Re: New Orbi RBR50/RBS50 Firmware Version 2.3.1.44

housevampire · ‎2019-04-09

I have been using orbi for the last 2 years & i have refrain myself many times in the past from adding any unwanted & negative comments everytime when a new FW update released by NG, but unfortunatley the latest update 2.3.1.44 has just made the whole thing a joke...the wifi signal is constantly dropping / satellite drops off with config issue & slow wifi speed...

its utter nonsense & i cant believe a reputed company like NETGEAR can release a software update without a proper testing, i will forsure not recommend ORBI to anyone...

& just a quick question does the telnet way of force stopping the auto FW update actually works? ie:- https://www.reddit.com/r/orbi/comments/8ke43v/how_to_disable_autoupdate/dz6xz9l/

as im really considering of doing this over the weekend after downgrading the FW.

SBell · ‎2019-04-09

I've been having non stop wifi dropouts since this firmware update was pushed out. I have to restart the RBR50 and two RBS50 sattelites every 20-30 minutes just to get it to work for a little while. I've owned the Orbi for 1.5 years and have gone through multiple periods of huge dropout issues related to firmware updates. I dont have the time or patience to spend half a day trying to revert back to an earlier firmware version or trying to troubleshoot Netgear's shoddy hardware and software engineering. The only reason I've kept it this long is because it cost so much I wanted to at least get some use out of it before tossing it in the dumpster. Going to start looking for an alternative this time. It's not worth the constant hassle to keep the Orbi. Will definitely never buy a Netgear product again!

Dfran1 · ‎2019-04-09

housevampire

Yes the telnet is holding for me
The first time I did it I left my cable modem connected and it took the update again a day latter,
So I unplugged the cable modem , flashed , telnet , when all done I plugged cable modem in. No auto upgrades so far for me and I even did not factory default the Orbi as it is working perfectly with 210.

FURRYe38 · ‎2019-04-09

Try a factory reset and setup from scratch. I've had zero issues with wifi dropping with v44 loaded. Others as well. Just need a factory reset and setup from scratch is all.

@housevampire wrote:

I have been using orbi for the last 2 years & i have refrain myself many times in the past from adding any unwanted & negative comments everytime when a new FW update released by NG, but unfortunatley the latest update 2.3.1.44 has just made the whole thing a joke...the wifi signal is constantly dropping / satellite drops off with config issue & slow wifi speed...

its utter nonsense & i cant believe a reputed company like NETGEAR can release a software update without a proper testing, i will forsure not recommend ORBI to anyone...

& just a quick question does the telnet way of force stopping the auto FW update actually works? ie:- https://www.reddit.com/r/orbi/comments/8ke43v/how_to_disable_autoupdate/dz6xz9l/

as im really considering of doing this over the weekend after downgrading the FW.

FURRYe38 · ‎2019-04-09

Try a factory reset and setup from scratch. I've had zero issues with wifi dropping with v44 loaded. Others as well. Just need a factory reset and setup from scratch is all.

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.

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 and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

@SBell wrote:

I've been having non stop wifi dropouts since this firmware update was pushed out. I have to restart the RBR50 and two RBS50 sattelites every 20-30 minutes just to get it to work for a little while. I've owned the Orbi for 1.5 years and have gone through multiple periods of huge dropout issues related to firmware updates. I dont have the time or patience to spend half a day trying to revert back to an earlier firmware version or trying to troubleshoot Netgear's shoddy hardware and software engineering. The only reason I've kept it this long is because it cost so much I wanted to at least get some use out of it before tossing it in the dumpster. Going to start looking for an alternative this time. It's not worth the constant hassle to keep the Orbi. Will definitely never buy a Netgear product again!

SBell · ‎2019-04-09

@FURRYe38 wrote:

Try a factory reset and setup from scratch. I've had zero issues with wifi dropping with v44 loaded. Others as well. Just need a factory reset and setup from scratch is all.

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.

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 and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

@SBell wrote:

I've been having non stop wifi dropouts since this firmware update was pushed out. I have to restart the RBR50 and two RBS50 sattelites every 20-30 minutes just to get it to work for a little while. I've owned the Orbi for 1.5 years and have gone through multiple periods of huge dropout issues related to firmware updates. I dont have the time or patience to spend half a day trying to revert back to an earlier firmware version or trying to troubleshoot Netgear's shoddy hardware and software engineering. The only reason I've kept it this long is because it cost so much I wanted to at least get some use out of it before tossing it in the dumpster. Going to start looking for an alternative this time. It's not worth the constant hassle to keep the Orbi. Will definitely never buy a Netgear product again!

Sorry, but none of this is helpful. "Just need a factory reset and setup from scratch is all." I've been down that road each of the multiple times the Orbi has failed over the last year and a half and I'm done wasting time on it. Would you be fine with having to wipe and restore your phone each time it's updated? How about wiping and restoring your computer each time it's updated? Or any of your other electronics? It shouldn't require hours or days of troubleshooting to try and restore a working wifi setup everytime Netgear pushes a firmware update.

