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RBR50 is constantly dropping connection wirelessly after a factory reset and firmware upgrade

Mattack27
Aspirant

RBR50 is constantly dropping connection wirelessly after a factory reset and firmware upgrade

I'm having a situation where my Orbi RBR50 crapped out a couple of weeks ago (no connection, couldn't log onto the device any longer) for an unknown reason, as nothing in my setup had changed. I had to preform a complete factory reset, and when rebuilding it I installed the latest firmware upgrade RBR50 (Orbi Router) Firmware Version 2.7. 2.104.

Since this reset I have had to, sometimes four or five times a day, had to restart my router because it randomly drops out wireless connections.  A couple of  strange thing are: 

1) most of the time my wired connection stays connected to the internet when this happens.

2) the wireless connections that are CURRENTLY connected and streaming on the internet, such as zoom class, or tv streaming, usually do NOT lose connection either, and fully maintain their streaming connections, even though the orbi app says there is no internet, and any new connections (sometimes even from the same computer, i.e. streaming in Zoom, but unable to open a google search in a browser) simply don't connect to the internet.

3) I have plenty of time on my dns lease.

4) the only thing that has changed in my setup is the latest ios app and the latest firmware. device location to number of devices has not deviated.

 

So far rebooting the connection via software or by unplugging the power correct the problem temporarily, but invariably I must reboot again.  This has happened close to a dozen times today now, which is why I'm finally writing.  This router has been working over the last year almost flawlessly so this is a dramatic turn for the worse!

 

 

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 1 of 14
randomousity
Luminary

Re: RBR50 is constantly dropping connection wirelessly after a factory reset and firmware upgrade

I had a similar problem recently, which seems to be resolved now, for going on 24 hours. I just posted a response to someone else who also seems to have the same issue here.

 

It seems that anything that was peer-to-peer, or, possibly, where the IP address had already been resolved, continued working, whereas anything requiring DNS name resolution failed. I was already on the current firmware that you just upgraded to when my problem began. I'm still unsure of the exact problem, but it seems to somehow be related to DNS queries passing through the satellite. I don't know if the satellite just stops passing on the DNS requests to the router at some point, if the router fails to resolve them, if the router fails to pass along the resolved IP address, or if the satellite either doesn't receive or pass on to the requesting device the answer, but the problem appears to be something along those lines.

 

Recommend trying to factory reset the satellite, pair it with the router again if necessary, and see if that resolves it, to avoid the hassle of a factory reset of the router, which is what I ultimately ended up doing. I haven't had any problems for going on 24 hours now, but it's a pain to reconfigure everything.

Message 2 of 14
Mattack27
Aspirant

Re: RBR50 is constantly dropping connection wirelessly after a factory reset and firmware upgrade

Hey thanks a lot for taking the time to reach out with this possible solution. I really appreciate it. I'm giving it a go now!

Message 3 of 14
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR50 is constantly dropping connection wirelessly after a factory reset and firmware upgrade

What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.

 

Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and any unused channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

 

Try disabling the following and see:
Armor, Circle, Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Set Short preamble instead of Long preamble modes. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).

 

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


@Mattack27 wrote:

I'm having a situation where my Orbi RBR50 crapped out a couple of weeks ago (no connection, couldn't log onto the device any longer) for an unknown reason, as nothing in my setup had changed. I had to preform a complete factory reset, and when rebuilding it I installed the latest firmware upgrade RBR50 (Orbi Router) Firmware Version 2.7. 2.104.

Since this reset I have had to, sometimes four or five times a day, had to restart my router because it randomly drops out wireless connections.  A couple of  strange thing are: 

1) most of the time my wired connection stays connected to the internet when this happens.

2) the wireless connections that are CURRENTLY connected and streaming on the internet, such as zoom class, or tv streaming, usually do NOT lose connection either, and fully maintain their streaming connections, even though the orbi app says there is no internet, and any new connections (sometimes even from the same computer, i.e. streaming in Zoom, but unable to open a google search in a browser) simply don't connect to the internet.

