I've got a MT (FEN Thinrouter, in this case), being used as an AP, and for the most part things are fine.

But, every so often, the wireless interfaces (Atheros) will disconnect almost everyone (often 3-4 customers will remain, but it drops 45 or so of them). Rebooting customer side equip does not help, and if we have the client equip scan for APs, it does not see the SSID.

Disabling and re-enabling the interfaces brings everyone back up, and I have a script doing just that every morning.

I didn't think it was a MT problem, since that location has had AP problems with every other AP we have tried as well (Orinoco and Cisco). But recently we setup another MT/Atheros AP, (RB230) which so far only has a single customer on it (in a very RF-clean tiny town), and the other day the same thing happened to him.

I saw something similar-sounding in the changelog, but it was for WDS setups, which we aren't using here.

Next time I see it happen, I'll get a supout and send it in.

Any ideas?

--Eric

You can make a supout file even when there is no problem and we may be able to get some information. Send this to support@mikrotik.com

This is the first time I have heard of this -- you should be using the current version 2.8.12.

John

Hi Eric
I had a similar problem but I built my system from scratch. About every three days I would lose the client side connection. This drove me nuts. I built another system and got a second Mikrotik OS on a flash disk. When the first system went down again I put the second one in. The second system worked Great. I later replaced the ethernet cards in the first system and it now works great. Dont know if thats the problem with yours.
Mike

Our setup is RB230's with v2.8.11's.

We have the same problem with Atheros 5212 be it PCMICA or MiniPCI.
Currently we have scripts that run regular intervals and restarts the interfaces when the event has been found (ie. if 40 are in access-list and less than 50% is online)

You should also have your script make a supout file to send to us. This situation is not normal and not common either. As I know that you are not using radios that we sell, I can imagine that this could be a problem. As I have told you before, we have tested a number of Atheros PCMCIA cards and found that they have design issues (probably with heat and power). As we had them in a RouterBOARD, we first thought there was a driver or other defect. Then when these cards kept stoping in my laptop and others laptop, it was clear that the cards were defective. Which still sounds like your case.

John

That is correct, i thought i'd list the types of cards we have used and perhaps someone else could share their experiences with these cards;

Senao NL-5354MP Plus ARIES2 (MiniPCI)
Proxim 8480-WD ( PCMCIA - 802.11a/b/g ComboCard )
Wistron E500AG ( CM6 )
Wistron CB500AG ( PCMCIA )

Only about 1 or perhaps 2 out of 100 give us any problems which could indicate they are simply physically damaged.

We have a similar problem with Atheros 5211 (5.5 GHz turbo) on RB230.

About 3 - 5 times per day, the main ap drops the connection to the three clients. The links are down for about 30 s - then everything comes back up.

Kim

We have almost the same problem with the disconnects. I have tested all kinds of setups and am still having the problem. Our clients disconnect and then connect right back up. I can understand it on some of our clients that are going through trees, but most of our clients have -65 signal strength or better.

All APs are RB230 with Prism 200mw PCIMIA cards with 12 dbi omnis. All client equipment is CB3+Deluxe, NL-2611CB3+D.

In one area a client is within 300 feet with a signal strength of -42. They will drop in and out all day and then stay on for a few days while another clients drops in and out. Then they will start dropping in and out. I have replaced all equipment and redone the AP install 2 times. The area does have some other RF in 2.4, but the noise floor is low.

In the same area as above I have a MT with a Prism Mini-PCI card in it connecting back to the MT with the Omni. The MT to MT is a 6 mile link with only a -72 signal strength, but has never dropped once in about 2 months.

I am going to take one of the problem clients and put a RB230 to see if it goes in and out like the CB3s.

Any one else have this problem? This is getting bad enough we are looking for a different 2.4 solution.

Thanks.

Send a supout file to support just after a client drops. Support can write a script for you so that it can automatically do this. Contact them!

John