hAP ax^2: local wifi doesn't work while external CAP through CAPsMAN do

RouterOS Wireless Networking
1

Local wifi does’n seem to be broadcasting any SSID. If I to turn off external CAP, all connected devices loose the connection and the SSID is disappeared from wifi-networks list.

Actual firmware is 7.20. I’ve tried to downgrade to 7.11.3 (to fall back to wifiwave2 drivers) and reset to Default Configuration - no success.

Tried to apply configuration to interfaces, tried to configure the network explicitly on wifi-interfaces themselves..

Interfaces got status “SMB“, but “R“ is never there and there is no SSID visible to any of my devices, which work fine if I to turn external CAP on..

here is my wifi config:

/interface wifi channel
add band=2ghz-ax disabled=no frequency=2412,2437,2462 name=AX_2G width=20/40mhz-Ce
add band=5ghz-ax disabled=no frequency=5180,5200,5220,5240,5745,5765,5785,5805,5825 name=AX_5G width=20/40mhz-Ce
/interface wifi security
add authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk disabled=no name=secWIFI
/interface wifi steering
add disabled=yes name=steering1 neighbor-group=dynamic-Gabriel-9df013fc rrm=yes wnm=yes
/interface wifi
add configuration=cfgWIFI2GHZ disabled=no name=cap-wifi1 radio-mac=F4:1E:57:B5:F9:44
add configuration=cfgWIFI5GHZ disabled=no name=cap-wifi2 radio-mac=F4:1E:57:B5:F9:43
set [ find default-name=wifi1 ] configuration=cfgWIFI5GHZ disabled=no
set [ find default-name=wifi2 ] configuration=cfgWIFI2GHZ disabled=no
/interface wifi cap
set discovery-interfaces=bridge slaves-datapath=datapathWIFI
/interface wifi capsman
set ca-certificate=auto package-path="" require-peer-certificate=no upgrade-policy=none
/interface wifi configuration
add channel=AX_2G country=Russia datapath=datapathWIFI disabled=no mode=ap name=cfgWIFI2GHZ security=secWIFI ssid=Gabriel
add channel=AX_5G country=Russia datapath=datapathWIFI disabled=no mode=ap name=cfgWIFI5GHZ security=secWIFI ssid=Gabriel
/interface wifi datapath
add bridge=bridge disabled=no name=datapathWIFI
/interface wifi provisioning
add action=create-enabled disabled=no master-configuration=cfgWIFI2GHZ supported-bands=2ghz-ax
add action=create-enabled disabled=no master-configuration=cfgWIFI5GHZ supported-bands=5ghz-ax

2

Additionally, I’ve tried to include local interfaces to CAPsMAN (making Manager=capsman on Configuration tab), tried to explicitly set Manager=local, still in vain..

If anybody would give me at least a direction to dig to..

3

Not entirely clear.
What device is capsman controller ?
Which devices are caps devices ?
Provide a full picture of your network (can be drawing on paper) and clearly indicate where is what, what device gives problems, ...

Regardless, capsman can not control local wifi interfaces on the same device.
You have to set those as managed local and provide local config (tip: you CAN provision those local interfaces just the same way as you do with caps radios !).

Secondly, set your 5GHz-wifi frequencies manually so you know where they are.
AX devices tend to favor high channels and not all client devices are happy with it (especially UNII-3 channels can give problems).

4

CAPsMAN is the hAP ax^2 itself

There is only one CAP and it is cAPGi-5HaxD2HaxD

I’ve got that capsman can not control local ints already - it was out of despair to try it..

Nevertheless, not manager=local + provisioned (by button on Radios tab) configuration, nor SSID, Security, etc, explicitly set on interface did bring the network visible..

5

There you can read about local interfaces.

6

Secondly, set your 5GHz-wifi frequencies manually so you know where they are.

There'`s a list of 5ghz frequencies in my config - not all of them listed:

add band=5ghz-ax disabled=no frequency=5180,5200,5220,5240,5745,5765,5785,5805,5825 name=AX_5G width=20/40mhz-Ce

AX devices tend to favor high channels and not all client devices are happy with it (especially UNII-3 channels can give problems).

