Orbi RBR50 flashing red when trying to reset

[BKYGEAR]

My Orbi RBR50 router stopped working suddenly and can’t get my home WIFI working anymore. Have wasted about 2hrs+ now trying to troubleshoot and reset up everything as a new system repeatedly resetting all my satellites and router. The router does not reset and give the normal amber color to the power led, but instead flashes 3 blinking red lights and then back to green. Does this mean the router is dead?

[FURRYe38]

How long are you pressing the reset button for? 15 seconds then release should do.

You can try this and see if the RBR will recover:

https://kb.netgear.com/000059633/How-to-upload-firmware-to-a-NETGEAR-router-using-TFTP-client

Try the installed Windows TFTP program as well.

If this fails, you'll need to contact NG support for additional help and information. 

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@BKYGEAR wrote:
My Orbi RBR50 router stopped working suddenly and can’t get my home WIFI working anymore. Have wasted about 2hrs+ now trying to troubleshoot and reset up everything as a new system repeatedly resetting all my satellites and router. The router does not reset and give the normal amber color to the power led, but instead flashes 3 blinking red lights and then back to green. Does this mean the router is dead?

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[BKYGEAR]

Thais for your help!
I’m holding the reset button for at least 30-40 sec, if not longer, before anything happens. That’s when I get the red flashing light. I never see the amber light show up. It didn’t matter when I held it for 10 or 60 seconds, it just keeps flashing the white light from the top and I can’t get any signal to connect to in my WIFI.

[FURRYe38]

15 seconds is max to press the button. 

Try the recovery to see if this might get it working, if no, make contact with NG support. 

[BKYGEAR]

I'm sorry, I'm a newbie at this stuff. Where do I find the router's firmware to download? 

[FURRYe38]

https://www.netgear.com/support/product/RBR50.aspx#download

[BKYGEAR]

Tried to transfer firmware to Orbi using the tftp64 software per your instructions, but got nowhere.  The Orbi did not flash orange when connected to the Ethernet of my computer and then powered on, and #0 packets got transferred. The power LED did flash red for a few times when connected and then went back to a constant green. 

I assume this unit is dead.  Do you know how I contact Netgear support? They do not make it easy to find a number or email contact on their website. Thanks again for trying to help me. 

[FURRYe38]

Try here:

https://www.netgear.com/support/#

Can contact a Forum moderator as well.

@Blanca_O 

[jackck]

I got a brand new Orbi RBR50 from netgear.com directly.  During setup, I chose update firmware thinking that will make more router more secure.  But it ended up in exactly the same state as you after I waited 45 minutes hoping the firmware update will complete.  I spent the whole day troubleshooting and talking with 2 different netgear support rep.  In my case, even TFTP failed for my router.  They recommend I return the unit and get a refund.

[BKYGEAR]

Sorry to hear. I never got mine to work after hours of troubleshooting. My unit was past its warranty time, and ultimately I had to purchase a new one too. Very disappointing considering how expensive the units are compared to other brands.

[FURRYe38]

Did you try to recover the RBR by chance using this process?

https://kb.netgear.com/000059633/How-to-upload-firmware-to-a-NETGEAR-router-using-TFTP-client

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@BKYGEAR wrote:
Sorry to hear. I never got mine to work after hours of troubleshooting. My unit was past its warranty time, and ultimately I had to purchase a new one too. Very disappointing considering how expensive the units are compared to other brands.

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[BKYGEAR]

Yes, More than once

[FURRYe38]

Try both TFTP program that NG provides and the one built into Windows? I've seen different experiences with those two programs. 

Next time. I recommend not letting the RBR auto update FW. Manually download the FW files and apply them manually, RBS first then RBR lastly.

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@BKYGEAR wrote:
Yes, More than once

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[cyril4j]

How is this firmware update process supposed to work when the steps call for the reset process to work (i.e. solid then flash amber) which exactly what this whole thread is about reporting the fact it doesn't happen?

Reset doesn't go amber for us and if we reset during power on we get flashing red. 

How can we update the firmware if the reset is not working?

[FURRYe38]

Are you pressing the back reset button for 15 seconds then releasing? 

Does the TFTP process not work for you?

If the reset or the steps to recover the RBR are not working then the unit is probably bad to begin with. Contact NG support. 

