New Orbi firmware 2.1.2.18 update issues?

[stormlight]

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wrote:

TLDR: make sure all of your android devices are running Google Play Services 11.9.75 or newer.

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Thank you.  Both our android phones do indeed have Android Services version 11.9.75. 

[Ejalvara2]

Hello,

Even when all my devises are updated to the latest Google Play service version, still Orbi disconnects at least 2-3 daily. Both my router and sattellite are running the latest version firware as well. I thinks is is more of an issue with Netgear!

[BallHawk45]

...and it appears my comment on this fiasco has been removed from this thread.  Nice, mods!  It was here, I edited it twice after posting.  I didn't use foul language and was not confrontational.  Any Netgear employee mod care to explain?

I talked at length about how every firmware after 2.0.0.74 has had persistent issues with transfer speeds for devices connected wirelessly to router or satellites, wire-connected devices maintian excellent transfer speeds.  I also asked WHY (after I manually set NVRAM settings to stop automatic firmware update after twice having to manually revert to 2.0.0.74) that I awoke this morning to terrible wireless speeds - again - and found that I had been auto-upgraded to 2.1.2.18. 

[RogerSC]

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wrote:

...and it appears my comment on this fiasco has been removed from this thread.  Nice, mods!  It was here, I edited it twice after posting.  I didn't use foul language and was not confrontational.  Any Netgear employee mod care to explain?

I talked at length about how every firmware after 2.0.0.74 has had persistent issues with transfer speeds for devices connected wirelessly to router or satellites, wire-connected devices maintian excellent transfer speeds.  I also asked WHY (after I manually set NVRAM settings to stop automatic firmware update after twice having to manually revert to 2.0.0.74) that I awoke this morning to terrible wireless speeds - again - and found that I had been auto-upgraded to 2.1.2.18. 

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Can't definitively tell you what happened to your posting, and I don't work for Netgear...but I've had several postings disappear as a result of editing. I tend to think that it's a race condition of some sort in the forum software, never had the problem with editing posts on any other forum. I've gotten to the point where I copy and paste postings into Notepad before hitting "Post" after editing. Saves time when postings just disappear.

Netgear can do better on this one...

[RogerSC]

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MORE JUNK FIRMWARE AGAIN!

I was on 2.0.0.74 and disabled auto-update after the 2.1.1.16 farce and went back to 2.0.0.74. But, last night it autoupdated anyway to 2.1.2.18. (I must have missed something in nvram. Never mind, that's not the point I'm making here...) Now every time the xbox is switched on, the Orbi reboots! Go on, Netgear, you've spent the past month blaming Google for your own programmers' incompetence. I think it's about time you started blaming Microsoft? (Or, you could just, you know, get some decent programmers and maybe even splash out on a TEST TEAM? Here's a URL to help you https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_testing )

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That was my experience as well. I carefully followed all the steps in the cited posting on both the router unit and satellite unit, and tried more than once. The Orbi still auto-updated, despite that. It takes a varying amount of time. It can update in a matter of minutes, hours, or days.

What I'm doing now seems to be working...I've been on firmware V2.1.1.16 now for going on 4 days. I have an R7800 as my "main" router, using Kong's dd-wrt. The wireless radios on the R7800 are turned off, and I've used "Access Restriction" for downloads.netgear.com and download.netgear.com. The web admin GUI on the Orbi, in AP mode, still shows that there's newer firmware, but so far the Orbi hasn't done the downloads of it.

So, my plan seems to be working, which makes me happy. I feel that I need to be able to control the firmware that's being used on the Orbi, since it's pretty clear at this point that problems are coming from the mix of clients that one has interacting with the particular firmare release. Got my fingers crossed, but so far, so good *smile*.

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Netgear auto-updated my firmware after about 5 days. So two things I've learned:

1. Using dd-wrt on my main router does not deter auto-update.

2. Restricting access to "downloads.netgear.com" and "download.netgear.com" doesn't stop auto-update.

Leaving me with the question of what is the URL that Netgear's using for auto-update? I was looking for the procedure "firmwareUpgrade" (I think that was it) that's used when you click on "newer firmware is available" banner, but I have not been able to find the GPL source code archive for the Orbi. Seems to have been made more difficult to find on Netgear's servers.

Netgear wins this round, but the search goes on. I'm a very persistent person.

[sleepr88]

Seems Netgear can't write good software for the Orbi, or these forums (I've had posts disappear also, that I did not edit)

[ALNJ2017]

same experience.

worked with support changed MTU to 1462, then 1400. No improvement.

Very discouraging.

Still at least one slow internet experience/day-requiring a reboot on the .18 release.

