Re: RBS850 Satellites bricked after downgrading from 4.6.7.5

marshall2553 · ‎2022-01-27

I installed 4.6.7.5 but was having issues with dropped connections and occasional satellite reboots. I downloaded 4.6.3.16 from the support page and manually downgraded the satellites followed by the router. There wasn't any indication that the downgrade failed on the satellites. Once the router restarted, I loaded a backup of my config from before the 4.6.7.5 upgrade and it seems to be working fine. The satellites, however, all appear to be stuck in a reboot loop. They power up, but the LED continually flashes white. The sync button does nothing, a factory reset did not change things. Is there anything else I can try?

plemans · ‎2022-01-27

Try hardwiring them into the router and leave them for a few minutes. then try syncing them hardwired.

KMDonlon · ‎2022-01-27

This worked for me:

https://kb.netgear.com/000059633/How-to-upload-firmware-to-a-NETGEAR-router-using-TFTP-client

marshall2553 · ‎2022-01-27

@KMDonlon wrote:
This worked for me:

https://kb.netgear.com/000059633/How-to-upload-firmware-to-a-NETGEAR-router-using-TFTP-client

Thanks, that was going to be my next step if nothing else works. I'm kind of hesitant to attempt to update the firmware when it is rebooting every few minutes, though.

I tried hardwiring a satellite to the router, same result. It is getting an IP and I can occasionally pull up the admin page, but it reboots before I can do anything.

plemans · ‎2022-01-27

nmrpflash can sometimes be easier to use.

https://github.com/jclehner/nmrpflash

marshall2553 · ‎2022-01-27

@plemans wrote:
nmrpflash can sometimes be easier to use.
https://github.com/jclehner/nmrpflash

Thanks, I'll give that a try this afternoon. Following NetGear's instructions for TFTP did not work, I just get a "Connect request failed" error. I was watching the status of my PC's ethernet connection to the satellite while attempting the update and it alternated between connected and not connected, so I'm not sure it's staying up long enough to even perform an update.

marshall2553 · ‎2022-01-27

@plemans wrote:
nmrpflash can sometimes be easier to use.
https://github.com/jclehner/nmrpflash

nmrpflash successfully flashed the firmware, but after rebooting the satellite I'm back where I started. I've noticed the power LED on the back goes from solid green to solid red and then back to green, I'm not sure what that indicates but I'm going to guess it's bad.

KMDonlon · ‎2022-01-27

So you don't eventually get a blue light on the satellite after you restart it?

Also, which firmware did you flash? I downgraded (via side loading) to V4.6.3.16
and got it to boot with no issues. Did it a few times as a matter of fact after messing around with the 2 higher versions floating around here.

marshall2553 · ‎2022-01-27

@KMDonlon wrote:
So you don't eventually get a blue light on the satellite after you restart it?

No, the status LED pulses white and the power LED sporadically goes to red then back to green. This goes on indefinitely on all of my satellites.

KMDonlon · ‎2022-01-27

Hmmm, I downgraded the router (RBR) first then followed the side load steps I posted above and was able to resync the satellite with no issue... Strange you are having issues.

FURRYe38 · ‎2022-01-27

What browser did you use to send the RBS FW File?

Possible the RBS nvram or boot parition got corrupted somehow. If TFTP or NMPFlash doesn't recover it fully, I'd contact NG support and ask about RMA options.