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Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

Shaun27
Star

RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

My patience is now comimg to an end.  I purchased this Orbi system because quote " simple to setup", what an utter nonsense.  The system replaces my Apple extreme, in all the ten years I had the system up and running it performed without any major issues, it worked!   The only reason I switched to the Orbi was the Apple system was ten years old.  Apple why did you leave the router market?  WHY? 

One can't say the same with the Orbi.  My satellite repeatly  disconnects. I have tried a number of adjustments, however, the results are the same, the satellite disconnects for no obvious reasons.  Opened a support ticket and support came back with a complicated things to do list which would test any normal persons ability to take it on.  We are not ALL technical wizards. 

My system is 2 weeks old and I am told to become a technical wizard overnight.  Totally unacceptable.  Support seems to have gone on holiday, no reply to my inputs since Friday.   Says so much does it not.

 

I cannot be the only frustrated person out there with a Orbi system that is not working correctly. This disconnect issue is not an isolated one, others are experiencing it with much Frustration.

 

Negear what are you doing to resolve the issue, because in a few days time, I am going to box the system up and send it back, not fit for purpose.   Fed up going around in circles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Message 1 of 23

Accepted Solutions
Shaun27
Star

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

May I thank everyone for their help. Sadly I have return the Orbi system today.  Netgear could not help and I think as a customer I have done enough....The last instructions from Netgear took me hours to achive.  

Have gone back to my faithful Apple Extreme which needs replacing. Just plugged the Apple Extreme  in and everything is up and running.  Will I take a deep breath and try Orbi again?  Well I might, but not for a little while, I need a holiday!  To me the satellite was defective in some way.

Happy days,

 

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Message 19 of 23

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Shaun27
Star

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

No response from Netgear this morning. Trying to reach to them. 


Looking at channels  my Orbi is using.

 

2.4  set to Auto  - using channel 13

 

5GHZ set to channel 36

 

are these OK?

 

The router is rock solid. No issues at ALL. 

can I factory reset the satellite only? 

Message 2 of 23
Shaun27
Star

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

My 2.4 GHZ was set to Auto.  Looking at some software on my iMac, it was telling me I was using channel 13. I have therefore moved to channel 1 which the software is telling me is the best channel for me. see what happens.

Message 3 of 23
Shaun27
Star

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

5 GHZ - presently set to channel 36. I Mac is telling me, my neighbours are also using channel 36.  So I have changed to channel 40. Will see if this helps.   Any ideas please post.

Message 4 of 23
tucsontico
Virtuoso

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

Please answer a few questions so the forum members can try to help you:

 

1) What firmware version are you running on the router and satellites?

2) How large is your house (or the area you're trying to cover with ORBI) in square feet?

3) What is the approximate distance between the router and satellites? (30 feet is recommended minimum.)

4) What type of configuration is your ORBI system, i.e., star or daisy chain? ("Star" is Sat>Router>Sat. "Daisy chain" is Router>Sat>Sat.)

5) What brand and model modem are you using and what speed does your ISP provide?

 

The channels you've selected for 2.4 gHz and 5 gHz are a good start. You've already done a good bit ot troubleshooting by determining what WiFi interference your neighbors could induce.WiFi interference from competeing signals is the primary cause of poor performance. Not to be pedantic but this article will describe why this is so prevalent:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/03/802-eleventy-what-a-deep-dive-into-why-wi-fi-...

 

Some other experts will chime in soon. Good luck!

Message 5 of 23
Shaun27
Star

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

Hi, thanks for the reply and for your time. Well, 

1) What firmware version are you running on the router and satellites?

 

Both are ruining 2.5.1.8

 

2) How large is your house (or the area you're trying to cover with ORBI) in square feet?

 

2800

 

3) What is the approximate distance between the router and satellites? (30 feet is recommended minimum.)

 

32 feet

 

4) What type of configuration is your ORBI system, i.e., star or daisy chain? ("Star" is Sat>Router>Sat. "Daisy chain" is Router>Sat>Sat.)

 

Disabled  daisy chain. 

 

5) What brand and model modem are you using and what speed does your ISP provide?

 

Modem Vigor 130

BT gives me 26.  I cannot obtain anymore.

 

Note

 

What I find so frustrating there is no logic to the satellite disconnecting. It can happen at any time of day or night and can go 48 hours without a problem. 

