No, they were all powered with the stock 24v PoE. I configured another batch of four and pretty much have the same result.
I’ve got one of the four still alive after powering up and bench testing the new units over the weekend. The one left is the one configured as AP Bridge. The others all got configured as Station-WDS, connected to the AP successfully and after powering down never rebooted successfully again— I just get the all too familiar flashing power LED, and no Ethernet connectivity. I have tried the reset button to reset and when that didn't work, to go to NetInstall mode. I have even opened one up and tried resetting with the reset hole, all with no success. No visible damage on the boards, BTW. They do get kind of hot sitting there, flashing and going nowhere (not fully booting?), but I’m guessing that’s what the heat-sink ribs on the housing are for.
Again all of these were powered up with antenna attached. When they connected with the AP, I think one saw RSSI levels approaching -20dBm briefly before I got both ends powered down enough. For the other two "CPEs", I don’t think they saw anything hotter than -38 to -40dBm RSSI. (I was able to get the “All Rates Fixed” setting in Winbox—not in the new WebFig GUI, though—and get the TX power down to 0dBm or less for indoor testing. The units then linked up at around -55dBm).
One thing I realized afterward is that I used the same yagi (an old M2 14dBi) and the same stock MTik right angle N-connector when I powered up all these radios. I just checked the right angle adapter with an ohmmeter and it looks fine, but I have no idea if the antenna is somehow internally shorted in its connector—I didn’t have the sense to change to another antenna before running out of radios. Does anyone know how a radio acts if it has been powered up without an antenna or attenuator and gotten damaged? I wonder if that’s what the flashing LED behavior is telling me.
Also, I’m wondering if there is any configuration screw-up I could be making to cause this. All these radios were set up with the WLAN and LAN ports in Bridge1, the AP in AP-Bridge and the would be CPEs in Station WDS (WDS dynamic mode). The AP did seem to be adding a new WDS interface for each station (e.g. WDS 3, WDS 4), but I’m guessing that is normal for AP mode (I’ve only done PtP links with MT before). I was setting the wireless protocol as “Any” for starters, thinking I would try Nstreme, NV2 later. No encryption, either, saving that for later config. 5MHz channels 922 center.
So, I guess my next move is to get a couple more radios and try with different antenna. Or maybe I should try to RMA these units? I really would like to know how to get these units working-- I'm hearing reports from others that they are the best option in 900 MHz!!