Re: RBR20 Losing internet connection about 1-2 times / day

Street420 · ‎2021-08-05

Until recently router has been very stable, for about the last 1.5 weeks I lose (only) the internet connection from the router. Can still connect fine to the router from devices, but all devices report loss of internet and the ring on the top of the orbi will light up pink.

Internet connection is fine when devices are plugged in directly to cable modem.

I have tried the following:

- updating firmware currently version 2.6.2.104

- I'm geographically isolated so no interference from other networks

- updated lease time to 1200 (from default) using telnet connection

- A restart of the router does fix the issue but so does waiting about 5 minutes.

- Nothing shown in the advanced logs during the time of the outages

- Satellites are all powered down. Just the router is active. I work right next to it, so wifi signal is fine.

Loosing connection for even a few minutes disrupts my work VPN so it is annoying. I also might be in a teams or zoom call at the time. I know there is a ton of posts about these types of problems, but other than the lease time fix I couldn't really find anything from a troubleshooting perspective that would help. If anyone has any suggestions or hidden things I can try please let me know. My support expired a year ago so I'm unable to contact anyone at Netgear directly.

Thanks

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-08-05

What Firmware version is currently loaded?
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?

https://kb.netgear.com/31030/What-do-the-LEDs-on-my-Orbi-mean

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and 📡 satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS📡 to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.
https://kb.netgear.com/31029/Where-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite 📡

What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or may not be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings
Not seen on Orbi AX.
Also try turning down the power output of the RBRs wifi radios from 100% to 50% and see if this changes anything. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

Try disabling the following and see:
Armor, Circle, Traffic Meter.

Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Set CTS to 2347. Set Short preamble instead of Long preamble modes. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s). Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

One User Experience/Configuration:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Most-Stable-Orbi-Configuration/m-p/1941087/highlight/true#M970...

Has a power off for 1 minute then back ON with the ISP modem and Orbi system been performed since last update?

Street420 · ‎2021-08-05

I'm not looking for the canned response. I already read though those posts and it appears that none of that ever helped anyone.

Some items that I mentioned previously and some additional feedback:

1. router worked flawlessly until 1.5 weeks ago.

2. No configurations were changed

a. with the exception of the updated firmware - which made no difference

b. update via telnet to the lease time (I really had high hopes for this one)

3. no additional devices have been introduced

4. Lan port also has no internet access (meaning it is not just a wireless thing)

5. Connectivity via lan or via wifi to the router is just fine, only the connection between the router and the cable modem is lost

6. Tried a different ethernet cable, and checked to make sure the cable was not loose

7. Geographically isolated from neighbors and other wifi connections (mine is the only one in range)

8. Satellites are unplugged to rule out some problem with them

9. Problem fixes itself within 5 minutes or so without intervention - no unusual log entries

I have no ability to access my modem's diagnostic / log info, but my ISP has confirmed that they see no outages to the actual internet. I was able to plug devices directly into the modem and they worked right away. It does not have any model info on the modem itself, provided by Charter Communications now Spectrum.

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-08-05

Then you'll need to contact NG support for there help and support.

Good Luck.

gbjackson · ‎2021-08-14

I'm having the exact same issue with an RBR50. Tried everything plus replacing the cable from the modem to the router, but it's still a daily occurrence (usually around the same time of day - llate afternoon CST).

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-08-14

What Firmware version is currently loaded?
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?

https://kb.netgear.com/31030/What-do-the-LEDs-on-my-Orbi-mean

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and 📡 satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS📡 to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.
https://kb.netgear.com/31029/Where-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite 📡

What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and 40 to 48 channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or may not be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings
Not seen on Orbi AX.
Also try turning down the power output of the RBRs wifi radios from 100% to 50% and see if this changes anything. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

Try disabling the following and see:
Armor, Circle, Traffic Meter.

Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Set CTS to 2347. Set Short preamble instead of Long preamble modes. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s). Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

One User Experience/Configuration:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Most-Stable-Orbi-Configuration/m-p/1941087/highlight/true#M970...

Has a power off for 1 minute then back ON with the ISP modem and Orbi system been performed since last update?

@gbjackson wrote:

I'm having the exact same issue with an RBR50. Tried everything plus replacing the cable from the modem to the router, but it's still a daily occurrence (usually around the same time of day - llate afternoon CST).

