I have a rb532 with two sanyo cards, one set for 2.4 the other 5.8. The unit is in an enclosed outdoor box that is about 2 foot by 2 foot attached to the bottom of my tower.
Several weeks ago the unit strated rebooting but only when the tempature droped to frezzing. I checked the site everything seemed ok, so I assumed the apc batteries were in need of replacement. So I replaced them and several days later when it got cold again the unit started rebooting.
I did some additonal research and found that the apc was not rated below frezzing. So I insulated the metal case, and installed a heater. Checked it for several days and seemed to keep the case nice an warm but not hot.
The weather has been pretty mild since then up untill two days ago. We havn’t gotten above freezing and the unit reboots randomaly, sometimes two three times in an hour then other times several hours apart.
I checked watchdog/reboot timers and they are all disabled.
Today high tempature was 20F, and I went up the tower took some pictures and chaged out the 48V power to an 18V power, returned to the office and the links were down. Returned to the tower and discovered the daughtercard on the RB532 would not power up with the 18V power. So I installed a new 48V power supply (and put the jumpers back).
Unit ran for about 2 hours then started rebooting again. Sometimes it will run for many hours other times It will reboot 3 times in ten minutes, then go for another few hours.
The 48V power supply is new, the Battery backup is new, Theres now heater in the box for several weeks now, There is no watchdog setup.
On RB532 there is powersaving mode in AP, in CPU settings
cpu-mode (power-save | regular; default: power-save) - whether to enter CPU suspend mode in HTL instruction. Most OSs use HLT instruction during CPU idle cycle. When CPU is in suspend mode, it consumes less power, but in low-temperatire conditions it is recommended to choose regular mode, so that overall system temperature would be greater
Thank you for the suggestion, I just upgraded to the latest code (I was on 2.9.34 now on 2.9.39 for this unit only now. And I made the change you suggested. I really hope this fixes.
I have other towers running 2.9.34 that were not rebooting so thought I would just leave the code alone for now. But when all else fails upgrade? hehe
The standby change and the upgrade to the latest code did not solve the problem. I sent a supout.rif file to Mikrotik hopefully they can come up with an answer. Any other suggestions?
532s do not have a general problem of rebooting in the cold. That suggest the culprit just might be the radio cards. Suggest you consider changing them out as a next step.
Actually, after the unit rebooted the one time it hasn’t done it anymore. I made the change, the unit rebooted about 30 mins later and now is stable for 5 hours. 8)
cold is most certainly not a problem for routerboards, they generate heat. the problem could be starting up, but not running or rebooting. you have probably seen this picture: http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Image:IM000395.JPG
I am happy to report that that the unit has been up for 16 hours and no reboots. the only change I made was the one suggested above about the power-saving mode.
I did upgrade the code but it still rebooted several times within the hour after the upgrade. I made the system/mikrotik/settings/ change to regular the unit rebooted one more time and has been up for 16 hours now. It’s currently 30F And was lower than that over night.
So.. I belive what your saying about cold normallly not being a factor but this has seemed to resolve my issue…
I have sent a supout.rif file to your support e-mail perhaps that will shed some light.
After a few more days the unit still reboots a few times a day but no like it was before.
Mikrotik support feel that the three radio’s that I am using on the board are consuming to much power. I’ll test this later by moving one of the radios to another rb unit once the weather allows.
This particular rb532 has three of the Senao cards which have been installed and in operation for two years. The unit only reboots in winter, around 32 Degress and at night time between 11pm and 7am.
It almost always reboot around 10:45, then be ok untill 11:15 then reboot again. and then randomly after that a few times every hour.
Though once in a while it will reboot 10-15 times in a row at 11:15 then be stable for the rest of the night.
I have the enclosure heated, and I’ve carefully inspected all cables and replaced many. I’ve replaced the apc battery as well.. though after detailing this I might go up and remove the apc and use a surge surpression and just see if it reboots or not without the apc. Sure it may reboot some due to power outage but not like it is now.
I also plan to remove one of the radio’s and move to another rb532 after i figure out how to do it (another topic i started here). and after the weather warms up a bit so I can get up to the tower.
Mikrotik support feels that the radio’s that I am using is drawing to much power and this is what is causing the reboot. There remedy was for me to drop back to the 65mw radio cards.. r52’s I think.
Tommorw I plan to work on the tower, I havn’t decided if i’m going to try the 65mw cards or just replace the rb532.
My delima is this. Around 11 a.m. this morning the tempature rasied to 40F and now it is 12:30 am the tempature is still well above freezing. The unit has gone 13 hours without reboot. Thats what troubles me. This unit runs through the heat of the summer 90-100F with no problem. Just went the unit is close to or below 32F does it reboot. The enclosure is heated, with battery backups. Insulated as well. Mikrotik shows me pictures and tells me cold would not effect the units, which I belive. So my only assumtion is that the RB532 that must be damaged. I will replace it tommorw and see what happens I guess.
I am convenced that this issue is related to the cold. The lowest the tempature has gotten over night was 47F. The unit is not even on a battery backup, and we had one very violant thunderstorm and rain last night (very odd for winter here). The unit has now been up for 1d 7 hours.
I also have to belive Mikrotik that there equipment will work in very cold weather so I assume my rb532 or one of my radio cards are failing when it’s cold. Perhaps a solder joint or something expanding in the cold. I will just replace the entire unit asap.
I think you’re on the right track. There isn’t a generic problem with cold and R532s, at least down to about -40 which we hit last winter. This year has only been -37C so far, with no failures due to cold.
Reading further down through this thread I see you’ve eliminated a number of possibilities. What you say about the timing and pattern of the reboots leads me to ask if you’re looked to the heater itself as the culprit? Specifically, noise/spikes emanating from the thermostat contacts?
For instance, on nights that are marginal for heater demand, you might see the thermostat open/close a number of times. On colder evenings, it may open/close a few times, then close for the rest of the evening thus eliminating further noise/spikes until things warm up.
