Re: New - RBE970 / RBE971 Firmware Version 9.12.4.16 Released (for NA Region Only)!

Garyrh66 · ‎2024-11-14

I have the iPhone 16Pro Max and my phone is connected to 5 and 6GHz bands and I have had no problems with the last firmware and the new firmware. The iPhone 16 is only MIMO 2x2 and you will not get the max speed of WiFi7. I wish it was MIMO 4x4 so can get those speeds.

rushman · ‎2024-11-14

I've tried everything, this is a known problem that has been acknowledged by Netgear.

Ely · ‎2024-11-14

@rushman Interestingly, it happened to me again after the update. My Pixel 9 Pro XL disconnected twice from the network. However, after making it forget the network and rebooting the phone, it hasn't done it again for over 4 hours.

Crossing fingers that it stays like that because I didn't experience that much before the update, like I said on my previous post.

SaintCabbage · ‎2024-11-15

Sorry I figured it out, this post can be deleted.

FURRYe38 · ‎2024-11-15

Try this to manually update the RBS first then RBR lastly with a wired PC and web browser:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WIFI-6-AX-AND-Wi-Fi-6E-AXE/Procedure-for-Factory-reset-of-RBS8...

Be sure you download the RBS and RBR FW .zip files then be sure to unpack the .zip files to reveal the .chk files that will be sent to the RBS first, then RBR lastly thru there web pages as outlined in the PDF file.

@SaintCabbage wrote:

Sitting at V9.12.3.3 and I still dont see the option to update through the web interface. I'm tried to manually update and keep getting a Failed message. I interestingly only see my satellites in the manual screen as available to be manually updated which is weird.

donawalt · ‎2024-11-16

I just experienced a restart (crash?) of one of my 970 satellites overnight. FW version 9.12.4.16 on both 970s and 971 router.

The time was ~ 12:50 AM local time. Everyone was asleep, no user-initiated action on the network.

The 970 had been up for about 15 days as I recall. I just happened to check the stats of the 970s/971 at 7 PM last night, and this 970 was fine (as were the other Orbi devices) - cpu, memory, hop count were all normal, no issues connecting to it at WiFi 5,6, and 5+6.

I just ran about a 4 minute log of the 970 - not sure if that will help or not. Here:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/usdgqvhocj9frrbdlhjm1/970-restart-11-16-24.zip?rlkey=wy0avhqwf9c3pgm6...

Let me know if you need any other info.

@FURRYe38 @KevinLiT @Straq

donawalt · ‎2024-11-17

And here is another restart/crash - this time it' the 971 router.

Ijust happened to check the debug page here, around 4:15 PM local time - the router had restarted 5 hours ago. Nothing unusual going on in the house/on the network. I had not checked memory/CPU since yesterday but it's been fine, and stable.

Here is a debug log, I hope it helps. Interesting I have had 2 restarts in 2 days now!

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/nyhtk1dntrhxuhu1lmptt/971-Router-restart-11-17-24.zip?rlkey=ojnous41a...

@FURRYe38 @KevinLiT @Straq

MikeM4937 · ‎2024-11-17

@donawalt

I have been working with Netgear for months to try and get the issue of random crashing and rebooting resolved. I have had the RBE971 become non-responsive to the point even the reset or sync buttons being pressed did not trigger any action on the router. When it crashed to that point, I had to pull the power. Most of the time the crashing I am seeing itself recovers after 1 to 2 minutes. But if you and others can please open a case with support. If needed, for reference my case# is xxxxxxxx. I have been testing v9.12.4.16 since October 26 and had 2x RMAs and both have the same issue.

rushman · ‎2024-11-17

The reboot issue was completely resolved for me by putting a fan on top of (or under) the router

donawalt · ‎2024-11-17

@MikeM4937 they are aware of my issues here, I am in contact with them! They are looking at this thread too, so keep the info coming!

One question - do you have IPv6? Is it activated? I am going to try turning that off and see what happens.

FURRYe38 · ‎2024-11-17

@donawalt @MikeM4937

If IPv6 is enabled, are you two using ISP auto detected IPv6 DNS or custom IPv6 DNS services?

donawalt · ‎2024-11-17

I had a custom DNS for many weeks (Cloudfare for both IPv4 and IPv6). I just turned off IPv6 and rebooted the network. We'll see how that works!

PS - I don't think my restarts are nearly as frequent or as @MikeM4937 ... mine restart silently - no one would know if I didn't check the debug pages.

Roc1 · ‎2024-11-17

@donawalt, earlier this past year when we were all having 971 “WiFi/cell drop issues, one of the multiple work-around we had to use involved disabling IPV6.

I updated firmware last week, turned my iPhone 15 Pro Max WiFi 6E back on, and then messed with the web gui for two days trying to turn IPV6 back on.