CrimpOn · ‎2021-08-14

I believe that the lease time parameter which can be changed using telnet refers to the DHCP lease the Orbi gives to devices on the LAN. This will have no effect on the connection between Orbi and Internet Service Provider. My Orbi assigns leases of 86,400 seconds (one day). By coincidence, it gets the same lease from Spectrum.

My first diagnostic step would be to look at the Orbi web interface Advanced Tab home page. Click the blue box Connection Status,record the length of the Spectrum lease, and calculate when the lease is due to expire (i.e. right now plus the time shown there). Does the service interruption happen about when the lease is set to expire?

If it does, read on. If not, please ignore my ramblings.

The DHCP protocol is very specific about how things are supposed to work:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol

When the lease is half expired, the device (Orbi) is supposed to begin asking to renew it. DHCP communications use UDP packets, which do not have guaranteed delivery. When the lease time finally expires, the device no longer has a valid IP address and may simply stop communicating until it is able to acquire an IP address again.

Orbi may deal with a lack of timely response from the ISP differently than other routers. (I have no way to know).

Proof that this is what is happening is not easy to acuire. Getting and renewing the DHCP lease from the ISP is not one of the items logged., whereas the DHCP leases the Orbi gives to LAN devices do show up in the log. Orbi's debug page has an option to "Capture WAN/LAN Traffic". When that option is turned on, it should be possible to dump the log file to the user's PC (debug.zip). Along with a huge amount of stuff, there are pcap files for the WAN interface and the LAN interface. Wireshark (free) is a program which can display pcap files. Using a display filter of "dhcp" on the wan.pcap file should reveal the Orbi's attempts to renew the lease and how Spectrum responds.

Many of the cable systems around the country have changed hands many times. (Mine was Comcast, then Adelphia, then Time Warner, and now Spectrum (Charter)). I have no idea what companies do to the electronics when they take over an existing cable system. Would seem pretty costly to throw out the entire head end and bring in new equipment. My Spectrum system may be very much different from yours.

striker69 · ‎2021-08-15

I Was Losing Connection, Changed To AP Mode Was The Difference.

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-08-16

Any progess on this?

@gbjackson wrote:

I'm having the exact same issue with an RBR50. Tried everything plus replacing the cable from the modem to the router, but it's still a daily occurrence (usually around the same time of day - llate afternoon CST).

Street420 · ‎2021-08-16

I'm going to try the suggestions related to lease renewal from CrimpOn. Will let you know how it goes. The lease time I have left does not correlate with when outages occur, but the idea to use the WAN debug has merit, maybe I can learn something from the logs generated. I have recorded the lease times already and the IP address assigned (by Spectrum / Charter).

I had a Spectrum technician come out and he did find problems with one of the cables (it had water in it). I now have 3 cables total from the road in front of our house.

1 to the green upright pedistal in yard from road

2 from pedistal to house

3 from house to back of modem

All have been replaced and are in great condition now. Still have the same problem, so logs are the next logical step.

Thanks

Street420 · ‎2021-08-16

Debugging logs enabled for only a short time generate huge files. Being that I don't know the exact date / time of when this is going to happen it isn't feasible to log the WAN pcap. If I could predict then I think the logs would be very helpful, but I can't just let them run for an entire day or even a few hours.

CrimpOn · ‎2021-08-16

My experience is that the log files write over themselves. My v1 Orbi has a USB port, so I inserted a 32gb USB stick with the intention of capturing 24 hours (a full day). Did not work. Got about an hour and a half. My guess is that the wan.pcap file will cover the most recent period.

gbjackson · ‎2021-08-17

Not yet. There's been no change on the ISP end or with the modem that the Orbi is attacehd to. It's not base or satellite location; again, those have never changed, are > 30 feet apart, and when connected, they flash blue. House is 2,300 square feet, base on floor 1, satellites on floor 2 and in basement. No new networks in the neighborhood, that I can see.

Have cycled everything off completely many times. Still having to reboot most days. I don't recall this happing before the 2.7.3.22 firmware upgrade, but not about that.

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-08-17

That happens when you turn OFF one RBS? Or both? Does the RBR continue to loose the internet connection?

2300sq ft maybe too small of a home size for two RBS.

gbjackson · ‎2021-08-17

It hasn't been a problem in over 2 years of running 2 base stations - the house is from the 1930s and its construction is such that running with a single satellite was not adequate once we remodeled the basement and turned it into additional living space.

FURRYe38 · ‎2021-08-17

Id do a full factory reset and setup from scratch on the RBS and RBR. If this doesn't resolve this, revert back to prior working version...