Voxel Custom firmware build for Orbi RBK50/RBK53 (RBR50, RBS50) v. 9.2.5.2.5SF-HW & v. 9.2.5.2.5.1SF-HW

[DigitalYemeni]

Hi all,
I’ve been reading about this and i wanted to try it to fix some OpenVPN issues with the stock firmware and i thought of trying WireGuard VPN in this custom firmware.

During my readings i came across the procedures for installation and it was mentioned that i need to have a USB stick plugged in and formatted in ext3 to run it and i’m a bit confused if that’s really the case for the wireguard vpn to work or it’s just an option to have it run in a USB beside doing it on the netgear router itself! Can anyone confirm that please?

Lastly, do i have to reset to factory defaults before uploading this custom firmware or i can just do it straight as long as i’m running the 2.5.4.x stock version?


Thank you in advance

 

[rahjer]

I to was having doubts about installing and basically had no idea how to do this untill Skippy posted the following:

There is no special process above and beyond what you do for normal stock update.

1) Log into the Orbi web admin: http://orbilogin.com/

2) Advanced Tab -> Administration -> Firmware Update

3) Click on Manual Update

4) While not required, suggested to satellites first (one at a time, waiting till complete). You do this by clicking the box to the left of the satellite name and pushing the update button.

5) You will get a second box pop up (the satellite's admin page) that will prompt you to log in again.

6)You'll get a screen asking you to browse to the firmware file, you push browse and select the RBS50-V9.2.5.2.7.1SF-HW.img file from where you downloaded it and push upload.

7) Wait for it to finish, then do it again for the other satellite (if you have one) and then your router last (using the RBR50-V9.2.5.2.7.1SF-HW.img file)

The install went perfectly with not problems.
Hope this helps.

 

[DigitalYemeni]

Thank you Rahjer & Skippy.

I wasn't actually asking on how to perform the installation per say. My main questions were about the VPN setups in this custom firmware and how it differs from the stock.

I read the following in the Quick Start Guide:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. WireGuard client.
To start its using you should
(1). Prepare the text file in Unix format (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_file#Unix_text_files)
with name wireguard.conf defining the following values: EndPoint, LocalIP, PrivateKey,
PublicKey and Port of you WireGuard client config from WG provider.

(2) Place this wireguard.conf file to /overlay/etc/ directory of your USB drive
formatted as ext4 filesystem. I.e. /overlay/etc/wireguard.conf.
(3) Insert this flash drive into your Orbi RBR50.
(4) Enter by telnet to your router (RBR50) and set the nvram variable wg-client to 1
Code:
nvram set wg-client=1
nvram commit

(5) Reboot your router.
(6) Alternative way: place this file wireguard.conf to the root of your USB drive
(any format), attach it to the router and reboot your router. This drive should be
attached every time you reboot your RBR50.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So my questions about Wireguard setup are
1. Do i need a USB always plugged-in my router for it work?
2. Do i have to choose the VPN client IP from the same configured DHCP pool in the RBR50 so the NAT will be taken care of seamlessly or i have to do extra steps for the wireguard vpn server configuration to achieve that?

Lastly, for the OpenVPN, in the Quick Start Guide it was mentioned:
--------------------------------------------------------
13. OpenVPN client.
Important: only TUN clients are supported
-------------------------------------------------------

from the above statement, does it mean that NAT was not part of the OpenVPN and therefore the TAP implementation were skipped and used TUN instead to get around it?


I hope my questions are clear now and thank you once again.

Probably Voxel would be the best person to answer these unless some users play with the configurations and setting of the VPN options in this custom firmware and can shed some light.

Thank you

 

[Benchmaster]

First timer with Voxel's firmware. Wow, very noticeable performance increase.

However, while watching a cycling training video today on sufferfest, I had two moments of buffering over a two and a half hour period. Not a big deal, figured I'd test later.

Running speed test tonight I was only getting about 100 Mb download. This is a Comcast 200 Mb service. Rebooted the router and service immediately returned to 200 Mb.

9.2.5.2.7.1

Addendum-------
Ok... so i was testing WiFi via my Pixel 4a 5G. Back to ~100Mbit. Logged on to my WIRED pc (Wired to RBS... backhaul to router) and get consistent 210Mbit. Running Speedtest from the phone again via Wi-Fi to the same wired satellite..... 100 to 145 on average. This is a 5Ghz connection just a few feet from the satellite.

Unplugged my wired Surface Pro 3 and connected to WiFi. Averages 125 to 185Mbit.

Nobody else on the network.

I know the backhaul connection to the router is rock solid because, as I said, I peg 200+ every time I test the Surface Pro 3 on it's wired satellite connection.

 

[kalpik]

First timer with Voxel's firmware. Wow, very noticeable performance increase.

