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Forum Discussion
Access Control randomly blocking approved devices on V2.2.1.210
After upgrading to the V2.2.1.210 router firmware, i'm finding that devices that have approved MacID addresses and have been previosly on the network for months are suddenly being blocked in the Access Control panel interface. I have to manually un-block them. Now I have to continually check to see what else in my network has been taken off line without notification.
104 Replies
How was the FW updated, via auto update or did you manually install the FW files and continue or a reset back to factory settings then setup from scratch?
Has a full power OFF for 1 minute then back ON of the Orbi system been performed after the FW update?
Did a pull update from the dashboard, and then simply let it reboot. I can go power it down for an additonal step.
qtschlepper wrote:
Did a pull update from the dashboard, and then simply let it reboot. I can go power it down for an additonal step.
Did that - Looks like I'm getting the false blocking that others are reporting.
qtschlepper wrote:
After upgrading to the V2.2.1.210 router firmware, i'm finding that devices that have approved MacID addresses and have been previosly on the network for months are suddenly being blocked in the Access Control panel interface. I have to manually un-block them. Now I have to continually check to see what else in my network has been taken off line without notification.
I noticed that it's easy to -unintentionally- toggle the "Pause/Resume" switch in the "Device List" in the Orbi app on IOS. It happened few time to me while browsing "Device List" in the app.
I also have issues with Access Control with this firmware.
Some previously approved devices now show as blocked.
Allow 1st blocked device and access is restored.
Select the next device and allow. Previous device goes back to blocked!!!!
ORBI refuses to allow new hardwired device, LG TV. Each time I allow it stays as blocked.
Hi I posted a while ago and have not seen any resolution for this? Anything going to happen?
I have now downgraded both the Router and the Satellite to Version 2.1.4.16 and everything seems to be back to normal.
I have been contacted by support and they tried to reach me while I was travelling and couldn't respond to their ticket. So after I got back I responded and was asked for a call back time and still nothing. Support is either understaffed or they just can't do anything about it. This is clearly a firmware issue. Engineering should revert the changes back that were made to access control. I also noticed that the Firmware seems to cause network issues as my streaming gets affected over time and the previous version had zero issues.
Will keep an eye on the downgraded setup and if any changes will update this thread, for now I would suggest to downgrade if you have issues.
I returned the Orbi for a refund and replaced it with a single Synology Router. I get faster speeds on wifi than with the Orib mesh and the software, including MAC filtering, works as designed.
Netgear support never responded to ANY of my tickets - only sent me surveys on their support. So, I'm done with Netgear.
I was having the issue of Access Control either not allowing or randomly blocking a device after being allowed. Netgear support had me manually re-flash the bios and it fixed the problem.
Here's a link for the router I have:
https://kb.netgear.com/000060273/RBR50-RBS50-Firmware-Version-2-2-1-210
Hope this helps....
Well, after manually flashing the firmware on the router and posting that my problem went away, it has returned. I spent several hours today with Netgear support trying to solve the problem. He had me change the IP Address, modify a power setting and manually re-flashed the bios on the satellite. Nothing worked. I still has the blocking problem even after I allow a device. And now, the WiFi stopped working on the satellite.
I've either got a defective product or the firmware for the satellite is worse than expected. It will be fixed immediately or I'm sending it back as defective.
agg1 wrote:
Well, after manually flashing the firmware on the router and posting that my problem went away, it has returned. I spent several hours today with Netgear support trying to solve the problem. He had me change the IP Address, modify a power setting and manually re-flashed the bios on the satellite. Nothing worked. I still has the blocking problem even after I allow a device. And now, the WiFi stopped working on the satellite.
I've either got a defective product or the firmware for the satellite is worse than expected. It will be fixed immediately or I'm sending it back as defective.
Access control -I think- does not work properly in the current software and should not be used. So after factory resetting the nodes you should not try to activate Access Control at all otherwise you will get data corruption issues that can only be solved by factory resetting again!
This is all a dodge by Customer Support. The hard truth (based on all the posts) is that this firmware is defective and the issue should be addressed by development. I'm not sure I understand why the bug isn't being registered and identified for remediation by Netgear product management.
Here is how I fixed mine. Configuration....one orbi router and one satellite. For those with mor than one satellite I'm pretty sure you'll have to place the router as evenly between the two satellites as possible because disabling daisy-chain topology will cause each satellite to connect directly to the orbi router.
Choose Advanced on home screen.
Then Advanced setup.
Then Wireless settings.
