AP541N-E-K9 keeps dropping all WLAN connections

moneypenny007 · ‎04-27-2012

I hope someone could shed some light on an issue we have with our AP541N-E-K9 on the latest firmware.

Our issue sounds similar to this thread:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/thread/2028334

Our AP541N-E-K9 keeps dropping all WLAN connections and will not allow us to connect via WIFI. I have to switch the unit off and on but even so sometimes it will take 10 mins for the WLAN to accept new connections. Nothing has changed on the network for months as it is a very basic scenario ie Draytek DSL Router -> Cat5e cable -> AP541N-E-K9, thats it! The AP is really only used for guest access and may have about 15 staff connected via WIFI at any one time.

Thanks

alepatte · ‎04-27-2012

Hi, My name is Alena Patterson. I am a Network Support Engineer in the Cisco Small Business Support Center. Thank you for using the Cisco Community Post Forums.

If you have set you for auto channel, you might consider to select specific one and see if that would help. There are only 3 non overlapping channels 1, 6, 11 so you should be using one of those otherwise you might get lots of interference from your neighbors. Before you select specific channel I would like to recommend to scan your wireless network to see what other wireless networks around you, if any and what channel do they use before you can select your channel for your device.

Do all the devices drop the connection or only some of them?

Does your AP has static ip address on it? Can you ping the AP address?

Also, do you have DHCP from your router? If so, if you set the static ip on the device, would you loose the connection on those devices?

If you have SSID that has spaces or special characters, try to take those out and see if that helps.

Same applies to the password;

If you have security enabled and you disable it, would you have the same issue?

When the connection drops, can you see the SSID on a list?

Also, you might look at the logs, they might indicate something that triggers this issue.

Hope that helps.

moneypenny007 · ‎04-30-2012

Hi Alena,

I've changed the access point to use channel 1 which seemed to work for about 5 mins and then all wireless devices have dropped off and the even log keeps showing:

Apr 30 16:39:09 info hostapd wlan0: IEEE 802.11 STA 40:30:04:4b:e4:1e deauthed from BSSID 64:ae:0c:ea:ca:40 reason 3

Apr 30 16:39:09 info hostapd wlan0: IEEE 802.11 STA 14:74:11:76:97:24 deauthed from BSSID 64:ae:0c:ea:ca:40 reason 1

Apr 30 16:39:09 info hostapd wlan0: STA 14:74:11:76:97:24 WPA: pairwise key handshake timed out (no reply was received for the first message)

Apr 30 16:39:09 info hostapd The wireless client with MAC address 14:74:11:76:97:24 had an authentication failure.

Apr 30 16:39:09 info hostapd wlan0: IEEE 802.11 STA 40:30:04:4b:e4:1e deauthed from BSSID 64:ae:0c:ea:ca:40 reason 1

Apr 30 16:39:09 info hostapd wlan0: STA 40:30:04:4b:e4:1e WPA: pairwise key handshake timed out (no reply was received for the first message)

Apr 30 16:39:09 info hostapd The wireless client with MAC address 40:30:04:4b:e4:1e had an authentication failure.

Apr 30 16:39:02 info hostapd wlan0: IEEE 802.11 Assoc request from 70:d4:f2:1a:ec:3d BSSID 64:ae:0c:ea:ca:40 SSID Skyfire

Apr 30 16:39:02 info hostapd wlan0: IEEE 802.11 STA 70:d4:f2:1a:ec:3d deauthed from BSSID 64:ae:0c:ea:ca:40 reason 3

Apr 30 16:39:02 info hostapd wlan0: IEEE 802.11 Assoc request from 70:d4:f2:1a:ec:3d BSSID 64:ae:0c:ea:ca:40 SSID Skyfire

Apr 30 16:39:02 info hostapd wlan0: IEEE 802.11 STA 14:74:11:76:97:24 associated with BSSID 64:ae:0c:ea:ca:40

