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RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

Balmhood
Tutor

RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

Hi all, 

I have been searching on the forum to try and find a solution to my Orbi router rebooting to no avail but for an RMA ☹. This seems to be happening at least once a day and is confirmed by the logs: blank log starting with

[Initialized, firmware version: V2.5.1.16]

I have the latest firmware V2.5.1.16 on both router and satellite (auto updated yesterday).

 otherwise, my Wi-Fi connectivity is usually excellent, no issues onthat front except for the frequent reboots.

 

My Setup:

  • The satellite is connected on my LAN with a fixed IP address on it.
  • I have an unmanaged switch (Netgear JGS516 16 port switch).
  • The router is connected to a cable modem directly (Netgear CG3700B) set up as bridge (no DHCP)
  • When I go in, all is Green on the connection between the satellite and the router and it does see it as a wired connection.
  • On average, I have about 20 devices connected either via Wi-Fi or Lan
  • No parental controls
  • Netgear Armor is disabled

What I did so far: 

  • Disabled: Enable 20/40 MHz Coexistence
  • Disabled: Enable Daisy-Chain Topology
  • Disabled: Enable Implicit BEAMFORMING - Boosts WiFi speed, reliability, & range for all mobile devices
  • Disabled: Enable MU-MIMO
  • Disabled: Enable Fast Roaming
  • 2.4GHz Channel: 11
  • 5GHz Channel: 40
  • WPA2-PSK [AES] security setting
  • Guest network also enabled

I haven’t reset the router to factory setting yet as I have a lot of reserved IP addresses and would hate to have to redo it all, but I fear I will not have a choice.

Is there anything else that can be done ?

 

Thanks,

B.

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 1 of 30

Accepted Solutions
Balmhood
Tutor

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

Update: 

I have received a new unit under warranty from Netgear and I can say the problem seems to now be solved. Unit has been running for 3 days straight without a single reboot. I guess it was a faulty unit. 

 

One of the troubleshooting steps they gave me if that can help someone in the future was to switch the power adapter between satellite and router to see if the issue persisted. In my case, this didn't solve it but it may help others. 

 

thanks to @FURRYe38  who tried to help but this was obviously not a software issuse.

 

 

 

View solution in original post

Message 16 of 30

All Replies
Problems-123
Tutor

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

Hello,

I'm sorry, but I have no answers: Only sympathy.

 

I have an RBR50 base unit that's exhibiting the same problem. It has the most recent firmware V2.5.1.16. It's connected to a Quantum Gateway G1100 modem. Until last night, I was using the modem in AP mode and changed all the same settings you tried changing.

 

When I first got the Orbi I had an RBR50 with two RBS50 routers. The base (RBR50) was in the basement of our home, and I put one RBS50 on each of the two stories of the home. After being told on this forum that the satellites were too close together and causing the problem, I have stopped using both satellites. Now the benefit of the mesh network and speed throughout the home is lost.

 

Since I have owned the router, once a day or so the router "disappears". All devices connected to it by Wi-Fi or hardwired lose connectivity and the RBR50 begins flashing slow white. This is the same behavior that occurs when intentionally restarting/rebooting the RBR50. It takes two to five minutes, and then the RBR 50 acts fine for another 18 to 28 hours before randomly rebooting again.

 

Before March, this was fine. Rarely was I doing much with the Internet when this happened. Occasionally it would interrupt a movie or TV show, but that was rare. It would happen when I was at work or overnight. Now, I am home ALL THE TIME and using the internet for work ten hours a day. It's no longer O.K.

 

Last night I spent over an hour on the phone with Netgear support. We performed a reset of the RBR50 and afterwards, the phone disconnected, and I was stranded without internet. So, I called Netgear back and after another hour on the phone had internet but was back to all factory default settings and operating as a router rather than an access point.

 

Any firmware update seems to make the network stable for 3 to 5 days (maybe it will again this time). After that time, the daily, random rebooting starts again. I have been through this with their service and tech support people here (in the community), by chat, or by telephone a half dozen times, and no solution has been permanent.