3) I have plenty of time on my dns lease.

4) the only thing that has changed in my setup is the latest ios app and the latest firmware. device location to number of devices has not deviated.

 

So far rebooting the connection via software or by unplugging the power correct the problem temporarily, but invariably I must reboot again.  This has happened close to a dozen times today now, which is why I'm finally writing.  This router has been working over the last year almost flawlessly so this is a dramatic turn for the worse!

 

 


 

 

Message 4 of 14
vajim
Master

Re: RBR50 is constantly dropping connection wirelessly after a factory reset and firmware upgrade

IF your factory reset does NOT help, your problem MAY be related to 2.7. 2.104.

 

 

Message 5 of 14
gjlowe
Aspirant

Re: RBR50 is constantly dropping connection wirelessly after a factory reset and firmware upgrade

I am seeing my iOS devices constantly having issues.  The WiFi will appear connected, but internet is inaccessible.  I have to toggle WiFi off and on, and then sometimes it comes back quickly and sometimes not.  I have tried using manually set external DNS servers, but that doesn't seem to change the behavior.  This has happened for a while, even before I upgraded to 2.7.2.104 firmware.

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 6 of 14
joejoethedog
Tutor

Re: RBR50 is constantly dropping connection wirelessly after a factory reset and firmware upgrade

It was mentioned in another thread that the "Traffic Meter" function may be the cause.   I have been having the same trouble after the latest firmware 2.6.2.104, and even when Traffic Meter is on it is not showing any metrics, so I agree there seems to be some problem with it.  Turning off "Traffic Meter" should fix your issue.

 

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/RBR50-dropping-devices/m-p/2077628/highlight/true#M118101

 

-Joe

 

 

Message 7 of 14
gjlowe
Aspirant

Re: RBR50 is constantly dropping connection wirelessly after a factory reset and firmware upgrade

I will give it a try. Thanks!
Message 8 of 14
Who_am_I
Initiate

Re: RBR50 is constantly dropping connection wirelessly after a factory reset and firmware upgrade

I had the exact same problem and fixed it by reverting back to firmware V2.6.1.40.

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 9 of 14
Who_am_I
Initiate

Re: RBR50 is constantly dropping connection wirelessly after a factory reset and firmware upgrade

I'd recommend V2.6.1.40 as it seems much more stable.  My MS Teams was constantly complaining about dropped connection and my web page would freeze in the middle of loading after I went to the latest version of firmware.  I reverted back to V2.6.1.40 and it seems to fix the problem. 

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 10 of 14
Mattack27
Aspirant

Re: RBR50 is constantly dropping connection wirelessly after a factory reset and firmware upgrade

Just an update, though not a very satisfying one. I followed the advice to reset the satellite, and that didn't seem work, so I turned the satellite completely off, which seemed to stabalize things for a couple of days and just when I thought I had the culprit, I had a few similar drops on the base unit. After a couple of days longer I figured that if I'm going to have random drops until I have time to try another suggestion, I may as well have better coverage, and I turned my satellite back on.  I haven't had a new drop since. This has now been stable for about a bit over a week. I'm totally doubtful the situation is in any way "solved" but I'll roll back the firmware if it starts to happen again and keep this thread  updated if there are any changes in the near future.

 

Message 11 of 14
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR50 is constantly dropping connection wirelessly after a factory reset and firmware upgrade

Did you reset the base unit as well. If not, this should be done as well if the problem appears again. 

Message 12 of 14
vajim
Master

Re: RBR50 is constantly dropping connection wirelessly after a factory reset and firmware upgrade


@FURRYe38 wrote:

Did you reset the base unit as well. If not, this should be done as well if the problem appears again. 


Take 2 resets and call me in the morning 

Message 13 of 14
Mattack27
Aspirant

Re: RBR50 is constantly dropping connection wirelessly after a factory reset and firmware upgrade

Yes. The base was the first unit I factory reset.

Message 14 of 14
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