Branded Orbi's Firmware Un-Updatable?

[Chuck_M]

I was assisting @jiac in trying to update his firmware...  seemed like an easy task.

He had tried to update to 2.2.1.210 and was at 2.1.4.16

Everytime he tried to upload the .img file, it told him it was wrong format.

I remoted in and saw the same thing.  I even tried going back several versions.... it would continue to say the file format was invalid.

However, what really caught my eye was that the Orbi GUI was branded for his ISP, "ooredoo".  This branding was in the top right corner just left of where the firmware version is located in every page of the GUI.

Branding looks like this: 

Aside from the GUI being branded in top right corner in red , it all looked normal with no special connections.

Question:  Does NG market "locked down" and "Branded" Orbi's?  This would explain why the firmware is not updatable.

BTW:  he needs updated firmware to resolve hardware compatibility problems.  

[jiac · Accepted solution]

Hello @ekhalil ,

Yes I hope they can upgrade it soon or my sound system is a sitting brick in the house.

Thank you for your help anyway!

[ekhalil]

• If Orbi is rebranded then it's controlled by the ISP and I don't think you can upgrade the software without ISP's concent. Usually the ISP will give you directions when to upgrade and how to uphrade.
• Probably you can remove the control that the ISP places in your router and then you will be able to upgrade using the official Orbi software BUT will your ISP accept that? Will you loose the ISP guarantee for the HW or the ISP's support for the HW?
• Usually the control that the ISP places in Orbi is a simple file that makes Orbi refuses any packages that are not labled in a special way. You can start by looking for such files in Orbi, try the following to start with:

  • root@RBR50:/# find . -name "*ooredoo*"

  • root@RBR50:/# grep -rnw / -e "ooredoo"

[Chuck_M]

This is good info... I had never seen this before so makes total sense.

Here is a screenshot of the branded GUI

[jiac]

Dear All,

I have gotten to the bottom of the issue finally! My Internet Service Provider (ISP) confirmed with me that their co-branded software is the one preventing all the manual firmware updates I am doing. So unless they themselves release the next firmware update, then I can't do anything else for now . Very frustrating but at least that much has been made clear! At the moment I wouldn't want to hijack my system to netgear default system (removing the co-branding software from the ISP) as it may render it useless for this specific ISP and then they'll penalize me for ruining the device.

Thank you to all who helped.

[ekhalil]

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@jiac wrote:

.....

.................My Internet Service Provider (ISP) confirmed with me that their co-branded software is the one preventing all the manual firmware updates I am doing. So unless they themselves release the next firmware update, then I can't do anything else for now . Very frustrating but at least that much has been made clear! At the moment I wouldn't want to hijack my system to netgear default system (removing the co-branding software from the ISP) as it may render it useless for this specific ISP and then they'll penalize me for ruining the device.

...............

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Completely agree. Hopefully you will get your software updated soon by your ISP and all issues will be solved.

The current beta software 2.3.0.23 looks very promising with many issues solved. I hope you ISP will get that software when released.

Good luck.

[jiac · Accepted solution]

Hello @ekhalil ,

Yes I hope they can upgrade it soon or my sound system is a sitting brick in the house.

Thank you for your help anyway!