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Orbi WiFi 7 RBE973
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Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

sleepr88
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Since I can't use my Pixel 2 XL or my Nexus 6P on wifi with the Orbi(obviously with current issue) I started using my old Note 3 to play games on. Well it also makes the Orbi system REBOOT every time it wakes up! I wish Netgear would just refund me for this junk system because it doesn't seem like they will ever fix it?

Any suggestions anybody?

Message 401 of 438
pcd5502
Guide

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Follow-up to my previous messages 379 and 387: Orbi system appears "rock-stable" for 5 days using Ethernet backhaul (uptime 4 days 19 hours and counting), so no reboots readily apparent. Will stay with my Orbi investment on this install for now (Velop still working fine at other install location).

 

My experience with Android devices is different - Pixel 2 XL connects well, as does PixelBook (OK - so it's a chromebook that runs Android apps but offer this as additional information that may be useful).

 

Unclear what's happening at Netgear's corporate level but continued silence on this matter is inexcusable (at the very least, someone in quality control should have lost their job over this mess). When will a true firmware fix be available? It can't take competent people that long to fix. On a more mundane note, why does Netgear not offer a Model dropdown for RBR50 router with 2 satellite system for easy tracking? Could it be that competence is in short supply? Come on Netgear, "get with the program" - you have done so much better in the past so we know it's possible!

Message 402 of 438
RogerSC
Virtuoso

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

I'll make this short, since I just lost another posting when doing a normal edit. Never seen forum software this bad before...Another 15 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

 

Have lots of clients on our home network here, and have had the Orbi for over a year now. It has been stable with great wireless, no problems that I couldn't manage with a rare power cycle, or even more infrequently, reset to factory defaults and reconfigure. We had lots of clients, include a Pixel phone, iPhone 7, iPhone 8, iPad 3 and an Air 2, an Android tablet, Windows 10 systems, solar panel monitor, Nest smoke alarm, TV's, T-Mobile CellSpot, lots of wireless devices on the local network.

 

A little detail, I have an R7800 set up as a "wired-only" main router, and the Orbi is in AP mode. We don't have any Pixel 2's or video security cameras, though. This configuration has been very stable through lots of firmware versions, auto-updates, etc. And has been just as stable on v2.1.1.16, the latest.

 

I have no idea what the difference between those that have stable, well-performing configurations and those that seem to be getting a lot of reboots and disconnects. I have a feeling that the difference must be the clients that one has, don't know what else it could be, but that's just a feeling.

 

Anyways, good luck to all.

 

Model: RBK50| Orbi AC3000 High-Performance Tri-Band WiFi System
Message 403 of 438
pcd5502
Guide

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Good to know all experiences are not bad but the inconsistent performance of this firmware is still much cause for concern. 'nuf said.

Model: RBR50| Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi (Router Only)
Message 404 of 438
masonworld
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

I agree there is something "weird and special" going on.  There are only about 100 people reporting problems here, but my sense is that they have sold 10s of thousands of units (probably 100s of thousands).  So where are all those other people?  I know not everyone would return to the fourms, but our troubles are real and have been pretty bad.  Seems like there should be WAY more posts....

 

 

Message 405 of 438
hammsman
Aspirant

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

I check in everyday and see others having issues, which I thankfully have not.  I have a low speed connection "25 Mbps" which I have wondered makes a difference from the much higher connections of others having issues. 

Message 406 of 438
jmschnur923
Luminary

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

In AP mode I have Fios at 75. I get over 80 up and down. 30 devices.

no reboots so far. Only iPads, iPhones, chromcast, roku, and older Logitech squeeze touch boxes on system for WiFi.

Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 407 of 438
rawmill
Star

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Once I rolled back the firmware to 074, no more reboots.  I have my system in router mode, with FIOS providing the service.  Two satellites in wifi backhaul mode (which is the only reason I purchased this system - I can't run ethernet through my house), 40 - 50 devices that are attached at any one time, a mixture of Apple, Windows and Android devices, Nest cameras and thermostats.  

