AP 7181 Failure to Boot

[Kendal_Ingraham]

Throwing this out as a last ditch inquiry. Since summer we have had a number of 7181 APs die in the field. We originally thought heat and just reaching the end of life (yes, I realize no support anymore), but now that we are in full swing winter the deaths are not slowing and if anything, seem to be speeding up. I have not been able to find any tell tale signs in the syslog or combing through our VX9000 controller - they just disappear. The switches they are connected to report flapping of the port interface, then nothing. I did bring some back from the field and attempted to console into them, but to no avail. Often I will get nothing, or sometimes just a constant feed of gibberish/static. Looking at the lights, only the one to the far left (1) blinks sporadically. I’ve tried the reset button, but nothing there either.

We have pretty much given up and have deemed these will all fail. The most frustrating part is we can’t tell which ones. Has anyone else experienced this and if so, any trends that you could find that were killing the APs or suggestions on other locations to look for a reason?

[Kendal_Ingraham]

Thanks for the feedback Ron. I know these are out of hardware entitlement, so no point in pursing that. Was hoping to stumble upon a nugget to be able to determine why these are failing. We had one more on Friday and two yesterday go down. Frustrating for us and the providers who utilize them for end customers.

[Ron_Galien]

Hi Kendal, 

    Thank you for the update. Confirming the boot loop will not allow the AP’s network interface  (NIC) to become active, so the console port access method and AP discovery tool will fail in this scenario…

It sounds like the units would need to be repaired / replaced if they are still covered under the limited lifetime hardware warranty… 

Do you have some of the problematic AP serial numbers that I can check to see if they have any hardware entitlement still active? I would be glad to check that out for you if needed?

[Kendal_Ingraham]

@Ron Galien, I’ve installed the Discovery Tool on a laptop and plugged into GE1 of a failed AP and I can’t get the computer to even identify a cable is plugged in. This is actually similar behavior as to what is happening in the field - the switch port for the AP just goes down and doesn’t respond to anything. Could the boot loop not allow the network interface to actually become active?

[Kendal_Ingraham]

Thanks Ron. I have not checked out the Discovery Tool. I’ll get a failed one in here and take a look ASAP.

Console port has not been of any use. I’ve tried all sorts of speeds on it with no luck. I assumed a boot loop, but figured the console port would show this.

We are in the process of a hardware refresh, but if we can find a trick that will extend the lives so we aren’t in emergency mode that would sure be helpful.