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AP100C Intermittent

RichardHughes1

Hello,

I have had several problems now with this AP and I can only assume that it has a hardware fault. I'm having problems now with where connections will time-out randomly on devices that are connected to this AP. Running a simple local ping from local to local, the ping will jump from 1 ms to 300+ ms and then back to 1 ms? When this happens, the AP seems to be in a stuck state and has to be power-cycled.

I checked the log on my UTM and I can't really see anything that jumps out as to what is happening here. One entry that I can see a lot of (during the times this happens) are these three lines: 

netifd: radio1 (7076): command failed: No such device (-19)
kernel: [ 1130.960000] br-lan1001: port 3(wlan3) entered disabled state
kernel: [ 1130.960000] br-vxlan104: port 3(wlan11) entered disabled state


I am not sure exactly what this means, but I can only assume that it probably isn't good? Is it time to replace this AP?

Cheers,
Richard



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  • 0

    Are you able to check your signals?  You might be getting some interference on some channels.  I'd download an app and check the signals in the area where your AP is, and then go from there first.  If you don't find anything, then I would try hard resetting the AP.  I would also try changing the cable/port it is plugged into so you can eliminate the quick and easy things as well.

    OPNSense 64-bit | Intel Xeon 4-core v3 1225 3.20Ghz
    16GB Memory | 500GB SSD HDD | ATT Fiber 1GB
    (Former Sophos UTM Veteran, Former XG Rookie)

  • 0

    Awrite! Richard,

    If Amodin's suggestions don't resolve your issue and you have a paid subscription for your UTM, I think the 100 will still be covered by the warranty.  Please let us know either way.

    Cheers - Bob

     
    Sophos UTM Community Moderator
    Sophos Certified Architect - UTM
    Sophos Certified Engineer - XG
    Gold Solution Partner since 2005
    MediaSoft, Inc. USA
  • 0 in reply to BAlfson

    Thank you both for your responses, really appreciate the help that both of you have given. I'm really not sure what the problem is or where the problem actually lies. I tried resetting this AP back to factory by using the reset button (tried holding down for 10, 15 and 20 seconds). The reset button doesn't seem to do anything on this AP... the AP just continues to run and doesn't reboot.

    I have tried changing the channels for both 2.4 and 5GHz but I'm still getting the strange drop outs. This is where things get even more confusing, I have an old Cisco Small Business router that I put into AP mode and the same network drop outs are happening with this too. I'm lost as to where the problem actually lies now and if there is more than one problem. The Sophos AP won't factory reset, the problem is happening with two different pieces of hardware (Sophos and Cisco). I have also tried disabling on-board WiFi on my laptop and tried two different WiFi adapters, all three adapters experience this intermittent network drop out.

    So I'm truly lost now as to where this problem is originating from. I've tried two access points (actually 3 as I have an old Sophos AP30 and that does the same thing) and three different WiFi adapters on one laptop. The problem also affects other devices such as my phone, when this problem occurs. Pings will jump from 1ms to 800ms and then back to 1ms, with intermittent time-outs.

    I can only assume at this stage that there is more than one problem here. The AP100 won't factory reset and the intermittency I can only assume must be happening from interference?

    More info: I have also replaced the cable run for the network socket that the AP is connected to and also replaced the cable that connects the AP to the network. I have also tried using some mobile apps but they aren't picking anything up to be wrong (interference etc.)

  • 0 in reply to RichardHughes1

    Richard, is there a router or other device in the LAN involved?

    Cheers - Bob

     
    Sophos UTM Community Moderator
    Sophos Certified Architect - UTM
    Sophos Certified Engineer - XG
    Gold Solution Partner since 2005
    MediaSoft, Inc. USA
  • 0 in reply to BAlfson

    Hi Bob,

    No, the only hardware on the LAN is the Sophos UTM, a 48-port network switch with PoE and the Sophos AP100.

    Cheers,
    Richard

  • 0 in reply to RichardHughes1

    What happens if you change the Ethernet cables UTM<->Switch<->AP100, Richard?

    If that didn't solve the issue, changing switch ports for the UTM and AP100?

    Cheers - Bob

     
    Sophos UTM Community Moderator
    Sophos Certified Architect - UTM
    Sophos Certified Engineer - XG
    Gold Solution Partner since 2005
    MediaSoft, Inc. USA
  • 0 in reply to BAlfson

    Between the switch and the UTM, I have 6 Ethernet ports set up in a LAG. This is the way I've had it for years so isn't a recent change. I changed the 6 cables last year that link the switch to the UTM. I also recently changed the cable that goes from the switch to the AP100. I still can't get the AP100 to factory reset, the reset button on this hardware doesn't seem to do anything Not sure if this is a sign that the AP has a hardware related fault. Holding that button down for 10 seconds, 15 seconds and even 20 seconds does absolutely nothing... the AP just continues to operate and does not reboot.

  • 0 in reply to RichardHughes1

    I decided to move all of my wireless networks over to an old Cisco Small Business RV180W and disconnect the Sophos AP100C. So far, nearly a day has gone by and I haven't yet experienced any WiFi drop-outs. I'm going to keep this test going for a few days to see what the outcome will be. The strange thing is that I was previously getting the same drop-outs with this Cisco hardware but this was whilst the Sophos AP100C was still broadcasting (at the time, the Cisco box was broadcasting with a different SID that the Sophos AP wasn't broadcasting).

    So far, it looks like the AP100C is causing interference if that's even a thing. I'm wondering if one of the radios in this AP has gone faulty and that's also why I can't factory reset it?

    I have a very old AP30 that I might try next on it's own without the AP100C or the Cisco hardware. If that also acts similarly to the AP100C then I can only assume something strange is happening on the Sophos UTM itself?

  • +1 in reply to RichardHughes1

    Decided to give up with this AP (the AP100C). No problems when using the Cisco hardware as an AP or when using the old AP30, so I'm sure that rules everything out and takes us back to the AP100C being the problem. I also noticed when trying to re-set the AP100C whilst detached from the ceiling, that moving the RJ45 jack in the network socket sometimes causes the AP to lose power (PoE)... tried several network cables and all do the same thing. I can only assume that there is something wrong with the network port on the AP100C.

    I've decided to buy a new AP of a different brand. I paid a lot of money for the AP100C and as a home user, I don't think it was value for money as it was pretty expensive with quite a poor spec for the money. I looked at the new Sophos APs and found that the APX 740 goes for around £300... when I found a competitive AP of a well-known brand that has a much better specification and only came to £175!

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