Cisco Aironet 350 AP... Can't see SSID on client computers

phaxmohdem

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Aug 18, 2004
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I am having a problem with my Cisco Aironet 350 Access Point at home. I unplugged it before I went out of town for a couple weeks, and when I came home and plugged it back in I could not see the SSID from the AP to connect to on either my laptop or wi-fi equipped desktop.

I've tried deleting the old SSID and creating a new one (I checked the box for "Broadcast SSID") but still I can't see it.

Any tips from anybody with even a little experience on these? I remember the first time I finally got it working it took a while as well, and I'm not really sure what I did to make it work.

------------------------------------
For Reference: Network Setup
------------------------------------

Cable Modem --> Belkin B/G Wireless Router (SSID Disabled) --> 3Com 10/100 Switch (4400 SE) --> Computers & Aironet 350 AP Branch off this switch

Router/Gateway Address: 192.168.2.1
Cisco AP Address: 192.168.2.8 (Assigned by DHCP)
 

phaxmohdem

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Aug 18, 2004
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Is it possible there's a hardware problem with the radios? When I turn off and on the radio interface, theres an error message in the log saying "Error: Interface Dot11Radio0, changed state to up"

Also in the transmit logs, there are lots of sent packets in the transmit column but 0 in every category of the Received column.

I did a complete factory reset with no luck... I'm starting to lean towards hardware, though I don't know what could have happened to it.
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
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That's default behavior for the AP.

use the "guest mode" command under the SSID in the configuration.
 

Cooky

Golden Member
Apr 2, 2002
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What if you manually set the SSID on your laptop; does it work?

Can you check if the radio is down, or radio is up but you're just not seeing SSID being broadcast?
By default (1240's), radio is turned off (w/ newer codes) so you need to manually turn it up.
Also, if you're using PoE, radio is turned off until the AP can verify enough power is drawn.
 

phaxmohdem

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Aug 18, 2004
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I don't know how to check if the radio is down or up besides what I'm told by the AP's internal software. When I factory reset it it was disabled by default so I enabled it. I tried manually entering the SSID and WEP Key, but Windows will not see or connect to the network.

I've never heard about the PoE thing (I assume you mean Power over Ethernet, which this AP uses), but I turned the radio down to 50 mW from 100mW and had no effect. I've also swapped out antennas just to be safe, but still nothing. Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming if you can.
 

nweaver

Diamond Member
Jan 21, 2001
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telnet into the device. do a "show int d0" and see if it shows as shut. If it does, then conf term, int d0, no shut the thing

also, fire up netstumbler and look for beacons from your radio's mac
 

phaxmohdem

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Aug 18, 2004
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Here is the message I got from my telnet "show int d0" session. (I don't really know what much of this means):

ap#show int d0
Dot11Radio0 is up, line protocol is up
Hardware is 802.11B Radio, address is 0009.b77b.ac37 (bia 0009.b77b.ac37)
MTU 1500 bytes, BW 11000 Kbit, DLY 1000 usec,
reliability 255/255, txload 1/255, rxload 1/255
Encapsulation ARPA, loopback not set
ARP type: ARPA, ARP Timeout 04:00:00
Last input never, output never, output hang never
Last clearing of "show interface" counters never
Input queue: 0/75/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 0
Queueing strategy: fifo
Output queue: 0/30 (size/max)
5 minute input rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec
5 minute output rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec
0 packets input, 0 bytes, 0 no buffer
Received 0 broadcasts, 0 runts, 0 giants, 0 throttles
0 input errors, 0 CRC, 0 frame, 0 overrun, 0 ignored
0 input packets with dribble condition detected
0 packets output, 0 bytes, 0 underruns
0 output errors, 0 collisions, 1 interface resets
0 babbles, 0 late collision, 0 deferred
0 lost carrier, 0 no carrier
0 output buffer failures, 0 output buffers swapped out
ap#

I installed and ran NetStumbler, but it would not pick up any SSID's or beacons from the Cisco AP. I could not find a place to manually enter the MAC address or anything
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
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sorry. When you're in IOS there are some basic things to help you work it. you can always type a command. The tab key and ? are you best friends. tab will complete a key word for you and question mark gives you the options.

