RBR850 / RBS850 Will Not Connect After Switching to AP Mode

[PaulH23]

I recently installed a Firewalla Gold firewall in router mode in my system and as a result, needed to switch my RBR850 (firmware version 4.6.8.2_2.1.9) from router mode to AP mode. After restarting the RBR850 in AP mode (it is connected directly to one of the Firewalla's eithernet ports via the RBR850's internet port), the RBR850 connected to the internet, my WiFi devices connected to it without problems and I can access it via orbilogin.com from my wireless devices (though not wired devices, but I believe that is normal behavior in AP mode).

Both RBS850s showed as disconnected (connected wirelessly and also on firmware version 4.6.8.2), so I power cycled them, but they still did not connect and their status LED was magenta (failed to sync).

I deleted both RBS850s from the RBR850 and tried re-adding them - no luck, both failed to sync and showed magenta status lights.

I factory reset one of the RBS850s and tried again - same result, sync failed, magenta status.

I've rebooted the RBR850 several times and tried to sync many times, including moving the RBS850s into the same room as the RBR850, all without success.

I've read several other threads regarding this issue, and think I've tried everything, though there doesn't seem to be one consistent procedure to follow, different things appear to have worked for different people.

Any suggestions on what I should try?

[plemans · Accepted solution]

If you bring them (or start with 1) into the room with the RBR and direct wire it in, can you get the RBS to sync?

[plemans · Accepted solution]

If you bring them (or start with 1) into the room with the RBR and direct wire it in, can you get the RBS to sync?

[PaulH23]

With one of the RBS850s directly connected to one of the RBR850s ethernet ports, sync still fails, but the behavior is different: the status LED on the RBS850 turns blue quite quickly, within a few seconds of starting the sync, however the RBR850 reports that the sync failed and shows 0 connected satellites. I can get to the RBS850s web page which reports "Your WIFI Orbi Satellite connection is up and running."

[plemans]

so when its hardwired in, you can access the satellite using its ip address? 

If so, give it a few minutes to automatically sync and then disconnect it and see if it maintains/negotiates a connection over wireless. 

[PaulH23]

After a few minutes, the RBS850 did sync when hardwired and I can access it using its IP address. I have disconnected the ethernet connection it and it still seems to be connected wirelessly (I can still connect to the RBS850 using its IP address and the RBR850 still sees it as a satellite.

[plemans]

So its connected, its just not displaying properly in the app/gui? 

If so, I'd leave it as is. 

You could always try a factory reset again or you can let it run as it is if its working. 

[PaulH23]

That one satellite is now displaying correctly, but its still adjacent to the RBR850. I'll try moving it back down to its normal location and see what happens...

[PaulH23]

The RBS850 did reconnect wirelessly, so it looks like the trick is to sync the satellites hardwired first, then move them back to wireless. Thank you very much for the help!

[plemans]

Glad you got it syncing properly!

You can mark it solved so others aren't still trying to fix it 🙂 

(a backup is a good idea as well)