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Router will not connect to internet

JakeBamat
Aspirant

Router will not connect to internet

Worked fine for months.  Woke up and the router was not connected to the internet.  Tried all the troubleshooting methods (reset button, disconnecting power cords, etc.) including power reset of Sonic fiber modem.  Confirmed Sonic internet is working fine by reconnecting my older Apple Time Machine router.  Things work fine.  But for the life of me, I cannot get the Orbi to connect to the internet.  Any ideas?

Model: RBK50| Orbi AC3000 High-Performance Tri-Band WiFi System
Message 1 of 10
DarrenM
Sr. NETGEAR Moderator

Re: Router will not connect to internet

Have you tried a factory reset of the unit by holding the reset button for 10+ seconds?

 

DarrenM

Message 2 of 10
JakeBamat
Aspirant

Re: Router will not connect to internet

That got me a bit further.  Now I can get part way through the setup, but now it still gives me a red X next to internet connection.  I do get the check mark for "cables connected" though. 

Message 3 of 10
chucker11
Aspirant

Re: Router will not connect to internet

I had to replace my cable modem in order to get a DHCP address from comcast.  All my other routers worked fine (Linksys, ASUS) but there is something about the Orbi where it didn't play nicely.  Once I upgraded my cable modem, it works fine every time.  I can't remember the model I had but it was a surfboard DOCSIS 3 of some sort so not old by any means.  There seems to be something strange/non standard about the way ORBI requests its DHCP address.

Message 4 of 10
JakeBamat
Aspirant

Re: Router will not connect to internet

Any other ideas?  Same issue is occurring and I can't get beyond it.

Message 5 of 10
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Router will not connect to internet

Whats the Mfr and model of the ISP modem? Built in router by chance? 

 

Swap ethernet cables beween modem and router to test. 

 

Message 6 of 10
JakeBamat
Aspirant

Re: Router will not connect to internet

I have Sonic Gigabit Fiber Internet.  Everything works fine with the ethernet cables.  Swapping them is going to take about an hour to re-run the ethernet line through my garage and unit walls.  

 

I can plug my Sonic model directly into a laptop via ethernet and get internet.  I can also pull out the ethernet cable from the Orbi and connect it back into my old Apple Time Machine router and the wireless fires up perfectly.  So the issue doesn't appear to be my ISP or the cables.

Message 7 of 10
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: Router will not connect to internet

You may have a faulty or bad router unit. I would try another unit and see if you can. Return the current unit to place of purchase. 


@JakeBamatwrote:

I have Sonic Gigabit Fiber Internet.  Everything works fine with the ethernet cables.  Swapping them is going to take about an hour to re-run the ethernet line through my garage and unit walls.  

 

I can plug my Sonic model directly into a laptop via ethernet and get internet.  I can also pull out the ethernet cable from the Orbi and connect it back into my old Apple Time Machine router and the wireless fires up perfectly.  So the issue doesn't appear to be my ISP or the cables.


 

Message 8 of 10
ALNJ2017
Star

Re: Router will not connect to internet

Perhaps an Ethernet auto-negotiation issue. Try setting Orbi to Gigabit full duplex if that is possible or does the modem have that option. Of course please do not use Cat 5 cable, you need Cat 5e or Cat 6 for reliable gigabit Ethernet. 

Message 9 of 10
RogerSC
Virtuoso

Re: Router will not connect to internet

When my Orbi wouldn't connect to the internet, I changed the Orbi's MAC Address to that of my desktop PC. First I verified that I could connect the PC directly to the modem and have internet active, and then changed the MAC Address of the Orbi to that of the PC, and that allowed the Orbi to connect to the internet. As I recall, the MAC Address setting is in with the WAN configuration, but I'm not sure about that at the moment. Anyways, find a client that will connect to the internet when connected directly to the modem (without the Orbi, just connected to the modem) like a desktop or laptop PC, and then change the MAC Address of the Orbi to that client's MAC Address. You'll be able to go back to the native MAC Address of the Orbi at some point, but give that a try.

 

Hope that it helps.

Message 10 of 10
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