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Forum Discussion
Orbi Firmware Update 2.5.0.40
Does anyone know what's in 2.5.0.40? All I can see from the software release is "Updates the https certificate" - it's described as a Hot Fix, but I would love to see a tad more detail. I had...
FYI, the FW updates seen in the UI or app are users choice to install, or not. It's just a notification of something is available. Users should review the release notes and if they are not confortable with the update, contact NG support or come to the forums and get additional help and information before making the choice to update.
Historically, NG auto updated users systems, User had no choice in this. After users complained about this, NG finally stopped auto updating minor FW update and now gives users the choice to update or not. NG seems to hold the policy of auto updating users systems when they come out with MAJOR FW version builds. So be aware of this. v38 seems to be a minor FW version build thus NG is just letting you know thru the RBRs UI and Orbi app that it's there if you want to update. You don't have too. :smileywink:
Where are these "official" Netgear rules you keep quoting about installing firmware?
What does it say about automatic updates in the user manual? My Aug 2019 Orbi manual mentions nothing about automatic updates in firmware updates (pages 89-91) or that it's not necessary to install minor updates.
Show me one set of Netgear firmware release notes that says these updates are minor & are not needed to be installed.
And as usual - Netgear support expires after the 1st 90 days.
FURRYe38 wrote:FYI, the FW updates seen in the UI or app are users choice to install, or not. It's just a notification of something is available. Users should review the release notes and if they are not confortable with the update, contact NG support or come to the forums and get additional help and information before making the choice to update.
Historically, NG auto updated users systems, User had no choice in this. After users complained about this, NG finally stopped auto updating minor FW update and now gives users the choice to update or not. NG seems to hold the policy of auto updating users systems when they come out with MAJOR FW version builds. So be aware of this. v38 seems to be a minor FW version build thus NG is just letting you know thru the RBRs UI and Orbi app that it's there if you want to update. You don't have too. :smileywink:
Our information comes from the NG forum moderators. I don't know why NG doesn't make this more public knowledge or post in a KB some place. Your free to ask the forum moderators for this information as well.
Wire1852 wrote:Show me one set of Netgear firmware release notes that says these updates are minor & are not needed to be installed.
...
I doubt we will get that type of info in release notes. Maybe we could learn a little bit of that from Christian_R's post regarding major vs minor version FW.
Christian_R NETGEAR Moderator 2019-10-08
Re: Auto Update Policy
...Auto updates are still pushed to Orbi units. Small revisions of firmware updates such as 2.3.1.44 to 2.3.1.48 will trigger notifications of a firmware update. Whereas, major revisions such as 2.2.1.210 to 2.3.1.44 will be auto updated.
...
Regards,
Christian
One could derive that going from 2.3.x.x to 2.5.x.x (i.e., 2.3.5.30 to 2.5.0.38) would be a MAJOR firmware update. Going from 2.5.0.x to 2.5.x.x (i.e., 2.5.0.38 to 2.5.0.40) would be MINOR firmware update. So a previous STABLE firmware must have been 2.3.5.30. Well, if 2.3.x.x happens to crap on your setup, then 2.2.x.x would be your next stop, and so on...
If Orbi auto firmware update policy still holds, don't be surprise if your Orbi has been auto updated to v2.5.0.38.
FWIW, v2.5.0.38/40 has been up and running without major stability issue aside from the CPU hog due to net-scan/d2d processes that are updatig the new device database in the background. If you don't care about the new fancy device feature/Sonos bug fix (x.38) or new https certificate (x.40), stay put at your current version. If you chose to move forward with v2.5.x.x, please reboot your network/clients and give your Orbi setup time to settle down. i.e. 24 hours.
...and one question that I'm often asked myself is when should I to do Factory Reset?
I always do a hard factory reset (nuclear option) on MAJOR firmware update (i.e., 2.3.5.38 to 2.5.0.38), manually re-configure the Orbi setup from scratch. I never save/restore config file from a previous major FW version. For MINOR firmware update, the same config should continue to work as is, i.e., I don't do factory reset going from 2.5.0.38 to 2.5.0.40. YMMV.
Just curious, are you now using v40?
SW_ wrote:...and one question that I'm often asked myself is when should I to do Factory Reset?
I always do a hard factory reset (nuclear option) on MAJOR firmware update (i.e., 2.3.5.38 to 2.5.0.38), manually re-configure the Orbi setup from scratch. I never save/restore config file from a previous major FW version. For MINOR firmware update, the same config should continue to work as is, i.e., I don't do factory reset going from 2.5.0.38 to 2.5.0.40. YMMV.
Same here. Solid operation so far.