Here’s what I learned. I had also turned IPV6 off in my ATT Gateway. I think my problem “turning it back on” was my sequence. If I turned IPV6 back on in the Orbi 1st, and then went into my Gateway and turned it on, I still had slow internet issues. I was sure I had my Orbi OPV6 web gui settings reactivated properly, but every time I went back into the Orbi IPV6 web gui, the settings had changed by themselves. I thought I’d just forgot to Save them. But, even after Saving changes, the Orbi settings changed on their own again.

I’m not an IPV6 expert, I’m not even a novice, but the problem ultimately resolved when I unplugged the Orbi Router, went into Gateway and reactivated IPV6 first. Then, I rebooted the Router. I then went into IPV6 Orbi web gui. The settings always changed themselves to “6 to 4 tunneling” or something like that if the Gateway IPV6 was turned off. That was not a selection I made, I forgot the option, but I was trying to get full IPV6 capability on the Orbi, not IPV6-lite by using 6 to 4 tunneling.

I changed web gui settings back to full IPV6 capability and Saved my changes. It makes sense this worked as I had now instructed the Router to pass IPV6 to the Gateway which was able to accept and pass it through. Apparently by changing Orbi IPV6 first, I was instructing the Router to pass IPV6 to the Gateway and when the Gateway wouldn’t accept IPV6, the Router re-configured on its own to the 6-to-4 Tunneling settings.

The 6-to-4 Tunneling on Router with Gateway IPV6 turned off did connect my 971 to the internet, but my speed test results were cut in half or greater. I haven’t had any Router reboots (which is the issue you’re still working with), but I believe that’s because the newest firmware hopefully has eliminated that issue.

After I 1st reconfigured the Gateway, then Orbi Router, and ran satisfactory speed test, I powered both the Gateway and Router down. I rebooted Gateway, then I rebooted 971 router, then ran satisfactory speed test, and then used web gui to recheck my Orbi IPV6 settings. They had not reconfigured again into 6-to-4 tunneling.

Probably all Community members already know to reconfigure Gateway IPV6 1st, but if you don’t, it will not have full IPV6 speed capabilities if you don’t use the correct “turn-on” sequence, or at least that was my 2-day experience!

donawalt · ‎2024-11-17

@Roc1 good story I think you learned a lot! I don't have a Gateway though, just a modem and 971 router. So turning off IPv6 at the 971 worked fine, I verified all devices are using IPv4. Speeds are fine too!

donawalt · ‎2024-11-18

Last night I took my iPhone 16 Pro from the 3rd floor to the second, and it flipped to 5G and stayed there. So I decided my experiment failed, I turned IPv6 back on, and rebooted the network again. All fine this morning,

SpeedPro_03 · ‎2024-11-18

Just curious, that happens to me too and I have ipv6 disabled. My iPhone 16 Pro Max changes from Wifi to 5G at least 2 times a day when I move around my house floors… Should I enable Ipv6 to solve those annoying wifi drops?

So far, the only solution for me it to turn Wifi Off and back On a minute later.

Thanks in advance!

FURRYe38 · ‎2024-11-18

I know this will play havoc on some of your devices that don't support WPA3, NG is asking if you guys can set WPA3 only on the main WLAN and test your iphone 16 out to see if this still happens with this iphone wifi flipping issue.

As a temporary solution to devices that don't support WPA3, please setup the separate IoT network for WPA2 devices and devices that don't support WPA3 so you can keep these devices running.

Please let us know the experiences and observations seen with WPA3 only on the main WLAN and the Iphone.

MikeM4937 · ‎2024-11-19

@FURRYe38, Nov 19 at 8:19 AM PST I changed to WPA-3 only for my main SSID and rebooted the router and satellite a few min later. As I had a few devices that did not want to connect that support WPA 3. Then Nov 19 at 4:20 PM PST the router has crashed and rebooted again.

One new issue with the WPA3 only enabled. After 15 minute the 2x RBE970s have not reconnected. Normally after 2 to 5 minutes after the main router reboots and is back online they have reconnected on their own. Even after the router System Uptime: 0 days 00:20:15 they still show disconnected under the "Attached Devices" page.

cooldillu · ‎2024-11-19

My upload speeds are down by 90% after applying this update. I tried downgrading and speeds become normal again. Any idea what could be causing this?? I have tried this update twice now

FURRYe38 · ‎2024-11-19

Factory reset and setup from scratch using a wired PC?

@cooldillu wrote:
My upload speeds are down by 90% after applying this update. I tried downgrading and speeds become normal again. Any idea what could be causing this?? I have tried this update twice now

FURRYe38 · ‎2024-11-19

And switching back to Mixed Mode WPA2/WPA3?

@MikeM4937 wrote:

@FURRYe38, Nov 19 at 8:19 AM PST I changed to WPA-3 only for my main SSID and rebooted the router and satellite a few min later. As I had a few devices that did not want to connect that support WPA 3. Then Nov 19 at 4:20 PM PST the router has crashed and rebooted again.