Even when all my devises are updated to the latest Google Play service version. Both my router and sattellite are running the latest version firmware as well. I thinks is is more of an issue with Netgear!

Ist level Netgear support should stop blaming google. 

[frodaddy]

I have also been experiencing the same hair-pulling frustration of at least daily wifi drops. But here is the thing: I own zero google/android devices. So, this issue cannot just be explained away that Google/Android broke Orbi.

My setup:

Orbi 3-pack AC2200 (1 router, 2 satellites)

I have three stories at my home.

- 1 satellite on our top floor

- 1 router on main floor (plugged into our Comcast cable modem). Cable modem is in AP mode and Orbi acts as the router

- 1 satellite in the basement (where I work)

Now here is the strange thing.. I can replicate this problem after having experienced it now for months on end. From my basic testing it seems like my Apple iPhone can cause the wifi to go out if I move from my basement up to my top floor and then try to do internet browsing. It seems to me that the "mesh" routing gets really confused when my phone moves from one satellite to another. I have to imagine Netgear QA have tested this but its pretty consistent. I see the same behavior with an iPad. If you move between satellites you are almost guaranteed to crash the Orbi wifi network.

NetGear has always been good to me which is why I have stuck around but this has me really questioning them for future purchases. I just spent the nearly $500 on this new "mesh router" that got high reviews for it to blow up in my face... daily reboots cost me money out of my pocket as my business is from home. Frustrating is not the word for it.

[DG808]

After updare wired connections failed for about 30 minutes then started working.  Biggest problem is with S6 THAT STILL DROPS CONNECTION constantly, if not plugged in all night end up with dead battery many mornings.  Keep wifi turned off except when using WIFI for some time.  Obtained Arris WiFi as secondary and now connect S6 to it and it never drops signal, only problem is very low signaly strength at far end of home which is what I purchased the ORBI for in the first place.  Ipads have only lost connection once or twice they seem to stay connected to ORBI.  Hoped this version would correct the dropped connections on the S6 no luck.  Maybe an S6 probem though my wifes S5 also drops off ORBI just much less frequently than mine.  The the S5 did drop the connection once with the new version but the S6 is unusable.

[itzcoatl13]

Try resetting the dhcp range by creating a new dhcp range. For example, instead of using 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.254, use 192.168.0.1 - 192.168.0.254. This will force dhcp to assign a whole new ip address to every device.

I believe the modem (or router) and/or connected devices are remembering the old settings (from the older firmware) and conflicting with the upgraded orbi.

[MarkManAU]

Hi Ajshurts

any updates are you still stable doign the full manual update?

TIA

[mrogers77]

I've done the manual upgrade to the new 2.1.2.18 firmware and then downgraded again as I had issues every time. The last of my Android devices got the software fix on Friday, so yesterday I updated the firmware to the new 2.1.2.18 again. I had some issues but not too bad. This morning, it was nothing  but trouble for three solid hours. Drops and disconnects every few minutes. So I rolled my firmware back to 2.0.0.74 and immediately all my issues cleared - been running 12 hours now error free. And nothing else was changed, only the firmware. The new firmware has major issues, and they need to be addressed quickly. 

I'm running it in AP mode which should make a firmware upgrade pretty easy, I never had issues before with an other routers running in AP mode like this one.

[JustMakeItWork]

The issue with the wifi drops is not exclusively an issue with Android devices. When the Orbi started flaking out in the last firmware fiasco I ended up picking up a Google Home for the main home network and it has been solid. I moved the Orbi system into the office where it handles Apple products and a few security cameras. There are NO Android devices on that network and it is a secured network.  Even so, the Orbi has wifi drops which require it to be rebooted every week or so. There is something wrong with the firmware. At one point it was entirely stable, now its never stable for more than 5-7 days at a time.

The Google issue is not the problem. That's why everyone else has released a fix and it's still breaking for Netgear.

[MarkManAU]

Is it possible to load the orbi pro firmware on the orbi home ? As the orbi pros seem more stable ? I would try it but havnt bought one until these issues resolved.
Also any stats as to whether stability issues are region based or is this a global issue ?

[Jotnar1965]

What type of XBOX?

Is it the XBOX 360, 360s, XBOX One, XBOX One S or the XBOX ONE X?

Or is it all of them?

[PrezWRC]

This morning the system updated to 2.1.2.18 despite having configured my router not to do so through NVRAM. The result is that my satellite again does not connect to the router. This is really frustrating and unacceptable! Automatically being forced to update from a working system (firmware 2.0.0.74) to the messy 2.1.2.18. Why is there no solution available? The forum is full of customer complaints. Where are the people from Netgear? Why don't they provide advise to their customers? This is really unbelievable!

