I have a hAP ax S that is behaving weirdly. I can't seem to get the wifi interfaces to work -- they are in "bound" condition all the time, despite a /interface/wifi/reset 0,1. ROS 7.23.2, multiple reboots didn't help, disabling and re-enabling the wifi-mediatek driver package didn't help either (yes, with reboots ;-)). I can configure the interfaces with ROS, no error messages or anything, but no wifi shows up in the air. Scanning with the interfaces (e. g., /interface/wifi/scan 0) finds zero wifis even though there are plenty of active networks in the air. Am I looking at a hardware issue or is this some sort of deep config screwup that can be fixed by netinstall (but not by a wifi config reset)? Unfortunately, I can only access the device remotely right now, otherwise I would have tried... But if I'm likely looking at a hardware issue then I'd rather replace it than trying to revive the wifi interfaces.
If anyone has seen anything like this before, any pointers are greatly appreciated -- that's a problem that I've never seen before, so I'm pretty stymied...
Without seeing your config, it is impossible to speculate with any level of accuracy.
One thing I have seen (on other models) is if something like a freq is set to an invalid value, this type of behavior is seen.
(And I would think that pretty much anynsetting should be correctable without netinstall . . . either via dirext tweaks, or reset to a default config.)
And you see a status of "bound" . . . Anything else? You should also see "master"
Indeed, I have not posted my config, as I wrote that I had reset it. My apologies. Here it is:
[admin@JSS10-Router] > /interface/wifi/export
# 2026-07-29 17:22:42 by RouterOS 7.24rc3
# software id = 8N3P-8L23
#
# model = E62iUGS-2axD5axT
# serial number = < removed by mod >
/interface wifi capsman
set ca-certificate=auto certificate=auto interfaces=""
And this is what it looks like:
[admin@JSS10-Router] > /interface/wifi/print detail
Flags: M - MASTER; B - BOUND; X - DISABLED, I - INACTIVE
0 MBX default-name="wifi1" name="wifi1" l2mtu=1560 mac-address=D0:EA:11:2D:EA:6D arp-timeout=auto radio-mac=D0:EA:11:2D:EA:6D
1 MBX default-name="wifi2" name="wifi2" l2mtu=1560 mac-address=D0:EA:11:2D:EA:6E arp-timeout=auto radio-mac=D0:EA:11:2D:EA:6E
You are correct. I certainly don't see what might live outside /interface/wifi that might interfere with this, but you are right. Here is the complete config.
Indeed. As I wrote in my original post, I did a /interface/wifi/reset 0,1, so the config is completely empty, but the interfaces are still bound. (And they are not used in any bridge either.) Plus, scanning with either interface doesn't seem to pick up any wifis (of which there are plenty in the air around the router).
Frankly, I'm not sure that the bound state is relevant to your issue, since they need to be bound to work.
Also, not sure that "bound" in this context has anything to do with a bridge. From the docs on wifi, bound is:
"True for master interfaces that are currently available for WiFi manager.
True for a virtual interface (configurations linked to a master interface) when both the interface itself and its master interface are not disabled and the master interface has a bound flag."
Had you reset to a non-blank config, I suspect that they would be up.
Also, not sure if scan is valid with no country or other frequency set defined on the interface yet
It may well be that the bound status is not the core of the problem, yes. I have, of course, tried to configure a regular wifi (I do have a dozen or so MT APs in production, so while I certainly cannot and will not claim to be an expert, especially with regard to wifi configuration, I do think that I can manage to set up a basic wifi), and while ROS says the wifi is all set up and running, there is no wifi on the air to be seen. Also, with a completely blank configuration, the wireless interfaces should be able to run a scan and see all the wifis that are around, but this devices doesn't see anything whatsoever. I have tested the scanning on a different device -- a scan immediately after a reset works perfectly, and the device is not tagged as bound, although admittedly I didn't have another hAP ax S for the testing, so the test was run with a different driver. Hence I am not sure I can rule out a configuration issue.
I am completely at a loss as to what is going on. Also, the device did have wifis up and running, but users started complaining that they were not seeing the wifis were unstable, so I tried to reconfigure them, but as it turns out, the users haven't seen any wifi since, which is why I started investigating and seeing this weird "bound" phenomenon that I cannot explain. (Also, to answer your question, the device was locally managed.)
Like I wrote, I do lean towards a hardware issue, but I did want to ask around if someone had seen this "permanently bound" thing before, or maybe had a hint as to what might block the interfaces, because I am fresh out of ideas. %-/
Huh, how about that. So I just got my hands on another AX AP -- my previous tests were on a non-AX device. Turns out that indeed the interfaces are flagged as bound even without any configuration (so immediately after a reset). That explains why I cannot get rid of the flag.
However, I still seem to have a problem -- a scan does work on a completely blank configuration (after a reset) on the test device, but not on the problematic device. Hm. %-/
Unfortunately, even the new test doesn't rule out misconfiguration because the test device is not a hAP ax S but an ax², so it doesn't run on a mediatek chipset and hence runs a different driver, so the scan not working might still be a config issue. Hm. If anyone who happens to have a hAP ax S could confirm that a scan should work right after a reset, that'd be helpful...
Sorry, I wasn't meaning to diminish your skills, it's just that the complaint was "Wifi interfaces won't go on air" and then you posted a config that was incapable of doing so . . . . I can only comment on what I see. Had you posted a config that you thought was good and it was still failing, my comments and suggestions would likely have been different.
I can't say much RE: scan, since the only time I have tried it, it took the AP off air to scan, kind of painting me into a corner (granted, on an AC, and fortunately I had a watchdog setup that restarted it), so have held off on doing much with that function.
I assume that your test device was also cleared via the same command(s) and not just at a default config?
I completely understand. Condensing what has already happened and what has been tried and what the actual problems were into a post that is as compact as possible is not easy, and I am afraid I failed to convey crucial information in my original post. %-/ Apologies for that, didn't mean to waste everybody's time.
Yes, I've cleared the test device with the same commands before trying the scan. So I guess since I was misguided vis-a-vis the bound flag (I understood this to mean that some config was still blocking the use of the device, which apparently is not true for the wifi drivers), that may not be the actual problem, so I'll set up a minimal configuration for what I reckon should be a working wifi config and see whether that works, and if not, post the config here, I guess...
I removed serial number from both your exports.
You should never post that info on public places.
Normally it shouldn't harm but if for some reason you opened the wrong gates (knowingly/unknowingly), someone having that serial might reach your device.
This doesn't mean they can get in but it's already a step into that direction ... so as a general rule: never post serial number when exporting config. Obfuscate it.
Doesn't show up where ?
On your client or on AX S ?
Can you leave out channel.band as well as width (that last one for now) ?
I am not 100% sure wifi2 is the 5Ghz radio ... besides, best to leave such things blank, they will be used at maximum possible setting anyhow.
Also, best to specify frequency so you KNOW where you should be looking.
By default AX devices favor higher ranges and if you just happen to check with a device not able to use that range ... you see nothing.
Doesn't show up on the AC device next to the hAP ax S. I am 100 % sure wifi2 is the 5GHz radio -- I mistakenly used wifi1 first but that gave me a frequency error.
So I've taken out channel.band and channel.width and added channel.frequency as suggested. I've picked 5480 because the hAP ac Lite that's doing the scanning should be able to see that (at least, it sees wifis on channel 5500, so 5480 shouldn't be too high). No wifi to be found.
I'm not sure about that ... especially not since now leaving out that width, it will probably use 160MHz.
Try 5160 so there is no discussion if AC Lite should be able to see it or not.
And since you are using AC Lite to check, set width to 80MHz (or even 40).
