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Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

st_shaw
Master

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion


@orbirick wrote:

So the Ubiquiti option has its pros (at much less cost too). Just not sure of the cons of that approach vs Orbi.

I have both the Orbi and a network of Ubiquiti APs, at separate sites.

 

The "cons" of Ubiquiti, if you consider them cons are:

The APs are not routers, so you need a separate router.

You need a separate controller to configure the APs (free software or a dedicated Cloud Key).

You need more technical knowledge to set them up for their full potential and avoid setting them up incorrectly.

The processors in the APs, except for the new $349 and up HD models, are weak and limit their throughput compared to some other APs.

 

If you're a techie, you should love the Ubiquiti APs and the controller. They're a good solution if you have Ethernet wiring in place.

Message 151 of 438
RogerSC
Virtuoso

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion


orbirick wrote: 

And your last paragraph sorta illustrates my dilemma... 

 

I'm not wanting to pay more for less, as it were. So the Ubiquiti option has its pros (at much less cost too). Just not sure of the cons of that approach vs Orbi.


The web site smallnetbuilder.com has reviews and tests of Ubiquiti products as well as eero and Orbi. There's a lot of information there, just hang out and read about the different mesh options and other options. A lot of the tests are head-to-head with comparable products, which yields interesting comparisons. Highly recommended.

Message 152 of 438
Kanis
Aspirant

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

since update my wifi radios turn off after restarts. and restarting is troublesome.  also the satellite won't reconnect unless i reset both units.  i'll probably roll back to an earlier firmware after christmas.

Model: RBK50| Orbi AC3000 High-Performance Tri-Band WiFi System
Message 153 of 438
orbirick
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

I just checked my RT-AC56U and found UPnP enabled. I disabled it, but haven't had any issues with it enabled. Shrug.


@godspeed wrote:

When i ran the Orbi in router mode, yes, i had UPNP disabled.  Most of my testing was with the Orbi in AP mode, so the UPNP option was not available to change.  On my Asus router, i have UPNP disabled.


 

Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 154 of 438
orbirick
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion


@st_shaw wrote:

@orbirick wrote:

So the Ubiquiti option has its pros (at much less cost too). Just not sure of the cons of that approach vs Orbi.

I have both the Orbi and a network of Ubiquiti APs, at separate sites.

 

The "cons" of Ubiquiti, if you consider them cons are:

The APs are not routers, so you need a separate router.

You need a separate controller to configure the APs (free software or a dedicated Cloud Key).

You need more technical knowledge to set them up for their full potential and avoid setting them up incorrectly.

The processors in the APs, except for the new $349 and up HD models, are weak and limit their throughput compared to some other APs.

 

If you're a techie, you should love the Ubiquiti APs and the controller. They're a good solution if you have Ethernet wiring in place.


That's a good reference point. I'm enough of a techie to want to play, but may not be enough of a techie to get myself out of trouble if I exceed my knowledge base. Of course, that's what the internet is for. 😉

 

 

Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 155 of 438
orbirick
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion


@RogerSC wrote:

orbirick wrote: 

And your last paragraph sorta illustrates my dilemma... 

 

I'm not wanting to pay more for less, as it were. So the Ubiquiti option has its pros (at much less cost too). Just not sure of the cons of that approach vs Orbi.


The web site smallnetbuilder.com has reviews and tests of Ubiquiti products as well as eero and Orbi. There's a lot of information there, just hang out and read about the different mesh options and other options. A lot of the tests are head-to-head with comparable products, which yields interesting comparisons. Highly recommended.


Thanks. I'm familiar with snb.com. Great site and THiggins is a great asset. I've had some communications with Jim Salter from the wirecutter as well. He really likes the Orbi.. and the UAP-AC-lites.

 

Well, I've got nothing but time to lose by trying out the Orbi. And since I bought from Costco, I have plenty of time to give them a decent trial. But I confess that I have a little buyer's remorse even at the sale price I got them at since WMart now has the 2 pc kit for $200 on closeout... which leads me to think the next iteration of the Orbi is imminent.

Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 156 of 438
sherveyjeff
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Product: RBR50 - V2.1.1.16

Had my Orbi (Router and Sat) since June 2017 - very stable.  But it looks like V2.1.1.16 was upgraded a few days ago automatically.