And as far as "What size is your home? What's the distance...? How many neighbors...? etc." None of that changed, so it's completely irrelevant. The Orbi had been stable for a few months with no drop outs. The only thing that changed is that Netgear pushed a defective firmware update out, automatically updated my router, and made a mess of my wifi network. The issue is their firmware and not my set up.

I'm not going to waste an hour or two trying a reset that may or may or may not work. I'm going to use that hour or two to research and buy a new router from a company with better quality products and better customer service.

FURRYe38 · ‎2019-04-09

Good Luck then. v44 IS working well for others.

lukpac · ‎2019-04-09

@FURRYe38 wrote:

Good Luck then. v44 IS working well for others.

I can't say I disagree with the previous comment. Can you imagine Microsoft telling people to reimage their PCs every time there was a Windows update?

2.3.1.44 may be working fine for some people, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have inherent issues. Not everyone has the same configurations or the same clients. Heck, I've noticed no issues on my iPhone for as long as we've had Orbi, but my wife often complains that her Android phone keeps disconnecting. It's not helpful to suggest that because some people aren't having issues that if people do have issues it's somehow their fault.

FURRYe38 · ‎2019-04-09

Its also not help when questions are asked and the questions are not answered or marked as irrelevant. Questions presented ARE relevant. This only helps us and users narrow down some things where there are inherent issues in FW. In some cases there are user mis-configurations and in FW. Again, Were only here to help users try and get there systems working. If users don't want to let us help them, then they can get ahold of official NG support.

lukpac · ‎2019-04-09

@FURRYe38 wrote:

Its also not help when questions are asked and the questions are not answered or marked as irrelevant. Questions presented ARE relevant. This only helps us and users narrow down some things where there are inherent issues in FW. In some cases there are user mis-configurations and in FW. Again, Were only here to help users try and get there systems working. If users don't want to let us help them, then they can get ahold of official NG support.

Who is "us"? And "inherent issues in FW"? What inherent issues are you talking about?

Also, it's not clear why the settings in question aren't enabled by default if they supposedly fix the problems. Or why they can be changed at all.

michaelkenward · ‎2019-04-09

@lukpac wrote:

I can't say I disagree with the previous comment. Can you imagine Microsoft telling people to reimage their PCs every time there was a Windows update?

You compare a reset with reimaging a PC?

Blimey. You have a low hassle threshold. It is an unfortunate fact if life that all router makers sometimes inflict this on users. Mostly it is not needed, but just occasionally stuff happens.

I suspect that the real culprits are the chipset makers.

Commercial routers may not suffer from this disease, but at a cost.

Last week I was sitting in the driving seat of a Jaguar iPace when the "firmware" was updating. That has two banks of memory. It loads new software into one back, leaving the old version in the other bank. It can be done, but at a price.

housevampire · ‎2019-04-09

I totally agree with @SBell, how is it possible that with the previous FW everything worked fine (saying that it worked fine after a full factory reset) & now the question abt the distance between the satelitte & the router how does that matters? but to answer the question its <25ft & rest of the other settings ie:- the channel setting for 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz was set after checking for no interference from my neighbour's wifi - all setup was done with precheck using Wifi Network Analyzer app.

Question now is why do we need to FACTORY RESET everytime when the router is updated with new FW?

Unfortunately its my mistake after spending a huge sum buying a product from a company not knowing that NG has such incompetent software dev team, it looks like i have to bite the bullet & have to deal with this nonsence as i cant afford to spend again replacing it with a more reliable router...atleast for 6 months or for a year more.

Im definitely updating all of my comments here & my experience in amazon review & it will be a big NO from me for any new potential buyers in amazon if i get the recommendation notification from amazon....

FURRYe38 · ‎2019-04-09

Users in the forum.

Various issues seen in FW that users post about. Daisy Chain was the last one. Seems to be fixed now.

One issue that seems to still be inherent is this auto FW update process. Some seem to have good luck with and others no so much. Reason why I keep telling those that don't have good luck, try the factory reset. Others have mentioned that this has brought there system around to stability. Even manually update FW seems to be better than auto update. Again, there maybe trailing code or mis-configurations left behind during auto update that that process doesn't seem to clear out. Doing a reset and setup from scratch and and NOT loading a prior saved configuration seems to help this. One user just posted that he was having problem with his RBR after FW update, however after a factory set and he loaded the older saved config from file, the problem remained. Wasn't untill a reset and setup from scratch and not loading the prior saved config did the problem get resolved. So there is that.

FURRYe38 · ‎2019-04-09

Updaing FW while the car was in motions? I hope not. That would be scary if the FW failed or caused a problem during montion upon reboot. LOL. Whoa.