I will now downgrade again to 2.0.0.74 and really hope the Netgear provides some information to their customers on when we may expect a proper replacement firmware for 2.0.0.74

[lbdyck]

This situation is getting out of hand. 50% of the time my windows 10 64bit desktop (not early cycle), does not have a network connection in the morning. I have to turn off and back on wifi several times before it connects.  The same for my wife's windows 10 64bit laptop. The connection state for our iphones (iphone 8, 8+, and ipad pro 10.5) is closer to 75-80% of the time.

Wireless connections from Brother MFC-L8850CDW printer, Ecobee 3, Sony Bluray player) and 1 wired connection for hunter douglas window shades. 

No google thingys, no android, etc.  Just a lot of frustrations.

[scweingarth]

I'd like to update my post.  I figured out that the fact that my sattelite was disconnected was the issue.  My devices connected to the sattelite but it had no internet connection.

Several days with the sattelite powered down resulted in trouble free operation.  I reconnected the sattelite and made sure it updated it's firmware.  All is operating well with new version.

Why the sattelite lost connection and did not automtically upgrade is a mystery, but unless I have more issues, a mystery I will leave unsolved.

[timch]

Up for 14 days now with no issues. Definately no sign of the problems that others seem to be experiencing.

[DudeDad]

That’s great...I’ve had no issues since the upgrade.  But I am curious about the devices that are attached to your mesh network.  Many on this thread have complained about Android/Google and Xbox issues.  I only have two Android/Google devices attached (Google Home and a Sony TV run by Android).  I have no issues with them.  The rest are Apple, Sonos, Lutron, Netgear Arlo cameras, Harmony, and Chamberlin (garage door openers) and have no issues.  (I’m not starting an Android versus Apple war!  i don’t care what people choose to use!).

[DG808]

Responding to you request for connected devices - (1)S5, (1)S6, (2) iPads, (1) Apple TV, (3) Fire TV sticks (2) Fire TV's, Lenovo 720 and Dell XPS13 are connected to the OBRI network, however the S6 is usually connected to the Arris wireless since it does not drop the signal on that network only conncet to ORBI at far reaches of home if no usable signal is available from the Arris.  

[scweingarth]

Hello,

My wifi device list is pretty simple.

2 - iPhones - 5G

2 - Ipads - 5G

1 - Toshiba laptop - 2.4G

1 - Roku - 5G

1 - weather station - 2.4G

1 - Epson Printer - 2.4G

Also 2 hardwired desktop PCs

With exception of SSID and password setting as well as a guest network, the settings are all default.

[aani75]

The following setting working great until Netgear fix them. Took out all Google cast devices for now. Solid running for 3 days with 28 devices (computers, Apple, android, roku, apple tv, android tv etc).

ANDROID ISSUE STILL EXIST AND NEED TO BE FIXED ON ROUTER

Advanced >> Advanced Setup >> Wireless settings

Backhaul Topology

Enable Daisy-Chain Topology: Disabled

Enable Implicit BEAMFORMING - Boosts WiFi speed, reliability, & range for all mobile devices : Enabled

Enable MU-MIMO: Enabled

Enable Fast Roaming: Disabled

UPNP: OFF

IPV6: OFF

[RogerSC]

Well, my persistence seems to have paid off. I've had ftp blocked in the dd-wrt firmware on my main router (R7800) for a couple of days now. And I haven't seen hide nor hair of the "there's newer firmware available" banner in the Advanced Status page of the Orbi (in AP mode), even though I'm on firmware version 2.1.1.16. So I think that this configuration is blocking auto-update for the time being. At least until Netgear changes their auto-update strategy in the Orbi firmware.

I could most likely determine what the IP address of the ftp site that's used by the Orbi for auto-update and just block that one ftp site via an iptables command added to the R7800 firewall. However, I don't access my home network remotely via ftp, and don't use ftp locally, either, so having ftp turned off is no problem for me. If I ever need it, I can unblock it temporarily. It's pretty easy to disable and enable access restrictions on dd-wrt.

Glad that I kept trying. Netgear could make this easier by providing the functionality in order to work-around a firmware version that doesn't play with the combination of clients that one has, but they choose not to for reasons that they've never bothered to explain. Most people want the latest firmware to get the latest security fixes and enhancements, but if a particular firmware version doesn't work for me, then I, the customer, should have the option to go back to one that does until the next firmware version appears.

[JoeM845]

It would be helpful if Netgear's Orbi web UI would provide a control to enable/disable auto update and also show the current setting. I can sympathize with a Netgear desire to "simplify" things for the user to provide a more friendly experience, but the firmware must be really good for this to work. This firmware is not there yet.