I just got my first RB850Gx2 and had a hell of a time trying to configure it.
It seems whenever I’m connecting to it via MAC, Winbox constantly loses connection to it, but it doesn’t say “Router has been disconnected”, it just sits there and everything stops updating.
I tried Netinstalling different versions three times but it made no difference.
Eventually I managed to assign an IP address on it, it seems if I connect via IP it stays connected no problem.
There’s just an issue when connecting via MAC which I have never seen before.
I have ROS v6.22 on it now.
Normal situation? For what?
The only thing this is “normal” to is the RB850Gx2 and it definetely should not be like that.
Configuring hundreds of RB’s from the RB112 up till now I have never seen anything like this.
Unpacking my first RB850Gx2 I thought it was damaged and that I had to return it to my dealer.
Trying the next one it was the same
What is going on MT???
This is not true, and if you have never encountered this before, then you are a lucky man indeed.
In my experience, the MAC telnet/Winbox protocol can be unstable, and its stability seems to be linked in part to the medium that you are running it over (e.g., different ethernet chipsets and drivers seem to respond differently). Between some computers and routers, MAC Winbox works great; between a different computer and the same router, not so much. Sometimes certain things work okay but others don’t; for example, I have had problems forever where MAC Winbox will work fine right up until I try to upload a file to the router’s File window via drag-and-drop, at which time the Winbox connection will drop. When I switch over to an IP connection, it works fine.
The old joke about it being tied to the “phases of the moon” seems apt here.
My modus operandi is to use MAC Winbox to get in, assign the router an IP address as quickly as possible, and then reconnect via IP address.
NathanA:
I don’t say I never had problems connecting to a router using Mac Winbox.
I have seen this a few times, and it has probably been related to special configs, ports being disabled or something with bridges, I don’t know.
What’s new now is that it is consistent for a certain type RB (Ok, I have only tried 2, statistically it is probably considered a somewhat restricted population) but as you can see other people report the same thing. Factory reset and upgrade to 6.23 did no difference.
I use the same lineup all the time when configuring RBs in my lab, and there are hardly problems with any, be it RB 411, 433, 711, 750, 751, 911, 912, 922, 951, 1100AH, CCR1036, SXT, Sextant , Omnitik and so on.
But the 850 won’t cooperate.
It is shown in the list when searching with the button with the 3 periods …, the Winbox loads and displays the ROS version and that’s it.
And I’ve had plenty of problems with MAC Winbox to other RouterBoards, but not to this 850Gx2 that I have sitting on my desk right this second. So what’s your point? I have been MAC Winbox’d to it for about 30 minutes now without any issues. How long do I have to wait before I see the issue that everybody here is talking about?
I’m not saying that you aren’t having problems, but I suspect there is something specific to your environment that is factoring into your difficulties. Which is why I wrote what I did earlier: MAC Winbox is fragile, and the stars usually have to align for it to work well. Why it is singling out 850Gx2s in your case I could not say, but clearly, there are PC configurations other than the one you are using that happen to cope with MAC Winboxing to an 850Gx2 just fine, and apparently my PC, for whatever reason, is an example of one such working configuration.
I would advise you to contact support@mikrotik.com with details of your set-up (including Windows version, ethernet chipset(s), ethernet chipset driver version(s), link speed between 850Gx2 and your computer, whether there are any switches in between the RB and your computer, etc.) to see if they can reproduce the issue.
As for me, my working setup with the Gx2 is WinXP SP3 (I know, I know…) on a Dell Vostro 1510 laptop with an integrated Realtek 8168 Gigabit ethernet chip, driver version 5.764.702.2010 dated 07/02/2010, connected to an RB450G that sits in between the 850Gx2 and the computer, with the 450G ports forced to 100/Full (not to solve 850Gx2 communication issues, but because I was seeing some strange p-loss with this particular 450G and various gigabit-capable devices I would plug into it that I haven’t had time to troubleshoot). Perhaps this can give you some ideas for things to try or to change on your end.
I have had the same issue mentioned here with my RB850x2. The MAC based connection would make initial connection then act as though it was disconnected and quit updating but never actually disconnects.
I have two others I purchased at the same time but have yet to set them up yet.
Its a very different behavior than i have seen from other router boards in my environment.
How much time went by between when you made the connection and when you noticed it had stopped updating?
I left my MAC Winbox connection to my 850Gx2 open for over 2 hours before I eventually closed it. Interface stats, system resource stats, a couple of consoles, etc. were all perfectly responsive and updated constantly the whole time.
I must believe you when you say this works for you, but also I believe our point is clear enough.
