Voxel Custom firmware build for Orbi RBK50/RBK53 (RBR50, RBS50) v. 9.2.5.1.19SF-HW

[Edc]

I've upgraded, but still getting the same 200mbps top speeds over WiFi. Wired is fine and getting my full internet connection speed of 550mbps+ at least. procps-ng-top showed nothing out of the ordinary, so it doesn't look like a resource problem with the router. It definitely feels like the dynamic QOS is kicking in and dragging speeds down. I'll flash it all back to stock tomorrow and do a factory reset; will report back on my findings either way.

 

[Edc]

Interesting, I've just been messing about in the nvram settings after I noticed that the Security icon still said enabled in my setup even though I'd previously set noarmor=1 to disable. I found some other armor settings in there and decided to just set them to zero and see what happened. After setting armor_jump to 0 my speeds have shot back up to around what I should be getting of 450-500mbps. I've tested this on multiple devices now and they all seem to be working. These are what I changed settings to:

nvram set armor_jump=0
nvram set noarmor=1
nvram set armor_login_mark=1
nvram set dgc_func_have_armor=0
nvram set armor_note=0
nvram commit

(This is all guess-work, so I probably wouldn't test these on anyone else's Orbis)

Although armor_jump is now showing a much bigger value than before after I reran nvram show | grep armor_jump. Does this have anything to do with the SpeedTest.net results it runs when testing speed? Is it possible that it's saved an old value in there as what it thinks the max throughput should be and then limits it to that? After a factory reset I would have disabled Armor anyway, so this may have shown the same results.

I've noticed there are plenty of QOS nvram settings also, but I haven't changed anything.

 

[Skippy Bosco]

Interesting, I've just been messing about in the nvram settings after I noticed that the Security icon still said enabled in my setup even though I'd previously set noarmor=1 to disable. I found some other armor settings in there and decided to just set them to zero and see what happened. After setting armor_jump to 0 my speeds have shot back up to around what I should be getting of 450-500mbps. I've tested this on multiple devices now and they all seem to be working. These are what I changed settings to:

nvram set armor_jump=0
nvram set noarmor=1
nvram set armor_login_mark=1
nvram set dgc_func_have_armor=0
nvram set armor_note=0
nvram commit

(This is all guess-work, so I probably wouldn't test these on anyone else's Orbis)

Although armor_jump is now showing a much bigger value than before after I reran nvram show | grep armor_jump. Does this have anything to do with the SpeedTest.net results it runs when testing speed? Is it possible that it's saved an old value in there as what it thinks the max throughput should be and then limits it to that? After a factory reset I would have disabled Armor anyway, so this may have shown the same results.

I've noticed there are plenty of QOS nvram settings also, but I haven't changed anything.

If I were you, I'd flash the latest stock back on. Perform a factory reset. Keep default settings. Don't enable parental controls, disney circle or netgear armor. Wait 15 minutes for things to sync and settle and test.

 

[mith_y2k]

nvram set armor_jump=0

Does anyone know what Armor_jump is or does? I also changed it to 0 and as soon as I did it I had a better performance (from roughly 200Mbit to 240) from a satellite I know is a little more stressed. After 12 hours the number is now up to 1332815309255 which I have no clue what it means and why it has changed since I have armor disabled

 

[theoak]

I've upgraded, but still getting the same 200mbps top speeds over WiFi. Wired is fine and getting my full internet connection speed of 550mbps+ at least. procps-ng-top showed nothing out of the ordinary, so it doesn't look like a resource problem with the router. It definitely feels like the dynamic QOS is kicking in and dragging speeds down. I'll flash it all back to stock tomorrow and do a factory reset; will report back on my findings either way.

My Orbi system is in Access Point mode. On .19 I was maxing out my internet speeds (300/30) via wifi. (Same for .34 for that matter.)

 

[vansmak]

My Orbi system is in Access Point mode. On .19 I was maxing out my internet speeds (300/30) via wifi. (Same for .34 for that matter.)

Speaking of AP mode. Are features like vpn still disabled even with voxel firmware in AP mode?

 

[theoak]

I am not sure unfortunately. I have my own UTM based router for extra network functionality and hence only use the Orbi to serve wifi.

 

[ten24bytes]

I took a backup of my Voxel settings before making some changes, to try out something. Can I restore them while on Voxel? I am aware that factory reset is not possible, but what about restoring the settings which are taken on Voxel firmware itself?

@Skippy Bosco would you please let me know if the above is possible?

