Solution to fix Orbi Satellite flashing white forever/failed upgrade

[lightmaster]

TL;DR

If your satellite upgrade fails and is stuck with the white pulsing led forever, follow Netgear's instructions for a manual upgrade, but do not download their TFTP2.exe file, use this one on Sourceforge instead. Run the Client GUI, it won't ask for a password and doesn't need one.

Full Post:

I came here because I tried to update a RBR40 and RBS40 and while the router upgraded fine, the satellite's upgrade failed and left it in the permanent boot up state. I read another post on here where someone was looking to fix this issue and ended up returning their system since he/she couldn't fix it, and since their thread is now locked, I wanted to post how I got it fixed.

Symptoms: Attempted Satellite upgrade through router's webgui, and satellite never reconnected to the router. Satellite then had an odd pulsing white light on the top, not a smooth fade on and fade off pusle, but a fade on and sudden off pulse (different from the initial pulsing of it booting up the very first time. Reset button was entirely unresponsive and would not reset the satellite no matter how long it was held in. Computer connected to satellite via Ethernet and manually set to an IP of 192.168.1.5 could not ping the satellite.

Solution: Found this page where Netgear discribes manually upgrading your router or satellite via TFTP2.exe program, however not only did the manual upgrade fail, but the power light did not flash as they indicated.

Instead of going solid amber -> flashing amber -> flashing green, mine went solid amber -> flashing amber -> a single flash of green -> flashing amber. After this flash of green, I attempted to ping my satellite and was suprised that the ping was successful. The TFTP2.exe I downloaded that Netgear referenced however, would say "Erasing" for a second, then "Upgrading", then freeze halfway and fail. So I connected back to wifi and found this TFTP utility from Sourceforge, last updated in 2013! I ran the program listed as "Client GUI". It looked very different from Netgear's, and didn't ask for a password like Netgear's did, but once I disconnected from wifi again and attempted the manual upgrade, it said that it sent the .img file successfully! 10 seconds later the top light on the satellite flashed red for a fraction of a second, and then the power led turned solid green. 10-15 more seconds, and the top light started a nice fade on, fade off pulse like it had the very first time, and after a couple more minutes, it turned blue and was successfully connected to the router. No need to sync them or anything.

[lightmaster · Accepted solution]

When the satellite is in Recovery mode, it will not ask for a DHCP address, and instead will only use 192.168.1.1. Also, you'll have to have it connected directly to your computer. If router is set for that subnet, it'll already take 192.168.1.1, so you'll have IP conflicts and likely be unable to see the satellite with an IP scanner. You *might* be able to reassign the router's IP, but then again you could just save a lot of trouble by connecting the satellite directly to computer. Plus a direct connection has the lowest chance for a corrupted upload.

[FURRYe38]

You and use WIndows built in TFTP program as well. Just have to install it via Control Panel/Add Remove Programs. Add Remove Windows programs. Find the TFTP entry and check mark it. Select Add.

[shrickus]

It looks like I'm having the same issue -- the RBS40 satellite never boots up properly, so that the light is solid white (or smoothly pulsing). Instead, it "blinks" white on/off every second or so, and no amount of pressing the factory reset button causes it to change from solid green. I did find that if I hold the reset button in while powering on the device, the power light switched to solid red (after 10 sec) and then eventually blinking red (after another 5 sec).

I have tried to connect to it via an ethernet cable, but it does not appear "pingable", as if it never boots up enough to even have a working ethernet stack. How can I find out what IP address it if using? I've tried to ping the defaults that I found online (192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.250). I connected my PC and the Satellite to a mini-hub, so I can see that both devices are active on the hub's ports. I even ran the command:

arp -a

which only shows the active ports for the PC, but no other devices. So what am I missing?

When the RB40 router was first connected (in router mode, not AP mode) I noticed it was using DHCP addresses like 10.0.0.x -- is it possible that the Satellite is defaulting to an IP address like 10.0.0.1 (although I have not seen anyone mention that online)? I have also tried an IP scanner program to look for active IP addresses, but you have to specify what range to search, so I need at least some clue on where to start searching, since 192.168.1.1-254 finds nothing.

--

Steve

[FURRYe38]

If you've tried the recovery method mentioned in the links, then the RBS probably needs to be RMAd. I would contact NG support and get help for it. 

