OrbiOS MR 2.1 issues

[MattHopkins]

Not sure if this will help the Netgear team or not, but my network is performing normally again with 2.1.2.18 after replacing a plug-in satellite (RBW30) with a small tower (RBS40). No more drops. I don’t think that the plug-in unit ever had the same firmware as the others and so perhaps was causing a conflict?

[b1ggjoe]

Netgear Team,

I've been meaning to post this for several weeks now. Having read everything pertaining to the Orbi issues thus far, I'm a little shocked to report that I have not experienced ANY isssues with my Orbi system thus far. None at all.

For what it's worth:

- I'm using CenturyLink's Fiber Optic service. Rather than plugging-in my Orbi into the CenturyLink's Fiber Modem, instead I ended up getting rid of the CenturyLink's Internet modem entirely. Following a wildly popular guide that's been floating around on the internet, I have a CAT6 Ethernet Cable coming from the CenturyLink's Fiber ONT box DIRECTLY into my Orbi's WAN port. Once I enabled PPoE with the correct credentials and configured the correct VLAN Tagging ID within the Orbi, all was up and running in less than 5 minutes.

- I've also read about not doing any sort of customizing within the Orbi or only using certain characters in the SSID name or even passwords. I have violated these rules in so many ways. I've completely customized my Orbi in all sorts of ways.

- I also have a great mix of hard-wired ethernet devices, and tons of WiFi-connected devices from iPhones, Tablets to Smart Devices and etc. I've had no issues at all, whatsoever. Whatever devices support 5GHZ seem to be connected to the 5GHZ accordingly and the rest connect to 2.4GHZ.

- The one set of rules that I did follow was that I first connected my Laptop directly to the Orbi Router to first set it up. Then I manually installed Firmware version V2.1.2.18. Then I setup each of the Satellites and also manually upgraded each of them to Firmware version V2.1.2.18. Also, as a rule of thumb, if I ever end up rebooting / restarting the Orbi Router...then once it's back up and running I manually reboot the Satellites. 

- The only thing that I'm not doing right now is using the Ethernet Back-haul. Which ironically enough, is one of the reasons that I purchased this system. I'm waiting to do a few more changes within my internal cable infrastructure inside my home, then I will totally be using Ethernet Back-haul. However for now, I only have one of the two Satellites up and running and that SAT is connected to the Orbi via the 5 GHZ dedicated Band.

If there is anything that I can do, perhaps exporting my config file or something...anything to help you guys troubleshoot and try to get to the bottom of the issues that everyone else is having, please let me know.

Thank you,

BJ.

[FURRYe38]

The first wave to be released are only for the RBR50 and RBS50, which is used in the RBK50 and RBK53 (Costco) kits.

New beta FW avaialble. Get it while its hot of the press:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Orbi-MR-2-1-Update-3-23-18/m-p/1533584#M26234

[bardiferously]

Am happy to hear that new firmware 2.1.3 is available.  However, since it is a beta and I'm not having issues with 2.0.1.4, I'm waiting til it is deemed ready for auto update.

BTW, I haven't turned off auto update in the firmware.

Hoping the beta helps those of you with crashes & other issues.

[FURRYe38]

You should try the Beta. Looks to be even better than current FW.

[Orbi2018-3-3]

I’ve had the 2.1.3 Beta running for a few days now. 1 base, 2 satellites, 21 devices, no dropped connections, everything talking fine now. Yeah. Thx.

[ktoonsez]

As @FURRYe38 and @Orbi2018-3-3 have stated, many people have had good luck with it, myself included 🙂

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[ppilot212]

2.1.3.4 firwmare is still buggy for me as connecting the ethernet backhaul bricked my entire network.  Beta 2.2 fixed the issue.

[FURRYe38]

I'm using v2.1.3.x here wired back haul working 4 days +. No issues. Using two NON Managed swiches in between the Satellite and router.

One thing i found to work best for set up initially. Set up the satellite via wireless first. Then connect the ethernet cable from the router to the satellite. Give at least 5 minutes for the system to reconfigure itself and settle down. If you have a 2nd satellite, do the same time, sync wireless first then connect ethernet cable and give 5 minutes.

Again, managed switches will cause problems with the orbi system. NON Managed switches are preferred. If your having problems with managed or non managed switches in between the router and satellite, please give Mfr and model # information for switches so we can forward this to NG support. Also give details on if Daisy Chain was enabled or not while using switches.

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@ppilot212wrote:

2.1.3.4 firwmare is still buggy for me as connecting the ethernet backhaul bricked my entire network.  Beta 2.2 fixed the issue.

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[HTBruceM]

RBK53, FW 2.1.3.4

D-Link DGS-1024D (unmanaged 24 port) between router and sats. One "management" PC is connected directly to router port.

FIOS ethernet 100/100.