Home#sh dot11 bssid

Interface BSSID Guest SSID
Dot11Radio0 0015.f929.17f0 No home
Home#

this command shows you what the AP is sending in beacons. I really don't think you have a problem, probably just configuration. Start over by erasing the config....

write erase
reload

now you have a blank config. now configure an ssid with no security and enable the radio and test. If that works you can move on to encryption.
 

phaxmohdem

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Aug 18, 2004
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CiscoAP#sh dot11 bssid
Interface BSSID Guest SSID
Dot11Radio0 0009.b77b.ac37 Yes UberWiFi

Reset the thing as you described, and just did a basic SSID with no Encryption, and enabled the radio but the SSID still won't show up in any of my computers. I did stumble onto this while messing around in the telnet session:

CiscoAP#test interfaces Dot11Radio 0
No IP address for Dot11Radio0.
Skipping...
1 interfaces: 0 passed, 0 failed, 0 skipped, 1 untestable

Could that be causing headaches?
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
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run a carrier busy test to see if the radio is working..enable logging to your session with

Home#term mon

Home#dot11 d0 carrier busy
 

phaxmohdem

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CiscoAP#dot11 Dot11Radio 0 carrier busy
CiscoAP#
*Mar 1 02:08:11.889: %LINK-5-CHANGED: Interface Dot11Radio0, changed state to r
eset
*Mar 1 02:08:12.891: %LINEPROTO-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface Dot11Radio
0, changed state to down
Frequency Carrier Busy %
--------- --------------
2412 0
2417 0
2422 0
2427 0
2432 0
2437 0
2442 0
2447 0
2452 0
2457 0
2462 0
*Mar 1 02:08:20.780: %LINK-3-UPDOWN: Interface Dot11Radio0, changed state to up
*Mar 1 02:08:21.782: %LINEPROTO-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface Dot11Radio
0, changed state to up
CiscoAP#
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
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Find it hard to believe all channels are zero. Unless you don't have other people around you.

We're probably dealing with a L1 issue here. Can't rule out the radio being bad.

need:

show int dot 0
show controller d0

Also, we can't rule out the client just yet either.
 

phaxmohdem

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Aug 18, 2004
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This looks fun :)


CiscoAP#show int dot 0
Dot11Radio0 is up, line protocol is up
Hardware is 802.11B Radio, address is 0009.b77b.ac37 (bia 0009.b77b.ac37)
MTU 1500 bytes, BW 11000 Kbit, DLY 1000 usec,
reliability 255/255, txload 1/255, rxload 1/255
Encapsulation ARPA, loopback not set
ARP type: ARPA, ARP Timeout 04:00:00
Last input never, output never, output hang never
Last clearing of "show interface" counters never
Input queue: 0/75/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 0
Queueing strategy: fifo
Output queue: 0/30 (size/max)
5 minute input rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec
5 minute output rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec
0 packets input, 0 bytes, 0 no buffer
Received 0 broadcasts, 0 runts, 0 giants, 0 throttles
0 input errors, 0 CRC, 0 frame, 0 overrun, 0 ignored
0 input packets with dribble condition detected
0 packets output, 0 bytes, 0 underruns
0 output errors, 0 collisions, 2 interface resets
0 babbles, 0 late collision, 0 deferred
0 lost carrier, 0 no carrier
0 output buffer failures, 0 output buffers swapped out
CiscoAP#
CiscoAP#
CiscoAP#
CiscoAP#show controller d0
!
interface Dot11Radio0
Radio 350 Series, Base Address 0009.b77b.ac37, BBlock version 1.50, Software ver
sion 5.90.11
Serial number: VEM062005PN
Number of supported simultaneous BSSID on Dot11Radio0: 1
Carrier Set: Americas (US )
Uniform Spreading Required: No
Current Frequency: 2442 MHz Channel 7
Allowed Frequencies: 2412(1) 2417(2) 2422(3) 2427(4) 2432(5) 2437(6) 2442(7) 244
7(8) 2452(9) 2457(10) 2462(11)
Listen Frequencies:
Current Power: 100 mW
Allowed Power Levels: 1 5 20 30 50 100
Allowed Client Power Levels: 1 5 20 30 50 100
Current Rates: basic-1.0 2.0 5.5 11.0
Active Rates: basic-1.0 2.0 5.5 11.0
Allowed Rates: 1.0 2.0 5.5 11.0
Best Range Rates: basic-1.0 2.0 5.5 11.0
Best Throughput Rates: basic-1.0 basic-2.0 basic-5.5 basic-11.0
Default Rates: no
Current Voice Rates: 5.5 11.0 [disabled until voice packet-discard enabled]
Default Voice Rates: 5.5 11.0
Channel / Max Power Table
1 D=20, 2 D=20, 3 D=20, 4 D=20, 5 D=20
6 D=20, 7 D=20, 8 D=20, 9 D=20, 10 D=20
11 D=20

