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You can’t imagine having to live without WiFi, so you invested in a Netgear Orbi. But now you notice that your Orbi is blinking white.
Usually, it just means that your Orbi router is busy booting up, or is updating its firmware.
If the flashing white light is on your satellite dish, then it’s either booting up or synching with the router.
The good news is that it shouldn’t continue for more than about twenty minutes, but if that blinking white light won’t go away, it’s time to try a few fixes starting from the easiest and working your way up.
Summing It Up: Orbi Router Blinking White Light
If your Orbi keeps blinking white, one of the following things is happening:
- The firmware is malfunctioning
- A firmware upgrade is corrupted or bad
- There’s a software glitch
- The power supply failed during a firmware upgrade
- You accidentally pressed the sync button
- Your device is faulty
The blinking white light can also mean different things depending on the model of Orbi you’re using.
If it’s a Pro model, then the flashing white light can be part of normal booting up.
On others, it’s usually a firmware update or the router is applying a new configuration. Whatever the reason, the light should stop blinking within about twenty minutes.
OK, so let’s hope your device isn’t faulty because that isn’t going to be so easy to fix. On the bright side, the other possible reasons for that blinking light are far more common. Try these fixes to see if one of them solves the problem.
Possible Solutions for Orbi Blinking White
Let’s start with the short version. After all, you may not need detailed instructions.
- Do a power cycle restart
- Change your backhaul password
- Update your firmware
- Try a factory reset
How To Fix The Orbi Blinking White Light?
If you haven’t tried doing these things before, are unsure of what they entail, or don’t know what they mean, you’ll find detailed tips and instructions below.
1. Try a Restart or Power Cycle
It’s the first and easiest fix whenever tech doesn’t do what we want it to: restart and see if that does the trick.
To give your Orbi this fresh start, start by turning off the modem. Then unplug it so that no power is going to the modem. Next, you can turn off and unplug the router.
At this point, you can plug it back in and restart it right away if you want to, but leaving it off for four to five minutes could make a difference to your results.
Start it back up by reconnecting the modem and turning it on, giving it some time to boot up. Then your router goes back on and will probably need two minutes or so to boot up all the way.
Time to check that light! Is it still blinking? If so, give it another ten or twenty minutes to see whether it’s just restarted the update.
Is the white light still blinking after twenty minutes? it’s time to up the ante and move on to the next possible fix.
2. Change Your Backhaul Password and Re-Synch
Your backhaul password allows your router to “talk” to your satellites. If it isn’t working anymore, you’ll get that blinking white light on your Orbi.
While this fix is rather more advanced than a simple restart, it’s still pretty easy and shouldn’t take long to do. The first step is to log in to your Orbi router, and once you’ve switched to a new password, you’ll have to re-synch your router and its satellites.
- How to Get a New Backhaul Password
Use your browser to log in. Yes, you don’t have internet, but you don’t need it to connect to your router settings.
Go to http://orbilogin.com and you should find yourself in the admin login page.
When you find the “Basic Home” page, select the “Advanced” option. Don’t worry, it’s not as advanced as all that. We promised you easy and it’s going to be easy.
Once in your Basic Home page, look for “Advanced Setup” and choose Wireless Settings.
You’ll see an area for managing your Backhaul Password and there’s a handy “generate” button to click on for a new password. Click it and you’re all set!
- Synch Your Router and Satellites
Now that you have a new password, use it to sync your router and satellites. With the power on, press the sync button at the back of your router.
The LED rings will light up. You now have two minutes to sync your satellites.
Press the sync button on the satellites. You’ll see that blinking white light while they sync up. Give it a bit of time. It will take about 90 seconds to complete syncing.
When the satellite’s LED turns blue, the process has successfully completed.
But what does it mean if the router starts flashing an amber light? It simply means that the satellite is too far away.
Move it closer and try again. If that light is magenta, give it a minute or two to see what happens. If it’s still there after two minutes, you need to try again.
3. Check if Your Firmware Needs Updating
Your firmware updates should install automatically, but there’s a chance that this didn’t happen. If so, then you may have found the root of the problem.
Unusual though this may seem, a few Orbi users have reported that updating firmware helped to Stop their Orbi blinking white.
Once again, it’s not all that hard to do. If you do find that you’re not using the latest firmware, you should definitely get the update. And you might want to check fairly frequently in the future since having the latest firmware helps with your security and your Orbi’s overall performance.
However, do be aware that while you upgrade the router firmware you should stick with the process until it is complete. Interrupting the upgrade can damage your router itself.
- How to Look for Firmware Updates
If possible, connect your device using an ethernet cable. Log in to your Orbi’s admin dashboard again. Find your “advanced” menu and pick “administration.” You’ll see an area named “Firmware update.” Pick this option and select “Online update.”
You’ll see a “Check” button. Click it to see whether there is a firmware update waiting for you. If there is, select “Update All.”
You may be losing patience by this time, but you need to let the entire update run its course. Don’t mess around with your router. Don’t try opening tabs. Don’t close your browser. In short, just leave it to itself.
At the end of the process, your Orbi router and its satellites will restart automatically so that the update can install. That’s it! You may have solved that problem.
Is your Orbi blinking white? Fingers crossed that it isn’t. Still no luck? Don’t give up yet. There’s still something you can try.
- When and Why Updates go Wrong
Nine times out of ten, your Orbi flashes white because it’s busy with an update and everything returns to normal within ten or twenty minutes without you having to do anything. But sometimes, updates go wrong.
If there was some kind of interruption to your power supply during the update, it may not have installed. There’s also a chance that the satellite’s operating system has glitched.
Rarely, but not impossibly, the firmware itself could be to blame so, instead of installing a new update, you may have to uninstall the most recent one.
4. Revert Your Orbi to Factory Settings
If you’ve tried all the fixes so far without any luck, this is your last ditch. Unfortunately, it means that your router will lose all the settings you customized, and you’ll have to go through the whole network setup process again just as if it were a brand-new Orbi.
Before you get started, make sure that you have the default login so that you can use it after the reset when you need to set up your network again.
To reset, make sure the Orbi is turned on. You’ll see the reset button on the back of your router. It’s recessed so that it can’t be inadvertently pressed, so you’ll need to find something to reach the button with.
Press and hold the button until the LED power light begins blinking amber. It takes some time for the factory settings to be applied, so wait until the unit restarts itself.
Give all your satellites the same treatment. In each instance, the blinking amber light shows that the factory reset is underway.
Once you’re done and everything has reset, there should be no more blinking white light, but you’ll have to set up your network again.
Final Words
We’re really hoping that one of these fixes worked for you. If not, you should get in touch with Netgear Customer Service. We feel your frustration, but you can be sure that the Orbi is a good choice.
As a mesh system, it helps you to stay connected no matter where in your home you may be. It’s one of the top choices for overcoming the problem of dead spots that don’t have a signal.
That blinking white light that won’t go away may have been a rather annoying little issue, but we’re confident that you shouldn’t experience it too frequently.
