4th WAP

Discussions about Internet service providers (ISPs), the Meetinghouse Firewall, wired and wireless networking, usage, management, and support of Meetinghouse Internet
russellhltn
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Re: 4th WAP

#11

Post by russellhltn »

harddrive wrote:Personally the only reason that I would see that the cable length having any effect on the WAP's ability to set up is that the cable is longer than the IEEE standard of 100 meters, or it could be a poor quality cable, or there is some interference that is getting introduced on the line.
I wonder what the length limit for Power over Ethernet is?

It sounded like OP could change the order of the 4th WAP. If it was tied to a specific cable run, I think he would have noticed that.
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lajackson
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Re: 4th WAP

#12

Post by lajackson »

natet wrote:I don't know if this was resolved, . . .
Sorry I never followed up on this. It has been resolved. To answer some questions first, the cable run is less than 100 meters. In fact, there is one other WAP on a longer run that works just fine. I tried the factory resets harddrive recommended to no avail. And I restarted them in a different order. Same result.

So, I physically moved the ever-booting WAP to the position with the shortest run from the firewall. It did not work there either. Based on this, I figured that the WAP itself was having the problem.

I also took the functioning WAP closest to the router and moved it to the position of the bad WAP. It did not work. Based on this, I thought there might be a problem with the wire run from the router. When I returned the previously functioning WAP to its original position, it fired up correctly and worked just fine.

So now, I suspected I had both a bad WAP and a bad run from the router. The thought crossed my mind that there possibly was a problem with the power supply, or something else amiss in the router area.

At this point I went back to my daytime job and my nighttime Church calling. I submitted a work order using FIR, describing the problem and the tests I had done in swapping the WAPs, along with the results, and asked them to fix it. About three weeks later, someone thanked me for fixing the WAP (it was the one outside of the Relief Society room at the stake center-- lots of users).

And sure enough, when I checked myself a few days later it had been fixed, rewired, replaced, or whatever else the FM Group did to solve the problem. What they actually did, of course, I have no idea, because I have yet to run into someone who can tell me. I do know that the WAP is different (new MAC address), so it must have been replaced. And the cable from the patch panel to the power supply for that WAP position seems to have grown several inches.

I suspect my initial conclusion that the both the WAP and the wiring to it were bad may have been correct.
russellhltn
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Re: 4th WAP

#13

Post by russellhltn »

lajackson wrote:I suspect my initial conclusion that the both the WAP and the wiring to it were bad may have been correct.
I have to wonder if a bad cable led to a corrupted WAP. Especially if it tried to update it's firmware. Single cause, but you may still have been forced to replace both.
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lajackson
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Re: 4th WAP

#14

Post by lajackson »

russellhltn wrote:I have to wonder if a bad cable led to a corrupted WAP. Especially if it tried to update it's firmware. Single cause, but you may still have been forced to replace both.
Possible. That's why I was hesitant at first to plug the good WAP into the position of the one that was not working. I was afraid I might have two bad WAPs if there was something wrong with the cable.
RyanGard1977
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Re: 4th WAP

#15

Post by RyanGard1977 »

Lets remember that most modern WAPs are powered via PoE which means Power over Ethernet which means you have to have be plugging the WAP into a PoE enabled port (not all of the cisco WAPs have their own dedicated power supply) That power can only travel so far before it begins to degrade which means that the end point may not be getting enough juice to properly work. This is especially true in most Stake Centers or old larger meetinghouses where the WAP may be mounted to the ceiling at one end of the building, and the router/switch/whatever is way down at the other end. In this case, you may need to have a "half way" point where you run regular CAT-5 from your router/firewall to the halfway point, and then put in a switch/splitter that is PoE, which means you have to have an electrical plug at that area, to which you plug in another CAT-5 cable to that switch box and run it to the WAP.
Ryan Gardner
russellhltn
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Re: 4th WAP

#16

Post by russellhltn »

RyanGard1977 wrote:That power can only travel so far before it begins to degrade which means that the end point may not be getting enough juice to properly work.
True, but that would imply that the problem was with the same WAP each time - something not originally indicated.
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