Re: RBR50 with network switch dropping wired connections

mdsteele47 · ‎2020-09-18

Hi folks,

I wired our house for ethernet this summer to support the increased bandwidth uses due to work from home and remote learning. Most everything is going well and we have a wide variety of devices hanging off the wired connections with great success. We are having a persistent problem with one machine on the network, a custom-built Windows 10 box. Whenever this computer is active on the network for a time, it will lose ethernet connectivity and cause almost every other wired device in the house to stop working. (This is most prominent in our Obi200 interface that bridges our old landline phones into Google Voice. The phone lines shut down for a while.) Connectivity comes back after a short period of time, but this is maddening and highly inconvenient. Devices connected via wifi are unaffected. The problematic computer is plugged into the network switch, but we lose connectivity for everything that's wired, including items plugged directly into the additional ports on the RDR50.

The setup is as follows:

modem -> Orbi RDR50 |-> network switch -> 7 wired devices

|-> 2 wired devices (TV and Obi200)

(via wifi) |-> RDS50 |-> 1 wired device

The first network switch I used was a TPLink TL-SG108. After reading some posts on the forum about 802.3az protocols built into the unmanaged switch causing issues, I swapped it out for an unmanaged Tenga TEG1008D that does not have 802.3az built in. In addition, we turned off the EEE/Green Ethernet protocols on the Win10 ethernet adapter side. Swapped those switches today and still experiencing the issue anytime the Win10 box hits the network. We have also swapped out the cable between that box and the wall and tried a different wall jack. Also tried a different ethernet adapter card in case there was some odd short on the motherboard causing the issue. Results are reproducable every time, although the time-to-drop seems to be relatively variable and there doesn't seem to be a specific type of network access that causes it. Firmware was standard and up to date, and I've also tried the Voxel firmware with the same outcome.

I'm at my wit's end having worked to troubleshoot this for several weeks. If the Orbi were still under its return window, I would send it back and start over but at this point, I've sunk substantial cost into the router and accompanying accessories. Any insights?

FURRYe38 · ‎2020-09-18

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?

What happens if you remove all switch and wire connect what you can to the RBR? Still see problems?

mdsteele47 · ‎2020-09-18

Firmware: Was on 2.5.1.16, currently on the Voxel V9.2.5.2.5.2SF-HW

Modem: Calid 716GE-I on TDS fiber

The issue does occur whether the offending device is on the netwoork switch or in the back of the RDR50, it appears. Also seems to happen when I unplug my USB-C ethernet connection from the external monitor connected to the MacBook Pro. Had a hypothesis that wifi network hopping between the router and the satellite was the issue but that doesn't seem to hold up.

mdsteele47 · ‎2020-09-18

A couple of interesting observations from looking at the wire traffic:

The ARP table entry for the problematic Win10 box keeps coming back incomplete, missing a MAC address:

? (192.168.1.11) at (incomplete) on en0 ifscope [ethernet]

The Obi200 box that controls the phone line (which is slow to recover when this happens) seems to be continually broadcasting ARP requests that the router is not responding to.

168924 2553.205834 ObihaiTe_64:e4:f9 Broadcast ARP 60 Who has 192.168.1.1? Tell 192.168.1.20

FURRYe38 · ‎2020-09-19

You might want to contact the Mfr of this device to see if there is more information regarding this particular device. Maybe causing problems with the Orbi system.

mdsteele47 · ‎2020-09-19

The Obi200 box isn't the problem - it's my best indicator when something else on the system causes a problem because it's immediately identifiable as not working. When the Win10 box is off, everything on the network works absolutely fine and the Obi200 is perpetually stable.

The triggers that nuke all wired connections are, at present: continued use of the Win10 machine with no specific trigger identified, and disconnecting the MacBook Pro from its monitor dock (which contains its wired connection) while the machine is on.

The Obi200 only broadcasts the repeated ARP requests when the network has been disrupted. No devices on the network are responding to it to tell it where 192.168.1.1 is (the router SHOULD do that) and thus it remains offline until a hard restart.

FURRYe38 · ‎2020-09-19

What is the Mfr and model# of the ethernet switch in the configuration?

mdsteele47 · ‎2020-09-19

Current switch is a Tenga TEG1008D. As noted above, I originally had the TPLink TL-SG108 with the same results.

FURRYe38 · ‎2020-09-19

And with either switch disconnected and out of the mix, you still exhibit this same problem?

SInce you have Voxels FW loaded, you might want to post about this over in the SNB forums since he provides information regarding his FW there.

If you saw this on both stock and Voxels FW, then this maybe a orbi or network hardware configuration issue.

mdsteele47 · ‎2020-09-19

That's correct, happens even with the switch out of the loop. I moved to 2.7.0.70 this morning given that it was released last night so back on the stock firmware. We had a long stretch of stability today but just experienced a dropout and lost all wired connections again.

Mstrbig · ‎2020-09-19

@mdsteele47 wrote:
That's correct, happens even with the switch out of the loop. I moved to 2.7.0.70 this morning given that it was released last night so back on the stock firmware. We had a long stretch of stability today but just experienced a dropout and lost all wired connections again.

Reading through this thread leads me to believe that the offending device has a bad network cable connected to it and the switch, or a bad or misconfigured network card. I would try another cable, and if possible a network card.

Regarding the device and card, you could go into Windows Device Manager, check show hidden devices and remove any duplicate devices that are grey'd out. Also remove that network and all its drivers. Once complete search for new hardware and allow Windows to reinstall the network and drivers. Hopefully this may resolve the issue.

mdsteele47 · ‎2020-09-20

Have already tried multiple network cables and network cards with no change. Working on the adapter uninstall/reinstall next, thanks.

mdsteele47 · ‎2020-09-22

Sadly, this hasn't remedied the problem. The problem also seems to be occuring when the monitor for my MacBook Pro (which has an Ethernet connection in it via USB-C) has powered down. This seems to point to a hardware issue with the Orbi.

Mikey94025 · ‎2020-09-23

@mdsteele47 wrote:
Sadly, this hasn't remedied the problem. The problem also seems to be occuring when the monitor for my MacBook Pro (which has an Ethernet connection in it via USB-C) has powered down. This seems to point to a hardware issue with the Orbi.

Others have reported Orbi connectivity issues when USB-connected network devices are disconnected: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Spanning-Tree-problem-with-Orbi-RBR50/m-p/1941386

This may be a firmware (software) issue rather than a hardware problem. You could contact Netgear for support or try to workaround the issue by finding a different USB device to get network connectivity to your Mac.