AP showing under Direct APs

[jamie.kelahan]

Hi all,

I have an 1832i access point connected to a 3504 controller.  Everything had been working fine with it, but now the access point has gone a bit haywire.  The LED is cycling through red/amber/green and it is not showing up under the "All APs" menu - it's now showing up under the "Direct APs" menu with just it's MAC address and it's name is "N/A".  Occasionally, it will show up with it's name under "All APs" for a short time.

Unfortunately, this is at a remote facility so I don't have console access to it.  Given it's location, it would be easier to replace it than to try and get someone up to it to console into it.  Anyone experienced this before?  Is this a sign that the AP is dying on me?

I should note that I have 11 other APs in this facility (mix of 1832 & 1852) that are not experiencing any issues.

[Scott Fella]

I would never connect aps directly to the controller. The preferred way is to use a PoE switch to connect aps to the network. Now the decision is really up to you on this but issues like what you are seeing and the limitations from connecting an ap directly is way the preferred way is to use a switch.

[Rich R]

You won't know if it's a hardware fault until you get on the console but there is a common hardware failure on 1832's after some time of operation. If you see:

[*08/21/2020 15:34:28.1103] DOT11_DRV[1]: Init Radio1

[*08/21/2020 15:34:28.1203] DOT11_DRV[1]: wifi1: Failed to get radio priv parameter (op 4234)

[*08/21/2020 15:34:28.1503] DOT11_DRV[1]: wifi1: Failed to set parameter (op 4283 arg 1)

[*08/21/2020 15:34:28.1603] DOT11_DRV[1]: wifi1 acfg cmd 2 failed for wifi1 errno 19(No such device)

[*08/21/2020 15:34:28.1603] DOT11_DRV[1]:  acfg_set_radio_param param 0x200d value 1 failed

[*08/21/2020 15:34:28.1603] DOT11_DRV[1]: wifi1 acfg cmd 2 failed for wifi1 errno 19(No such device)

[*08/21/2020 15:34:28.1603] DOT11_DRV[1]:  acfg_set_radio_param param 0x2017 value 1 failed

[*08/21/2020 15:34:28.1703] DOT11_DRV[1]: wifi1 acfg cmd 19 failed for wifi1 errno 19(No such device)

[*08/21/2020 15:34:28.1703] DOT11_DRV[1]: Radio 1 NF_Calibration request failed !

[*08/21/2020 15:34:28.1703] DOT11_DRV[1]: wifi1: Failed to set parameter (op 4176 arg 1)

[*08/21/2020 15:34:28.1703] DOT11_DRV[1]: wifi1: Failed to set parameter (op 4235 arg 1)

[*08/21/2020 15:34:28.1803] DOT11_DRV[1]: wifi1 acfg cmd 16 failed for wifi1 errno 19(No such device)

[*08/21/2020 15:34:28.1803] DOT11_DRV[1]: wcp/RadDrv1 :: Dot11BaseDriver vendor_get_bssid ioctl SIOCGIFHWADDR failed for apr1v0 error No such device

Then it matches hardware bug CSCvq44173 which requires RMA.  The bug is not publically viewable.

If you do a packet capture and see it sending invalid discovery packets (missing the entire Message Element which RFC5415 states is mandatory) then that is likely what the fault is.