rc4 - wireless interface disappearing

changeip · Thu Jun 02, 2005 8:08 pm

This is the second time this has happened. The wireless interface (Atheros 5213) has disappeared after the router has been running for a few days. I'll take a supout again, however all these bug reports and no response makes me wonder if its even worth it.

[admin@mikroHome] interface wireless> /system resource irq pr
IRQ OWNER
1 keyboard
2 APIC
4 serial port
5 1-coxBiz
8 [rtc]
9 [a5212_pci]
9 4-hotty
10 onboard-inside
10 2-sony
11 [usb-uhci]
11 3-coxRes
14 IDE 1

[admin@mikroHome] interface wireless> print
Flags: X - disabled, R - running

[admin@mikroHome] interface wireless>

csickles · Thu Jun 02, 2005 11:16 pm

I have been running RC4 and AR5213 for a since
RC4 came out. I have not "lost" the interface once.
It has been stable as a rock (Low traffic use, 5 to 10 clients)

I run the AirLink101 super-g card. (PCI)

Craig

rickard · Fri Jun 03, 2005 12:28 am

My RC4 Ap:s running verry well now. for more than a week.
exept for one of them that will not run in 333 Mhz :-(

hitek146 · Fri Jun 03, 2005 11:04 pm

This has happened to me twice on two different RB532s with two different Atheros cards. It actually had me mark the first Atheros card bad, before I had it happen a second time. The second time this happened, I tried the card in another RB, and it worked. A second Atheros card then worked in the original failing RB532. After discovering the problem was resolvable with the second Atheros card, I tried the first one that I had marked bad, and it worked just fine..... I'm still waiting for a fix, as it would be nearly impossible for me to have this happen twice by accident, have it happen to you by accident also, and not have it obviously show up under thorough manufacturer testing(or are we solely counted on for that?)....

Hitek

stephenpatrick · Sat Jun 04, 2005 12:25 am

Is this specifically an RB532 + atheros problem?
I am running various (different) boards, with CM-6, EM-9 and CM-9s, with RC 4, no problems, in extended soak test, and live traffic applications.
I don't have an RB532 to test.

Regards

changeip · Sat Jun 04, 2005 12:39 am

This is on an Intel 815 board that we've used reliably/flawlessly for the past 1-2 years on 2.7-2.8. Dlink card with the Atheros 5213 chipset. It's only happened 2 times so far, and only since upgrading to 2.9. I wonder if it has anything to do with doing an upgrade from 2.8->2.9. The other install (same hardware & card) hasn't had this happen (clean install), although its a test machine and gets no traffic unless we're testing things.

Sam

nexgenaccess · Tue Aug 02, 2005 5:07 am

Not sure if this is still out there but we are having the same problem, all they way up through RC7. Using RB513 Routerboard running RC7. The wireless interfaces just disappear with the only resolution being re-seating the wireless cards. Unfortunently, this isn't a viable option with disperse remote 140+ ft tower sites.

Obviously, this is not an upgrade issues as RB513/532's only run 2.9.

Has someone acknowledged this problem? This doesn't happen to all of our boards. All of our boards use Atheros Cards (CM-9, SuperRange2/5)

Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:35 am

maybe it the RB500 can't power two SR5 cards too long. Does this happen if you use only CM9 in the RB?

nexgenaccess · Tue Aug 02, 2005 11:03 am

Actually, we haven't used CM-9 cards in the RB513's. We have only used the SR2/5 card and what I realized is we only seem to have the problem when the SR5 (5.8ghz) card is used. We originally though it was because we were using two SR2/5 cards, so we quit doing that. Well, the current problem we are having only includes 1 RB513 and 1 SR5 card, which threw our original idea out the window.

Does anyone have any insight? I don't think it is coincidence or bad boards (as too many people have had this problem). It's not an upgrade issues (as our boards have only had 2.9 on them). It's not a two-card in one box issue (as I noted we now have them problem with a unit with only 1 card). Any other ideas? We do have the board set to 333mhz. Did others with the same problem have the boards set to 333/400mhz?

Tue Aug 02, 2005 5:20 pm

if you plug off the power and plug it back - is everything fine then?

hitek146 · Tue Aug 02, 2005 5:54 pm

if you plug off the power and plug it back - is everything fine then?

Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't..... Also, all of the boards I have had this problem with were using only one CM9 at a time. I have also run dual SR5s in RB5xx turned all the way up, with no problems.... I have one board now that started behaving exactly as this topic's title states, but has gotten worse to the extent that the top slot no longer works at all.... I now use the board on my test bench, and have the CM9 in the bottom slot. I noticed that the newer RB511s used a black Mini-PCI socket instead of the white one I was used to, so maybe there was a problem with a batch of Mini-PCI sockets???

Hitek

nexgenaccess · Tue Aug 02, 2005 6:03 pm

As noted, power-cycling the radio sometimes fixes the problem, sometimes it does not. The only sure solution is reseating the wireless cards. Even some times this takes two tries. I myself have not experienced this problem with CM-9 cards, but we haven't really used CM-9's in RB532/513's with RouterOS2.9.

