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BUG: Space certain strings completely break firmware 2.5.1.8
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BUG: Space certain strings completely break firmware 2.5.1.8
TLDR: The Orbi firmware team needs to learn how to properly parse strings with spaces.
I just upgraded to 2.5.1.8 (from 2.3.5.30), and everything started going haywire:
- I kept getting disconnected every minute (or sooner) from the wireless network.
- I could barely even connect long enugh to make any changes in the admin console (192.168.1.1).
- I did manage to get a screenshot of the CPU usage which was spiking up between 70% – 100%.
I had to factory reset the whole thing. Eventually, I realized that the problem is a bug in the firmware that doesn't correctly handle spaces in the 5 GHz network SSID (wla_ssid).
I had previously set a separate SSID for my 5 GHz network, so my Orbi was actually functional in my home. When I upgraded to 2.5.1.8, a space in the SSID caused the CPU to go nuts and no device could stay connected to even the 2.4 GHz network. (All my HomeKit devices that require 2.4 GHz kept going offline.)
After a couple factory resets, I was able to determine that setting wla_ssid to something with a space caused this problem.
root@RBR50:/# config get wl_ssid config get wl_ssid Space Station root@RBR50:/# config get wla_ssid config get wla_ssid Space Station root@RBR50:/# config set wla_ssid="Space Capsule" config set wla_ssid="Space Capsule" root@RBR50:/# config get wl_ssid config get wl_ssid Space Station root@RBR50:/# config get wla_ssid config get wla_ssid Space Capsule root@RBR50:/# config commit root@RBR50:/# reboot
Then after the Orbi restarted:
root@RBR50:/# config get wl_ssid config get wl_ssid Space Station root@RBR50:/# config get wla_ssid config get wla_ssid Space root@RBR50:/# config get wla_ssid
You'll see that the reported value for wla_ssid there is truncated after the space.
And the CPU spike and repeated disconnections I mentioned earlier:
https://i.imgur.com/AA5QMho.png
There also appears to be bugs with spaces in admin passwords, and spaces in security answers.
Part of what made this issue so utterly frustrating is that after I set things up, I was locked out of the admin console because the password the UI let me set was not accepted when i went to sign in to the admin console. I tried answering the security quesitons to reset the password, but it didn't accept my answers either. It was only after several factory resets that I tried replacing the spaces with hyphens in my password and answers to the security questions. It worked after that.
I spent an entire Sunday night wasting my time because your developers don't know forgot how to parse strings with spaces in them. It was never a probelm in previous firmware. My SSID, admin password, and answers to the security questions were the same for years.
This regression will not stand, man.
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Re: BUG: Space certain strings completely break firmware 2.5.1.8
You might file a support ticket here:
https://www.netgear.com/support/#
I use a space with my SSID name and haven't seen any issues with it on my system. Separate SSID names is not supported officially by NG. So any thing you do behind the scenes for that would be problematic.
I don't use a space in passwords or security answers.
Can try using Voxels FW or Orbi 50 series.
Basic Infomation | ||
CPU Load | 20.7729% | |
Memory Usage(Used/Total) | 140MB/495MB | |
Flash Usage(Used/Total) | 2945MB/4096MB | |
Network Session(Active/Total) | 31/65536 |
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Re: BUG: Space certain strings completely break firmware 2.5.1.8
This is how 5G Channel shows up in the admin console now. The incorrect parsing of spaces broke all sorts of things. I have to factory reset AGAIN.
I'm reverting to previous firmware and switching to Eero. I've been fighting with Orbi for too many years. This is insane.
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Re: BUG: Space certain strings completely break firmware 2.5.1.8
Heres what mine looks like:
SSID is not separated...
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Re: BUG: Space certain strings completely break firmware 2.5.1.8
Not sure what you're point is. Did you see the invalid characters in the 5G Channel value in the screenshot I posted? The parsing bug spilled some input into the wrong values because the space wasn't correctly handled.
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Re: BUG: Space certain strings completely break firmware 2.5.1.8
Yes I saw the garbage characters. Try a reset and don't separate any SSIDs. Use a space in your SSID name using default wifi configuration.
If you need separation of SSIDs, you might give Voxels FW a try.
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Re: BUG: Space certain strings completely break firmware 2.5.1.8
Why did you upgrade??....
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Re: BUG: Space certain strings completely break firmware 2.5.1.8
LOL I don't know what I was thinking. Every update up to that point went fine for me, so I just… updated. I've now reverted after wasting hours and hours of my time trying to fix it.
I've learned my lesson, and I'll be testing an Eero very soon.
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Re: BUG: Space certain strings completely break firmware 2.5.1.8
@khad wrote:LOL I don't know what I was thinking. Every update up to that point went fine for me, so I just… updated. I've now reverted after wasting hours and hours of my time trying to fix it.
I've learned my lesson, and I'll be testing an Eero very soon.
All routers have issues with fw others just handle it differently. I'd stay put since you've invested a lesson learned.
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