RBR50 Causing Intermittent Internet

[mxcramer]

My RBR50 is causing my cable modem to drop the line. Over the last two weeks, the intermittency went from about once a day to constant. A reboot of the cable modem and the Orbi would fix it for a moment, but then I was back offline again. 

Spectrum has checked the lines, and a tech tightened some fittings and replaced the cable modem, so I don't think the problem is upstream.

Further, I hard-wired my desktop to the cable modem and the problem stopped. I am not up an running again using my ancient router in place of the Orbi. Again, no drops since this was put in place, so the Orbi is the problem.

Any suggestions on how to diagnose this problem would be appreciated. The old router works but provides much slower speeds throughout the house (the original reason we switched to a mesh system!).

Mike

[Caspian00]

I'm experiencing the same issue. In my logs I see DOS attack, do you?

[mxcramer]

Apparently the log starts fresh each time you boot the thing up. Nothing interesting in there for me...

Thanks for the idea!

Mike

[FURRYe38]

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?

Have the ISP check the signal and line quality UP to the modem. 
Be sure there are no coax cable line splitters in the between the modem and ISP service box. 
Be sure your using good quality RG6 coax cable up to the modem. 

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@mxcramer wrote:

My RBR50 is causing my cable modem to drop the line. Over the last two weeks, the intermittency went from about once a day to constant. A reboot of the cable modem and the Orbi would fix it for a moment, but then I was back offline again. 

Spectrum has checked the lines, and a tech tightened some fittings and replaced the cable modem, so I don't think the problem is upstream.

Further, I hard-wired my desktop to the cable modem and the problem stopped. I am not up an running again using my ancient router in place of the Orbi. Again, no drops since this was put in place, so the Orbi is the problem.

Any suggestions on how to diagnose this problem would be appreciated. The old router works but provides much slower speeds throughout the house (the original reason we switched to a mesh system!).

Mike

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[mxcramer]

Firmware 2.5.1.8 installed.

Modem is Hitech E31_2V1.

Line has been checked and has no splitters. All connections on coax reinstalled by cable service last Thursday.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Mike

[FURRYe38]

Do you have Armor, Circle enabled by chance? 

Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update? 

[mxcramer]

Circle is set up, and I think Armor was on but has expired. I have not done a factory reset since the last firmware update, but I will try that next.

Thanks!

Mike

[FURRYe38]

OK, yes lets reset and setup from scratch. Be sure to not enable Circle or Armor. There was reports of Circle causing problems on v1.8. NG was made aware of this. You might upate to v16 on the system and see if Circle when enabled does anything differently. We haven't got official work if NG fixed Circle or not. 

[mxcramer]

Finished refresh of the settings around 5pm, and so far so good. I’ll give it a couple of days before declaring victory. Fingers crossed!

Watching the logs, there are a great number of DoS attacks going on, many from the same MAC address. Is there any profit in spending effort tracking these down?

[mxcramer]

Internet just crashed. Log shows a DoS attack ACK SCAN at about the right time. I was also running Speedtest at the moment it crashed.

After the refresh, I also made the following changes to the advanced setup:
Change DNS to Google servers
Changed 2.4GHz channel to 6 on advice from ISP
Added guest network
Disabled Daisy chain topology as I have only one satellite
Enabled beam forming
Enabled MU-MIMO
Disabled fast roaming

Any thoughts on how to fix this?

Thanks!

Mike

[FURRYe38]

Where were you running the speed test from? RBRs web page or external app? 

Might try updating FW to v16:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/RBR50-RBS50-Firmware-2-5-1-16-Update/m-p/1897955/highlight/tru...

[mxcramer]

After the system rebooted, I ran speedtest again from within the orbi iOS app, and it crashed the system. Looks like going to v16 is probably a good idea.

Mike

[FURRYe38]

Ok so something with speed testing in the app is causing this. 

Follow this process to upate the system well:

First manually download the RBS and RBR FW files from here.

http://kb.netgear.com/en_US/000061838/

Unpack the FW from the .zip files.

Use a wired PC for this process. Safari(Mac), IE11(Windows), Firefox or Opera browsers are recommended.

Log into the RBSs web page and send the FW file there first.

Then send the RBR FW file lastly.

Factory reset the RBS and RBR and setup from scratch. After makeing sure the system works after setting up, be sure to make a backup configuration to file for safe keeping. This saves time if a reset is needed again.

I would remove the Orbi app from your phone during the FW update process. After the system is updated, re-install the Orbi app and test again. 

[mxcramer]

Thanks so much! Hopefully it will be convenient to update this afternoon. I would really love to kill this problem!

Mike

[mxcramer]

Also, what is your take on the modifications I made to the setup, particularly on the Advanced tab?

[FURRYe38]

I just checked my RBR50 in AP mode with the Orbi app. Its working while in AP mode. I'll try router mode if needed:

Yes those are good settings to use. 

I would first try ISP DNS or let the RBR auto detect ISP DNS while making sure the RBR works and speed test isn't causing problems in the app. 

[mxcramer]

Okay, I followed your instructions to update the firmware to v.16 and refresh to factory settings. I get the same crash using Speedtest, whether from within the Orbi iOS app, the Speedtest iOS app, or the using the Speedtest site from my desktop. 

[mxcramer]

I am still in router mode. If you think I should switch to AP mode, I will do that.

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[FURRYe38]

Wow thats not good. Odd that speed test is causing this problem. 

If you have a prior router that you can put online with your modem and then configure the Orbi for AP mode and see if speedtest is still causing this.

I did try mine out in router mode connected behind a different router, even in double nat configuration the RBR didn't exhibit this problem. 

I would make contact with NG support about this.

@Blanca_O 

@Christian_R 

[mxcramer]

Internet continues to crash, even without using Speedtest. I'm wondering about going back to firmware 2.3.5.30. 

[FURRYe38]

Yes revert to v30 and see if it still crashes. Something is happening with your system. Maybe HW problem rather FW. 

[mxcramer]

<sigh> Went back to v30 and still crashed when I tried SpeedTest from within the Orbi iOS app.

I sent a note to each of the Tech Support moderators you suggested, but I don't know if they'll answer since I don't have a contract.

Not sure if it's worth $50 to try to figure this out or just go buy another non-NetGear product.

Mike

[FURRYe38]

Seems like something is faulty with the RBR. 

How long have you had this system for? 

[mxcramer]

I bought it in September, 2018. I had difficulties getting it to operate when first configuring it, and now I have another mysterious problem...

[FURRYe38]

So it hasn't been working right from the get go...

You can try Voxels FW for Orbi:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Voxels-FW-available-for-50-series-Orbi-only-available/m-p/1883...
You can revert back to stock FW if it doesn't work out for you.