However, while watching a cycling training video today on sufferfest, I had two moments of buffering over a two and a half hour period. Not a big deal, figured I'd test later.

Running speed test tonight I was only getting about 100 Mb download. This is a Comcast 200 Mb service. Rebooted the router and service immediately returned to 200 Mb.

9.2.5.2.7.1

Addendum-------
Ok... so i was testing WiFi via my Pixel 4a 5G. Back to ~100Mbit. Logged on to my WIRED pc (Wired to RBS... backhaul to router) and get consistent 210Mbit. Running Speedtest from the phone again via Wi-Fi to the same wired satellite..... 100 to 145 on average. This is a 5Ghz connection just a few feet from the satellite.

Unplugged my wired Surface Pro 3 and connected to WiFi. Averages 125 to 185Mbit.

Nobody else on the network.

I know the backhaul connection to the router is rock solid because, as I said, I peg 200+ every time I test the Surface Pro 3 on it's wired satellite connection.

Try changing wifi channel.

 

[Benchmaster]

Try changing wifi channel.

Just moved from 48 to 36..... ....first few tests on Pixel 200+ Surface Book 200+ Profit?
I'll keep an eye on it....

 

[Loof]

For some reason the most recent Voxel release for Orbi 'bricked' my Orbi (kept fade flashing without ever finishing the startup).
I attempted to revert using tftp, but that didn't work. I reverted to the most recent official release via tftp, and got it back operational.
When I used TFTP, I had to use the reset to enable it and thus did a full factory refresh.

I then tried to update back to the prior Voxel using the UI and again ended up with it not booting. I had to use tftp to revert back to the official firmware.
I've been using Voxel's releases for many months and quite a few updates without any trouble...

Anyone have any idea what I can do to troubleshoot this issue?
I want to get back to using the Voxel release.

Thanks

 

[Skippy Bosco]

For some reason the most recent Voxel release for Orbi 'bricked' my Orbi (kept fade flashing without ever finishing the startup).

What were you upgrading from? Stock 2.7+? Existing Voxel installation?

I attempted to revert using tftp, but that didn't work. I reverted to the most recent official release via tftp, and got it back operational.

You can not TFTP Voxel, you can only TFTP stock.

You can not upgrade to Voxel from the most recent official release (ie. 2.7+) you must downgrade to 2.5 before updating to Voxel. It is in the read me quick start.

 

[Loof]

I had updated to the .1 release and something went wrong with the update.
I wasn't sure if TFTP of Voxel would work when there's already an existing Voxel installation.
My goal was to simply restore Voxel... but the mistake I made was that I simply downloaded the stock firmware... which is the latest @ 2.7.x.

After that, the issue was no longer the original failure... but a new conflict.

Thank you!

 

[Tarmacsurfer]

@Voxel - Just registered to say thank you, a painless switch to your firmware and a noticeable improvement. Particularly on local file transfers. I'm looking forward to experimenting with the Wireguard and Samba features as well.

Excellent work, it's very much appreciated. I'm also impressed at the helpfulness of some of the other members in this thread, looks like a good community. I may not be all that regular a visitor but I'll attempt to contribute where I can.

 

[Voxel]

You can not TFTP Voxel, you can only TFTP stock.

Let us say more accurate: TFTP to Voxel is possible if RBR/RBS is not reset to factory default settings. But since V9.2.5.2.7.1SF-HW you will not be able to reset RBR/RBS to factory even if you use the "reset" button (disabled by me). So 'reset to factory' is totally disabled since V9.2.5.2.7.1SF-HW. I just will not be able to do that.

Voxel.

 

[chaimt]

@Voxel Hi, wanted to know where there is a list of features in this firmare. I am looking for ssid vlan tagging, do you support that?
I want to setup in accesspoint and have my wrt router that has zones (iot, guest, lan) and need vlans for this to work

 

[mapretorius]

Continuation of

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/custom-firmware-build-for-orbi-rbk50-v-2-5-0-42sf-hw.60308/
. . .
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/c...50-rbk53-rbr50-rbs50-v-9-2-5-1-19sf-hw.64782/
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/c...50-v-9-2-5-1-33sf-hw-v-9-2-5-1-34sf-hw.65137/

New version of my custom firmware build: 9.2.5.2.5SF-HW.

