Cannot access Cisco Aironet 1200 AG except through serial CLI

[mpaujsurine]

I inherited a Cisco Aironet 1200 AG (AIR-LAP1242AG-A-K9) recently and I am unable to access it via the web or telnet. At power up it indicates it has a problem with the ethernet link so the HW may be bad. I have reset the device by holding the mode button in and I can connect via the serial port interface and use the default password but I am unable to find complete documentation on this CLI interface to figure out what to to next to attempt to resurrect it. It may even have incorrect firmware in it.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

-Jim

Attached is a full dump of the output.

ERROR: timeout waiting for auto-negotiation to complete

ERROR: fail to bring ethernet link up

[Rob Huffman]

Hi Jim,

The problem here is that the AP you received is a Lightweight AP which is meant to be used with Wireless Lan Controllers and WCS. The "LAP" portion of the part number shows this Lightweight designation. This can be converted to an Autonomous/stand-alone AP that you desire;

Here is a conversion method;

Reverting the Access Point Back to Autonomous Mode

You can convert an access point from lightweight mode back to autonomous mode by loading a Cisco IOS Release that supports autonomous mode (Cisco IOS release 12.3(7)JA or earlier). If the access point is associated to a controller, you can use the controller to load the Cisco IOS release. If the access point is not associated to a controller, you can load the Cisco IOS release using TFTP.

Using a TFTP Server to Return to a Previous Release

Follow these steps to revert from LWAPP mode to autonomous mode by loading a Cisco IOS release using a TFTP server:

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Step 1 The static IP address of the PC on which your TFTP server software runs should be between 10.0.0.2 and 10.0.0.30.

Step 2 Make sure that the PC contains the access point image file (such as c1200-k9w7-tar.122-15.JA.tar for a 1200 series access point) in the TFTP server folder and that the TFTP server is activated.

Step 3 Rename the access point image file in the TFTP server folder to c1200-k9w7-tar.default for a 1200 series access point, c1130-k9w7-tar.default for an 1130 series access point, and c1240-k9w7-tar.default for a 1240 series access point.

Step 4 Connect the PC to the access point using a Category 5 (CAT5) Ethernet cable.

Step 5 Disconnect power from the access point.

Step 6 Press and hold MODE while you reconnect power to the access point.

Step 7 Hold the MODE button until the status LED turns red (approximately 20 to 30 seconds) and then release.

Step 8 Wait until the access point reboots, as indicated by all LEDs turning green followed by the Status LED blinking green.

Step 9 After the access point reboots, reconfigure it using the GUI or the CLI.

Hope this helps!

Rob

[mpaujsurine]

Thanks for the help I now have a usable access point. Although I did need to use the 1240 version of the firmware as the 1200 did not seem to be happy. Thanks.

[Rob Huffman]

Hey Jim,

Good stuff! Happy WiFi surfing ;-)

Take care,

Rob