I've had 3 network drops in last 2 days.   I have 40+ devices on my Network for work and business and push 2TB of download data monthly.  It's a big deal when I get network drops - I hear the screams from the whole house.

What is going on Netgear?  You need to think about rolling back 2.1.1.16 - this isnt production ready.

I've powered them down and rebooted.   

Is there a suggested work-around to solve this firmware instability?

Is there a way to rollback to previous firmware and keep you from automatically upgrading firmware?

 

Model: RBK50| Orbi AC3000 High-Performance Tri-Band WiFi System
Message 157 of 438
orbirick
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion


@sherveyjeff wrote:

Product: RBR50 - V2.1.1.16

Had my Orbi (Router and Sat) since June 2017 - very stable.  But it looks like V2.1.1.16 was upgraded a few days ago automatically.

I've had 3 network drops in last 2 days.   I have 40+ devices on my Network for work and business and push 2TB of download data monthly.  It's a big deal when I get network drops - I hear the screams from the whole house.

What is going on Netgear?  You need to think about rolling back 2.1.1.16 - this isnt production ready.

I've powered them down and rebooted.   

Is there a suggested work-around to solve this firmware instability?

Is there a way to rollback to previous firmware and keep you from automatically upgrading firmware?

 


From what little I know, you can install an earlier firmware, but then have to telnet into the device to turn off automatic updates. I have no clue how to accomplish that. Yet. 

Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 158 of 438
webminster
Luminary

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Message 159 of 438
parostberg
Tutor

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

For what it's worth.

My Orbi was working for 5-10 minutes, then restarted.

Called Netgear support yesterday, they was not aware of this issue and recommended change of product.

I changed to a new set and the problem come back again directly after update to V2.1.1.16 firmware.

Also noticed that the connection to the satellite is weak.

Now it's clear to me that the firmware is the problem. 

 

The router is worthless as it's working now, 5 minutes than it restarts, how is it possible that this is not tested before rolling out?!

Model: RBK30| Orbi AC2200 WiFi System, RBK50| Orbi AC3000 High-Performance Tri-Band WiFi System
Message 160 of 438
mastervisa30
Luminary

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Now my router have starting to rebooting,for the first time,my router has been rebooting by its self,happend to times yesterday,now im back on beta version 76 and everythings seems to work again,all ok on beta 76 version,uppdated to latest then it was working some days and the the router starting to reboot by its self,everything is of when im testing to make sure testing the firmwares.
Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 161 of 438
orbirick
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

I setup the Orbi router and 2 satellites which came with firmware 1.12.0.18. Powered them up, pulled the cable from my router that went to my PC and connected my PC to the Orbi system (local LAN, no internet connection). I set it up, then tried to manually update the firmware on the satellites from the v2.1.1.16 zip files (unzipped, pointed to the disc image file for the update), but got a message that the file was incorrect.

 

I've just re-connected my PC to the 'net and got fresh copies of the 2.1.1.16 router and satellite firmware and will try to manually install it again after I post this message. Not exactly a glorius start here.

Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 162 of 438
orbirick
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

No joy with the fresh copy of RBS50 v2.1.1.16 firmware. Now how hard can this be?

Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 163 of 438
orbirick
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

 
Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 164 of 438
orbirick
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

I suppose my other option is to connect to the 'net and try to upgrade the firmware OTA.

Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 165 of 438
mastervisa30
Luminary

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Why netgear cant we get that options to turn off and on auto uppdate,its gonna be easy to downgrade to older firmware in the future,when there is a new firmware who has many bugs,we can turn off uppdate and get older version?options to turn off auto uppdate,if netgear get this options im not sending my system back:)if there is buggy firmware version we can turn of uppdates
Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 166 of 438
orbirick
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Connecting to the internet, the new firmware update is shown as v2.0.0.74. And one of the satellites says no internet.

 

Did Netgear pull 2.1.1.12 and 2.1.1.16? I don't think so because I got fresh copies of 2.1.1.16 a short while ago. So why would the Orbi system not pick up the latest firmware updates? I'm connected to the satellites wirelessly at the present time.

Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 167 of 438
orbirick
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Answering my own question here. I had to update to v2.0.0.74 before I could update to v2.1.1.16. I'm surprised I couldn't update from 1.12.1.18 directly to 2.1.1.16. Oh well.

 

All satellites are showing after I refreshed the info above where I said 1 satellite was showing no internet connection.

Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 168 of 438
BothellNetEng
Aspirant

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

TLDR: I have the same issues with my RBK50+2xRBS50 after the auto update which happened around the 19th Dec. My satellites went magenta one day and just stopped syncing with the router even after reboots. After about 6hrs of troubleshooting, I was able to return to a good working state after rolling back to V2.0.0.74.

 

 

Full Story:

 

I bought my RBK53 from Costco this Black Friday (2017) and set it up on Dec. 3rd.  I don't recall what initial firmware came with this Costco unit.  I also don't recall if i chose to update the firmware during my first initial setup.  If I did do an update, it would have likely been version v2.1.1.12 or older.  I had no problems setting this up the first time and it worked GREAT the past 3 weeks that I've owned it, exactly what I wanted.  I've pretty much left the settings at default.  My only changes are the admin password, SSID name/password (wpa2) and 5 ip reservations.  Very vanilla setup.

 

On the morning of Dec 19, 2017 my satellites turned magenta and were not synced to the router. Device connectivity through the router was still good (wired and wireless).  Power cycling the satellites didn't work.  Rebooting the router via GUI made things worse as now WiFI was off.  I noticed that my wifi password was only displaying the first 3 letters of the password in the GUI, where previously it displayed the full password in plain text.  This is when I noticed the firmware version was the latest v2.1.1.16 (which is dated 12/12/2017).  I was able to get wifi to turn on again by retyping my wifi password in the Wireless>Security Options.  My satellites still wouldn't sync so I brought them really close to the router.  Power cycling again made no difference, but resetting via reset pinhole (until blinking amber) did finally get them to sync.  Once synced and working as expected, I power cycled 1 satellite using the on/off button on the satellite to see if it will automatically sync like it normally should.  Unfortunately, it would never sync unless I factory reset using the pinhole method.  Additionally, factory resetting the satellite when it's far away where I originally had it on another floor of my house wouldn't work.  The satellites needed to be within 20ft of the router.

 

Rebooting my router always turned off the wifi some reason as well.  What a cluster.   I rolled back to v2.1.1.12 and did all the same troubleshooting.  I had the same symptoms and problems (wifi is off after reboots, Wifi password in gui only shows first 3 letters, satellites won't auto sync after reboots.)  Reluctantly knowing the security risks, I decided to roll back to v2.0.0.74 since some users reported some stability there.  Here are the steps I used to get to a working state:

 

1. Rolled back my 2 satellites to v2.0.0.74.  Note that Netgear KB articles state to always do firmware updates on the satellites first then the router.  Also Netgear articles state to use wired ethernet when uploading and doing firmware updates.

2. Defaulted my Router using the GUI. Advanced>Administratorion>Backup>Revert to factory defaults.  Ran through the basic setup and Admin password and setting up Wifi.  I skipped setting up the satellites since I am rolling back firmware first.

3. Rolled back firmware on the Router to v2.0.0.74.  Immediately I noticed that my Wifi password in the gui is not correctly showing the full password which I took as a positive sign.  Additionally, wifi stayed on this time.

4. For good measure, I decided to default the router again (step 2) to run through the first time setup.  Only this time I did go and sync the 2 satellites.

 

After this, I am back to a good working state.  My Wifi is still on after rebooting my router, and the satellites now auto sync if they are turned off/on and no longer need to be within 20ft distance from the router.  Phew...

 

For the 3 weeks I had the Orbi, I have loved it.. until now.  Damn the auto update!  Give us the option to turn auto update off in the GUI!!!!  I went ahead and telnet into the router to turn off auto update in nvram.   I did not do this on the satellites as I was curious to see if those will auto update with the router configurednot to auto update via nvram config.

 

On a side note - I noticed in the forum someone did a nvram erase  and nvram commit and said it didn't reset their device.  I have found that you need to issue the 'reboot' command in your telnet session for for the changes (reset) to take affect.  

 

Has anyone with issues tried steps 1-4 that I mentioned on v2.1.1.12 or vv2.1.1.16?  I was going to try this when I have time, but seeing that Netgear has suspended pushing v2.1.1.16, I will take that as an acknowledgment that there are indeed some issues with that code level on select Orbi devices. 

 

Good Luck out there!

Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 169 of 438
orbirick
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

For the record, I've got my system setup with the RBR50 and both RBS50 satellites updated to v2.1.1.16. I did the online update from 1.12.0.13 to 2.0.0.74, then did a manual update to 2.1.1.16. 

