Orbi Mesh - Random Internet

[lji1221]

Orbi RBR20 w/2 RBS20 Satellites  Firmware: V2.7.3.22 installed 11/20

ISP : GCEC Fios - verified the source is working solid into the Router

All has been good with this mesh network for last 8-9months.  Recently various devices, some wired, and some wireless refuse to access internet.

FYI : 1 laptop is wireless and 1 desktop is wired into one of the satelites

Did all the normal stuff - unplug, reset, sync, ..  It all kinda worked, depending on what device of the 14 or so i have connected, but if it worked in the morning, good chance it won't work in the afternoon, but some other device might - very frustrating.

I did contact support, what a joke, got sent to some 'sales person' who tried to scam me big time.  I hung-up on her.  That scam seemed to be linked to the chat, so i'd recommend staying away from that.  Another attempt at support untimitly got me to someone who knew what he was talking about.

I was told to adjust a couple of setting via the web interface:

  wireless 2.4ghz ch  change from AUTO to 06  5Ghz ch from 48 to 44

  Wan setup under IGMP proxying (in bytes) change from 1500 to 1492

Then he said "Call back after 6-7 hours' if this doesn't work.  Big mistake on my part that i didn't ask " what whould you change, if previous tweaks didn't work"

Call back was a waste of time.  Even though i had a new ticket number, i couldn't get past the first line of "you're past 90days, pay me more and i'll get you to someone to fix it"

How a product that is still under warranty, and wasn't cheap, requires more $$$ to get working is , in my mind, poor customer service.

Anyway, enough of the venting and on to the true intent of the post.

Does ANYONE have any idea of what setting to tweak for get BOTH the wireless and wired devices to work as they should?

[CrimpOn]

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@lji1221 wrote:

Does ANYONE have any idea of what setting to tweak for get BOTH the wireless and wired devices to work as they should?

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It would be useful to know more about the situation.  Unfortunately, firmware V2.7.3.22 has made some simple diagnostics much more difficult. (sigh)

The #1 question is always "what changed?"  Something has always changed, even though the user may not have noticed or thought it significant at the time.  Last March, Daylight Saving Time took effect (the change) which caused many Orbi systems to fail dramatically, if they had Daylight Saving Time adjust set to 'auto' and if they had Traffic Meter enabled. It took several days for some very smart users to find ways around the problem and Netgear came out with the recommendation to disable Traffic Meter in about a week.

The firmware change from a previous version to V2.7.3.22 is an obvious change.  If the problems started immediately after that change, then the firmware change may very well be the cause. Ordinarily, one would telnet into the Orbi router and display the parameter update_time.

Alas, V2.7.3.22 removed the "Enable Telnet" option from the debug menu.

Another diagnostic tool is to discover what sort of internet access no longer works:

• Everything, or
• Only some things, in particular resolution of URL's into IP addresses with a DNS server

Open a command window and try to ping an internet resource (a) using DNS, and (b) without DNS: i.e.

• ping ford.com   If this fails, try
• ping 136.2.49.37  If this works, then the problem is not "no internet", it is "no DNS".  and a solution to that can be to go into the Network setup and change the DNS entry from "Get using DHCP" to specific DNS servers, such as 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8

It would be useful to know if this situation:

• Resolves itself if you give it some time, or
• The only way to get internet access back is to reboot the router.

[lji1221]

Today, most things are working.  Laptop didn't initially, but upon it's restart it connected.  One device that is still not cooperating, is a wired SONOS music bridge.  It's hardwired into the same satellite that my desktop is which has Internet access.

I've power cycled the sonos, but still no joy.  I'm reluntant to cycle the router since this might cause something else to stop.

I tried to PING it's address but as expected no return.  Orbi web interface says it is wired, but doesn't show the wireless speaker.  Both the bridge and the wireless speaker were fine  couple of days ago.

What changed ?  Only thing I did see was right about the time things started going wierd, i got notification that my complimentary ARMOR protection had elapsed.  Kinda strange in that web says it's supposed to be a 1 year deal, and i bought the system in Nov 2020, but in either case I'm no longer protected.

I can't seem to find when fireware v.2.7.3.22 was installed.