 

Changing the channels has not worked, The satellite has just this minute disconnected. This time the top light has gone purple and Will not  reconnect.  Moved the satellite nearer to the router. Top light now blue, went flashing white and has just connected.

 

Where do I go from here?  Return the equipment?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Message 6 of 23
Shaun27
Star

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

The router is fine. It never disconnects.  The issue is solely with the satellite.  Do I have a faulty satellite? 

 

Message 7 of 23
tucsontico
Virtuoso

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

The fact that moving your sat closer to your router caused a "momentary" better connection is encouraging. I can recommend two scenarios that may help. Each one requires some time/effort.

 

First, I suggest doing a factory reset of both the satellite and the router and manually reconfiguring your system. Do NOT use a backup config file! It is possible there's a corrupt line in the current configuration so the backup could have the same.

 

Secondly, should the first scenario no give you a solid sat connection, I'd revert the firmware to the previous stable version: 2.3.5.30. Unfortunately, this will require another factory reset and manual configuration! ALWAYS update/revert the satellite firmware first, then do the router and reconfigure your system.

 

 After applying either (or both) of these efforts, allow the ORBI a significant "settling" time (several hours) before moving on to the next. If niether of these gives a satifactory result, it's time to return the ORBI to Netgear. Good luck!

Message 8 of 23
Shaun27
Star

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

I do want this system to work, to operate as it should.  Moved the satellite to a different location, nearer to the router.  The satellite was approximately 32 feet from the router with the purple light on?   It is now 25 feet, no walls in the way. There is not much more I can do other than send it back. What a disappointment. Will try the new location and see what happens. 

Message 9 of 23
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

If the RBS fails to connect and remain connected, and you've changed placement and make some configuration changes on the RBR, and still the RBS doesn't remain connected, you may have a faulty system. I would return and and get another kit. 

 

My system is using v2.5.1.8 and is stable and solid. 35 feet in between the RBR and RBS, however my RBS is wire connected...

Message 10 of 23
Shaun27
Star

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

Hi Furry

 

Thank you for your reply.    What is so frustrating the satellite will reconnect. Moved the Satellite further away from the router two days ago. At that location when the satellite dropped connection the top light went white, then ended up purple and remain so until I move the satellite closer to the router when it reconnected.  I have now left the satellite closer to the router waiting for the next drop out to see if it connects on it's own. 

I have made a number of configuration changes, Daisy chain off, changed channels after running software telling me what other local networks were on. For some reason Auto had the router on channel 13, which was not good. Any way, changing channels has not worked.  Today I have had 2 drop outs.  Will wait for the next drop out, hope it never comes, then I will do a factory reset AGAIN, and if that does not work I will box the system up and send it back, which I will very disappointed in doing so.  Unless of course Netgear, are you out there!, can come up with a solution......I am very happy to keep the Orbi but it needs to work properly.

 

 

 

 

Message 11 of 23
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

See if the changes made help, then go from there. I agree, it should work well for you. Possible bad RBS too. Hopefully you'll find out more soon. 

 

Message 12 of 23
Shaun27
Star

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

Waiting to see whether changing the channels and bringing  the satellite nearer to the router will work.  Perhaps the last dropout was because the  satellite  was too far away......will report back.

Message 13 of 23
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

Keep us posted...

Message 14 of 23
clammerds
Apprentice

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

I have a similar setup - Vigor 130 into router and plus.net is my provider (essentially BT).

 

My 2.5Ghz is on channel 1 and my 5Ghz 36.

 

in my LAN setup on the advanced tab, I have added an address reservation for my satellite so it will always be assigned the same IP address every time it connects. This shouldn't affect satellite disconnects at all but giving you the information on how mine is set up.

 

Now, I know this goes against the grain a bit here but, I have powerline adapters (one by the router and another one by the satellite) and I then connect the satellite and router via a wired backhaul. I have a rock solid "Good" connection and the satellite hasn't disconnected since I updated the firmware to 2.5.1.8 over the Christmas period. The reason I did this initally was that after a firmware upgrade well over a year ago, the connection between my sat and router went from "Good" to "Poor". I understand that this was more a (now fixed) firware bug that meant that the connection was being reported poor but was actually ok..Anyway, I've left the configuration as it is as it is working well. Again, just giving you info on how mine is setup, I'm not recommending that you do this.