 

It's conceivable that a billion-dollar computer products company would create a product that isn't compatible with a very popular modem used by the most popular home fiber provider, but that seems short sighted and something fixable during one of the firmware updates issued by the company. It's also conceivable that this large company would create incompatible bases and satellites and sell them together in the same box. Both of those, however, seem unlikely. I think the more likely scenario is that there's a hardware issue plaguing the RBR50 -- at least a small number of these devices.

 

I apologize for not having a solution, but I hope that by sharing this it helps the company or community find an answer or begin to replace the units.

Message 2 of 30
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between RBR and RBS to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected. https://kb.netgear.com/000036466/How-far-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite-from-my-Orbi-router


Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

 

I would factory reset and setup from scratch. You may save a backup configuration to file first. Reset and setup from scratch. I would test to see if the problem occurs again before loading the back up config from file. 


@Balmhood wrote:

Hi all, 

I have been searching on the forum to try and find a solution to my Orbi router rebooting to no avail but for an RMA ☹. This seems to be happening at least once a day and is confirmed by the logs: blank log starting with

[Initialized, firmware version: V2.5.1.16]

I have the latest firmware V2.5.1.16 on both router and satellite (auto updated yesterday).

 otherwise, my Wi-Fi connectivity is usually excellent, no issues onthat front except for the frequent reboots.

 

My Setup:

  • The satellite is connected on my LAN with a fixed IP address on it.
  • I have an unmanaged switch (Netgear JGS516 16 port switch).
  • The router is connected to a cable modem directly (Netgear CG3700B) set up as bridge (no DHCP)
  • When I go in, all is Green on the connection between the satellite and the router and it does see it as a wired connection.
  • On average, I have about 20 devices connected either via Wi-Fi or Lan
  • No parental controls
  • Netgear Armor is disabled

What I did so far: 

  • Disabled: Enable 20/40 MHz Coexistence
  • Disabled: Enable Daisy-Chain Topology
  • Disabled: Enable Implicit BEAMFORMING - Boosts WiFi speed, reliability, & range for all mobile devices
  • Disabled: Enable MU-MIMO
  • Disabled: Enable Fast Roaming
  • 2.4GHz Channel: 11
  • 5GHz Channel: 40
  • WPA2-PSK [AES] security setting
  • Guest network also enabled

I haven’t reset the router to factory setting yet as I have a lot of reserved IP addresses and would hate to have to redo it all, but I fear I will not have a choice.

Is there anything else that can be done ?

 

Thanks,

B.


 

Message 3 of 30
Balmhood
Tutor

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

I have reset the router & satellite yesterday. Configured it all again (didn't reload settings from backup) and it still rebooted today.

 

i am at a loss....

B.

Message 4 of 30
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between RBR and RBS to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected. https://kb.netgear.com/000036466/How-far-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite-from-my-Orbi-router

How many RBS do you have connected to the RBR? 


Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

 

Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or maynot be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

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).

 

I would also do this, change your ISP modem back to router mode, then configure the RBR for AP mode. Keeping the wifi settings the same is all. as suggestions from above. See if the RBR continues to reboot or not. 

 

IS this modem a ISP given modem or did you buy this modem model? CG3700B is correct? 

 

 

 

 

Message 5 of 30
Balmhood
Tutor

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

@FURRYe38 I have done the settings below..let's see. It's rebooted 5 times within last 5 hrs

Modem is provided by ISP indeed.

I cannot use the modem as a router for my setup at home and the orbi as AP, hence why I got the orbi. So no point testing this cause even if it worked, it wouldn't suit my needs. Modem settings are limited by ISP so most of my network would not function. I cannot test this without major hassle. 

distance is above 30ft and I have wired backhaul and that shouldn't cause the unit to reboot...slow WiFi, I would get it, but not the reboots

 

i only receive 4 signals from neighbours around my house. 

i have to say I am quite disappointed by a 6 months old unit performing so badly and seing this forum, I am not the only one.

 

 

Message 6 of 30
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

I would try a different modem if this happens again. The modem seems questionable. Not everyone has problems with the Orbi system, though everyone has different modems. 

 

Also found searches on this modem that reports this model modem having vulnerabilities. Something you may consider upgrading to something newer. This model modem is several years old now. 