One new issue with the WPA3 only enabled. After 15 minute the 2x RBE970s have not reconnected. Normally after 2 to 5 minutes after the main router reboots and is back online they have reconnected on their own. Even after the router System Uptime: 0 days 00:20:15 they still show disconnected under the "Attached Devices" page.

cooldillu · ‎2024-11-19

So my speed was fine for half a day after the second update attempt and then it went down all of sudden. What difference between app setup vs web based setup??

Roc1 · ‎2024-11-19

@cooldilly , since I purchased my RBE 971/970 mesh system this past April, I’ve run an unknown very large number of Orbi App speed tests. For comparison, what is your ISP internet plan? Mine is ATT 5Gb Symmetrical up/down. 90% of Orbi App speed test results (which uses an internal Ookla Speedtest architecture) that I’ve made since April: (all tests made up until last week after the latest Orbi firmware update helped, but hasn’t totally corrected the “incorrectly displayed” Upload Speed result issue) were: Down 4700-5100, Up 900-1100. Randomly, the other 10% of time (I never determined the “pattern/cause”), Orbi App speed test results were: Down 4700-5100, Up 4400-4900.

Note, after the firmware update last week, I also made changes to several other options in my Router and my IPhone 15 Pro Max that many of us on this Community had used as work-arounds to “stabilize” our mesh system connections. So currently, I’m getting the symmetrical Up/down results 95-ish% of time and “incorrectly displayed” Up-load results only 5% of the tests (basically, the %’s are now reversed).

My network architecture has my internet connection (via fiber to the home) coming into the house and through an ATT Gateway. The ATT Gateway, via an ATT SmartHome App for my iPhone 15 Pro Max offers an internal (Gateway) Speedtest using an Ookla Speedtest plan (identical to our Orbi App and RBE971 Router set-up).

Every time I ran the above Orbi App internal Ookla Speedtest and obtained either the 90% or 10% speed results provided above, I also launched the ATT Gateway Ookla Speedtest as well. Since April, 100% of the time, speed test results through the Gateway are: Down 4700-5300, Up 4600-4900.

So the 100% ATT speed test results above are from my Gateway to some unknown test site negotiated by ATT who pays Ookla for internal Speedtest capability.

Let me continue with my home’s network architecture and the corresponding Speed test results so I can make my point about “incorrectly displayed” Upload speeds.

Behind the Gateway is my Netgear Orbi 971 router. The Orbi-App/NG-Router speed test results in the 1st paragraph (the 90%/10% results) above are from my Router, through the ATT Gateway to some Ookla test site negotiated by Netgear who pays Ookla $’s/router/year (that’s Ookla’s standard commercial arrangement) for our Router’s speed testing capability.

So we now have speed test results from Gateway out to internet, and speed test results from Orbi Router through Gateway out to internet.

Let’s now look at speed tests from a device (I.e. my iPhone 15 Pro max) to the Orbi Router through the Gateway out to the internet. Since my iPhone is not “wired”, but instead has a “wireless” WiFi 6E connection to the router, I will not get full 5Gb speeds. I should however get close to max speeds for wifi 6E connectivity (less some reduction for house construction materials, “normal” WiFi band interference, moon phase, etc.) But, I do have an Ookka Speedtest App I can use on my phone so we will have all speed tests made by the same testing company (Ookka).

Unlike the ATT and Orbi speed tests where we don’t know the testing location, with the Ookla Speedtest app, one can select a test site. I use a local location shown as an option in the Ookla app that’s 4-miles from my home. 100% of the time since April, speed test results have been: Down 1000-1300, Up 900-1300.

So after all these speed tests, but more importantly, with one simple question from a very helpful NG Community member ( @FURRYe38 who asked me if I was physically experiencing slow Upload Speeds) I realized the following: 1) I was not physically experiencing slow Upload speeds; 2) from the Gateway, speeds were always maxed out and symmetrical; 3) from my iPhone and desktop, speeds were always maxed out and symmetrical; and 4) even at its worst, speeds made by the Internal Orbi router were 10% of the time maxed out and symmetrical.

That only left the 90% “Slow Upload speed tests”. To me, it implied something in the Orbi, or at Ookla was stopping the upload speed displayed results before the test actually completed.

Now, let me ask you, are you experiencing slow Upload’s? Can you test your ISP speeds not using the Orbi tester? Do you have a Speedtest App on a mobile-phone/computer that can help you determine if you really are having slow upload speeds?

Also, I’m located in the US, if you’re not, you might not have a firmware update available yet that could display Orbi Upload speeds correctly at least 90% of the time?

cooldillu · ‎2024-11-19

my plan is 1gb d/ u on version fios. I have tested my speeds using fast.com and google fi speed tests and both are getting very low upload speeds while download speeds were not impacted at all. If I downgrade to previous firmware upload speeds become normal again

Straq · ‎2024-11-20

@MikeM4937 Is this the only change in the configuration(Setting network to WPA3) or do you have any other settings like reserve IPs for Satellites?

We are also checking internally for the iPhone 16 issues along with Pixel8 issues