@michaelkenward wrote:

Last week I was sitting in the driving seat of a Jaguar iPace when the "firmware" was updating. That has two banks of memory. It loads new software into one back, leaving the old version in the other bank. It can be done, but at a price.

michaelkenward · ‎2019-04-09

@FURRYe38 wrote:

Updaing FW while the car was in motions?

The update goes into the second bank of memory.

The car switches between banks when it is safe to do so.

But that raises the question as to how a router would work with two banks. Would it have to reboot to implement the new firmware?

FURRYe38 · ‎2019-04-09

I see, interesting. Not a fan though for a car. LOL.

Ya, a reboot would be needed when switching NVRAM banks. Well, I don't see this coming to home class routers unless the chipset mfr start thinking differently. They all seem to be stuck on one path currently.

@michaelkenward wrote:

@FURRYe38 wrote:

Updaing FW while the car was in motions?

The update goes into the second bank of memory.

The car switches between banks when it is safe to do so.

But that raises the question as to how a router would work with two banks. Would it have to reboot to implement the new firmware?

FuzzyJohn · ‎2019-04-09

My RBK50 auto-updated from v2.2.1.210 to v2.3.1.44 about 36 hours ago. So far I haven't noticed any downside effects due to the update. On the first login I was prompted to change the password because it was not secure. The following several logins after the password change logged "admin login failure" in the event log in addition to the "admin login" events but now that seems to have cleared.

My previous problems were:

Sending logs by email when the log is full did not work properly. Jury is still out on this with the new update. Will update here when I have a conclusive report.
The Attached Devices showed an iPhone 8 as unknown when connected to the satellite. Jury is still out on this. I will update after the iPhone 8 comes back on the WiFi network.
The Logs stopped recording intrusion events (DoS Attacks) after v2.2.1.210. Those events are now once again recorded in the log.

michaelkenward · ‎2019-04-09

@FURRYe38 wrote:

Well, I don't see this coming to home class routers unless the chipset mfr start thinking differently.

There lies the issue. People buy a "inexpensive" consumer device and demand that it behaves like box that can run day in day out for decades in a commercial environment.

FURRYe38 · ‎2019-04-09

Exactly.

Well, I will give the devil his due, since people wanted thing cheap, circa 80's, Mfrs started making things cheaper. Been like this since about then. There was a time when Mfrs made good stuff and it lasted a long time. Now we are the buy and throw away era. Mfrs can't make as much money if they make things last a long time.

@michaelkenward wrote:

@FURRYe38 wrote:

Well, I don't see this coming to home class routers unless the chipset mfr start thinking differently.

There lies the issue. People buy a "inexpensive" consumer device and demand that it behaves like box that can run day in day out for decades in a commercial environment.

SW_ · ‎2019-04-09

@SBell wrote:

>> I've been having non stop wifi dropouts since this firmware update was pushed out...

If you are running out of things to try, give these settings a shot. If you've already tried, then ignore.

- Preamble Mode: Short Preamble

- Disable Fast Roaming

Apply the changes and then reboot the Orbi router/Saltellites and wait for the Satellites to fully sync with the router by going to Firmware Update page to verify that the Satellites are not stuck in "Waiting for connection". Next, verify that there's no wireless Collisions via http://192.168.1.1/RST_statistic.htm.

SBell · ‎2019-04-09

@SW_ wrote:

@SBell wrote:

>> I've been having non stop wifi dropouts since this firmware update was pushed out...

If you are running out of things to try, give these settings a shot. If you've already tried, then ignore.

- Preamble Mode: Short Preamble

- Disable Fast Roaming

Apply the changes and then reboot the Orbi router/Saltellites and wait for the Satellites to fully sync with the router by going to Firmware Update page to verify that the Satellites are not stuck in "Waiting for connection". Next, verify that there's no wireless Collisions via http://192.168.1.1/RST_statistic.htm.

Thanks for the advice, but as I stated earlier, I’m done wasting time trying to troubleshoot the Orbi system. I’m going to buy something from a different brand and write off the $600 I wasted on the Orbi. Good luck to everyone else trying to make the Orbi work as it should!

FURRYe38 · ‎2019-04-09

Glad it's working for someone.

@Joboo7777 wrote:
For anyone interested, just set up a new orbi for a Friend and the auto update is now working from .210 to .44

jweise · ‎2019-04-09

Preamble Mode: Short Preamble

What is Preamble Mode and where can settings be found?

FURRYe38 · ‎2019-04-09

Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

@jweise wrote:

Preamble Mode: Short Preamble

What is Preamble Mode and where can settings be found?

SW_ · ‎2019-04-09

@SBell wrote:

>> I’m done wasting time trying to troubleshoot the Orbi system...

Yeah, I understand.

Maybe it's not a complete lost of investment. You might want to give Orbi a second chance if & when NG manages to release a mature firmware, hopefully within a year.

FWIW, others seem the have better luck swithing to Google WiFi.