Dustin278
Occasional Visitor
I saw this on Reddit for the 850's - wondering if anyone has tried with the 960's?? I saw some converted RBR960's on Ebay for sale so I am assuming it is possbile but haven't found any guides for this.
My first Reddit post with hopefully helping others with similar situtation!
Before some months I decided to switch to Netgears Orbi RBK850 System. Until then I used a Linksys AX2200 System. But this was no option any more after moving in to a flat with 1 GBit/s ISP avialiabilty.
Having headache about the price I bought a used, more precice, two used packages with 2 routers (RBR_850) and in sum 5 satellites (RBS_850).
Starting with one router and successively extending my range and performance with up to 5 satellites. I needed a 6th one for the garage and was sure I can use RBR 850 as satellite. No chance. Only option was to use it as AP with same Wifi SSID and PW as the "main Wifi". But that was not the way I wanted to end up with.
After hours of searching, if there is something like a hack to enable satellite mode on a orbi 850 router, by mistake I found a post, how it is possible to convert a Netgear RBR 50 (NOT 850) to RBS 50.
Here the Link to RBR 50 conversion:
I thought it would be more or less the same procedure... close, but far from it...
First: On RBR 850 there is no old Firmware, for a downgrade where telnet, which is needed for the process, could be enabled. But a smart guy created a phyton script to solve this problem.
So, here a step by step with some troubleshoot on the final steps: (This should work on every OS)
Caution! This could brick your device! Maybe no recovery is possible! Be aware you could damage your device. If unsure, do not use this guide. It is just about my personal experience, fortunately with success. Go on at your own risk!
Some troubleshoot:
If satellite is not syncing:
Converting RBR 850 (Router) to RBS 850 (Satellite)
My first Reddit post with hopefully helping others with similar situtation!
Before some months I decided to switch to Netgears Orbi RBK850 System. Until then I used a Linksys AX2200 System. But this was no option any more after moving in to a flat with 1 GBit/s ISP avialiabilty.
Having headache about the price I bought a used, more precice, two used packages with 2 routers (RBR_850) and in sum 5 satellites (RBS_850).
Starting with one router and successively extending my range and performance with up to 5 satellites. I needed a 6th one for the garage and was sure I can use RBR 850 as satellite. No chance. Only option was to use it as AP with same Wifi SSID and PW as the "main Wifi". But that was not the way I wanted to end up with.
After hours of searching, if there is something like a hack to enable satellite mode on a orbi 850 router, by mistake I found a post, how it is possible to convert a Netgear RBR 50 (NOT 850) to RBS 50.
Here the Link to RBR 50 conversion:
I thought it would be more or less the same procedure... close, but far from it...
First: On RBR 850 there is no old Firmware, for a downgrade where telnet, which is needed for the process, could be enabled. But a smart guy created a phyton script to solve this problem.
So, here a step by step with some troubleshoot on the final steps: (This should work on every OS)
Caution! This could brick your device! Maybe no recovery is possible! Be aware you could damage your device. If unsure, do not use this guide. It is just about my personal experience, fortunately with success. Go on at your own risk!
- Download the latest firmware from Netgears Homepage for the RBS 850: here (Netgear) and unzip it.
- Download telnet_enable python script: here (GitHub)
- If not done yet, install python 3 (>= 3.8)
- Power on and connect your RBR 850 with ethernet cable to your Computer (Mac/Linux/Windows).
- Go to http://192.168.1.1 and go through initial config as far as needed (setting password for admin is mandatory), skipping as much as you can, because in few minutes we flash a new firmware on it and everything will be deleted (except the PW ).
- Note or copy the MAC address of this router.
- Enable telnet Service on RBR 850 with the python script above, in dependence of your OS, with something like:
- python3 telnet-enable2.py 192.168.1.1 [MAC ADDRESS e.g 'A0:40:A0:69:B6:30'] admin 'yourpassword'
- If not done yet enable telnet in windows10/11 telnet (Windows) or install via homebrew on macOs telnet (macOS) (maybe you need first to run brew update and brew upgrade) . No neccesisity to explain for Linux
- Then telnet to your router:
- telnet 192.168.1.1
- Log in with admin and your password (from step 5) and execute following commands:
- cd /sbin
- board_data -r board_id - should show: 'U12H404T00_NETGEAR'
- board_data -r hw_version - should show: 'RBR850'
- Now lets change the board ID and HW Version, type:
- board_data -w board_id U12H403T00_NETGEAR (from ...H404... to ...H403...)
- board_data -w hw_version RBS850 (from RBR to RBS)
- board_data -r board_id - should now show: 'U12H403T00_NETGEAR'
- board_data -r hw_version - should now show: 'RBS850'
- reboot the router with reboot or unplug and plug in power cord.
- The router is now ready to accept the Satellite Firmware (from Step 1).
- In a browser go to 192.168.1.1, log in with admin and your password (from step 5).
- Go to Advanced > Administration > Firmware Update > Manual Update
- Click on Browse and select the satellite firmware from Step 1 (e.g. RBS850-V4.6.14.3-signed.chk)
- Click on Upload
- Be patient.
- Be patient..
- Be patient...
- When the Router comes up connect it via ethernet cable (NOT the WAN port!!!) to an other satellite or to your origin orbi router.
- After a few minutes you see the new RBS 850 as orbi device in the list of connected devices, but not syncing to the existing mesh.
- You can log in to it by typing the assigned IP to your browser and using admin and your password from Step 5. You now see the satellite firmware interface and not the router interface.
- OK. Lets sync the new born satellite to our existing mesh. This step is weird. Without knowing why. after the 4th hardreset I succeeded.
- Hardreset:
- Unplug new Orbi, press and hold reset button and plug in power cord.
- Keep holding reset button until white light is pulsing.
- Sync to Mesh:
- log in to your origin orbi router and go to 'add orbi satellite' > next > sync
- Cross fingers
- be patient
- be patient
- be patient
- Check if new satellite is part of mesh...
- Happy meshing!
Some troubleshoot:
If satellite is not syncing:
- Repeat step 21 with all substeps and be patient.
- If this not helps, connect the ethernet cable to the ethernet port next to power plug and repeat from step 21.
- If this does not lead to sync, for the hardreset procedure additionally press and hold sync button until the white light is pulsing. Repeat from step 21.
- No luck? Do not unplug orbi and press 7 seconds reset button. Then repeat step 21
- Try with 30 seconds without unpluging. Then of course step 21
- Try wih 30 seconds after unplug and plug in again.
- Don´t give up. Try again and again. As far as you new RBS comes up and gets an IP via wired connection from origin router or other satellite, its just a syncing issue. Maybe something with the timing or so. But it is not bricked as long as you can log in.
- If it does not come up try netgears recovery mode with flashing original Firmware via tfpt: tftp (NETGEAR) and start again with Step 4.