I have set up a MikroTik Metal 52ac aboard a sailboat in a marina. Following the directions, I used the basic setup which worked quite well in the shop connecting to my local wireless network. When I set it up on the boat, it scanned for available networks. I chose the marina network and entered the password. All I get is a message that says “searching for network”
The unit is set for router mode with automatic address acquisition with NAT enabled.
I must be missing something…
First guess is that your Channel Width is set to 20MHz. If so then change it to 20/40MHz XX and try the connection.
If that isn’t the problem then open the Terminal window and enter /export hide-sensitive file=GrooveCfg . This will output your current configuration to Files. Attach this file to your next post and I’ll look for what may be missing.
Channel width is set to 20/40/80MHz XXXX on the 5GHz A/N/AC band
I’ll have to get the file you need next time I am onsite.
I executed the command and exported to the file. Problem is, I have no idea where that file is to send it.
I do have screen shots of the configuration. One thing I discovered is that the CPE cannot see any of the mesh network! It sees a ton of wireless networks including the wireless access point on the boat. I should describe the mesh: There are 2 CPEs that bring the signal from the office to the docks. From there, we have 8 access points. Many people get the signal from the access points by installing a range extender. This works, but created a bunch more networks in the marina.
The MikroTik sees these networks. It also sees the CPE on the dock that is attached to the root AP. That is what I was trying to access and was not able to connect–it wasn’t an access point. So, that answers the first question–why it won’t detect a network. What puzzles me is why, in the list of networks, the access points are not visible.
Here is a screen shot of the configuration
The file goes to the Files window and you can find that by clicking on the “WebFig” button in the upper right of the Quick Set page. You may have rebooted the Groove before you went to Files to look for it. If so then the file would have been deleted because I didn’t have you put it in the “flash/” folder.
To get it in the flash folder use this command. /export hide-sensitive file=flash/GrooveCfg
I’m not sure how you are seeing CPE with the Metal 52ac.
You’ve got a bunch of access points showing in the scan window and a bunch more if you pull the slider down. If the unseen AP’s are 2.4GHz signals they wouldn’t be seen because you are only scanning 5GHz signals. Try changing the Channel Width to 20/40Hz XX and Band to 2GHz-B/G/N. This will change the scan to 2.4ghz stations
That’s the problem–it won’t let me change to 2.4 GHz. Insists on staying on 5! I try to switch and it just springs back to the setting you see in the screen shot I sent.
Use Winbox and change the config directly on the interface instead of using Webfig with QuickSet.
Regards.
CPE quickset can only handle devices with one WLAN interface. The script gets confused when there are more WLAN interfaces. (e.g. setting parameters on one interface and using another interface while scanning). Webfig or WinBox are not difficult at all to correctly set up or adjust a CPE configuration.
CPE script seems to have been made for ROS level3 devices that never can act as AP, and not even have a second WLAN interface.
If this is not a problem for the Metal 52c, then also remember that “united states3” will only see some frequencies, depending on the installation setting. (outdoor ???)
> interface wireless info country-info
country: united states3
ranges: 2402-2472/b,g,gn20,gn40(30dBm)
5170-5250/a,an20,an40,ac20,ac40,ac80,ac160,ac80+80(30dBm)/indoor
5735-5835/a,an20,an40,ac20,ac40,ac80,ac160,ac80+80(30dBm)/outdoor
Adding a rule with “topics:wireless, action:memory” to /system/logging , could tell you more in the log in memory about the seen AP’s while searching networks. (basic rate, supported rates …)
I was using the web interface as I was using the client’s machine. This afternoon, I’ll take my computer down. Have Winbox on it. I’ll give it a try. Thanks.
After reading what you guys said, here’s the problem and solution.
The CPE could not find the mesh because it was scanning only the 5GHz A/N/AC band. When I tried to change ti in the Quikset menu, it would not accept the change.
I as using the web interface, so one suggestion was to use Winbox directly from a computer and not through through the router.
That didn’t work.
A friend suggested using WebFig, selecting the wireless connection, and torching it. Well, that option apparently is not available through Winbox.So I went back to the wireless connection through the router and tried it.
That didn’t work.
I’m at a bit of a disadvantage here, as I don’t have one of these units available here in the office to play with. I can’t remember the exact menu, but I again went into the wireless connection and changed the band 2.4. It said it couldn’t do that because it was incompatible with the channel width which I had been told to set as 20/40/80MHz XXXX.
I had the channel width on the access points set to 20MHz, so i changed it to that value in the wireless configuration and told it to save the change.
I next went back to Quick Set and there all the APs were! I selected the mesh and entered the password and we were in!
Thanks to all of you who answered. Seems it took both your input and input from a friend who has been using a MikroTik Groove to get it to work.