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Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

dtskip
Guide

Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

I was doing some experiments with the vlan settings on my Orbi Router. It reached a point where the web interface wouldn't load anymore, leaving me no choice but to factory reset.

 

The problem is: it won't reset. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have held the reset button for 10 seconds to trigger the flashing amber. All that does is turn the router off, no white flashing or pulsing lights whatsoever. When I power off and on, there is no setup wizard appearing on 192.168.1.1. It just does it's usual pulsing white boot cycle for about a minute until the light goes solid pink.

 

I am honestly extremely frustrated by this. This is far from the first time this router has given me problems. I don't understand how simply playing around with vlan settings can somehow trigger this router to effectively be permanently bricked. Is there any way to fix it?

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 1 of 18
plemans
Guru

Re: Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

Push and hold reset for up to 30 seconds. 

Are you able to ping the router after its going through its bootup? 

Something might have gotten corrupted in the firmware. 

If the reset doesn't help, you could try recovering it. 

You can try recoving it with tftp or nmrpflash.
are you on windows? if so, follow this guide
https://kb.netgear.com/000059634/How-to-upload-firmware-to-a-NETGEAR-router-using-Windows-TFTP
just make sure you enable tftp
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/enable-tftp-windows-10

and here's a video walk through using a tftp client. Use the built in one for windows 10 though. the video is more of an example of how its done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9DLrLQrpaw

and if that doesn't work, you can try using nmrpflash
https://github.com/jclehner/nmrpflash

Message 2 of 18
dtskip
Guide

Re: Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

I did the tftp process, but it did nothing. I got the "Transfer successful: 46663809 bytes in 26 second(s), 1794761 bytes/s" for the latest Orbi firmware, but I still have the same problem I had before: a solid pink light and no web UI.

 

I don't understand nmrpflash. I double click the .exe, it lists a bunch of options in a terminal window then says "press any key to exit". The github page does not provide instructions, the first step is 

 

# nmrpflash -L

Which is pointless because pressing any key closes the cmd window.

Message 3 of 18
plemans
Guru

Re: Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

A couple things. 

1. a screen snip of the cmd page is more helpful

2. do you mean the ring is amber? pink isn't a led light. 

What do the LEDs on my Orbi router and satellite mean? | Answer | NETGEAR Support

Message 4 of 18
dtskip
Guide

Re: Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

Yes, when I say the light is flashing amber, I am talking about the light above the power button. I have held the factory reset button to trigger that flashing amber too many times to count.

 When I say solid pink, I'm talking about the light at the top of the Orbi, which usually indicates no internet connectivity.

 

 

 Screencap 1 

Screencap 2 

Message 5 of 18
dtskip
Guide

Re: Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

Re-added the screencaps as links because image attachments do not work here.

Message 6 of 18
plemans
Guru

Re: Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

Your commands in nmrpflash don't make much sense. 

There's instructions on how to use it if you scroll down the page further that tells you how to choose the port to use. plus unless you changed the firmware name, you're just going firmware.bin

 

Message 7 of 18
dtskip
Guide

Re: Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

What commands? All I did was double click nmrpflash.exe. I didn't input any commands because I can't, I don't know how to use this.

Message 8 of 18
plemans
Guru

Re: Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

when you go to the site for nmrpflash, theres instructions under the "using nmrpflash" section

Message 9 of 18
dtskip
Guide

Re: Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

I also highly doubt it will work anyway, because I don't think it's a firmware issue. My router was working perfectly fine until I disabled DHCP and tinkered with the vlan options. The Orbi router just broke beyond repair.

Message 10 of 18
plemans
Guru

Re: Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

I've had nmrpflash recover devices that tftp couldn't. its worth trying

Message 11 of 18
dtskip
Guide

Re: Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

"Using nmrpflash

Download the correct firmware image for your device. When downloading from the Netgear site, the firmware is usually contained in a .zip file - extract this first. The actual firmware file will have an extension such as .chk, .bin, .trx or .img."

 

Ok, that's easy.

 

"Now, using an Ethernet cable, connect your Netgear router to the computer that will run nmrpflash. Use the LAN port, which is often colored blue on Netgear devices. If the router has multiple LAN ports, use the one labled 1."

 

Well, I've tried all three ports so far...

 

"Next, you'll have to determine which network interface corresponds to the one connected to the Netgear router. All available interfaces can be listed using

# nmrpflash -L
eth0      192.168.1.2  c0:de:fa:ce:01:23
eth2      0.0.0.0      ca:fe:ba:be:45:67
wifi0     10.0.10.138  de:ad:be:ef:89:ab

"

 

Well that's all pointless because after clicking nmrpflash.exe, all it does is open a cmd window, list a bunch of options, then "Press any key to exit".

Message 12 of 18
plemans
Guru

Re: Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

open a command prompt and type 

# nmrpflash -L
Message 13 of 18
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

If you open up a command line box in windows, then navigate to where you have the nmrpflash program file located then run it in this command line box, you'll get correct operation of the program. 

Message 14 of 18
dtskip
Guide

Re: Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

The -L command returns this:

https://i.imgur.com/48FvxRH.png 

 

Which isn't right. No eth ports, just net10. Same thing no matter what port I connect to.

 

When I try to run "

nmrpflash -i net10 -f RBR50-V2.7.3.22.img

I get this:

https://i.imgur.com/cO84n22.png 

 

and yes it's the same if I use the eth ports.

 

 

Message 15 of 18
plemans
Guru

Re: Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

Are you runnning the command prompt as an administrator?

Not sure why its giving you Net10 for the connections. I've only ever gotten the eth* and the wifi* options. 

 

Message 16 of 18
dtskip
Guide

Re: Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

Yes I'm running it as an administrator. I also get the same message whether there's an ethernet connection or not.

 

I'm starting to realize the reality of the situation: tinkering with the vlan settings has caused permanent, irreversible change to the router's settings, even blocking factory resets from working. I am now left with a bricked Orbi, and a valuable lesson to never buy from Netgear ever again.

Message 17 of 18
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Netgear Orbi won't factory reset...

When you press the reset button for 15-20 seconds then release, does the top ring LED turn on Amber at all? 

Does the top ring blink WHITE at anytime after releasing the reset button? 

Does the PC get an IP address from the RBR after the top ring slowly pulsates WHITE if it gets to this point? 

@Blanca_O 

How long have you had the Orbi system for? 

 

What others have tried:
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/custom-firmware-build-for-orbi-rbk50-rbk53-rbr50-rbs50-v-9-2-5-1-1...
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Is-my-13-month-old-RBR50-bricked/td-p/2009904/jump-to/first-un...

 

 

Message 18 of 18
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