Devices keep disconnecting since WAP561

[Michiel Beenen]

Hello Cisco,

Now Im a big Cisco fan so i replaced our Airport access points in the house with the WAP561.

My main problem is that since i did that, once in a while (if i had to guess every couple of hours) I have our laptops, iphones disconnecting and then it takes the device a while to be able to reconnect to the access point (unless you manually disable wifi and enable it again).

Ive been trying to figure out how this would be possible but so far I have no clue. 
Running Firmware 1.0.4.4, The Radio is set to 20Mhz (also on 20/40 same result) with a static channel (6), there is no other wifi ssid's around us so that cant be it. We use WPA2 keys and all the other settings are pretty default. (No QOS, No VLAN, No guest)

We didnt have this problem at all with Airport express/extreme from Apple, all devices stayed connected forever.

I hope someone can help me cause this is seriously annoying.... i want my devices to stay connected.

The only thing i can find in the logs is this:

May 9 2014 10:46:37	info	hostapd[2135]	wlan0: WPA STA 60:03:08:92:7a:00 pairwise key exchange completed (WPAv2)
May 9 2014 10:46:37	info	hostapd[2135]	wlan0: IEEE 802.11 STA 60:03:08:92:7a:00 associated with BSSID 18:9c:5d:39:67:00
May 9 2014 10:46:37	info	hostapd[2135]	wlan0: IEEE 802.11 Assoc request from 60:03:08:92:7a:00 BSSID 18:9c:5d:39:67:00 SSID Mnet
May 9 2014 10:46:37	info	hostapd[2135]	wlan0: IEEE 802.11 STA 60:03:08:92:7a:00 deauthed from BSSID 18:9c:5d:39:67:00 reason 3: STA is leaving IBSS or ESS
May 9 2014 10:46:19	info	hostapd[2135]	wlan0: IEEE 802.11 STA 54:e4:3a:2f:93:78 deauthed from BSSID 18:9c:5d:39:67:00 reason 4: Disassociated due to inactivity
May 9 2014 10:46:14	info	hostapd[2135]	The wireless client with MAC address 54:e4:3a:2f:93:78 has been successfully authenticated.

May 9 2014 10:47:02

info

hostapd[2135]

wlan1: IEEE 802.11 STA 54:e4:3a:2f:93:78 deauthed from BSSID 18:9c:5d:39:67:10 reason 4: Disassociated due to inactivity

[Michiel Beenen]

...

[Michiel Beenen]

Does Cisco actually give anything about their customers these days or is the only answer: Make a support ticket or not reply at all?? Im a Cisco user/fan/engineer for years and was hoping Cisco would take things seriously, ive seen a lot of WAP problems on these forums all related to Apple devices disconnecting with inactivity over and over, and none of the topics ends with a good result. I was hoping for once this could be fixed!? Or are we, the customers, seriously have to look at other brands? Thank you.

[Eric Moyers]

Hello Michiel,

Sorry for the late reply.

Just a couple of questions so that I can try and help with resolving your issue. On your configuration for the WPA561, under LAN -> VLAN and IPv4 Address: Do you have the Untagged VLAN checked or unchecked?

During a time when the WAP561 is not responding to DHCP request, can you still get to the GUI using a PC that is hardwired on the network? If you can could you do a packet capture using the capture on the WAP and capture from the BRTrunk and Eth01.

However if we find anything once we  get started, it may be more advantageous to have you open a case and actually work with one of our Engineers directly.

But lets get this information to start and see what we can find.

Eric Moyers

[Michiel Beenen]

Untagged VLAN: Enabled

Should that be off?

Yes i can still get to the GUI, the strangest part is that other non apple devices keep working fine aswell also over wifi.

Did some more testing today (Whenever i use a non cisco access point (ASUS, Apple) it keeps working fine):