 

I turned off DCHP and disable my 2.4 and 5 GHz radios on my old RT-AC56U router and now use it as a switch. I have 2 ethernet cables running out of that switch to my satellites and my devices show on the attached devices page appropriately. My iPad and Android phone both show as connected via 5G. 

 

I just went into the advanced setup page and enabled MU-MIMO and also implicit beamforming. Daisy chaining is enabled, but since I'm connected to the satellites via ethernet cables from my switch, I'm in star topology. Should I leave that checked or uncheck it? Does it matter? I also disabled UPnP.

 

If this is stable and stays like this, I foresee being a happy camper.

Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 170 of 438
orbirick
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Correction (wish I could edit posts). Upgraded online from 1.12.0.18.

Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 171 of 438
aaz
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion


@orbirick wrote:

 

...

I turned off DCHP and disable my 2.4 and 5 GHz radios on my old RT-AC56U router and now use it as a switch. I have 2 ethernet cables running out of that switch to my satellites and my devices show on the attached devices page appropriately. ...


Sounds like your running double inline routers which is not really a good idea. The AC56U is still acting as the router connecting you to the internet, but your Orbi is also running as a router. If you want to keep your AC56U as the router I'd suggest you turn on DHCP back on it, and set up the Orbi as an Access Point. Or just take the AC56U out of the equation, and put the Orbi router where it should be.

Message 172 of 438
mastervisa30
Luminary

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

Im gonna have some time inn christmas time and think,after new year im gonna decide if im gonna return my orbi sett,and gett me Zyxel Multy X Tri-Band AC3000 ?maybe Zyxel Multy X Tri-Band AC3000 is gonna beat orbi.Have a good christmas everyone and happy new year.

I can return my orbi free and get my money back if i send it before 15january.

I live in Norway and i think im gonna buyher https://www.komplett.no/product/961948/datautstyr/nettverk/routere/zyxel-multy-x-tri-band-ac 3000#

and here is a link https://www.pocnetwork.net/technology-news/review-zyxel-multy-x-ac3000-tri-band-wifi-mesh-network/

Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 173 of 438
Birch
Aspirant

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion

This is the first time I have had a problem with this system up to now it has been working flawlessly. The problem manifested itself by the Satellite not granting access to the internet. I then had a look at the router with a web browser, the Satellite had gone. I completed a hard resett on the Satellite which had no effect. I then logged onto the Satellite through its web interface by connecting a laptop to one of its ethernet ports and checked the firmware version it was v2.1.1.16. In summary I could connect to the web through the satellite only by connecting to one of the eithernet ports of the satellite which also allowed me to connect to the Orbi RBK50 and check its firmware  it was version v2.0.0.74 clicking on the button in the firmware update page returned a  "No new firmware version available" message. I then did a manual update and on rebooting the satellite appeared on the administrators page.

My devices when connected to the satellite are showing the connection type as "wired" as is the satellite.

There is drop of 4Mb in speed of connection when connected to the satellite wifi.

 

 

Model: RBK50| Orbi AC3000 High-Performance Tri-Band WiFi System
Message 174 of 438
orbirick
Apprentice

Re: Orbi firmware v2.1.1.16 discussion


@aaz wrote:

@orbirick wrote:

 

...

I turned off DCHP and disable my 2.4 and 5 GHz radios on my old RT-AC56U router and now use it as a switch. I have 2 ethernet cables running out of that switch to my satellites and my devices show on the attached devices page appropriately. ...


Sounds like your running double inline routers which is not really a good idea. The AC56U is still acting as the router connecting you to the internet, but your Orbi is also running as a router. If you want to keep your AC56U as the router I'd suggest you turn on DHCP back on it, and set up the Orbi as an Access Point. Or just take the AC56U out of the equation, and put the Orbi router where it should be.


Hmm. I thought I could use the AC56U as a switch by disabling DCHP and turning off the radios. Not so?

 

If not, that may explain why we keep getting an error page pop up on our iOS devices telling us to make sure to plug in a cable between the modem and the WAN port on the AC56U.

 

Also, I'm having issues setting my Google home devices back up too.

 

To test this, I'm going to replace the AC56U with a Gb switch and see if that changes anything.

Model: RBK53| Orbi Router + 2 Satellites Orbi WiFi System
Message 175 of 438
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