CAP says 5ghz running - but in fact it does not broadcast

RouterOS Wireless Networking
1

Hi dear forum members,

I have this CAP (it is a wap ax running 7.18.2) saying it broadcasts 5ghz ssid - but it does clearly not.

 interface/wifi/print 
Flags: M - MASTER; D - DYNAMIC; B - BOUND; R - RUNNING
Columns: NAME, MASTER-INTERFACE
#      NAME   MASTER-INTERFACE
;;; managed by CAPsMAN DC:xx%bridgeLocal, traffic processing on CAP
;;; mode: AP, SSID: ap, channel: 2427/ax
;;; defconf
0 M BR wifi1                  
                              
                              
;;; managed by CAPsMAN DC:xx%bridgeLocal, traffic processing on CAP
;;; mode: AP, SSID: ap, channel: 5500/ax/Ceeeeeee/D
;;; defconf
1 M BR wifi2                  
                              
                              
;;; managed by CAPsMAN DC:xx%bridgeLocal, traffic processing on CAP
;;; mode: AP, SSID: ap-gast
;;; defconf
2  DBR wifi4  wifi1

I can’t find the reason why it stopped working. I was experimenting with the “qos-classifier” option when suddenly the interface did not come up anymore. Now the CAP only broadcasts 2.4ghz. I already used /interface/capsman/remote-cap/provision and /interface/wifi/radio/provision - but it did not change anything.

I am not willing to netinstall or reset right now. Anyone an idea?

# 2025-04-28 11:09:01 by RouterOS 7.18.2
# software id = xxxxx
#
# model = wAPG-5HaxD2HaxD
# serial number = xxxxx
/interface bridge
add admin-mac=xxxxxx auto-mac=no comment=defconf name=bridgeLocal
/interface wifi datapath
add bridge=bridgeLocal comment=defconf disabled=no name=capdp
/interface wifi
# managed by CAPsMAN DC:xx%bridgeLocal, traffic processing on CAP
# mode: AP, SSID: ap, channel: 2427/ax
set [ find default-name=wifi1 ] configuration.manager=capsman datapath=capdp disabled=no
# managed by CAPsMAN DC:xx%bridgeLocal, traffic processing on CAP
# mode: AP, SSID: ap, channel: 5500/ax/Ceeeeeee/D
set [ find default-name=wifi2 ] configuration.manager=capsman datapath=capdp disabled=no
/interface bridge port
add bridge=bridgeLocal comment=defconf interface=ether1
add bridge=bridgeLocal comment=defconf interface=ether2
/interface wifi cap
set discovery-interfaces=bridgeLocal enabled=yes slaves-datapath=capdp
/ip dhcp-client
add comment=defconf interface=bridgeLocal
/system clock
set time-zone-name=Europe/Vienna
/system note
set show-at-login=no
2

How do you know it is not working?
Can you add the CAPsMAN config as well (just the /interface wifi part)?

3

On my notebook (AX200) I disabled 2.4ghz (via IWD config) because AX200 fails to connect to 20mhz 2.4ghz wireless - and it is disrupting wireless when the notebook trys to roam but fails connecting to 2.4ghz. So I do not use 2.4ghz on this device. But no 5ghz was seen. Then I also checked via Android analiti app - no 5ghz BSSID broadcasting. And Android itself said it uses 2.4ghz - despite standing 3m away from CAP. So 3 sources said: nothing there.

I gave up and enabled “backup wifi” on the capsman itself (it is an Chateau LTE12) - also provisioned by Capsman. And while we are writing here - suddenly I realized that wap ax 5ghz recovered magically and is broadcasting again. But I did not do a single change to config meanwhile.

This is something I never seen before. I only read such kind of issues here in the forum and I never believed that this could actually be true. But now I’ve seen myself I am a believer.

4

What is the state of it.
interface/wifi/monitor 0,1,2,3

5

5Ghz is now really broadcasting again - but I see no difference in the output of “wifi/print”.

For the monitor:

on cap:

     ;;; managed by         managed by         managed by        
     ;;; CAPsMAN DC:xx  CAPsMAN DC:xx  CAPsMAN DC:xx 
     ;;; %bridgeLo  %bridgeLo  %bridgeLo 
     ;;; cal, traffic       cal, traffic       cal, traffic      
     ;;; processing on CAP  processing on CAP  processing on CAP 
     ;;; mode: AP, SSID:    mode: AP, SSID:    mode: AP, SSID:   
     ;;; ap, channel:  ap, channel:  ap-gast      
     ;;;  2427/ax            5500/ax/Ceeeeeee                    
     ;;;                    /D                                   
  state: managed-by-capsman managed-by-capsman managed-by-capsman

and for the capsman (only interfaces of wap ax):

                 state: running             running   running
               channel: 5500/ax/Ceeeeeee    2427/ax   2427/ax
      registered-peers: 0                   4         5
      authorized-peers: 0                   4         5
              tx-power: 23                  17        17

and for erlinden, the capsman wifi config. It is a config that I have more or less unchanged working for months/years.

# 2025-04-28 11:28:04 by RouterOS 7.16.2
# software id = xxx
#
# model = D53G-5HacD2HnD
# serial number = xxx
/interface wifi channel
add name=channel-2ghz reselect-interval=6h..12h width=20mhz
add frequency=5490-5710 name=channel-5ghz reselect-interval=6h..12h
/interface wifi security
add authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk encryption=ccmp,gcmp ft=yes ft-over-ds=yes name=ap wps=disable
add authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk encryption=ccmp,gcmp name=ap-gast wps=disable
/interface wifi
set [ find default-name=wifi1 ] configuration=ap-2ghz disabled=no
add configuration=ap-gast mac-address=DE:xx master-interface=wifi1 name=wifi1-virtual1
set [ find default-name=wifi2 ] configuration=ap-5ghz disabled=no
/interface wifi capsman
set enabled=yes upgrade-policy=suggest-same-version
/interface wifi configuration
add country=Austria datapath=ap multicast-enhance=enabled name=ap security=ap ssid=ap
add country=Austria datapath=ap-gast multicast-enhance=enabled name=ap-gast security=ap-gast ssid=ap-gast
add channel=channel-2ghz country=Austria datapath=ap multicast-enhance=enabled name=ap-2ghz security=ap ssid=ap
add channel=channel-5ghz country=Austria datapath=ap multicast-enhance=enabled name=ap-5ghz security=ap ssid=ap
/interface wifi datapath
add bridge=bridge client-isolation=yes name=ap-gast
add bridge=bridge name=ap
/interface wifi provisioning
add action=create-enabled disabled=no master-configuration=ap-2ghz radio-mac=DC:xx slave-configurations=ap-gast supported-bands=2ghz-n
add action=create-enabled disabled=no master-configuration=ap-5ghz radio-mac=DC:xx supported-bands=5ghz-ac
add action=create-dynamic-enabled disabled=no master-configuration=ap-2ghz slave-configurations=ap-gast supported-bands=2ghz-n
add action=create-dynamic-enabled disabled=no master-configuration=ap-5ghz supported-bands=5ghz-ac
6

Could it be a radar detection incident? That should be reported in the logging.

I noticed you didn’t set channel width on 5GHz, running 160MHz might give some interference. And a personal note…running anything different from encryption=ccmp gave me lots of problems. But the radio should still be available.

7

You didn’t quite win a coconut, print won’t show R when nothing is connected to said device, however monitor will.

8

Let’s see if I am able to reproduce or experience the issue somehow again. But right now I am happy that it is working again and I do not have to netinstall the CAP.