". That seems to imply that this file is for a different product, but I had just downloaded the latest RBR zip file, and the extracted file I was trying to upload to the RBR40 is named RBR40-V2.3.5.30.img, so that seems correct.

Now I have done a complete re-set of the RBR40. All the clients are attached, and things seem mostly normal; but when I  try to upload the .img file I still get the same http 500 error.

I am stuck. 

Thanks

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[ekhalil]

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@OKinNJ wrote:

..........but when I  try to upload the .img file I still get the same http 500 error.

..........

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I saw this 500 error (Internal Server Error) only in 2.3.5.30 when I was logged-in in into Orbi one computer and tried to log in again from another computer. I tried all browswers and got the same error. Few hours later, without changing anything, I tried the same case and it worked! 🙂

So looks like it's a GUI fault in 2.3.5.30.

[OKinNJ]

It's been about 3.5 hours since I first posted today, and the management interface is now inaccessible  via PC Browser (Edge or IE)! Netgear ios Orbi app OK, so far (!)

So I will restart and try to install previous FW version.

[Christian_R]

Good afternoon @ekhalil, 

Thanks for looping me in! I have asked my colleague @Blanca_O to look into this for further assistance. 

~Christian