Changes (vs 9.2.5.1.34SF-HW):

1. Integration of changes from the stock v. 2.5.2.4.
2. Toolchain: Go is upgraded 1.14.6->1.14.7.
3. Toolchain: binutils is upgraded 2.34->2.35.
4. wireguard package is upgraded 1.0.20200712->1.0.20200729.
5. wireguard-tools package is upgraded 1.0.20200513->1.0.20200820.
6. unbound package (used in stubby) is upgraded 1.10.1->1.11.0.
7. net-lan init script is fixed (thanks to kamoj).
8. qcawifi.sh: Fix for guest Wi-Fi allowing DNS over TCP (thanks to R. Gerrits).
9. nano package is upgraded 4.9.3->5.1.
10. curl package is upgraded 7.71.1->7.72.0 (fixing CVE-2020-8231).
11. SAMBA: update config generation.
12. sysstat package is upgraded 12.2.2-12.4.0.
13. util-linux package is upgraded 2.35.2->2.36.
14. Host tools (bison): is upgraded to 3.7.1.
15. Host tools (mpfr): is upgraded to 4.1.0.

[Edited]

Version 9.2.5.2.5.1SF-HW.

Changes (vs 9.2.5.2.5SF-HW):

1. Toolchain: GCC is changed 10.2.0->9.3.0 (issue with IPv6 when using GCC 10.2.0).

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/orbi-rbk50-rbr50-rbs50-ipv6-not-recognized.66058/​

2. wireguard-tools package is upgraded 1.0.20200820->1.0.20200827.
3. nano package is upgraded 5.1->5.2.
4. ethtool package is upgraded 5.4->5.8.
5. Host tools (mpc): is upgraded to 1.2.0.

The link is:

https://www.voxel-firmware.com (thanks to vladlenas for his help with hosting).

P.S.

Some ORBI users issue not quite correct answers to others. So to clarify, just FYI:

1. My firmware does support OpenVPN client (i.e. OpenVPN secure connection for all gadgets connected to RBR/RBS). Not only OpenVPN server.
2. My firmware does support WireGuard client (i.e. WireGuard VPN secure connection for all gadgets connected to RBR/RBS).
3, My firmware does supports USB LTE modem (if modem is in CDC/RNDIS mode).
4. My firmware does support file server feature (something like NAS, i.e. SMB protocol).

Voxel.

Hi,

My RBK50 is on stock firmware 2.7.5.4.

I use circle on my router. Is circle available on your firmware as well?

I basically am interested in your firmware because I would like to setup vpn like nord or express on the router. Currently not supported on the stock versions. Will this work?

Regards
Marinus

 

[Voxel]

Is circle available on your firmware as well?

Circle is included into my build. Latest versions of my firmware is recommended.

I basically am interested in your firmware because I would like to setup vpn like nord or express on the router. Currently not supported on the stock versions. Will this work?

Should work. It is better to use WireGuard VPN.

Voxel.

 

[mapretorius]

Circle is included into my build. Latest versions of my firmware is recommended.

Should work. It is better to use WireGuard VPN.

Voxel.

DO you have step on how to setup wireguard vpn on your firmware?

 

[Voxel]

DO you have step on how to setup wireguard vpn on your firmware?

QuickStart.txt from

https://www.voxel-firmware.com/Downloads/Voxel/Orbi-RBK50-Voxel-firmware/RBK50-V9.2.5.2.30SF-HW.zip

. . .
13. WireGuard client.

To start its using you should
. . .

Voxel.

 

[mapretorius]

te

QuickStart.txt from

https://www.voxel-firmware.com/Downloads/Voxel/Orbi-RBK50-Voxel-firmware/RBK50-V9.2.5.2.30SF-HW.zip

. . .
13. WireGuard client.

To start its using you should
. . .

Voxel.

I have installed your firmware

Just to test I tried to setup openvpn client. I downloaded the "private internet access" vpn config file. Added it to the rout /openvpn-client folder on USB.

When I plug USB into orbi nothing happens.

Does the USB need to be formatted to a specific format? I have tried ntps and ext4

 

[mapretorius]

I have 3 satellites but on one is displayed in the manual firmware update screen. In online update all is displayed

 

[mapretorius]

My router got bricked.

Install your firmware but half way through it stopped with browser error.

Restarted the router now but console does not come up anymore. It still find the wifi ssid but cannot get to console.

Any suggestions on how to fix this

Tried a factory reset by holding reset button but i think half of your firmware installed so reset does not work anymore

 

[mapretorius]

For some reason the most recent Voxel release for Orbi 'bricked' my Orbi (kept fade flashing without ever finishing the startup).
I attempted to revert using tftp, but that didn't work. I reverted to the most recent official release via tftp, and got it back operational.
When I used TFTP, I had to use the reset to enable it and thus did a full factory refresh.

I then tried to update back to the prior Voxel using the UI and again ended up with it not booting. I had to use tftp to revert back to the official firmware.
I've been using Voxel's releases for many months and quite a few updates without any trouble...

Anyone have any idea what I can do to troubleshoot this issue?
I want to get back to using the Voxel release.

Thanks

Mine also bricked. How did you manage to reset via tftp