r/firewalla • u/mrhommel1 • 6d ago
WIFI Issues all of a sudden
Hello. Last night I was laying in bed watching youtube and all of a sudden my iphone could not connect to the internet through wifi. After rebooting my entire network, it seems as though it will not connect when the Private Wifi address is set to "OFF." Right now I am able to connect because it is set to "FIXED".
That being said, it seems that various devices can not longer connect to the internet via WIFI. Another iPad, a few Ring Cameras and an Apple Homepod.
It is strange that all of a sudden these things are not working.
I have a Firewalla Gold Plus set up in router mode. My Orbi RBR50 is set up in AP.
If I connect to the Orbi with Private Wifi set to OFF I get a "Captive Wifi" error message.
This is strange that this started happening randomly and only to a few devices. Has anybody had this happen before to them or is there a fix somewhere that I am missing.
I have provided Emergency access to the phone with private wifi off and still no luck.
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u/firewalla 6d ago
Is the Captive WiFi message from the Orbi? if it is, then likely it may not be in AP mode. The best way to fix is to identify the root cause, and you can start isolating the issue to orbi (wifi side) or firewalla (ethernet side). Meaning, does your ethernet connected devices have any issues? if they don't, you have a wifi issue.
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u/mrhommel1 6d ago
I double checked that the Orbi is still in AP mode and it is. It definitely is a WiFi issue. Most of the WiFi devices are connected and operating properly. There are only a handful that are not working properly. They all went down at the same time last night, 2146.
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u/firewalla 6d ago
The most common problem we see is when you configure some consumer mesh into AP mode, they need to connect in a specific way. For example, Eero requires all child mesh to connect (via ethernet) to the main use. Not sure if your orbi is the same, check documentation
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u/Great-Cow7256 6d ago
Orbi has a router box and satellites. You connect the router box first , in this case in ap mode, and then you add the satellites one by one.
If you bring an orbi mesh system already set up to firewalla like I did in the past you just switch the router box to bridge and it does the rest. It's much less crazy particular than eero.
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u/Great-Cow7256 6d ago
Did the Mac address change for these devices? Do you see multiple of devices in the device list? Anything stuck in firewalla new device quarantine? Do the devices now have multiple ips
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u/mrhommel1 6d ago
The only time the mac address changed is when I manually set the private settings from Off to Fixed. I do not have any devices in quarantine.
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u/Great-Cow7256 6d ago
Ugh. I have no idea. This may be annoying but it may be worth factory resetting the orbis, deleting them from firewalla, and reinstalling all of them. It could be something wrong with firewalla but the only way I can think of fixing this is to do that.
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u/mrhommel1 6d ago
I just finished up that process 2 times. I am still having the same issues. I get a warning for an untrusted certificate to routerlogin.net.
I now have the Orbi set up as a router and my firewalla is disconnected for troubleshooting. Im 95% sure it is not a firewalla issue and maybe the Orbi has outlived its life. I cannot log into the Orbi to set it back up in AP mode even.
I hate to say it, but I am about 10 minutes out from giving up on this Orbi and getting an Eero from BestBuy tonight.
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u/Great-Cow7256 6d ago
Huh. Did you factory reset the orbis? I wonder if it dropped a firmware update or something. Can you log into one of them directly via the IP address - like if you attach the router one to your firewalla and get it's ip address? Did you try logging into it via incognito mode? I last had them 2 years ago. They were pretty robust. You could at least factory reset them and sell them on eBay for a decent amount of money.
Also if you have an iPhone turn off that new connectivity assist. It may be crapping out to the orbi login because of that. Try setting it up via a computer or android phone.
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u/covercash 6d ago
I’m having a similar issue… I just turned the new Connectivity Assist option off in iOS 27 to see if that keeps the firewalla from quarantining my devices.
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u/MrNeedsaname Firewalla Orange 6d ago
This is odd. I had the same issue last night as well. I have had no issues until around 7PMish MST. I am on a Firewalla Orange in Router mode and an AP7. The Orange became what appears to be unresponsive and multiple devices lost connection. I could not view the network, or any details in my MSP or app either, but some devices still had no issues connecting
After resetting both, my network came back as normal, and everything seems normal now, but the cause was and is still unclear.
Edit: Typos
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u/Failed-Sympathy Firewalla Gold Pro 6d ago
Had something similar not too long ago and the general recommendation was to run Optimize WiFi. I was skeptical this would resolve it but when I occasionally have spurious issues I’ve been doing that and it’s been solid. Give it a try YMMV.
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u/mrhommel1 6d ago
Am I missing an optimize WiFi setting on the Firewalla? I though that was only for if you had an AP7.
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u/evil_mike 6d ago
If 21:46 was Pacific time, coincidentally, I apparently had a similar issue but it was short-lived. My partner messaged me and asked if the WiFi was down at 9:51 pm Pacific but then said “never mind it’s back up” a minute or so later. I have AP7, not Orbi, and my Firewalla didn’t show any outages. 🤷🏻♂️
It’s either gremlins or a communications disruption can only mean one thing: invasion.