And 2ghz frequencies should be seen by almost all devices, but there’ no 2ghz network visible also..

7

Everything above 5730 is UNII-3.
Are you sure your clients can handle it ??

True but not if your config is not correct. Same applies for 5GHz BTW ...

You may want to start with the examples as provided in that documentation link erlinden provided.
Work from there.

8

Tried this:

have disabled all wifi interfaces, but 2ghz, and set all parameters explicitly on it. thus config is:

/interface wifi
set [ find default-name=wifi2 ] channel.band=2ghz-g .frequency=2412 .width=20mhz configuration.country=Russia .mode=ap .ssid=Gabriel disabled=no

I even set G instead of AX (N was also tried).. Still no network visible.. :frowning:

9

Set a fixed frequency so you know on what frequency it should broadcast.
Anything in the logging? And what status do you see on the interface?

10

wifi2 is 2ghz? check for /interface/wifi/radio/print detail

see WiFi - RouterOS - MikroTik Documentation

11

/interface/wifi/radio/print detail
Flags: L - local
0 L radio-mac=48:A9:8A:37:23:B1 tx-chains=0,1 rx-chains=0,1 bands=5ghz-a:20mhz,5ghz-n:20mhz,20/40mhz,5ghz-ac:20mhz,20/40mhz,20/40/80mhz,5ghz-ax:20mhz,20/40mhz,20/40/80mhz
ciphers=tkip,ccmp,gcmp,ccmp-256,gcmp-256,cmac,gmac,cmac-256,gmac-256 min-antenna-gain=5 countries=all
5g-channels=5180,5200,5220,5240,5260,5280,5300,5320,5500,5520,5540,5560,5580,5600,5620,5640,5660,5680,5700,5720,5745,5765,5785,5805,5825,5845,5865,5885 max-vlans=128
max-interfaces=16 max-station-interfaces=3 max-peers=512 hw-type="QCA6018" hw-caps=sniffer,qos-classifier-dscp,spectral,channel-switch interface=wifi1

1 L radio-mac=48:A9:8A:37:23:B2 tx-chains=0,1 rx-chains=0,1 bands=2ghz-g:20mhz,2ghz-n:20mhz,20/40mhz,2ghz-ax:20mhz,20/40mhz
ciphers=tkip,ccmp,gcmp,ccmp-256,gcmp-256,cmac,gmac,cmac-256,gmac-256 min-antenna-gain=4 countries=all
2g-channels=2412,2417,2422,2427,2432,2437,2442,2447,2452,2457,2462,2467,2472 max-vlans=128 max-interfaces=16 max-station-interfaces=3 max-peers=512 hw-type="QCA6018"
hw-caps=sniffer,qos-classifier-dscp,spectral,channel-switch interface=wifi2 current-country=Russia
current-channels=2412/g,2412/n,2412/n/Ce,2412/ax,2412/ax/Ce,2417/g,2417/n,2417/n/Ce,2417/ax,2417/ax/Ce,2422/g,2422/n,2422/n/Ce,2422/ax,2422/ax/Ce,2427/g,2427/n,2427/n/Ce,2427/ax,
2427/ax/Ce,2432/g,2432/n,2432/n/Ce,2432/n/eC,2432/ax,2432/ax/Ce,2432/ax/eC,2437/g,2437/n,2437/n/Ce,2437/n/eC,2437/ax,2437/ax/Ce,2437/ax/eC,2442/g,2442/n,2442/n/Ce,
2442/n/eC,2442/ax,2442/ax/Ce,2442/ax/eC,2447/g,2447/n,2447/n/Ce,2447/n/eC,2447/ax,2447/ax/Ce,2447/ax/eC,2452/g,2452/n,2452/n/Ce,2452/n/eC,2452/ax,2452/ax/Ce,
2452/ax/eC,2457/g,2457/n,2457/n/eC,2457/ax,2457/ax/eC,2462/g,2462/n,2462/n/eC,2462/ax,2462/ax/eC,2467/g,2467/n,2467/n/eC,2467/ax,2467/ax/eC,2472/g,2472/n,2472/n/eC,
2472/ax,2472/ax/eC
current-gopclasses=81,83,84 current-max-reg-power=20

