Orbi RBR40 WiFi drops out

[Storm180 · Accepted solution]

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@michaelkenward wrote:

The .img thing has baffled many people. There are only so many three character extensions available. Another one that Netgear likes is .chk. 

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The orbi router itself uses .img files and the satellites use the .chk file.  In the orbi dashboard there are two separate spots.  The top spot is to upgrade the router which will always be a .img file and then below that you check which satellites you want to update and use the bottom update button under the satellite listing and you select the .chk file for those and click update.

Sean

[MJMackowski]

I "downgraded' the firmware to V2.3.5.32 on 3/20. Today is 3/28 and I have had no problems since I made that change. Thanks.

[vajim]

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@MJMackowski wrote:

I "downgraded' the firmware to V2.3.5.32 on 3/20. Today is 3/28 and I have had no problems since I made that change. Thanks.

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another vote for down grade.

wow....just checked the download area and for the RBK53 — Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi System / RBK53 you can go all the way back to  1.1.0.16 (Initial Release).

It's like the time machine

Thanks

[Jtiago]

How do you downgrade to older firmware? Having same issue. Thanks

[vajim]

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@Jtiago wrote:
How do you downgrade to older firmware? Having same issue. Thanks

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After you downloaded what you want from the download area,  head over to ADVANCED Firmware Update page and select the Manual Update.  Then upload the firmware version you want to install.  Repeate the same steps for all the Satellites.  To access the Satellite UI, points your browser at its IP address.

[Storm180]

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@Jtiago wrote:
How do you downgrade to older firmware? Having same issue. Thanks

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You have to go into advanced then administration then update firmware.  From there you will click on manual update.  

Then click browser and find your downgraded file for the router and click upload and it will apply the firmware.  If you have satellites, you do one at a time.  Click the satellite you want to upgrade by ticking the box and then update and it will ask you for the firmware for the satellites and then update it.

Sean

[Jtiago]

The main router is the rbr40 and the 3 satellites are rbk20. Will the rbr40 firmware work on the rbk20 satellites? Thanks

[Storm180]

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@Jtiago wrote:
The main router is the rbr40 and the 3 satellites are rbk20. Will the rbr40 firmware work on the rbk20 satellites? Thanks

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It is seperate firmware for the satellites.  Satellite firmware will be .chk files.

Sean

[thedon81]

I have the RBR 40 also, and it just got upgraded to 2.6.2.104.  None of my mobile devices can connect, or at least can only connect intermittently right after a reboot of the router.

I noticed that the downloads page for RBR40 show the latest version as 2.6.1.36 (https://www.netgear.com/support/product/rbr40.aspx#RBR40%20Firmware%20Version%202.6.1.36?cid=us-best...) and that version 2.6.2.104 is listed for device RBR20, so I'm kind of wondering if it's possible that they didn't properly limit the available versions for the router when I told it to upgrade.

[burntfrosty]

I also have the RBR40 and last night updated to the 2.6.2.104 FW and have not had stable internet through my router since then. I've gone through the suggestions above, even "downgrading" FW to v2.3.5.32 for RBR40 and to 2.5.1.16 for RBS20s but have mostly had to rely on mobile hotspots for any internet usage today. Any other suggestions anyone can think of? 

[Storm180]

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@burntfrosty wrote:

I also have the RBR40 and last night updated to the 2.6.2.104 FW and have not had stable internet through my router since then. I've gone through the suggestions above, even "downgrading" FW to v2.3.5.32 for RBR40 and to 2.5.1.16 for RBS20s but have mostly had to rely on mobile hotspots for any internet usage today. Any other suggestions anyone can think of? 

I would downgrade the satellites to 2.3.5.30 and see how that works.

Sean

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[Storm180]

So I have been watching this issue for awhile.  So after I downgraded I have not had any issues with any of my computers or tablets dropping out or any of my smart appliances or tvs.

One thing I am seeing is on the Samsung S20 Ultra and possibly other Samsung variants.  It has even been reported on the Samsung threads.  Two updates ago and around the same time the router started going crazy.  The Samsung phones are dropping the internet connection and saying stuff like "cannot authenticate"  when trying to connect or no wifi hosts to connect even though the wifi is on and looking.  This is happening on both of my Samsung phones s20 ultras so it is not a bad phone.  I have even tried turning off the wifi and turning it back on the phone and still giving the same error.

Last night it happened again and I was able to setup another router for my phone to connect that it has never seen  and gave the authentication error and everything was correct.  Soon after that it was like the wifi radio went out on the phone as it showed nothing.  It came back about 5 minutes later after turning on and off the wifi but would not connect to anything  and gave the same error with authentication. 

I rebooted the phone and it came up and immediately connected to my normal wifi network and it was fine.   I have determined that there is definitely an issue with the Samsung firmware but it also coincided with my upgrading my orbi but there were definitely two separate problems going on at my house.  It is good to know I am not crazy and I have reported this to Samsung support and they confirmed they are seeing this issue.

I have also seen the latest version of other orbi hardware versions are having issues with the wifi connectivity and drop out.  Hope this helps anyone pulling their hair out.

Sean

[burntfrosty]

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@Storm180 wrote:

I would downgrade the satellites to 2.3.5.30 and see how that works.

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Thank you for the suggestion. I've gone ahead and downgraded them to 2.3.5.30 as well. I also unplugged everything (Satellites, Router, Modem) to do a fresh start after downgrading the satellites. After starting the Modem and Router I seemed to have pretty stable internet connection. I've since started one of the satellites as well, but after doing so it has gotten a bit spotty with the internet dropping for a few minutes at a time maybe 3 or times now. About to start the second satellite to see if that causes any issues either. Wish me luck.

[thedon81]

Downgrading didn't seem to work for me -- I ended up hard resetting both my router and satellite, and skipped the upgrade by going through the web interface on my laptop. Now everything is working great, albeit old firmware. It's frustrating that it's difficult (or impossible?) to notify Netgear about the issues with their firmware, as it seems like only customers within the 90 day warranty period are allowed to issue tickets.  I get that they can't support everyone for all time, but there really needs to be a feedback loop, since they are pushing these updates out to all customers, most of whom will be outside the 90 day window.  I will be switching to another vendor for my mesh routers immediately - I'm assuming that Google's product actually works and that there are better feedback mechanisms in case updates go awry.