 

 

Message 7 of 30
Balmhood
Tutor

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

I am still struggling to see why the modem would push the orbi to reboot? It always stays on and I never had any issues with it whatsoever. I had an ASUS router before, no issues either.

 

modem may have vulnerabilities but WiFi is turned off and it's in bridge mode so the risk is actually null,no?

 

Message 8 of 30
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

No, would continue to have vulnerabilities with in the modem as well. 

Seen many odd problems with users modems and orbi. Most modems work however some older ones can cause problems or how the modems are configured and designed. Users have upgraded to newer modems and usually resolves the problem. 

 

You can try Voxels FW for Orbi:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Voxels-FW-available-for-50-series-Orbi-only-available/m-p/1883...
You can revert back to stock FW if it doesn't work out for you. 

Message 9 of 30
time2ski4us
Aspirant

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

I have the exact same problem. Multiple reboots in a day. The log gets cleared each time so I can't see what may have cause it. Now that we all work at home this is killing us during work hours. I'm considering going back to the Apple Airport that was extremely reliable.

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 10 of 30
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

What Firmware version is currently loaded?
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
Is the Orbi system operating in Router or AP mode?

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between RBR and RBS to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected. https://kb.netgear.com/000036466/How-far-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite-from-my-Orbi-router

What channels are you using? Auto? 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 enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or maynot be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

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).


@time2ski4us wrote:

I have the exact same problem. Multiple reboots in a day. The log gets cleared each time so I can't see what may have cause it. Now that we all work at home this is killing us during work hours. I'm considering going back to the Apple Airport that was extremely reliable.


 

Message 11 of 30
Balmhood
Tutor

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

Well I've reached out netgear support to try and see if they can help fix this or RMA the unit. I'm still under warranty so won't try a custom fw. 
i researched the vulnerabilities and it seems that the custom fw my isp has is patched. 
thanks for trying to help @FURRYe38 

Message 12 of 30
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

I would try a newer modem as well.

 

Good luck. 

 

 

Message 13 of 30
Balmhood
Tutor

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

Well, my ISP refuses to replace the modem at no cost unless something is actually broken. As it works flawlessly, I can't find a good reason to "force" the issue. They did patch their security flaws back in Jan 20. 

 

I would be curious also to see if Netgear confirms that a Netgear Modem doesn't work with another Netgear router.... 🙂 [/edit] Because then, I would have a decent argument for my ISP to request upgrade.

 

rgds,

B.

Message 14 of 30
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

Does your ISP allow user bought modems on there system? 

 

I preume that even though your NG modem is from NG and is NG hardware, NG may not do anything since the modems FW is not from NG and is developed and handled by the ISP. Seems like something bad maybe happening between the Orbi and the modems FW. Something you should bring up with the ISP since they do there own development with the modem FW.

Message 15 of 30
Balmhood
Tutor

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

Update: 

I have received a new unit under warranty from Netgear and I can say the problem seems to now be solved. Unit has been running for 3 days straight without a single reboot. I guess it was a faulty unit. 

 

One of the troubleshooting steps they gave me if that can help someone in the future was to switch the power adapter between satellite and router to see if the issue persisted. In my case, this didn't solve it but it may help others. 

 

thanks to @FURRYe38  who tried to help but this was obviously not a software issuse.

 

 

 

Message 16 of 30
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

Glad you figured it out and got a replacement. 

 

Enjoy. Smiley Wink

Message 17 of 30
Balmhood
Tutor

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

Update 2: I am starting to think this router is tracking my activity on this forum. 

 

As of yesterday afternoon, it started rebooting itself again (3 times in the evening). 

 

On top of what I had done previously,

  • I have changed the location (new power plug),
  • Removed the wired backhaul on the satellite, hoping this would help - it still rebooted
  • Reset both the satellite and the router
  • Restarted the whole system (Modem, Router, unmanaged switch)

It's extremely annoying that one cannot retain logs to be able to troubleshoot this... we just cannot pinpoint the issue.

 

I am now fearing that the ORBI is just not capable of handling the traffic/volume on my network (which is typical for a large home which at peak would have 4 devices streaming at the same time and 2 running zoom/webex/teams videos). That's the only reason I can see this happening with me and not others & on 2 units?