 

I understand your frustrations as it should "just work" and should be fine with the wireless backhaul as that's what it's designed for. That said, on these forums, you only see reports from people that have problems so in Netgear's defense I guess that there are a lot of people that it does "just work" for.

 

As Furry says, it could well be faulty hardware.

 

Finally, for a non-techy person, you're doing very well 🙂

 

 

Message 15 of 23
Shaun27
Star

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

Thank you for your help and suggestion, appreciated.

THe human mind is a wonderful machine. At 4am I was being told something not right. Open my eyes and yes, Orbi was flashing away!  The good news Orbi connected all by itself no purple light, just white and blue. The latest from Netgear support. I was a bit harsh in my criticism yesterday, they do need a day off, like we all do.  Anyway this is what I was asked to do, believe me being a non technical person it was a nightmare. Please connect a computer wired to the router.Note: Do not use a computer that is connected wirelessly to the router to upload the firmware. A wireless firmware update might corrupt the router’s firmware, rendering it unusable.

Download the firmware from this link: http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RBK50/RBS50-V2.5.1.8.zip
Save the file to your desktop. Right-click on it and click Unzip. The file that you need ends with .CHK or .IMG.
1) Login to the router page (orbilogin.net).
2) Select ADVANCED > Administration > Firmware Update.
3) Click the Manual Update tab.
The Firmware Update page displays.
Note: We recommend that you always update the firmware on your Orbi satellite(s) first, and then update your Orbi router. Also, do not update the Orbi router's and satellite's firmware at the same time.
4) To update the Orbi satellite firmware, do the following:
a. Select the RBS50 (Orbi satellite) checkbox.
b. Click the Update button
c. If the browser asks you for the admin password, enter the same password you entered for the Orbi router.
d. Click the BROWSE button, then locate and select the file RBS50-V2.5.1.8.img on your desktop.
e. Click the UPLOAD button to upload the firmware file.
It takes a few minutes to complete the process.
f. After Orbi satellite finishes updating, select Status and double-check the firmware version is V2.3.1.8.
After that please reset the satellite and sync it manually. To reset properly, use a paper clip or any similar object press and hold the satellite button at the back or underneath the router after 30 seconds release. The power LED must blink amber.
To sync manually, wait for the power LED to turn green unplug the satellite from the outlet and move it to the same room where the router is and sync it manually.
a. Press the sync button of the router for 10 seconds then release.
b. Press the sync button of the satellite for 10 seconds then release.
Wait for it to connect. Once it's connected move it to its original location.

All done and will now have to,wait to see it it works. I really do not believe customers should be expected to do this we are not all technical wizards.

 

 

 

Message 16 of 23
Shaun27
Star

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

Satellite  just gone down again.....the above clearly did not work.

 

Back to Netgear support.  

Message 17 of 23
tucsontico
Virtuoso

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

After all your reset/firmware/positioning efforts, I believe you should return the satellite for a replacement. There is somethng wrong with the hardware. Sorry this didn't work out the way we all would have liked. Let us know how the new sat works!

 

Message 18 of 23
Shaun27
Star

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

May I thank everyone for their help. Sadly I have return the Orbi system today.  Netgear could not help and I think as a customer I have done enough....The last instructions from Netgear took me hours to achive.  

Have gone back to my faithful Apple Extreme which needs replacing. Just plugged the Apple Extreme  in and everything is up and running.  Will I take a deep breath and try Orbi again?  Well I might, but not for a little while, I need a holiday!  To me the satellite was defective in some way.

Happy days,

 

Message 19 of 23
clammerds
Apprentice

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

Good luck with whatever solution you ultimately end up going with!

Message 20 of 23
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

Sometimes odd things happens to Orbi and it's users. Sounds like this was faulty hardware. I would try another Orbi in the future. Not all Orbi hardware is bad. 

 

Good Luck. 

Message 21 of 23
Shaun27
Star

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects


Support now agrees the issue is probably the satellite. 'Since we have done all the troubleshooting and it still having an issue. I suggest replacing the satellite.'

Have returned the system to the retailer for a re-fund. There is much about the Orbi I like and OK the last 2 weeks have not been fun trying to get the system working correctly I will try the Orbi again after a rest!  Hopefully the 2nd try will be without issues.  

thanks for your help and comments 

Message 22 of 23
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBK50 - satellite repeatly disconnects

Give a different kit a try when your ready. 

 

Good Luck. 

Message 23 of 23
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