Has anyone tried an XR2 in an RB11 miniPCI to PCI adapter?

I've been testing one out today, and we've seen several significant problems with the XR2, all problems went away when the XR2 was replaced with an SR2.

Problems have included:

1) On 2x VIA Apollo Pro133 based motherboards, the system would boot up but when the XR2 is enabled the system crashes with a kernel panic, or just plain locks up

2) on 2x intel 440BX motherboards, the system will boot and the second "happy beep" indicating the system is ready hangs and continues making the tone. System unresponsive at that point.

In all cases, replacing the XR2 with an SR2 resulted in normal, error free operation.

We thought maybe it was a bad RB11 or XR2, but the RB11 is working fine with an SR2, and the XR2 is working fine in an RB532A. Currently I have a UDP bandwidth test running for the last half hour pushing 18Mbps through from PC to PC with the RB532 and x86 router functioning as WDS bridges.

So it seems to me like there is as serious problem with using the XR2 in an x86 based PC, at least with the RB11. Has anyone else seen behavior like this? I am also curious to know if anyone has used an XR2 with RB11 successfully. If so, what motherboard (chipset) did you use?

Any suggestions for additional configurations to try would be nice, but I think we have exhausted all possibilities - we tried about 10 different configurations of PCI slots and boards, all with unstable results.

I spoke with a tech support guy at wisp-router.com, who indicated that the XR2 doesn't work in the RB11, because the motherboard can't supply enough current for the cards to function properly.

I'm not sure that adds up though. The specifications of the RB11 indicate that it can provide up to 5W of power for the miniPCI slot. By my calculations the XR2 card at peak power draws 1.3A at 3.3v = 4.29W - within the specifications of the RB11. I can only assume that this power level is provided because it is within the specifications of the PCI bus.

So, if everything meets specifications (power wise) it should work. I have to think that at least one board would meet those specifications - I tried 4 different motherboards!

Now I'm curious. Seems the datasheets show the XR2 using less power than the SR2, correct?

SR2 Datasheet
XR2 Datasheet

The SR2 is listed as consuming 1.1A @ full power TX, whereas the XR2 is listed as consuming 1.3A @ full power TX

I spoke with wisp-router support, they said that they've had many people have trouble with the XR2 not working in the RB11, citing "too much amperage", but from what I can tell in reading the specifications of the XR2 and RB11, it should work.

1.3a +/- 100ma, as well as the 300ma +/- 100ma for receive ... so wouldnt' that be around 1.6-1.8a ?

Sam

1.3a +/- 100ma, as well as the 300ma +/- 100ma for receive ... so wouldnt' that be around 1.6-1.8a ?

Sam

It doesn't send and receive at the same time. Remember that 802.11 is half duplex. It's either in send mode, or receive mode, but never both at the same time.

So, the maximum power consumption that it would ever have is the peak TX power of 1.3a, call it 1.4a on the outside of the variable zone - that's still 4.62W, when the RB11 claims to be able to deliver 5W power.

I'm very curious to hear from a Mikrotik staffer about this, because essentially what it comes down to is their product not being able to deliver on its' specifications.

I have one working in an rb14 and it works just dandy.
I did have reboot problems with a rb532, but the os was still at .31 so I upgraded to .41 and the problem was resolved.

Wish I could give you answers on the rb11.
Just as a note, The rb14 was populated with 1-XR2, 1-SR5, and 2-RB52's.

I have the same problem with a xr5. when I enable the xr5, the system crashes
I reproduced this failure in systems x86 and in the routerboard rb112, rb512 and rb133c. I proved with routeros v2.9.27 and v2.942

Hey Guys,

Are you running the latest ROS version? I have noticed some crashing with older versions of the ROS. Im wondering if it is an incompatibility issues with the 6th Generation atherot chipset. Maybe the older versions of ROS did not support and that is something they fixed in the latest version.

Let me know!

Thanks,

Mike

Im wondering if it is an incompatibility issues with the 6th Generation atherot chipset. Maybe the older versions of ROS did not support and that is something they fixed in the latest version.

Well, I personally doubt that this is the case since MikroTik's own R52 cards are based on the 5414 platform, as well.

-- Nathan

yes, I test the xr5 with the lastest routeros(v2.9.42) and the problem persists.

Hey Guys,

Are you running the latest ROS version? I have noticed some crashing with older versions of the ROS. Im wondering if it is an incompatibility issues with the 6th Generation atherot chipset. Maybe the older versions of ROS did not support and that is something they fixed in the latest version.

Let me know!

Thanks,

Mike

Yes, I was using 2.9.42 as well.

this thread seems to indicate that perhaps the power output levels are odd with the XR2.

I always set manual-tx power and specify all TX powers according to manufacturer specifications. Perhaps this is why my XR cards were crashing? If it tries to run 10dB higher than the specified TX power, that would cause a serious problem when I tell it to run 28dBm!

this thread seems to indicate that perhaps the power output levels are odd with the XR2.

I always set manual-tx power and specify all TX powers according to manufacturer specifications. Perhaps this is why my XR cards were crashing? If it tries to run 10dB higher than the specified TX power, that would cause a serious problem when I tell it to run 28dBm!

it is normal to set manually tx-power, because we match good rx sensitivity and tx-power on these cards. we plan to use it in high noise level neighbours. but with mt boxes, not with routerboard.

regards,
C. G.

I've had problems with Senao 8602 cards, MikroTik don't seem to be interested in investigating the problem as they say the R52s work OK. The problem is R52s are only 65mw which is pretty useless if you want to use an omnidirectional antenna.

I'm trying to use the 8602s in a PC chassis with RouterOS 2.9.42, but as soon as I enable the wireless interface the system keeps crashing, older Atheros cards seem to be OK. I can't tell whether this is a power issue or RouterOS drivers. I've tried two different PCI adapter cards and different motherboards.

Looks like we have the same problem as you get with PC Graphics cards. Many different manufacturers using the same basicchipset, but due to differences in implementation and/or drivers they can perform in a radically different way.


Regards

Chris Macneill

I'm trying to use the 8602s in a PC chassis with RouterOS 2.9.42, but as soon as I enable the wireless interface the system keeps crashing, older Atheros cards seem to be OK. I can't tell whether this is a power issue or RouterOS drivers. I've tried two different PCI adapter cards and different motherboards.

I think it's probably a power issue. The 8602 cards draw a lot of power. We've changed the capacitors on 30 RB532A boards now, which has allowed them to work with NMP-8602 with a higher success rate than previously.

I had the same issue trying to make NMP-8602 go in RB11 adaptor on an older PC, about 9 months ago. Haven't tried it since, but I won't be surprised if it doesn't work.

Mikrotik? Tell us please about NMP-8602 and RB11...

I have also tried XR5 in an RB11 and it didn't work yet I also tried not only 1 but 2 XR5's in an RB14 and it worked just fine.

According to Hardware supported by RouterOS list given --> http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Supported ... less_cards

XR2 is not supported on x86.

BTW, anybody knows what is the best wireless card for use in x86 machine installed with routerOS for a WISP.

Thanks and regards,

raunakm