AP541N - Degrading Service

[lucas4]

We have an AP541N that has been deployed to replace a Cisco 1200 AP (B/G radio).  The 1200 functioned perfectly in our environment.  The new AP541N on the other hand seems to work fine right after a reboot but immediately starts to degrade service.  Over a short period of time, the devices bandwidth degrades to the point were the wireless network is not usable.  This happens with just one device connected.  Eventually, the device stops accepting client connections.  We are unable to get any relevant logging out of the device to help diagnose the problem.

What should be our course of action?

Lucas Budman

Cognilytics

[charlesdwest]

Geert,

Have you updated the firmware to 2.0?  Has it helped?  I was thinking about purchasing several of these and clustering them, but I'm concerned about all the negative posts I've been reading.  Does anyone have these installed and working and is completely satisfied with them?

Charles

[doitservices]

Hi Charles,

I thouhgt i did post a response earlier, but it looks like it's gone. Did I not press the 'Add Reply' button? Hmmm...

Yes I did update to the latest firmware. What I did was disable clustering and gave each AP it's own SSID.

No degrading service anymore, but this setup is not what I had in mind. I was out if time to do further investigation.

Geert

[Darrel May]

I am on firmware 2.0(1) and still have same problem.

[angrychkn]

I have tried the above solutions and I have had the same issues repeat themselves regardless.  I have a site that uses 12 of these AP541N's and I've had nothing but trouble with them from the start. 

What I've tried:

----------

1) Updated the firmware to the newest 2.0(0)

2) Set the key refresh to 0 (disable)

3) Set the radios to wireless b/g only

4) Set the radios to wireless N only

5) Factory reset, default settings

6) Tried using the power adapters instead of the PoE

None of these things had any effect.  At times, I thought I had a breakthrough, then all of the annoying things would happen all over again.  Lost DHCP, lost access, can see the WAP but can't get online, etc.

Still looking for any help I can get, but in the mean time, I am replacing key points with an

cisco air-ap1142n-a-k9.

-George

[Eric Moyers]

Hi, My name is Eric Moyers. I am a Network Support Engineer in the Cisco Small Business Support Center.

Sir I saw your post and wanted to reach out to you.Please contact me at emoyers @ cisco.com. (take out the spaces)

I need to see about getting you the beat FW for AP541N v.2.0.1 which addresses DHCP issues.

Also just as a side note setting the refresh key to 0 does nothing. That was a potential workaround that was suggested a while back, but has been found to have no validity after some replication efforts.

When you contact me please supply your Cisco User ID and AP541N Serial number. That way I can get a case created for you and escalated up to our tier 2 support team that has the beta FW.

Thank you for your support of Cisco and our products and I look forward to helping you resolve your issue.

Eric Moyers
Cisco Network Support Engineer
CCNA, CCNA-Wireless
1-866-606-1866

[Eric Moyers]

Gemtlemen, for any others that are having the same DHCP issue, I am also willing to work with you as well. Please just follow the instructions and I will escalate your case as well.

Eric Moyers

[Christopher Adlam]

Eric:

Thank you for all your help. Are we to expect a public firmware release at some point in the near future as well?

I've noticed one other issue with this device in the field: Lack of stability when set to 5Ghz. Perfectly stable when set to 2.4Ghz. Of course the workaround is not to use 5Ghz, but was just curious is this is a known issue that will be rectified in a later firmware release as well.

-Chris

[Darrel May]

Eric Moyers,

I have 10 of these units deployed at 2 different facilities. I have e-mailed you the serial numbers and my Cisco ID.

I have installed the latest 2.0(1) software and still experiencing the same issue of users being dropeed and then not being able to obtain IP address upon reconnection. I have changed multiple settings as recommended, factory reset 3 different times, reapplied firmware, etc... What to do next. How do we get these faulty devices returned and replaced for a functional model?

Darrel May

[CHRIS YEO]

I would be interested in this outcome as well, the ap that I have (personally) has to be rebooted at least every 3 weeks otherwise it just stops working.  I am also running 2.01

Thanks!

Chris

[Eric Moyers]

Mr. May and Mr. Yeo, I have your information. I was out of the office the last of last week and in training yesterday and today. I will work with my group to get you some answers and will be in contact with you in the next 24 hours to talk with you more.

Thank you

Eric Moyers

[jamesbernardi]

I am also seeing lots of issue with these.  I have 8 of them across 2 locations.  Seems it has gotten worse since the 2.01 firmware.

[messagesonhold]

We are having the same issue two years later on a AP541N-N-K9 with v2 firmware with only 1 - 3 attached devices.

Ready for a refund.

[Darrel May]

Eric,

It is 2 days later, what is the current status? I have been looking

through the Cisco forums and see this problem has been ongoing for over

2 years and the new firmware 2.0(1) has not resolved the problem. Can

you please advise procedure to return these units for units without

requiring daily reboots to keep them up? Nine of my units along with the

SR520 routers was purchase May 2011, less than 12 months ago - this is

well within the warranty, but outside of the 30 day return policy. I did

purchase one additional unit last month in a attempt to resolve

(thinking I had a week signal).

Darrel May

DAG'S Computers, Inc.

14870 Mussey Grade Rd.

Ramona CA, 92065

Phone (760) 440-3230

Fax (760) 440-3231

darrel@dagscomputers.com

www.dagscomputers.com <>

[Darrel May]

How to open a ticket with Cisco?

I was sent the following links to open a ticet by Raman at the Cisco Certification & Communities Online Support Center.

If you require immediate assistance regarding your technical issue, we suggest that you open a ticket with Cisco’s Technical Assistance Center. Please visit the following URL for a list of contact numbers appropriate for your country:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/support/tsd_cisco_worldwide_contacts.html#numbers

You may also open a Technical Support request online at:

http://tools.cisco.com/ServiceRequestTool/create/launch.do

neither link will allow me to submit a ticket. The first link opens and reads Forbidden File or Application

The second link simply comes up page unavailable.

I feel link Cisco is ignoring our request for support for a product that is know to have problems for over 2 years.

Darrel May

DAG'S Computers Inc.

[Eric Moyers]

Mr. May, I saw this after I just sent you an email. To open tickets with the Small Business Support Center you have to call in. You can do this at 1-866-606-1866.

The first link should have read:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/support/tsd_cisco_small_business_support_center_contacts.html

The second link should have worked:

http://tools.cisco.com/ServiceRequestTool/create/launch.do

Eric Moyers

Cisco Network Support Engineer

SBSC Wireless and Surveillance SME

CCNA, CCNA-Wireless

1-866-606-1866