Daisy-chain is ENABLED (by default)

Major ethernet backhaul issues. Sats either no connect or solid magenta. They may appear in DEVICE list as WiFi connection, instead of under the SAT list as ethernet connection - when they do appear at all. While this is going on, router goes off into the weeds - intermittent ping replies and no internet/WAN connection. Unit gets very warm to the touch, a LOT more than when operating normally with 5Ghz WiFi backhaul. I have tried power cycles (incl on the switch), sync buttons, hard RESET on sats, waiting for 10 minutes after each attempt. No go. What is so frustrating is that you are "in the dark" most of the time; your only clues are the lights and the management UI - but even that goes down when the "internet" connection is not working. You never know how long is long enough to "wait" for something to happen. It would be nice if the router would at least maintain its ethernet/WAN connections while backhaul synchronization is occurring.

It would seem like a straightforward feature to implement a backhaul radio ON/OFF button somewhere in the Sat's UI. I know that could be like sawing off the branch you're standing on... but you could always return to backhaul radio ON with a hard reset. It seems like that should be a decent solution to work around some of the issues with reconfiguring for redundant backhaul. Hopefully they don't have the same MAC address for the WiFi backhaul vs. the ethernet backhaul...

Like many others, I'm still in my product return window.  Costco. Still keeping my options open.

My prior setup was a pair of Asus RT-AC66u with Merlin FW (one in AP mode, the other in router mode). My only real complaints were:

1) having to setup two nearly identical GUIs and update FW twice,

2) the impending "EOL" of the Merlin FW for my model, and

3) lack of support for their new AI-Mesh FW.

[dalnew]

Where did you get the Beta 2.2 firmware from? I tried 2.1.3.4 and I am still having lots of ethernet backhaul issues. I originally had a managed switch that everything was connected to but after reading that using a managed switch could cause issues I went out and bought a Netgear unmanaged switch. Still no go. Did a hard reset of all the orbi's and 1 connected successfully and the other refused to connect via ethernet. During configuration the whole network was unusable... i'm positive it was something to do with the Orbi's configuring itself, but I can't can't think what it could possibly be doing to cause such problems. I'm thinking of returning the Orbi and going Ubiquiti APs since I'm using ethernet backhaul anyway if I can't get this resolved soon. 

[FURRYe38]

Was a factory reset performed on BOTH router and satellites after updating to v2.1.3.4? This needs to be done.

How are you setting up the Satellites?

I recommend setting up the satellites to sync via wifi first. Then after they are set up via wireless, connect the ethernet cable to one satellite first. Give it 5 minutes for the system to reconfigure itself. Once it's done, check someting connected to the satellite, wired PC or wireless device. Should have connection here. Satellite should have displayed BLUE led.

Then connect next Satellite and wait 5 minutes.

Remove the switches as a test to see if they connect directly to the router.

Swap out LAN cabling as well. CAT6 recommended.

Others are getting theres set up:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/RBK53-Clarification-on-Ethernet-Backhaul-Set-Up/td-p/1533968/j...

How I got mine working. Two non managed switches in between.

[W3cks]

Hi there just to confirm,  since I have updated my firmware to 2.1.4.10 I am having constant drop outs. I can’t watch Netflix with out it buffering or not starting again.  

I have the rbr50 I have the satellite and a plug satellite so I am covered.  I updated the router firmware about a week ago and noting but trouble. 

is there a preferred version to roll back to or can we even roll back?

Any ideas?

[HTBruceM]

Since the 2.1.4.10 update my ethernet backhaul has been working fine. Everything is pretty much rock solid at this point. Factory reset wasn't required in my case.

I just wish I could configure the Orbi to pass along the manually configured DNS server(s) to the LAN side during DHCP instead of the Orbi insisting on being the LAN's DNS server proxy. The Orbi's latency in handling DNS requests isn't great. But, manually setting DNS overrides in each critical PC is the workaround. No big deal.

Today I disabled the satellites and retested my WiFi coverage with ONLY the RBR50 router WiFi active. And I'm still getting close to my WAN ISP data rate (100/100) throughout most of the house and backyard. Some fringe areas are down to -64dBm but still register nearly 75% signal strength or better.

Given that, I'll probably go back to a single WiFi access point with beamforming, MU-MIMO and 4 stream radios. In my case, I believe a less complicated setup outweighs having multiple satellites and 100% radio strength at every corner of the home. For one thing, I can completely eliminate "roaming" issues on some devices. (For example, Skype video sessions will ALWAYS drop when roaming to a new AP, on both iPhone7 and Google Pixel XL phones). Plus, the smaller WiFi coverage radius marginally improves my security and frees up some of the spectrum. Although, my Orbi system would always put the backhaul radio on the same channel as the fronthaul radio for some reason.

Now - which router?  It's probably a choice between Asus and Netgear for me.

[setham]

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@W3cks wrote:

Hi there just to confirm,  since I have updated my firmware to 2.1.4.10 I am having constant drop outs. I can’t watch Netflix with out it buffering or not starting again.  

I have the rbr50 I have the satellite and a plug satellite so I am covered.  I updated the router firmware about a week ago and noting but trouble. 

is there a preferred version to roll back to or can we even roll back?

Any ideas?

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Have you tried to turn the router and Sat off and on? - not a reboot

I posted this a few days ago: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Orbi-MR-2-1-Update-3-23-18/m-p/1563089/highlight/true#M30803

turning them off/on did the trick for me

[ewlhk]

Updated to  V2.1.4.10 and so far so good. No issues at all.