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@shrickus wrote:

It looks like I'm having the same issue -- the RBS40 satellite never boots up properly, so that the light is solid white (or smoothly pulsing). Instead, it "blinks" white on/off every second or so, and no amount of pressing the factory reset button causes it to change from solid green. I did find that if I hold the reset button in while powering on the device, the power light switched to solid red (after 10 sec) and then eventually blinking red (after another 5 sec).

I have tried to connect to it via an ethernet cable, but it does not appear "pingable", as if it never boots up enough to even have a working ethernet stack. How can I find out what IP address it if using? I've tried to ping the defaults that I found online (192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.250). I connected my PC and the Satellite to a mini-hub, so I can see that both devices are active on the hub's ports. I even ran the command:

arp -a

which only shows the active ports for the PC, but no other devices. So what am I missing?

When the RB40 router was first connected (in router mode, not AP mode) I noticed it was using DHCP addresses like 10.0.0.x -- is it possible that the Satellite is defaulting to an IP address like 10.0.0.1 (although I have not seen anyone mention that online)? I have also tried an IP scanner program to look for active IP addresses, but you have to specify what range to search, so I need at least some clue on where to start searching, since 192.168.1.1-254 finds nothing.

--

Steve

---

[lightmaster]

Did you manually set you computer’s IP? In recovery mode, it won’t have a DHCP server running.

[shrickus]

Yes, I manually set the PC's Lan port to 192.168.1.68, with netmask 255.255.255.0 -- so it should be able to see any other device on the network in the range of 192.168.1.xxx, correct?

Then I connected both the PC and the RBS40 to a mini-hub, where I could watch the lights showing activity on both connected devices. But I'm not sure what IP address the Orbi satellite will use. Is that fixed, or dependent on the network?

It sounds like you are suggesting that the satellite will look for a DHCP server, in order to pick up a dynamic address, before it is "pingable" or available for tftp. If so, can I connect my router to the mini-hub as well, in order to act as the DHCP server? Thanks for any ideas.

--

Steve

[FURRYe38]

You might try a MAC or IP scanning software to see if the satellite is responding to pings and results in an IP address.

If you connect the satallite to the router, look at the routers connected clients list, does it report an IP address for the satellite? I presume it may not.

If you can't get the satellite connected or recovered, I would contact NG support.

@DarrenM

[shrickus]

Thanks, Darren -

Although I did use an IP scanner, I had to limit its search to a particular subnet, so it may have been configured to look in the wrong range. Since nothing was found (other than my own PC), I concluded that the satellite is not booting fully -- this seems to be confirmed by the fact that the light ring on the top never becomes solid white (blinks on/off every sec).

I also did connect Ethernet port #1 of the satellite to port #2 of the router, as shown in the docs, and it never shows up as a wired client (unlike the other devices plugged into ports #3 and 4). So I think I'm out of options.

I have created a ticket with NetGear support... thanks for the help.

[FURRYe38]

Let us know how it goes.

[shrickus]

Incidentally, when I connect port #1 of the satellite into port #2 on the router and boot up the satellite (unconfigured), does it request a dynamic IP address from the router? Or does it use some default IP address?

If it *is* requesting a dynamic address, would the router HAVE to be in "router" mode to serve an address? I'm asking because I have the router set to "Access Point" mode, since I am only using it for wireless devices to connect to my Arris cable modem (without any active radios). So I'm still using the cable modem as my DHCP server, and it is correctly handing out ip addresses to the wireless clients that are connecting directly to the Orbi router -- only the Orbi satellite cannot seem to connect.

[FURRYe38]

The satellite will be asking for an IP address...if the Orbi is in AP mode and connected to another host router, it should get an IP address from this server thru the Orbi in AP mode...check with this main host router to see if anything appears there.

[lightmaster · Accepted solution]

When the satellite is in Recovery mode, it will not ask for a DHCP address, and instead will only use 192.168.1.1. Also, you'll have to have it connected directly to your computer. If router is set for that subnet, it'll already take 192.168.1.1, so you'll have IP conflicts and likely be unable to see the satellite with an IP scanner. You *might* be able to reassign the router's IP, but then again you could just save a lot of trouble by connecting the satellite directly to computer. Plus a direct connection has the lowest chance for a corrupted upload.

[FURRYe38]

Set a static IP address of 192.168.1.49 on the PC the directly connect the satellite to the PC.

[shrickus]

SOLVED! Thanks for the hints, everybody... here is what I ended up doing:

You were correct that the satellite IP address was indeed 192.168.1.1 -- but I was not able to either ping that address or see it with the port scanner (since no ports were active, I guess?)