12

Set a fixed frequency so you know on what frequency it should broadcast.
Anything in the logging? And what status do you see on the interface?

already set (2412/20mhz)

only changes on the interface (made by me) in the log

status is SMB (S - as it belongs to bridge)

13

Just a question (long shot):
what packages do you have installed on that device ?

I hope ROS and wifi-qcom and nothing else wifi/wireless-related ?

14

Last resort I can think of:

/interface/wifi
reset wifi2

And then config as proposed earlier:

/interface wifi
set [ find default-name=wifi2 ] channel.band=2ghz-g .frequency=2412 .width=20mhz configuration.country=Russia .mode=ap .ssid=Gabriel disabled=no

Also please share the output of the commands here.

15

Maybe this might help you a bit? :see_no_evil_monkey:

Deploying MikroTik CAPsMAN — Manage Local & External WiFi Access Points Like a Pro! - YouTube

16

/system/package> print
Columns: NAME, VERSION, BUILD-TIME, SIZE

NAME VERSION BUILD-TIME SIZE

0 wifi-qcom 7.20 2025-09-29 09:33:57 10.2MiB
1 routeros 7.20 2025-09-29 09:33:57 12.6MiB

17

no output was given on both lines, but there were logged text:

device changed by winbox-3.42/mac-msg(winbox):admin@00:E0:4C:68:0C:70/terminal (/interface set wifi2 disabled=yes l2mtu=1560 name=wifi2; /queue interface set wifi2 queue=wireless-default; /interface wifi set [ find ] arp-timeout=auto disabled=yes l2mtu=1560 mac-address=48:A9:8A:37:23:B2 name=wifi2 radio-mac=48:A9:8A:37:23:B2)

in response to the “reset wifi2”, and:

device changed by winbox-3.42/mac-msg(winbox):admin@00:E0:4C:68:0C:70/terminal/action:0 (/interface set wifi2 disabled=no; /queue interface set wifi2; /interface wifi set [ find ] channel.band=2ghz-g .frequency=2412 .width=20mhz configuration.country=Russia .mode=ap .ssid=Gabriel disabled=no)

in response to the config line

regrettably no network appeared..

18

Have found this topic: hAP ax2 randomly drops WiFi SSIDs (both 2,4 and 5Ghz) - #135 by mkx

Tried downgrade to 7.9, 7.8, even 7.6 (7.6 was factory firmware for my device).. Default config, only 2.4GHz interface, N-band, manual 2437-channel. Still, none visible.

I’m beginning to suspect that sending antennae went off somehow (because if I press “Scan“ or “Freq Usage“, it can see other networks, so receiving antennae is good)..

That would be the first Mikrotik, that have had any malfunction in my experience, but there is always first time for everything..

Is there a way to check the sending antennae condition?

19

In WiFi in general, Tx and Rx antennas are the same ones ... they switch between both functions as needed. So if antennas would some how detach, you'd see problems in both transmit and receive functionalities.

If antennas are separate, then they are usually separate for different bands (one set of antennas for 2.4GHz and another set for 5GHz). Even if this was the case with your device, it wouldn't end up with same behaviour on both bands.

What might be the case (and even more so if physical antennas are shared between both bands) is that both Tx power amplifiers (for both bands) got destructed due to antenna connection problems (might be intermittent). But that kind of damage is not very common.

I would still guess that there's some problem with setup.
There have been a few topics describing similar problem (most of times it was a problem only for 5GHz band). And yet so far I haven't seen any logs posted. So I'd like you to post a part of logs created after device reboot. During that stage, device should be trying to start all configured interfaces, including wifi. And if there's any problem with that, it should be reported.

20

And please start those log extracts from default config.
Nothing changed.