May 14 2014 14:47:36	info	hostapd[874]	The wireless client with MAC address 54:e4:3a:2f:93:78 has been successfully authenticated.
May 14 2014 14:47:36	info	hostapd[874]	wlan0: WPA STA 54:e4:3a:2f:93:78 pairwise key exchange completed (WPAv2)
May 14 2014 14:47:36	info	hostapd[874]	wlan0: IEEE 802.11 STA 54:e4:3a:2f:93:78 associated with BSSID 18:9c:5d:39:67:00
May 14 2014 14:47:36	info	hostapd[874]	wlan0: IEEE 802.11 Assoc request from 54:e4:3a:2f:93:78 BSSID 18:9c:5d:39:67:00 SSID Mnet
May 14 2014 14:47:34	info	hostapd[874]	wlan0: IEEE 802.11 STA 54:e4:3a:2f:93:78 deauthed from BSSID 18:9c:5d:39:67:00 reason 1: Unspecified Reason
May 14 2014 14:47:34	info	hostapd[874]	Station 54:e4:3a:2f:93:78 had an authentication failure, reason 17
May 14 2014 14:45:35	info	hostapd[874]	The wireless client with MAC address 54:e4:3a:2f:93:78 has been successfully authenticated.
May 14 2014 14:45:35	info	hostapd[874]	wlan0: WPA STA 54:e4:3a:2f:93:78 pairwise key exchange completed (WPAv2)
May 14 2014 14:45:35	info	hostapd[874]	wlan0: IEEE 802.11 STA 54:e4:3a:2f:93:78 associated with BSSID 18:9c:5d:39:67:00
May 14 2014 14:45:35	info	hostapd[874]	wlan0: IEEE 802.11 Assoc request from 54:e4:3a:2f:93:78 BSSID 18:9c:5d:39:67:00 SSID Mnet
May 14 2014 14:45:35	info	hostapd[874]	wlan0: IEEE 802.11 STA 54:e4:3a:2f:93:78 deauthed from BSSID 18:9c:5d:39:67:00 reason 3: STA is leaving IBSS or ESS
May 14 2014 14:45:25	info	hostapd[874]	wlan0: IEEE 802.11 STA 54:e4:3a:2f:93:78 disassociated from BSSID 18:9c:5d:39:67:00 reason 8: Sending STA is leaving BSS

[Eric Moyers]

Thank you for the quick reply. Enabled is good. We have seen issue in the past when customers have disabled that setting.

Since it is mainly Apple products, (and I will not blindly say it must be an apple problem) but it is probably the way the WAP and Apple products are interpreting the communication between them. So we just need to see if there is someway we can do some adjustments that do not interrupt the communication with the other devices that are already working. 

1) Could you make a second SSID and instead of using WPA2 encrpytion use WPA and see how that does? For testing just use a simple password 8 characters, lower case and numbers) If that doesn't work test with no security. After testing you can remove the one with no security.

2) Another area would be to change the Fixed Multicast from Auto to 54Mbps.

Please try these and let me know the results.

Thanks

Eric Moyers

Advanced Support Engineer

Subject Matter Expert - Wireless and Surveillance

[Michiel Beenen]

Changing WPA/WPA2 and so on doesnt do anything, I tried both, or one of the other, same result.

Also what i have noticed is that it does connect to wifi but it wont do anything on the internet for some strange reason. So it does connect and gets an IP but wont connect to the internet untill i disable/enable the wifi on the iphone like 3x and sometimes it just starts working for a few minutes and then it stops working again.

This is definitely a WAP561 bug since I just tried a ASUS access point, Airport and a Netgear and with all those brands i have absolutely no problems, which is a shame cause i was really hoping Cisco would make better products.

Ill try changing Multicast to 54 now.

[Michiel Beenen]

Just tried it setting it to 54 (multicast rate) does exactly the same, it works a few times but when iphone goes in standby and you put it back on, it connects but cant connect to internet.

[Michiel Beenen]

So far the newly released WAP5xx_1.1.0.4 firwmare seems to run a bit better, im gonna do some more testing.

[aeccles]

Eric, I'm experiencing the same issue Michiel reported.  I'm running the latest firmware and made sure my settings matched the suggestions you posted here however the problem is still ongoing.  Any further suggestions?

[Michiel Beenen]

I have switched to Ubiquiti Unifi access points cause i was done with the amount of bugs and lack of software updates here, sorry. Since im on Unifi... 0 problems and great amount of updates.

[aeccles]

That is our exact plan too.  Thinking of the using the AP AC units from Ubiquiti with a VM controller.  Which APs did you go with?

[adityaasati]

Hello Eric,

               i am also experiencing the same issue on WAP121 N.Tried everythin as per above suggestions.The access to local server is blocked.Please help me in resolving the issue the users are getting disconnected frequently.

Regards

Aditya Asati 

[Eric Moyers]

Hello, Thank you for eaching out here on the Support Forums. This can be a very involved issue to troubleshoot. I would first suggest that you call in and open a ticket in order to work directly with a support engineer in order to resolve this more quickly.

Beyond that if you decide to try and solve through the forums. I would need some more information in order to help.

What does your network look like? Router Switches, # of devices, # of Wireless Devices? VLANs, IP's? What is doing the DHCP? Do you have any packet captures?

IF you call in one of our engineers would be glad to work with you to get all of the information and also help troubleshoot.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/web/tsd-cisco-small-business-support-center-contacts.html

Eric Moyers
.:|:.:|:. CISCO | Cisco Presales Technical Support | Wireless Subject Matter Expert

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[adityaasati]

i have opened the case cisco tam is working on the issue.

Reagards

Aditya Asati