Under backhaul topology uncheck enable daisy-chain topology.
Backhaul Topology Enable Daisy-Chain Topology Reboot the router. Now any device on your network that gets blocked can be unblocked and will STAY UNBLOCKED!!!!!!
I called tech support today and told them about my discovery. I'm assuming that this fix will point them in the right direction and hopefully they will have a patched firmware update soon:)
- I may need to reconnect my Orbi system to try this on mine. I have it in the box ready to go back to Costco because of this issue currently.
Let us know if this works for you or not.
How many satellites do you have? 1 or more?
Seen other posting about seeing reverse behavior with Daisy Chain and it being disabled when checked and enabled when unchecked. Hard to verify this. NG is aware of Daisy Chain issues.
Having just 1 satellite, Daisy Chain should be disabled.
james7777 wrote:
I may need to reconnect my Orbi system to try this on mine. I have it in the box ready to go back to Costco because of this issue currently.
Also, be sure you know all of the devices mac addresses on your network. A very strange thing happened after I deselected daisy-chain topology and rebooted the orbi router(RBR50). At the bottom of the access control page on the orbi there was a blocked mac address that was identicle to my satellite(RBS50) with the acception of the last two digits. The name(RBS50) was even the same. I left it blocked. Im thinking some of the code in the new firmware somehow generates another mac address for the satellite and that creates an issue with random blocking. I hope tech support sees this post and has a look at this anomaly.
FYI....I live out in the sticks and I sweep for wifi signals and have not seen the "near identicle" mac address I blocked show up at all. I think it's highly likely that it's a ghost created by defective code.
Logged in to the router to try this fix and now the blocking on random devices is gone even with access control enabled. Kinda like car trouble, the day you take it to the dealer the problem vanishes.
Warrensroad wrote:
Reboot the router. Now any device on your network that gets blocked can be unblocked and will STAY UNBLOCKED!!!!!!
Nice find, still everything working as expeced? I am going to wait a little bit longer with upgrading again, maybe Netgear will release a fixed Firmware soon so I can skip the buggy one. (don't want to go back to unstable for now)
Man I thought for sure I had it fixed. No such luck. Started blocking again.
What a bummer:(...
However, Iv'e been fiddling with the rip settings and they are currently set to
RIP Direction=Both
RIP version=Disabled
was
RIP Direction=Both
RIP version=RIP_2M
So far so good but I wouln't bet .50 cents on it holding. I'll update in a few days.
Fingers crossed;)
Tried the enable daisy chaining option to get rid of the access control blocking trusted devices fix. For me, no go, it first blocked my girlfriends phone when she got home, then some time later blocked mine as well. Did a reboot a few times after the 'fix', oh well, back to the drawing board.
You might disable all access controls until NG comes out with the next FW update. Sounds like this has been a problem in this version of FW.
F_V wrote:
Tried the enable daisy chaining option to get rid of the access control blocking trusted devices fix. For me, no go, it first blocked my girlfriends phone when she got home, then some time later blocked mine as well. Did a reboot a few times after the 'fix', oh well, back to the drawing board.
qtschlepper I realize I am responding a a long time after this thread was started, but in case it helps others, here goes...
I ran into the same problem a couple of weeks ago. I discovered a pattern, and was able to solve it (so far). I noticed that a common element of the entries that were blocked was that I had approved the newly-added devices from Orbi iOS (iPhone) app. So, disconnected the ones that were having the problem. Then, from the Web interface, I deleted the two access control entries corresponding to the downed machines, I then manually created "Allowed" entries for those machines (by MAC address), and then broght them back up. And all is well.
This suggests (does not prove) that the culpret was the iOS app -- that by allowing them via that app, I created corrupted entries in the Access Control table. Clearly more research is needed, I would hope someone from Netgear might look into this.
Unfortunately in my case I don't have an iOS device to blaim. I did all my additions through the web portal. I find at after perfectly stable connected devices that amy be working for weeks suddenly just disconnect and I need to go to the portal and re-admit them. What's new is that now, one of the satelights causes the entire network to become unstable. I finally powered it down and eveything returned to normal. This continued, after the most recent firmware update V2.3.1.48 I was hoping would put a fork in the situation and finally bring it to an end, but no joy. So I paid for a 3 point system and I run on two, with occational drops of my devices. And yes using the "allowed" interface eventually works, but only after 2-3 tries for me.
What a joke, this 'premium' product has been out for years. Netgear, killing itself one customer at a time.
