Orbi RBR 50 DHCP issue after Reboot

[-Malux-]

This issue is maddening.  A simlpe router reboot causes DHCP to stop working.  

I have the satellite off, and the router just will not allow my iPhone 11 Pro (and most of the other devices on my network to connect).  I can see my SSID on my phone, but I keep seeing "No Internet Connection" on the phone wifi'f configuartion.

Also, for about an hour or two today, the Orbi would not allow my laptop to get an IP either.

I'm not sure what happened, but the laptop (Macbook Pro) now has an IP, but my phone and most of my smart devices do not.

I'm using firmware V2.5.2.4 and I turned my satellite off.  I also went into lan set to turn off then turn on the DHCP server.  Nothing. 

I can't believe that a simple reboot causes this kind of issue.

[vajim]

Did this just happen?

how long have you had the Orbi?

modem?

[-Malux-]

This happened today, but it has happened in the past. It’s not that there is no dhcp at all, but that dhcp server doesn’t assign IPs after reboot.

By the way: access control is off AND I have noticed that turning off the breaker to my whole house (I know, extreme) does seem to resolve the issue if I wait long enough.

I used to be able to resolve the issue by disabling dhcp and turning it back on again in the router. That does not seem to be working today.

It’s just ridiculous to have to power down a home to get your router to work 🙂

[FURRYe38]

Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update?

v4 has been superseded by v40.

You can try updating FW:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/RBR50-RBS50-Firmware-Version-2-6-1-40/m-p/1997895/highlight/tr...

Or try v16, Seems to be the best and most stable currently:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/RBR50-RBS50-Firmware-2-5-1-16-Update/m-p/1897955/highlight/tru...

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@-Malux- wrote:

This issue is maddening.  A simlpe router reboot causes DHCP to stop working.  

I have the satellite off, and the router just will not allow my iPhone 11 Pro (and most of the other devices on my network to connect).  I can see my SSID on my phone, but I keep seeing "No Internet Connection" on the phone wifi'f configuartion.

Also, for about an hour or two today, the Orbi would not allow my laptop to get an IP either.

I'm not sure what happened, but the laptop (Macbook Pro) now has an IP, but my phone and most of my smart devices do not.

I'm using firmware V2.5.2.4 and I turned my satellite off.  I also went into lan set to turn off then turn on the DHCP server.  Nothing. 

I can't believe that a simple reboot causes this kind of issue.

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[FURRYe38]

One User Experience/Configuration:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Most-Stable-Orbi-Configuration/m-p/1941087/highlight/true#M970...

[vajim]

And?

[-Malux-]

I took a look at the most stable settings and went through them.  I didn't have beanm forming enabled.  I enabled that, but i'm still having an issue.

The probem seeems to be with DHCP.  I have devices I know are on the network (for example smart switches that the router does NOT show in the list of attached devices.

Also, it's peculiar that changes like enabling or disabling the dhcp server will cause my laptop to get an IP then only to have that lease revoked right away,  This happens for about 5-10 minutes before things settle down.

Is there a way to clear ALL DHCP leases and start over?

[-Malux-]

It’s odd, I get an IP on my laptop, connect to the router then lose the IP right away

[CrimpOn]

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@-Malux- wrote:
It’s odd, I get an IP on my laptop, connect to the router then lose the IP right away

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This is physically impossible, unless......

When devices are unable to reach a DHCP server, for example when they are powered on but not connected to WiFi, then they assign themselves a "default" IP address: https://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/APIPA.html 

Once they connect to a DHCP server, that default IP is replaced with the IP information given them by the DHCP server.  Can you make a note of this IP address and compare it with the article?

Does the Orbi log file show when IP addresses are assigned? (mine does)

[-Malux-]

take a look at the log;  i'm starting to wonder if this isn't an issue just with my Kasa switches...I have about 38 smart switches from kasa on my network

[-Malux-]

[FURRYe38]

What are the model#s of these Kasa Switches? 

