Orbi DNS and DHCP and NTP Broken - Short Term Fix Options

[r0b0tvampire]

There is a very active thread on Reddit regarding Orbi's that stopped being able to resolve DNS after the Daylight Savings Time change:
https://www.reddit.com/r/orbi/comments/m5l3vk/orbi_dropping_dns/

Since it appears that NetGear is unable to fix this or even acknowlde it exits, I will share the options that you can use to resolve them here as well:

"Fixes" So Far - These each work with various levels of pros and cons:

A) Router Reboot:
Manually reboot RBR when issue arrises
(obviously not a great fix)

B) Configure Clients Manually:
Manually configure your preferred DNS servers on all of your clients
(This is not a practical solution for most people - some devices don't support this, and it makes it harder for guests)

C) Restart DNSmasq:
1-Enable telnet on your router using the <router>/debug.htm page
2-Telnet into your router and use the "/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart" command to restart the DNSmasq service when the issue arrises
(Also not a great "fix")

C.i) Automate DNSmasq restarts:
This is a variation on the option above, which uses a cron job to schedule the dnsmasq restart command to run periodically by telnetting into the router and use "crontab -e" to add the line
*,30 * * * * /etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart
(This works, but requires some knowledge to implement and modifies your configuration files, which has potential to introduce new issues)

D) Modify DHCP:
The problem we are all having is that the Orbi gets into a state where it cannot resolve DNS. The Orbi implementation of DHCP configures our clients to use the ORBI router as the DNS server (instead of our preferred DNS servers). Using this method, you can modify the configuration of the Orbi to actually use its DHCP server to configure your clients with your preferred DNS server.
1-Enable telnet on your router using the <router>/debug.htm page
2-Telnet into your router and use vi to edit the "/tmp/udhcpd.conf" file
3-In vi, move the cursor down to "option dns" and modify the IP there to DNS server you want to push to your devices
4-Use the :wq command to save your edit and quit vi
5-Kill the currently running DHCP server, and restart it using these commands as an example:
ps | grep udhcpd
15716 root 1568 S grep udhcpd 19158 root 2452 S udhcpd /tmp/udhcpd.conf

cat /var/run/udhcpd.pid

19158

kill 19158

udhcpd /tmp/udhcpd.conf

udhcp server (v0.9.8) started
(This option works, but requires technical skill. This "fix" will not survive a reboot, which is good and bad. You can "undo" what you did with a reboot, but you will also have to redo this "fix" whenever your router reboots - this is a reasonable solution until the bug is foxed in a firmware update)

E) Install a DHCP Server:
Use/Install another device (your cable modem, a PiHole, bootpd on macOS, etc) as a DHCP server:
1-Disable DHCP on your Orbi
2-Configure your DHCP server with the settings you want
(This option works well if you have a DHCP server handy and don't mind maintaining another piece of gear. It might provide a better—or worse— interface to managing DHCP than the Orbi interface)

F) Modify NTP Settings:
1-Uncheck the "Automatically adjust for daylight savings time"
2-Change your timezone "east" one hour to accommodate turning off the auto DST.
3-This step is probably optional: Change the NTP server to 1.pool.ntp.org
(Disclaimer: I have not tried this option, but the person who has indicated this has been working for 20+hours. If this option works it is probably the best option for most people to implement, as it is easy to change and unchange once the bug is fixed)

[CrimpOn]

Thanks for the great summary of options.  I am one of the Orbi owners who experienced this crazy situation.  Solid 24 hours of hell, with Orbi constantly losing DNS capability and doing a reboot (over and over again).  Then, as suddenly as it appeared, the problem disappeared.  I will  save this post in my "Orbi Tidbits" collection for use at the next Daylight Saving Time change.

The bigger mystery (to me) is how bizarre issues (such as this one) affect only some Orbi's and not all Orbi's.  If every Orbi lost DNS for 24 hours every March, Netgear would have someone working on it.

[vajim]

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@CrimpOn wrote:

Thanks for the great summary of options.  I am one of the Orbi owners who experienced this crazy situation.  Solid 24 hours of hell, with Orbi constantly losing DNS capability and doing a reboot (over and over again).  Then, as suddenly as it appeared, the problem disappeared.  I will  save this post in my "Orbi Tidbits" collection for use at the next Daylight Saving Time change.

The bigger mystery (to me) is how bizarre issues (such as this one) affect only some Orbi's and not all Orbi's.  If every Orbi lost DNS for 24 hours every March, Netgear would have someone working on it.

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this has to be tied a recent change in the firmware for I have NOT had this problem

[FURRYe38]

Also to add to the list a Factory reset was another solution. 

Others reported already having v104 install and working for a while before this started. I presume this isn't a FW issue. All the past 24-48 hours seems to be mostly related the time change for what ever reasons why. Makes me wonder if it's something having to do with NG cloud services. We saw something similar last year about this time on Orbi AX. People were having problems with there systems. Turned out it was something on NG side of the fence that NG corrected. Was not FW related. Possible same thing here on Orbi AC. 

These systems are somehow tied to NG services and are not fully automomous i believe. 

[ChristineT]

Hello @r0b0tvampire,

Thank you, as @CrimpOn  mentioned, for your detailed post. I'd love to get in direct contact with you to troubleshoot this issue while it's happening. Would you be willing to hop on a call with our engineering team?

If so, please direct message me with your contact information and best time to reach you. 

I look forward to hearing back from you!

P.S. I have and will continue to remove some comments in this thread that have strayed from the topic at hand. 

Warm Regards,

ChristineT

[Blanca_O]

Hi, All, 

Engineering has determined that the issue is caused by the Traffic Meter. The quick workaround is to disable the traffic meter.

To disable traffic meter:
Access orbilogin.com > go to ADVANCED Tab > Advanced Setup > Traffic Meter > uncheck Traffic Meter

Engineers are working on a firmware fix to be released.

Regards,
Blanca
Community Team