 

I don't really care that sometimes the device pictures or labels do not match the devices on the web page, but I want to be able to tell which Orbi device they are connecting to for troubleshooting purposes.

Model: RBK50| Orbi AC3000 High-Performance Tri-Band WiFi System
Message 408 of 438
Almighty
Tutor

Betreff: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Got auto upgraded to 2.1.1.16 and the router lost connection towards the satellite.

I tried reset and moving it next to the router without beeing able to connect it to the router.

When connecting a cable to the satellite the connection got up but when using wifi it didn't work.

Had to downgrade the system to get it to work. 

Looks like a faulty FW.

Message 409 of 438
JMU1998
Luminary

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

@masonworld a vast majority of people are not Internet savvy or technical minded they just barely know how to follow directions provided in the setup instructions, no disrespect to anyone intelligence but most people have other things that interests them most are not even aware if this forum exists.

Message 410 of 438
Bing-Stroller
Luminary

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Or how many people are blaming their ISP ?

Message 411 of 438
aaz
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

I've had the same issue of staying connected with Wifi but not having internet with routers going way back to the Apple Airport extreme, a DLINK, then the ISP router, then the ASUS UC87 and now the Orbi - but the Orbi the occurence seems to be far less frequent. Who should I blame for that? 

Of course the telling thing is that losing internet seems to happen far more often on my roaming iOS devices than the non-roaming ones. So maybe that points to a problem - but sure why not just blame the network.

Message 412 of 438
robertcdh
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Just in case you all haven't seen it, there's an issue with Android and Google products and how they handle casting.  I unplugged my Google Home, Minis, and Chromecast devices from the network and my router has not had a reboot in the past 23 hours.  I'm using the beta 2.1.2.10 firmware and I would see a reboot almost anytime I unlocked my Android phone.

 

Here's the original post by user newbeb on the OrbiOS 2.1.1 thread:

 

I found a few article this morning where it looks as if there is a problem with the Google Cast protocol and android devices waking from sleep mode across multiple router vendors. The longer a device is in sleep, the more discovery packets it sends when it wakes up, into the 100,000s.

Here is the article that I found that seems to tie it together: https://www.myce.com/news/confirmed-issue-google-cast-causes-temporarily-wifi-drops-around-world-834....

It looks like there might be other issues with Google cast devices and MDNS packets as well like: http://www.androidpolice.com/2018/01/12/google-home-max-appears-killing-wifi-networks/.

I do have a Chromecast on my network, but I so I might unbox my Orbi again and see if that is the culprit...

Model: RBK50| Orbi AC3000 High-Performance Tri-Band WiFi System
Message 413 of 438
pcd5502
Guide

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

 

Of course, one would expect Netgear to have learned of this long ago, since the first reports date to last October (long before 2.1.1.16 firware was released) and Google / Android device use is commonplace.

 

Therefore, still no viable excuse for Netgear to release garbage and skip the QA.

Model: RBR50| Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi (Router Only)
Message 414 of 438
pcd5502
Guide

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing, robertcdh.

 

For the broader audience: of course, one would expect Netgear to have learned of this long ago, since the first reports date to last October (long before 2.1.1.16 firware was released) and use of Google / Android devices is commonplace.

 

Therefore, still no viable excuse for Netgear's ignorance, skipping QA, releasing garbage software last month, and not fixing it by now.

Model: RBR50| Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi (Router Only)
Message 415 of 438
rawmill
Star

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Ok - after reading the Google articles, I have disabled Guest mode on both my Chromecasts and just updated the firmware on the Orbi system to the latest Beta.  We'll see how this goes.

 

I did have a reboot last night around midnight, and the wifi kept dropping - after reading about the Chromecast issues, that makes sense.   I noticed that when I was using my chromecast to watch Youtube TV, my phone was completely useless over wifi.