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@-Malux- wrote:

take a look at the log;  i'm starting to wonder if this isn't an issue just with my Kasa switches...I have about 38 smart switches from kasa on my network

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[-Malux-]

I have a total of 38 of them.  They are HS200, HS 210, HS105.  I have KASA  Switches, Plugs, 3 Way Switches and Dimmers

[FURRYe38]

What you might do is to either disconnect all these switches from the RBR. Do a full reboot of the RBR. Check it's operation. If it's stable, graduate adding a switch, 1 at a time, and see if the router can add them using this process. You might see about setting an IP address reservation ON the RBR for each. 

[-Malux-]

There's no way I'm going rewire 38 wall-installed switches when i reboot my routher...That cant' be an acceptable possible solution.

I turned off DHCP and looked at a wireshark log.  It looks like I'm getting 10-20 DHCP discover requests per second.  Is it possible the router is seeing that as an attack an denying them?

Is it also possible the rotuer is not set to be authoratitive so the switches are still trying to get their old IPs back?

[-Malux-]

incidentally, I upgrade the firmware to 2.7.1.60.  No change...

[FURRYe38]

Let me clairify, when I mean disconnect, I mean disconnect them from the wireless SSID, not from the power lines where there installed. 

Ya, seems like possible the DHCP service is getting bogged down and can't catch up with all the REQs coming in from all these devices, so which is why I suggested wirelessly disconnecting them from the router and then graduale adding them 1 at a time. And again, try setting up some IP address reservations would help the DHCP server manage these as well. 

[-Malux-]

I think that's exactly what's going on.  We're thinking the same thing: DHCP is getting overwhelmed.  

This is intersting, I've been turning DHCP off and on and off and on and off and on.  Everytime I do that a few more devices get IPs.

It's crazy, but it's working....I'm up to 55 of 77 devices active now...

[FURRYe38]

Ya, having all those online at the same time is causing the server to bog down...You need to set them one maybe a small group at a time, also assign IP address reservastions for each so that if someting happens, the server will already have these addresses assigned. 

[-Malux-]

Considering the class of device though, you'd imagine the orbi should be able to handle the load. 

I did opened a case with TP-Link and made some suggestions on how to throttle their request rate.  That said, I want to open a case with the netgear dev team.

Here's the big question: Netgear offered to replace my router.  I'm not convinced a router replacement will do anything.  What do you  guys think?  Should I move forward with the replacement or leave it alone?

[FURRYe38]

You can try the replacement to see if you notice anything different, if not, send it back. 

Just seems like there is a handling issue with having ALL those devices trying to get an IP address, mostly all at once and the server can't handle that. Most home class routers only handle upwards to about 40-50 for average homes. Having more then that, espeically all trying to get something ALL at once, may impact any home class router. 

I have around 30 and don't see this issue with this amount connecting...

[-Malux-]

@FURRYe38 well, the replacement had the same exact issue.  I sent it back.  That said, I was able to resolve my problem by giving DHCP reservations to each individual smart device on the network.  With the DHCP reservations in place, I was able to successfully reboot my router without my entire network going haywire.

With that addressed (no pun intended), I now, I have to contend with the V2.7.1.60 of the firmware.  I have the latest app (v2.7.2.18) on my phone and am getting the error CDIL-API-FAIL when  when I try to see the attached devices.

This really should be simpler!  Honestly, I don't know how the app passed QA.  We're not talking about an edge case here.  This is core functionality...  

[FURRYe38]

Could be two area, either FW maybe a problem for your configuration or something on your network maybe causing problems thus a reservation seems to be a problem solver though it maybe masking the real problem. I'm thinking there is somethign on your network that maybe causing a problem. Last resort idea would be just a faulty RBR, however you would need to test this RBR out in a different envrionment to see if the problem followed or not. 

I have not seen this problem with my 50 series system while using v16 FW. I didn't see anything like yours with v2.7 loaded however I didn't take a longer review of this version since I found the problem with v2.7x versions causing ARP storms with RBS ethernet connected, so after I reviewed that, I reverted back to v16. I leave most everything dynamic IP addressed sans 4 cameras, two NAS and 3 printers that are static assigned on these devices. Other then that, my IP address pool of .100 to .150 works for me and the rest of the dynamic IP addressed devices.