RBR40 won’t reset

[eye_josh]

Got an Orbi RBR40 router that won’t reset. It stopped working after unplugging it. No combination on this site works. There is never an amber light. The closest I can get to anything flashing is by holding reset and turning it on, it goes green, then solid red, then flashes red, then green. It’s pretty new purchased February 2020. Anyone got any ideas?

[eye_josh · Accepted solution]

Finally got mine working.

I followed a mix of posts. 

• https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Is-my-13-month-old-RBR50-bricked/m-p/2009904
• https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Is-my-13-month-old-RBR50-bricked/m-p/2011067
• https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Orbi-RBR50-seems-stuck-in-boot-loop/m-p/2237230/highlight/true...

RBR40s have 4 Torx screws in the bottom under the footpads, remove those and pull up. The case will slide up, then pull it hard to pop the light cover off the top and the case will come off the unit. 

I followed this to connect the USB to serial after buying the card on amazon https://www.snbforums.com/attachments/orbi-serial-port-pdf.23898/ 

I’m on windows 11 so I used Putty to interface with the console. 
under Serial set your COM port to the one the adapter shows up on, then set your Speed, go to session and pick connection type Serial and open the terminal.

Mine lost all of its configuration,  so I had to set:

Board_backhaul_passphrase_set Used a modified version of the password on the bottom sticker 

Board_backhaul_ssid_set used netgear_hidden_orbi41

Board_hw_id_set Got this from trying to update the firmware once, the error message will show you what to set it as

Board_model_id_set RBR40

Board_passphrase_set Used what was on the sticker

Board_ssid_set Used what was on the sticker

Macset 

Had to set all 5 mac addresses, gave the lan the one on the sticker, then generated the rest.

Wpspinset guessed this one

Snset Used what was on the sticker

After setting everything plug your network cable into one of the ethernet ports, set your IP to 192.168.1.10, subnet to 255.255.255.0, and gateway to 192.168.1.1. Reboot it then run fw_recovery, open a CMD line as admin then use tfpt to upload your firmware. 

Some notes:

• For some reason my download was only getting 300ish down, I had to turn on IPv6 for it to run at full speed. 
• the iPhone app won’t detect the router unless you turn off the limit IP addresses tracking option on iPhones
• the serial number is having issues, I'm thinking I may have entered it in wrong

[ekhalil]

When you hold the "RESET" pin pressed for few seconds you should see the power button LED flashing amber.

Please note, it's the power LED which will flash not the ring LED!

[eye_josh]

It doesn't do that, it only does what I stated. You can hold the reset button till you are blue in the face and nothing happens. 

[plemans]

If its not working and a reset doesn't help, you could try recovering 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

[eye_josh]

Unfortunately, it never goes into the mode it needs to be in to upload the firmware.
I have tried both tftp and nmrpflash. 
nmrpflash gets the closest, if I hold the reset button down and turn it on the power light flashes green, then goes solid red, then flashes about 6 times red, at that point nmrpflash attempts to upload the firmware but gets stopped because the light stops flashing red and turns green after about 6 flashes. 

[KevinLiT]

Hello eye_josh,

I am sorry to hear that you are having difficulties recovering your RBR40 after numerous attempts. 

I understand that you are unable to use our TFTP recovery steps to recover your RBR40. I would like to endorse you to our experts for further assistance with this issue.

Please PM the following information so I can endorse you to our support team:
Name:
Email:
Phone Number:
Device Model:
Firmware:
Serial Number:
Preferred time to be contacted:
App version:

Please provide this information as soon as possible!
I look forward to hearing from you!

Best,
Kevin
Community Team

 

[eye_josh]

Thanks, Kevin for sending them a ticket, unfortunately, they weren't very helpful, they called once left a message, and then closed the ticket.

[eye_josh · Accepted solution]

Finally got mine working.

I followed a mix of posts. 

• https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Is-my-13-month-old-RBR50-bricked/m-p/2009904
• https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Is-my-13-month-old-RBR50-bricked/m-p/2011067
• https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Orbi-RBR50-seems-stuck-in-boot-loop/m-p/2237230/highlight/true...

RBR40s have 4 Torx screws in the bottom under the footpads, remove those and pull up. The case will slide up, then pull it hard to pop the light cover off the top and the case will come off the unit. 

I followed this to connect the USB to serial after buying the card on amazon https://www.snbforums.com/attachments/orbi-serial-port-pdf.23898/ 

I’m on windows 11 so I used Putty to interface with the console. 
under Serial set your COM port to the one the adapter shows up on, then set your Speed, go to session and pick connection type Serial and open the terminal.

Mine lost all of its configuration,  so I had to set:

Board_backhaul_passphrase_set Used a modified version of the password on the bottom sticker 

Board_backhaul_ssid_set used netgear_hidden_orbi41

Board_hw_id_set Got this from trying to update the firmware once, the error message will show you what to set it as

Board_model_id_set RBR40

Board_passphrase_set Used what was on the sticker

Board_ssid_set Used what was on the sticker

Macset 

Had to set all 5 mac addresses, gave the lan the one on the sticker, then generated the rest.

Wpspinset guessed this one

Snset Used what was on the sticker

After setting everything plug your network cable into one of the ethernet ports, set your IP to 192.168.1.10, subnet to 255.255.255.0, and gateway to 192.168.1.1. Reboot it then run fw_recovery, open a CMD line as admin then use tfpt to upload your firmware. 

Some notes:

• For some reason my download was only getting 300ish down, I had to turn on IPv6 for it to run at full speed. 
• the iPhone app won’t detect the router unless you turn off the limit IP addresses tracking option on iPhones
• the serial number is having issues, I'm thinking I may have entered it in wrong