Hi,

I updated the firmware of a hap ac lite from 6.34.6 bugfix to 6.42.3 current.

When it was on 6.34.6 bugfix, i was able to see the device in WinBox and connect to it using either it's IP address or MAC address.

Now that i've updated the firmware to 6.42.3 current i'm unable to see the device in WinBox and i'm unable to connect to it using either it's IP address or MAC address.

The hap ac lite is part of a three device network. I have an RB750G2 that does all of the heavy lifting and two hap ac lite that work as wireless access points.

When i look on the DHCP server running on the RB750G2, i can see the hap ac lite is awake and running. I can see it's producing a wireless signal and i connect to the network through it using a mobile device.

I upgraded the firmware of the RB750G2 first and that appears to be working okay. It still functions as intended, i can see it in WinBox and i can connect to it. And it continued to allow me to view the access points until i updated the access point this topic is about. I haven't upgraded the firmware for the other hap ac lite yet. That is still running 6.34.6 bugfix. I wanted to upgrade one device at a time to ensure nothing catastrophic happens.


What might have happened?

That's a big upgrade and encompasses the change to the new bridge switching structure. In it's own right that is a significant change and whilst mine upgraded through it without issues, there is a chance it's config dependent.

You will probably need to either disconnect the hAP and bring it local to your PC to investigate or alternatively (assuming your config allows you to look at the config via wireless) take a laptop with Winbox to the device to check.over wireless.

I have 6 hAP ac's or hAP ac lite's and I don't recall any issues in losing connectivity after upgrading them, but I would have upgraded more frequently and so the jump wouldn't have been so significant.

That's a big upgrade and encompasses the change to the new bridge switching structure. In it's own right that is a significant change and whilst mine upgraded through it without issues, there is a chance it's config dependent.

You will probably need to either disconnect the hAP and bring it local to your PC to investigate or alternatively (assuming your config allows you to look at the config via wireless) take a laptop with Winbox to the device to check.over wireless.

I have 6 hAP ac's or hAP ac lite's and I don't recall any issues in losing connectivity after upgrading them, but I would have upgraded more frequently and so the jump wouldn't have been so significant.

I've only just taken over the network since about a month ago and i know it's been up and running for about 2 years minimum. I've only upgraded the firmware for the security patches.

I am very much a noob with Mikrotik devices and commercial networking for that matter.

The switch allows me to connect directly via an ethernet cable, which i have done in the past.

May you give me some guidance on to what to look for please?

Could a bodge of a fix be to revert it back to 6.34.6 bugfix, then install each update? - it sounds like a real bodge, but i wonder if there is some glue logic in one of the updates to convert settings from a pervious version to a newer version that's not included when making such a large jump.

I had a similar experience when upgrading to 6.42.3.
Most of my approx. 30 units came online and worked as expected, but 3 units didn't respond to winbox. (All other services, like telnet etc. are disabled.).
Two of these device turned up in Winbox after approx 2 hours, while the third showed up after approx 6 hours. After that, everything seems to be normal.
I have no idea what happened...

-Olaf-

Sorry, didn't mean for the last post to sound critical in that you hadn't upgraded earlier, it was just a statement of fact in that it's a large jump and as a result lots can go wrong.

Your first choice should be to try to connect to Winbox via WiFi as you said you can connect. Then at least you can see what is happening and take a view as to how to go forwards. It may be something simple like DHCP is not getting through and by assigning a static address you can get it up and running quickly, whilst you troubleshoot further.

One other option might be to try and MAC telnet from Neigbour Viewer. Unlikely to work if you can't connect via MAC from Winbox, but worth a try. Again, a long shot, but worth checking it hasn't reverted to factory default IP address (192.168.88.1). I would have thought if it had you would still be able to connect via MAC, but you lose nothing by checking.

If you can't connect via WiFI then you may have to look at whether you have a backup of the hAP before the update? One of the issues with the 6.41 change to switch/bridges is that you can't just roll back the firmware upgrade. You need to roll back and then redo or restore the configuration. The configuration is updated to fit the new method of working and then is not reversed when you downgrade again.

It sounds like this is business related. How critical is it that this is working quickly. i.e. is this supporting a business production line? If this is business related and is costing $ for it to be down then you may be better paying an expert (not me) to get it up again quickly. I'm sure you can fix it given time, but cost may be a factor.

If it isn't critical and you can't connect to the hAP at all, then I can only see two options, although it might be wise to wait for more educated comment from much better Mikrotik experts than I am.-
1.) Hopefully you have a backup and then I would reset to factory default, go back to the old firmware and restore the backup.
2.) Reset to factory and rework the configuration on 6.42 using the other hap as a template (assuming that they are identical in their use case).

In an ideal world, it's always useful to have a spare that you can test upgrades on before deployment in a live environment.

Let us know how you get on with the WiFi access.

Thanks for the reply diddie.

The access point continues to function as expected or from what i can see anyway - the only issue is being able to log in to the firmware remotely. Although i haven't tested whether a hardwire connection straight in to the switch would work yet.

So fortunately the access point isn't in a critical situation at the moment. So it's at a relatively low priority at the moment.

Fortunately i made backups of the devices before updating the firmware, so i could restore them especially since i made note of the exact version of the firmware that was running on those devices.


What's the easiest way to port the configuration from the old firmware to the new? Obivously, i have no idea at the moment what might have changed. Or what should i be reading up on?

I exported the configuration in plain text before the update, if that should help me at all?

Sounds like you have all of your bases covered in terms of going backwards. Well done!

If you really wanted to put it back as it was you could go back to the old firmware, reset to factory and restore which should put it back exactly as it was.

There is risk with going backwards (no matter how small) and so If it's not causing an issue and you have a little time, I would explore what happens if you directly cable connect or wirelessly connect. Can you get to the terminal or to Winbox. If you go back to the previous firmware then you don't know what went wrong and can't explore how to fix it and the same will quite possibly happen next time you try to upgrade.

Before you take any more drastic action you need to expore all of the options to connect,understand and resolve the issues with it's current state.

If you can get in then as you have the before config you can compare the before and after configuration and you are in the perfect position to understand what has changed.