GE DASH Monitors Connectivity Issue

[hartija]

We are a healthcare system that has the GE DASH 3000 bedside monitors a one of our hospitals.  Last week I upgraded out 4404 standalone controllers from 5.2.178.0 to 6.0.199.4, this was done to resolve a bug issue in the 5.2 code.  Now we are getting connectivity issues on the DASH monitors.  This DASH system is odd as it is just a big layer-2 broadcast domain, these devices won't route and they just broadcast out their info in a GE proprietary language (makes it difficult to troubleshoot).

Now that we are on 6.0.199.4, the GE central monitors (wired) can see the wireless devices and get device information, but cannot get full connectivity for the transfer of patient vital statistics.  The devices are hardcoded with IP addresses but the wired devices connot ping the wireless monitors.  I attached a laptop with a hardcoded IP to this WLAN and it could ping to the wired devices and vice-versa, but still no pings to just the DASH 3000 monitors.

On the controllers I have enabled broadcast forwarding, and at the advice of TAC I have disabled band select and load balancing on the DASH WLAN.  Still, when an AP is first migrated to controller running 6.0 code, the DASH monitor will work fine for about 30 minutes and then go back to "no comm" on the central monitor.

Has anyone else experienced this with the GE DASH Monitors?  Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jason

[Raul Manzano Barroso]

It´s a shame, because more time ago I had the same problem and I got a document explaining the configuration to support these devices.

I will try to remember:

- Enable ethernet broadcast.

- Disable Ethernet ARP Unicast.

- Enable 802.11 Padding: config advanced dot11-padding enable

If I find this document I will tell you which is the suggested configuration for these devices.

This is working in a 4.2 release.

Best regards.

[Kayle Miller]

Can you post a debug of the client as well as check the things listed by the other gentlemen.  I have seen some of the GE devices do wierd things in regards to ARP and IP addressing on the newer code releases.

[hartija]

I have been trying to get debugs, but I now can't get the issue to repeat.  I am not confident that the problem is resolved from the disabling of load balancing and band select on the DASH wlan.  I think it took about two days for the problem to appear after the code was upgraded.  At least nobody reported a problem for two days.  I am trying to expand the test to more DASH devices but I am having trouble getting the users to approve this.  I'll update when I have more information.

[jkrueger-gomez]

Jason,

We are having issues at our hospital as well. Will you contact me at jkrueger-gomez@nebraskamed.com and we can discuss further?

[p-allen]

Did anyone get a resolution to this yet? Our Wireless Lan Controllers were on version 6.0.1.199 and we upgraded to 7.0.98. We did not have any reports of issues on the older code. We have been troubleshooting this for a few weeks now with no resolve. The hardwired units work great but the wirelss GE Dash units could have a lot of problems one day and none the next.

[jkrueger-gomez]

We are currently working with GE on the issue, they think it is a software issue with Cisco and GE. No resolution as of yet.

Jaime

[p-allen]

Did you get my email? Can you email the exact issue you are having and the ticket # you have with GE. They keep telling us it is our network causing the issue.

Maybe I can submit my issue to them and have them refer to your ticket. It might help us both get this resolved since this is impacting patient care.

[jkrueger-gomez]

I didn't get an e-mail just a link to the Cisco drive --why don't you give me a call at 402-552-3365 to discuss.

Jaime

[hartija]

I started this string back in October and we still do not have a solution.  I had a  TAC case open for a while, but they kept needing debugs from troubleshooting and this issue is difficult to get to repeat.  Client debugs are for one MAC at a time and once I migrate APs to a controller running 6.0 code it can an hour or several days before the issue pops up.  Scheduling times to do this testing became problematic.

[p-allen]

We now have a SR# open with GE and sent them a copy of our WLC config and a network diagram. We are providing them with the logs from the CIC and the Dash Units. I will post if we get any updates or a resolution.

[weterry]

Please email me (weterry@cisco.com) any current/open TAC SR# regarding this GE DASH / WLC 7.0 interop issue. I'm working with GE but I am only seeing one open TAC SR regarding this. Specifically, I am tracking it with CSCtl89941.

[Steven Edwards]

"config advanced dot11-padding enable" on the wlc fixed mine.