With a very few exceptions (if any) most RBs work like a champ with Mac Winbox OTB from different NICs through a varity of switches, but the RB850Gx2 does not.
My solution for the 850 was to Mac Telnet via IP/Neighbor of another RB and setting the IP, but that’s more labour…
Of course I agree that your recipe works, using MAC Winbox just for getting in to set an IP address and continue with IP.
But in my practical work MAC Winbox is extremely convenient and I use it almost daily for configuring equipment for my network.
In most operations the IP addresses of the equipment to be configured does not match the one in my lab, and I don’t want to assign any to it either, in order to not disturb the setup.
Normally OTB Routerboards are connected to a PoE switch, I connect via Mac Winbox, remove default configuration, upgrade ROS and bootloader and paste in some basic script from which I continue the config.
Another scenario is when out by a tower, I can Mac Winbox the equipment in the tower and do whatever I want without worrying about the IP address of my notebook.
Designing a new routerboard that breaks this functionality and works with Mac Winbox on only certain NICs and/or ethernet speeds is pretty weird. I hope MT can chime in with a solution.
Long enough for the initial window to populate. Then things start going blank. I had to set the initial IP address via the serial console. If this would have been a RB750 or something without serial I would not have been able to do initial config on the unit.
Like I said, luckily (by coincidence? ) you can Mac Telnet it. Either by typing in the MAC or via ip/neighbor from another RB.
But this is far from convenient.
Of course, I agree. My own (bad?) experiences with MAC Winbox, though (as well as my good experience with the 850Gx2), had led me to conclude that the Gx2 was neither better nor worse than any other RB, and that because of past bad experiences, I am not ever going to count on it working for long periods of time or take its presence for granted. It can definitely be a real life-safer, even in its present, flawed form, but because of its finicky nature, I have to believe that MikroTik never intended for it to be used as anything other than a measure of last resort. I was surprised to learn in this thread that there were others who have apparently never had any problems until now, which is completely contrary to my own experience (as well as the collective experience of our field techs).
I’m pretty sure they did not intentionally “design” such a thing. And I would be willing to wager that they haven’t said anything because “it works for them” and they need people to give them more details other than just “it doesn’t work for me” before they can reproduce and then tackle the problem. In short, they can’t fix the problem if they don’t know that there is a problem, and they might not know it’s a problem because they have never encountered it themselves (which means it’s not absolutely broken for everybody), and those that have encountered it do not know how to put together a proper trouble report.
I realize it is not optimal, but out of curiosity, did you try MAC Telnet from the same PC that you were failing to MAC Winbox from? There is a MAC Telnet app for Windows…you knew that, right? You can download it here.
Another issue I encounter with the 850 is that they appear to be difficult to run via PoE in from an RB260GSP.
First time I tried none of them powered up.
Then I forced PoE output of the 260GSP and board #1 powered up. After playing around for a while I suddenly made the 260GSP detect the board and now it powers up fine on Auto every time…
Board #2 however, is not detected by the PoE output of the 260.
Played around with “PoE in Long Cable” (which sometimes has saved me even when running the 260 off the DC jack), upgrading to SwOS 1.14, swapping ports, changing between Auto/On etc.. but board #2 only powers up when forcing the PoE output of the 260 to “On”.
Current drawn is about 150 mA for each 850.
No doubt there’s an issue with the MAC telnet connection to the RB850Gx2. I’ve read some of the replies from other users here but this is specific to this model. No it’s not normal, contrary to what the other people are saying. I’ve upgrade up to 6.25 and the problem is still clear. Once you’re able to get in and assign an IP address and connect via the IP everything works fine.
I’m going to test this out throughout the week to make sure I’m comfortable with it.
Good to hear that we’re in the same boat.
Like some people say, Mac Winbox is maybe not rock solid in all means, but after configuring hundreds of routerboards of nearly all models from 2007 I have never seen problems as consistent as with the 850.
From time to time other boards fail as well, but not every time.
Sounds strange that it is made in a way that it only works with certain NICs and switches…either way it’s easy to pinpoint the problem down to the 850, not to dozens of NICs and switches sitting around for years…
Needless to say, this flaw makes the 850 more cumbersome to work with…I can’t tell how often I have saved my b*** by being able to MAC telnet in to setup or do config changes.
Has anybody who is experiencing this problem actually taken the time to write into support@mikrotik.com with full details and with a supout.rif attached? Don’t expect a comment from MT until someone has raised the issue with them through their official support channels. This forum is not one of those channels (although it is certainly helpful for other users to know that they are not alone, so don’t stop posting, but also don’t limit your communication on this issue to just these forums).
) you can Mac Telnet it. Either by typing in the MAC or via ip/neighbor from another RB.