 

[Julian Brooks]

I saw that new Voxel firmware was posted today so started to upgrade my RBR50 and 2x RBS50s. I have made a mistake though through trying to load the RBR firmware to a satellite. The satellite did reject the wrong firmware bu then allowed me to select the correct one, however it has come back online with the wrong IP address. It is now set to 198.168.1.250 and this shows on the RBR50 summary page as connected with a good connection. The Router and Satelites were however all set on fixed IP addresses of 192.168.178.201-203.

So what to do. I have the factory Netgear firmware V2.5.2.4 as I thought I could load this and recover the situation. However, I think I read I can't just do a reset of the satellite as it will brick it if on Voxel firmware. Even though the RBR is telling me the IP of the faulty satellite, I can just seem to connect to it by choosing a manual IP address in the same range on my pc.

Can anyone offer some guidance on how to recover this situation please?

Solved:
What I did:
TFTP into the RBS50 using the instructions here and loaded Netgear V2.5.2.4 firmware. Note I found I needed to do this by enabling the TFTP client on Windows. In order to be able to load the firmware you need to do this:

My RBS50 kept updating to V2.7.3.22 Netgear firmware once I plugged it in to my network. I tried to update from V2.7.3.22 to Voxel firmware but it wouldn't work for me - which is also what Voxel says in his readme. I blocked access to the following update related sites using the firewall on my router which then stopped the auto update happening. In between I had to

Refer to this for further information: Disable auto update
Once the RBS50 was back on my network I then updated the firmware again from V2.5.2.4 to the new Voxel firmware from the Orbi WebGui as usual.
All-in-all a very long-winded exercise.

 

[Voxel]

I can't just do a reset of the satellite as it will brick it if on Voxel firmware.

You can't just do a reset of the satellite (and router as well) because I've disabled the possibility to do reset. You are welcome: try to push the reset button: nothing happens except short yellow LED flash and maybe reboot.

The Router and Satelites were however all set on fixed IP addresses of 192.168.178.201-203.

I do not quite understand: if your sattelite is set as reserved address 192.168.178.xxx - it should get this address. If not - I just do not understand what you mean.

ADVANCED tab (RBR) -> Setup -> LAN Setup -> Address Reservation

And setup your RBS IP using its MAC address. It is normal. If not then .250 is just default IP of RBS.

Voxel.

 

[Julian Brooks]

@Voxel Thank you.
I don't understand it at all.
I can ping the RBS50 when plugged into my pc directly with the 192.168.1.250 address that the RBR50 reports it is. I thought I would try to load the factory firmware via TFTP. So far I am unable to get the RBS50 into the correct mode to start the transfer. The TFTP instructions suggest power off the router then wait for the orange power light. Mine is always green. So no joy with this so far.

I don't seem to be able to reach the web interface of the RBS50 via a browser directly using the apparent 192.168.1.250 address. Do you have any other ideas of what I may try please?
Would there be any mileage in SSH connection to the RBR50 perhaps?

 

[Voxel]

You should power off your rbs, push reset hole by thin stick, and keeping it pushed power your rbs on. Keep it pushed during 30 sec at least. After that IP of your rbs will be 192.168.1.1
After that - tftp to 192.168.1.1

Voxel.

 

[ten24bytes]

@Voxel Can I restore my settings which were taken on Voxel firmware itself? Or is that also not possible like factory reset?

 

[Voxel]

@Voxel Can I restore my settings which were taken on Voxel firmware itself? Or is that also not possible like factory reset?

You you can.

Voxel.

 

[Julian Brooks]

You should power off your rbs, push reset hole by thin stick, and keeping it pushed power your rbs on. Keep it pushed during 30 sec at least. After that IP of your rbs will be 192.168.1.1
After that - tftp to 192.168.1.1

Voxel.

Hi - that was very helpful.
I succeeded in loading stock V2.5.2.4 back on to the RBS50 but so far unable to stop it auto updating to V2.7.3.22 which would seem to be the latest Netgear firmware.
Question - Would you know what the IP address will be after loading V2.5.2.4 as 192.168.1.1 is not responding to pings after loading the firmware. I think if I could access the web interface without the internet on, I could load the Voxel firmware.

 

[Voxel]

Question - Would you know what the IP address will be after loading V2.5.2.4 as 192.168.1.1 is not responding to pings after loading the firmware. I think if I could access the web interface without the internet on, I could load the Voxel firmware.

You should pair your RBS again.

Default IP of RBS after reset (you should be able to reset it by pushing the reset button after loading 2.5.2.4) is 192.168.1.250.

Voxel.

 

[Julian Brooks]

@Voxel - have resolved everything now. Thanks very much for your help
I updated my original post with what I did: http://www.snbforums.com/threads/cu...r50-rbs50-v-9-2-5-1-19sf-hw.64782/post-755968