Apr 30 16:39:02 info hostapd wlan0: IEEE 802.11 Assoc request from 14:74:11:76:97:24 BSSID 64:ae:0c:ea:ca:40 SSID Skyfire

Apr 30 16:39:02 info hostapd wlan0: IEEE 802.11 STA 14:74:11:76:97:24 deauthed from BSSID 64:ae:0c:ea:ca:40 reason 3

Apr 30 16:39:02 info hostapd wlan0: IEEE 802.11 STA 40:30:04:4b:e4:1e associated with BSSID 64:ae:0c:ea:ca:40

Apr 30 16:39:01 info hostapd wlan0: IEEE 802.11 Assoc request from 40:30:04:4b:e4:1e BSSID 64:ae:0c:ea:ca:40 SSID Skyfire

Apr 30 16:39:01 info hostapd wlan0: IEEE 802.11 STA 40:30:04:4b:e4:1e deauthed from BSSID 64:ae:0c:ea:ca:40 reason 3

Apr 30 16:39:01 info hostapd wlan0: IEEE 802.11 Assoc request from 40:30:04:4b:e4:1e BSSID 64:ae:0c:ea:ca:40 SSID Skyfire

alepatte · ‎05-03-2012

Hi Paul,

There is a new firmware for your device. Please upgrade your firmware to the latest one.

Here is the link to it:

http://www.cisco.com/cisco/software/release.html?mdfid=282790482&flowid=6790&softwareid=282804210

Once you upgraded, please reset your device to factory defaults by holding the reset button for 40 sec and then reconfigure it manually. That should fix the problem.

Thank you.

moneypenny007 · ‎05-04-2012

Hi Alena,

I've updated the firmware from the link and will let you know how we get on.

I also found in the event log that the AP541N-E-K9 can only handle 15 concurrent connections which seems low for a business grade access point and this doesn't seem to be well documented. Do you know if this can be lifted as i've had to setup a second much cheaper AP to handle the extra connections?

Thanks,

Paul

alepatte · ‎05-04-2012

Hi Paul,

If you go to "Advanced Settings" of your AP, there you can adjust the "Maximum number of stations" and you can set it up to max of 200 clients. But it is not recommended because it will affect your throughput. So, I would recommend to have in a range of 40-50 clients.

Thank you.

Alena

moneypenny007 · ‎05-04-2012

Hi Alena

the default setting in the config is 200 and this still only allows 15 concurrent connections?

alepatte · ‎05-04-2012

Hi Paul,

Please try to change the Maximum Stations to 50 and see if that will work.

You also mentioned that you have a second AP, make sure that they are on different channels. Again, there are only 3 non overlapping channels 1, 6, 11 so you should be using one of those otherwise you might get lots of interference from your neighbors. So, if your AP541N is on channel 1, then select channel 6 or 11 for your second AP. Also, go ahead and scan your network to see if you have interference on your channels, you might need to adjust them based on the results you would get.

Also, did the firmware fixed the connectivity issue?

Thanks,

Alena

elewis · ‎02-21-2013

After problems using Enginius AP we thought we could use the AP541N as AP. But it drops all wlan connections.

The connections seems to be fine and everything works well for about 30 - 45 minutes. Then the connections drop. To get connected again we must reconnect.

Settings

Channel 9 (no interference)

WPA2 AES

Fixed IP

Connected to DHCP (to give android tablets IP adress)

Firmaware 2.04

Please advise! We need a stable AP for application and customers

encocamenc · ‎04-04-2013

I’m experiencing the same problem with clients unable to connect and those that are connected it doesn’t able to pass data, I have to power off the unit to fix it !

There are other wifi in the area using channels 1 6 11 so I set my unit to channel 8

Using firmware 2.04

I bought this on good name that cisco apparently has but I see other user are having same problem. My issue this needs to be 100% stable and have to deploy another 2 units but I can’t do this as it’s unreliable. Cisco this needs to be fixed urgently !!