cnPilot R200 issues connecting Apple ipad, iphone, laptops to WIFI or LAN

Yes, the others and I that have reported the problem are referring to the 4.3.3-R4 Firmware. 

I have been out of town for a few days, however am back for 3 or 4 days. 

I am fixing to hook up the R200 router from the first customer that called in and complained.  The Serial Number of his router is 400FRG0LHJMF. 

To get him up and running, we swapped out his R200 with a new R190W, (with 4.3.3-R4 installed in it).  I talked to him this morning and confirmed that the new R190W is working like it should.

When he called in, he was complaining that he had several wireless devices that would not stay connected.  He told me that the wifi connection problem started a couple of days prior to his call.  That was the day that we upgraded everyone to Version 4.3.3-R4.

When I talked to him this morning, I asked him specifically what devices he was having trouble via Wifi. 

He said that he had two Apple devices that would not connect. 

He also said that his wife has a HP laptop that would not stay connected, as well as he could not stay connected on his Microsoft Surface Pro. They would show that they were connected, however when they went to check their email or browse - it would kick them off.

We are in the process of downgrading all of the R200 routers with Serial Numbers that start in 400 back to Version 4.3.1, until you figure out what the wifi problem is 4.3.3-R4. 

Ashutosh, I  just emailed you the files that you requested from a R200 router with 4.3.3-R4 that has the problem. 

If/when we run across the issue again I will gather the export from it.  Right now, we've deployed the last of our 200 series routers and have already downgraded the firmwares on the one's having issues since they're in production now.  Our new shipment are the white replacement routers R190's.

Hi Danny,

I received the files and we are investigating further. Shall get back as soon as I have some updates for you.

thanks 

ashutosh

Hi 

 we have received sample configuration from Danny. We are investigating to find the root cause and shall keep you posted.

Thanks

Ashutosh

Hi Danny,

Was just going through your config. Is there are reason you are sticking to WEP and b/g only mode ? When we tried in our lab with apple clients we tried with b/g/n and WPA2PSK. Shall load your configuration and perform the test again in the mean time.

By the way how does it help, using the Operatin Mode : "Basic Mode" for you ? Just a curious question. (not related to the issue at hand)

regds

Ashutosh

Hi Cason, 

Are you also using b/g mode and/or WEP for wireless security in your configuration by any chance ?

I also want to know what is your standard config on the device. Please share with me  via my email provided earlier.

Some questions:

Is your R200 WAN configured in Bridge Mode ?

If so, are you expecting clients to get IP from an external DHCP server.

If so, do you have the local DHCP server disabled ?

Just thinking of a possibility that you have 2 DHCP servers playing in. If in bridge mode we can keep the local DHCP server disabled and let the clients get IP through the external DHCP server behind the WAN.

thanks 

Ashutosh

Bingo!

I have an R200 (S/N 400...) sitting in my "to RMA" pile. The customer would have dropouts where no devices could reconnect to the router and everything would stop working. Eventually I just replaced it with another R200 (S/N WFS...), and everything works fine. Looking back at their logs, all of the devices were Apple devices.

Configuration was very close to defaults using WPA2, NAT, local DHCP, etc.

I use B/G/N mixed mode, WPA-2 passphrase.  We configure PPPoE for our WAN type using NAT on the LAN side.  They're not in Bridged mode.

The Routers get an IP from our DHCP relay server which gets them online so they can access cnMaestro website for provisioning.  After they get their provisioning they switch over to PPPoE.

The attached customers pull their IP addresses from the cnPilot R200's local DHCP server (192.168.11.xxx)

We leave most of the defaults on when it comes to wifi, just change the SSID and WPA passphrase.  We've tried switching channels, from 20/40 to just 20... and from short preamble to long preamble but the solution continues to be replace it with a WFS model.

Any progress?

Hi, 

We have been trying to recreate this issue in our labs , but so far all clients are able to connect well. Is it possible to have a remote session (Teamviewer) to get some insight. I am located in IST timezone. 

In the mean time can you try installing the 4.3.3-R4 again and factory reset the box, then try to connect the said clients to the default SSID / psk ?

NOTE: Please export/backup your config to be able to restore to original state later before performing factory reset.

thanks 

Ashutosh

Ashutosh, when I get back into town in a couple of days, I will hook up one of the R200’s that had the problem and let get into it.  

Still has 4.3.3-R4 in it from when it wouldn’t allow various items to connect to its Wifi.  I will PM you after I get it connected.

Ashutosh, I am emailing you the configuration and the syslog files from another R-200 router with a Serial # starting in "400" that has the same problem of not allowing wireless devices to connect to it. 

As with the other R-200's that we have seen, this one has the same problem.

It was running 4.3.3-R4.  We downgraded it to 4.3.1 this morning while they were on the phone and the R-200 allow them to connect their wireless devices back to the 2.4 Ghz Wifi.

To add some further details, my customer that revealed the problem did not always have connectivity issues, they came up over time. Rebooting the radio would clear up their problems. Non Apple devices would have no issues.

Ashutosh, have you figured out anything from the syslog and config files that I emailed you from another R200 router (400 serial number) with 3.3.4-R4 firmware - that Apple devices cannot connect to?

I played with my I-Phone some trying to get it to connect and easily see that it does not connect to the R-200's Wifi. 

In a nutshell, it appears that the R-200 is not serving the I-Phone a 192.168.11.xxx IP address from it's internal DHCP pool.

Even though the I-Phone connects RF wise to the R-200, the I-Phone always shows a default 169.254.xxx.xxx IP address.

Hi Danny,

We have been performing extensive tests with and without your provided configuration. On the WEP side we found an issue where Apple clients were unable to get IP address in case KEY2 was configured to be the default KEY for WEP (which is the default configuration on R200).

There are a few things I want you to try.

1. If you try to connect your iphone with the factory default configuration of the R200 (default SSID /PSK), is it working fine.

2. For WEP case select KEY1 as the default key and set a 10 digit KEY1 value (See attached screenshot). Does the iphone connect with this configuration?

thanks 

Ashutosh

I have this issue and I don't use WEP I use WPA.  Apple products start getting IP addresses and staying online if I back down to 4.3.1 firmware.

Hi Cason,

I understand. Since we are not seeing any such issue in our lab, is it possible to have a short remote debug session say over TeamViewer or something, if so you can drop me an email at ashutosh.datta@cambiumnetworks.com . 

By the way have you tried Factory resetting the board and connecting to the default SSID  (without any configuration changes) using your apple device? What is the obseration there ?

thanks 

Ashutosh

--

ashutosh

I haven't come across any more of the 400 series models being installed, we seem to have installed all of them and put 4.3.1 on them so no more issues.  If I can ever get ahold of another one I'll e-mail you for a remote session.

On another note, the newer white 190 router's are doing fine on the latest firmware from what I can tell so far.

Hi

We have observed similar issue with r200 if four SSID are configure with WPA2-PSK.  Please provide the email  ID to send  test image for this issue.  

Regards,

Niraj