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@cyril4j wrote:

How is this firmware update process supposed to work when the steps call for the reset process to work (i.e. solid then flash amber) which exactly what this whole thread is about reporting the fact it doesn't happen?

Reset doesn't go amber for us and if we reset during power on we get flashing red. 

How can we update the firmware if the reset is not working?

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[cyril4j]

Yes, I tried to press reset for different durations but the behavior is the same.

After flashing white ring for a while, reset button has no effect even if pushed for 60 seconds.

If pressing reset during powering on, then power led blinks red for a while.

No solid or blinking orange light in either case.

I'm not able to find a TFTP that works on MacOS Catalina, but even if I did my point remains: how would this procedure be helpful if it requires a reset which does not work for us anyway?

[FURRYe38]

Contact NG support to see if there is anything they can do for you. 

Ya, you need a Windows PC for TFTP to work well. 

Good Luck. 

[cyril4j]

Unfortunately it seems support is only provided for 1 year and my anniversary expired last week-end so poor timing for me on this one. 

It seems a power outage left the router in this bad state. I wonder if it was performing an auto-update of some sort...

Anyhow it's disappointing that NG is not providing an effective way to reset to factory settings...

[FURRYe38]

They do have a way to recover, however you need to find a good mac TFTP program or find a Windows PC or laptop, borrow one, and try the windows TFTP method. There seems to be a couple listed on web searches. One is $1.99 if thats not too expensive from macupdate or the apple store. 

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@cyril4j wrote:

Unfortunately it seems support is only provided for 1 year and my anniversary expired last week-end so poor timing for me on this one. 

It seems a power outage left the router in this bad state. I wonder if it was performing an auto-update of some sort...

Anyhow it's disappointing that NG is not providing an effective way to reset to factory settings...

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[cyril4j]

I gave up but for other victims please do post an updated procedure for the "way to recover" as the one linked in this thread includes a reset WHICH DOES NOT WORK FOR US!

[FURRYe38]

Try this method:

https://kb.netgear.com/000059634/How-to-upload-firmware-to-a-NETGEAR-router-using-Windows-TFTP
Need to press the reset button for 30 seconds then release, then it send to PUT the command and upload the FW. 
I had a problem on a Windows 10 PC where this didn't work to use TFTP, so I switched to a WIndows 7 PC and the TFTP worked.

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@cyril4j wrote:

I gave up but for other victims please do post an updated procedure for the "way to recover" as the one linked in this thread includes a reset WHICH DOES NOT WORK FOR US!

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[dmdz]

Same problem but doesn’t flash amber for me just red then solid green. When it is amber I guess that is when the rebooting phase happens where then on terminal for mac you do the command “put <update file>” however in terminal it just says file transfer timed out. Anyone figure out a solution to this. I’m past warranty and spent so much on this router. Now I’m spending time trying to fix it.

[FURRYe38]

Try using a windows 7 PC? 

I had problems using a Windows 10 PC then switched to Windows 7 and it worked. You maybe seeing same issue on Mac. 

What OSX version are you using?

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@dmdz wrote:
Same problem but doesn’t flash amber for me just red then solid green. When it is amber I guess that is when the rebooting phase happens where then on terminal for mac you do the command “put <update file>” however in terminal it just says file transfer timed out. Anyone figure out a solution to this. I’m past warranty and spent so much on this router. Now I’m spending time trying to fix it.

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[ChestCopperpot]

Got it to work.
I had the same time out issue while trying this. Without getting the amber lights I’ve got it to transfer.
Unplug Router, press and hold reset, plug router back in while continuing to hold reset. Power light will start off green, solid red, then blinking red. After the 7th blinking red it’ll flash green once (quick) then back to blinking red.
Release reset. Transfer.
Im using the TFTP Client app on Mac and it’s now transferring the firmware. Reading through this thread I experienced the same issues and problems. It’s still transferring but hopefully resolved.

[FURRYe38]

Let us know how it turns out...

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@ChestCopperpot wrote:
Got it to work.
I had the same time out issue while trying this. Without getting the amber lights I’ve got it to transfer.
Unplug Router, press and hold reset, plug router back in while continuing to hold reset. Power light will start off green, solid red, then blinking red. After the 7th blinking red it’ll flash green once (quick) then back to blinking red.
Release reset. Transfer.
Im using the TFTP Client app on Mac and it’s now transferring the firmware. Reading through this thread I experienced the same issues and problems. It’s still transferring but hopefully resolved.

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