Model: RBK50| Orbi AC3000 High-Performance Tri-Band WiFi System
Message 416 of 438
parostberg
Tutor

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

What difference should it make to disable guest mode on the chromecast?


@rawmill wrote:

Ok - after reading the Google articles, I have disabled Guest mode on both my Chromecasts and just updated the firmware on the Orbi system to the latest Beta.  We'll see how this goes.

 

I did have a reboot last night around midnight, and the wifi kept dropping - after reading about the Chromecast issues, that makes sense.   I noticed that when I was using my chromecast to watch Youtube TV, my phone was completely useless over wifi.


 

Message 417 of 438

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

I'm prety sure it's not the guest mode on the Chromecasts.  We have 5 and I've tried 2.1.1.16 with it on and off - there is no difference here.  Previously I wrote on this topic saying I'd seen no reboots and everything was working great; I'm sorry to report that 2 days ago with nothing new added to the network the Orbi started random reboots about 20 times a day where it had been rock solid for 10 days.  If it were just me and my installation I'd guess that a chip was failing or there was some other hardware issue like an unstable power supply or something but I kinda doubt it now.  I have since tested several earlier firmwares that have been mentioned here as stable ut the reboots persist with them as well.  I have until the 1st of February to return these to Amazon so I am hoping NG makes a fix available befor then; but my Velop system arruves tomorrow and if it's stable, bye bye Orbi.  I am becoming less than enamored with Netgear especially in terms of support.  You don't get any kind of substantive reply until you respond to 6 or six form replies asking you to make sure the power is on or your modem has been rebooted etc.  I had to return an Arlo system previously that simply didn't work for more than 15 minutes - if you're reading this NG, you're really blowing what was once a good reputation...

Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 418 of 438
rawmill
Star

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

On another Google Chromecast thread, the consensus was to turn off Guest mode to limit the UDP packet storm.  I'm also not convinced that it is the culprit, but I don't need it on, so off it goes.  I'm firmly convinced that the 2.1.16 firmware is absolute garbage.  Going back to 074 fixed most of my issues, but I can't resist tinkering to fix the Chromecast issues.  Google has announced that it recognizes that there is an issue and will hopefull fix it soon

Model: RBK50| Orbi AC3000 High-Performance Tri-Band WiFi System
Message 419 of 438
sleepr88
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Guess I'll try unplugging my 3 Google Homes, 3 Google Home Minis, 4 Chromecasts, 2 Chromecast Audios (glad I decided against getting a Google Home Max so far), and see if I can turn on the wifi on my Pixel 2 XL, to see if it continues to crash my Orbi?

Message 420 of 438
robertcdh
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

32 hours and counting without a reboot on 2.1.2.10 since I unplugged my Google devices.  I was almost guaranteed a reboot when my phone was unlocked before I unplugged them.

 

I hope this gets fixed soon because I miss my gadgets.

Message 421 of 438
Bing-Stroller
Luminary

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

I don't have any of those devices and my Orbi still crashes.
I'm not saying they may not be contributing but they are not the root cause of all the crashes some people are experiencing.
Message 422 of 438

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

I only have chromecasts with guest mode disabled. I disconnected all of them and have had 21 reboots since then (about 48 hours).  I have 7 kids using IOS and Android devices, though... Tonight I'm disconnecting all devices because I see a reboot every day at around 6:00am... Will advise tomorrow... I really think there is some component that deficient; I went 2 weeks without a single reboot when  I first bought my system and immediately upgraded to 2.1.1.16.... 

Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 423 of 438
Blcklab
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Unplugging IOT devices kinda defeats the purpose of a product like Orbi, though understandable as a short term fix. All I know is everything works fine on mine running 1.11.0.20 after tons of reboots from .74 to .16 to beta. 

Message 424 of 438
sleepr88
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

it appears that Google Home App v1.26.30.8 on Android devices seems to be the culprit... 

but Netgear still needs to come up with a fix for their end

Message 425 of 438
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