I manually set the PC's lan port to 192.168.1.68, and plugged it directly into the WAN port of the RBS40 (port #1) using a standard ethernet cable. This caused my PC to disable the ethernet port, so I plugged the PC into a mini-hub first. Once the network activity light showed that the PC was active, I plugged the satellite lan port #2 into the hub. While holding the reset button in, I powered up the satellite and continued to hold the reset button until the power led started flashing red (10-15 sec). At that point it was connected to the network using the default id address.

Based on other tips, I activated the TFTP feature on the PC, started a Powershell as Administrator, and successfully pushed the latest firmware image onto the satellite, using:

`tftp -i 192.168.1.1 PUT .\RBS40-V2.1.4.16.img`

I could watch the lights on the hub flashing as the file was transferred, and when they stopped I could see in Powershell that the transfer was successful. After a power cycle, the satellite booted up as expected, and I could sync it with the router. Sweet!

[FURRYe38]

Awesome. Glad it worked and thanks for posting the steps.

Enjoy.

[jmslw]

Solution worked for me too!! thanks!! 

[FURRYe38]

Should mark this thread as solved so others will know. 

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@lightmaster wrote:

TL;DR

If your satellite upgrade fails and is stuck with the white pulsing led forever, follow Netgear's instructions for a manual upgrade, but do not download their TFTP2.exe file, use this one on Sourceforge instead. Run the Client GUI, it won't ask for a password and doesn't need one.

Full Post:

I came here because I tried to update a RBR40 and RBS40 and while the router upgraded fine, the satellite's upgrade failed and left it in the permanent boot up state. I read another post on here where someone was looking to fix this issue and ended up returning their system since he/she couldn't fix it, and since their thread is now locked, I wanted to post how I got it fixed.

Symptoms: Attempted Satellite upgrade through router's webgui, and satellite never reconnected to the router. Satellite then had an odd pulsing white light on the top, not a smooth fade on and fade off pusle, but a fade on and sudden off pulse (different from the initial pulsing of it booting up the very first time. Reset button was entirely unresponsive and would not reset the satellite no matter how long it was held in. Computer connected to satellite via Ethernet and manually set to an IP of 192.168.1.5 could not ping the satellite.

Solution: Found this page where Netgear discribes manually upgrading your router or satellite via TFTP2.exe program, however not only did the manual upgrade fail, but the power light did not flash as they indicated.

Instead of going solid amber -> flashing amber -> flashing green, mine went solid amber -> flashing amber -> a single flash of green -> flashing amber. After this flash of green, I attempted to ping my satellite and was suprised that the ping was successful. The TFTP2.exe I downloaded that Netgear referenced however, would say "Erasing" for a second, then "Upgrading", then freeze halfway and fail. So I connected back to wifi and found this TFTP utility from Sourceforge, last updated in 2013! I ran the program listed as "Client GUI". It looked very different from Netgear's, and didn't ask for a password like Netgear's did, but once I disconnected from wifi again and attempted the manual upgrade, it said that it sent the .img file successfully! 10 seconds later the top light on the satellite flashed red for a fraction of a second, and then the power led turned solid green. 10-15 more seconds, and the top light started a nice fade on, fade off pulse like it had the very first time, and after a couple more minutes, it turned blue and was successfully connected to the router. No need to sync them or anything.

---

[FURRYe38]

Glad it worked for you. Enjoy. 

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@jmslw wrote:

Solution worked for me too!! thanks!! 

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[suttonr]

This worked for me too so thanks all. I set my pc network addapter to 192.168.1.10 so i guess ip doesnt matter as long as the orbi red light is flashing. Gave me default gateway of 192.168.1.1. Bit of a pain really why cant they just set it possible to firmware via usb flash hold reset for 30 seconds or something easy like that ?

dont think most people would want to start using tftp although it is easy enough when you give it a go.

now got main orbi and 4 satellites working fine on all hard wired lan  

Thanks again.

[FURRYe38]

Glad you got yours working as well. Thanks for letting us know. 

Enjoy. 

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@suttonr wrote:

This worked for me too so thanks all. I set my pc network addapter to 192.168.1.10 so i guess ip doesnt matter as long as the orbi red light is flashing. Gave me default gateway of 192.168.1.1. Bit of a pain really why cant they just set it possible to firmware via usb flash hold reset for 30 seconds or something easy like that ?

dont think most people would want to start using tftp although it is easy enough when you give it a go.

now got main orbi and 4 satellites working fine on all hard wired lan  

Thanks again.

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