 

I am at a loss now.... 😞

Message 18 of 30
Balmhood
Tutor

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

Although, as per knowledge base this volume isn't even close to what the router should be able to handle

 

https://kb.netgear.com/31097/How-many-devices-can-my-Orbi-system-support#

 

"Your Orbi system can simultaneously support up to 250 clients under most conditions. If your household has users who use a lot of bandwidth for activities like HD video streaming and online gaming, you will experience better performance when a maximum of 50 clients are connected to your Orbi network.  "

Message 19 of 30
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

And this is with the new RBR? 

If this is happening again, you need to go back to the modem and check it. I recall your modem is a gateway mode if I'm not correct. Something to check and configured the RBR for AP mode and set the modem to gatway mode and see if the problem continues or not. There maybe a problem at the modem level that is causing the RBR to reboot. 

 

What FW version is currently loaded on it? 

 

How many totoal devices do you have connected? I have around 25-30 on mine and have not seen this with my system. Ever. 

 

 

 

Message 20 of 30
Balmhood
Tutor

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

I have fw V2.5.1.16

 

the modem is in bridge mode. I cannot set it up as dhcp server as the custom isp fw will not allow changing IP address range 🙂 which is why I have a router after it. Using the default IP range will render many of my networked devices inoperable.

 

now I had 17 devices connected to it.  

Message 21 of 30
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

Well you can try updating to v32. If you do, use a wired PC and apply to the RBS first then RBR. I would factory rest and setup from scratch. 

 

Seems like this modem maybe the problem as you seen to be the only one experiencing this. 

You might ask your ISP if they have a modem only unit with out a built in router and see if this changes anything. Having two different Orbi doing the same thing kind of points to modem issue. I see this modem model is going on about 7 years now. Maybe time to get something newer. 

 

Does your ISP allow user bought modems on there system? 

 

I would run a short test if you can find the time sometime to put the modem back in into router mode and the Orbi AP mode just to see if the problem continues. Your devices will work with this configuration.  Or try the modem in router mode and use the modems DMZ/IPPassthru for the RBR in router mode. You can keep you devices connected to the Orbi system. 

Message 22 of 30
Balmhood
Tutor

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

Well I did try with my ISP and it's a no go. Their view is if the modem works fine for all and does not show any signs of breakage they won't replace it or at a cost.  They don't allow user bought modems either. 

problem is the reboots are quite random...as an example, so far it's been up for 22 hours. So setting up the modem as dhcp server can take some time before I see a reboot and I can't do this while working from home  😞 

I will try the dmz approach this weekend but for me this is what the bridge mode does no? Be a pass through to second router by ignoring all router functions of the modem.

Message 23 of 30
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

Not really. DMZ is putting the WAN side services with out any kind of firewall protection to a device placed in the DMZ. Thus allowing the router and other devices connected to the modem to still be used and protected behind the FW. 

 

Just hoping changing the modem back to router mode and put the RBR in the DMZ should and hope to change whats happening. It may not.

 

Shame the ISP won't change this out or allow user bought modems. I presume this ISP must be the only service near you? This modem should be upgraded to something newer. 

Message 24 of 30
Balmhood
Tutor

Re: RBR50 rebooting at least once a day

Yes, cable provider has a monopoly in my area so it's either them or slower DSL 😞

 

There is also the option to upgrade to higher speed 400 mbps which will force them to replace the modem as it doesn't support it but would rather avoid the extra cost as 125mbps I have today is perfect for my usage.

 

I will try the DMZ approach this weekend see if that works.

 

So far the router has been up 34 hours without issues... this is baffling. I do see the CPU load being much higher than I ever saw before (used to be in the 15% everytime I checked before).

Debug page shows: 

Basic Infomation

  • CPU Load                                     28.5714%
  • Memory Usage(Used/Total)        149MB/495MB
  • Flash Usage(Used/Total)             2945MB/4096MB
  • Network Session(Active/Total)   1035/65536
  • System Uptime                              01:10:21:02

 

Message 25 of 30
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