Also, in case anyone was going to ask, we use 24v power supplies providing 24v 1.25A.

The only common occurance I can see with all of our problems is the OS. Im pretty sure this is a bug, but can't confirm. I have opened a case with MT support, will update everyone if I hear something.

If anyone else has insight, please advise.

Thanks in advance!

Matt

tully · Wed Aug 03, 2005 5:29 pm

You should set the CPU to 266MHz (the RB532 model). This works for us with two SR5 cards.

John

nexgenaccess · Wed Aug 03, 2005 5:36 pm

You should set the CPU to 266MHz (the RB532 model). This works for us with two SR5 cards.

John

John:
Usually I would listen to your advice, but the problem I am having right now is that the wireless interface is disappearing with only one installed SR5 card. The board is set to 333. Any other ideas?

Thanks everyone so far for your help. 36 hours and I still have not heard from MT support........

stephenpatrick · Wed Aug 03, 2005 5:49 pm

Is this whole problem a 333MHz "overclocking" issue ?
Does sound a bit like could be PCI bus timing stability at that speed.
Am about to order some of these cards for testing, would like to know also ...

Regards

nexgenaccess · Wed Aug 03, 2005 5:55 pm

Is this whole problem a 333MHz "overclocking" issue ?
Does sound a bit like could be PCI bus timing stability at that speed.
Am about to order some of these cards for testing, would like to know also ...

Regards

I would think that at 333mhz, supplied 24v 1.25A that it would be able to run one card fine. Im not totally convinced this is an overclocking issue....

hitek146 · Wed Aug 03, 2005 10:20 pm

Of all the boards that I have experienced this problem with, none were overclocked....

changeip · Wed Aug 03, 2005 11:43 pm

I made the topic post initially - this problem occurred on an intel 815 motherboard. I don't think its related to the RB, or else we have 2 problems we are trying to track down. If reseating the cards changes things then its a hardware problem. If it's mainly the reboot during the reseat that fixed it then we might have something in common.

Sam

tully · Thu Aug 04, 2005 9:26 am

You should first test and then we can try to check something else.

John

nexgenaccess · Thu Aug 04, 2005 4:33 pm

You should first test and then we can try to check something else.

John

Test what exactly?!? My process of elimination, we have all eliminated a lot of things. We confirmed this issue isn't specific to the SR2/5 cards as some expierenced this with CM-9 cards. We also confirmed this issue took place on both 513 boards and 532's. We also confirmed that overclocking is not an issue, and I have confirmed it has nothing to do with running two cards at the same time. Some one else also mentioned this happened on an intel board. The only thing left is the OS, and MT support pretty much just tells me the mini PCI card is broken and thats it...piss poor help in my regard.

-Matt

tully · Fri Aug 05, 2005 11:29 am

The first 500 boards shipped do not support more than 9W of power. You can tell this by looking at the board. It does not have a connector on the pads that are marked 'Daughterboard.' They may have problems with the non-standard mpci SR cards.

Also, you have not confirmed that you have set the CPU speed to 266MHz. You should be clear in your response. I asked you to try that, and you said you didn't think it was needed. Then I said you must try this. Now you say 'piss poor,' but don't confirm whether you have tried 266MHz or not. If you do not write clear responses, then I can't help you.

John

nexgenaccess · Fri Aug 05, 2005 2:47 pm

The first 500 boards shipped do not support more than 9W of power. You can tell this by looking at the board. It does not have a connector on the pads that are marked 'Daughterboard.' They may have problems with the non-standard mpci SR cards.

Also, you have not confirmed that you have set the CPU speed to 266MHz. You should be clear in your response. I asked you to try that, and you said you didn't think it was needed. Then I said you must try this. Now you say 'piss poor,' but don't confirm whether you have tried 266MHz or not. If you do not write clear responses, then I can't help you.

John

So the 513's don't support the SR2/5 cards? No I did not confirm that I set the speed to 266, but others had mentioned they had this problem using the boards at 266mhz. It is something I will certainly try, but I am not positive it will help as it has not helped others. Not to mention others had problems with CM-9 cards in these boards as well!?!?

I was not saying your responses were piss poor, but the responses I have received from MT support have been pretty vague. Thanks for your help thus far John.

-Matt

Darsys · Fri Dec 23, 2005 7:38 am

I have seen this problem with a rb532 and the Atheros AR5212 chipset mini-pci card. The link is actually not in use at all (will be shortly if I can eliminate the issue) but so far after a couple of days with the link up (again no real traffic) the interface is gone. It was running 2.9.5 I upgraded to 2.9.10 tonight. Interestingly it is set as AP and there is still a registration and connect item in the wireless tables.

tully · Fri Dec 23, 2005 6:33 pm

We have just had a very astute user report that some pigtails have a long jacket on the u.fl connector and can touch a resistor near the connector and short the mpci card. Then the interface will dissapper. We will make an application note showing this with pics and also suggestions to avoid this.

John

cibernet · Sun Dec 25, 2005 3:09 am

To avoid this, you can use the MMCX conector with the SRx

rc4 - wireless interface disappearing

rc4 - wireless interface disappearing

Disappearing Wireless Interfaces?!?