Data Rate Sensitivity (rate, SNR dB, Contention dBm)
( 1.0, 1, -98) ( 2.0, 7, -94) ( 5.5, 9, -92) (11.0, 16, -86)
Radio Management (RM) Configuration:
Regular AP RM Mode 1 Temp Setting Disabled
Temp Settings: AP Tx Power 0 AP Tx Channel 0 Client Tx Power 0
Rates:
Saved Settings: AP Tx Power 0 AP Tx Channel 7 Client Tx Power 0
Rates:

MCST RSCs: [0]0x0 [1]0x0 [2]0x0 [3]0x0 [4]0x0
TKIP Cum Stats: STA MIC-L-Errs MIC-R-Errs Replay C-Measure
0000.0000.0000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000

QBSS Load: 0x2
Policing Stats:Rx downgardes 0, Tx downgrades 0

Configured Local Access Class Parameters
Back : cw-min 5 cw-max 10 fixed-slot 7 admission-control Off txop 0
Best : cw-min 5 cw-max 6 fixed-slot 3 admission-control Off txop 0
Video : cw-min 4 cw-max 5 fixed-slot 1 admission-control Off txop 6016
Voice : cw-min 3 cw-max 4 fixed-slot 1 admission-control Off txop 3264
Configured Cell Access Class Parameters
Back : cw-min 5 cw-max 10 fixed-slot 7 admission-control Off txop 0
Best : cw-min 5 cw-max 10 fixed-slot 3 admission-control Off txop 0
Video : cw-min 4 cw-max 5 fixed-slot 2 admission-control Off txop 6016
Voice : cw-min 3 cw-max 4 fixed-slot 2 admission-control Off txop 3264
Transmit queues: Active 0 In Progress 0
---- Active --- In-Progress --------------- Counts --------------
Cnt Quo Bas Max Cnt Quo Bas Sent Discard Fail Retry Multi
Uplink 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Voice 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Video 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Best 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mcast 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Back 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
BSSIDS Index Flags State Next Held Defer NonDefer Clients Tsf Dtim Txq
AC37 0 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
UP ClientQAged AcQAged PacketAged Drop Retry/Thresh Timeout CQMax
7 0 0 0 3/100 0/500 35 4
6 0 0 0 3/100 0/500 35 4
5 0 0 0 3/100 0/500 35 4
4 0 0 0 3/100 0/500 35 4
3 0 0 0 3/100 0/500 35 4
2 0 0 0 3/100 0/500 35 4
1 0 0 0 3/100 0/500 35 4
Driver TX blocks: in use 0, high 0, at reset 0, fail 0, reclaim 0
Clients: 8021x auth in prog 0 allowed 0
Vlan BSSID Clients PSP Pri Encr Key0 Key1 Key2 Key3 SSIDs
0n AC37 0 0 0 0 4 x128
0 0 flags 3
0 0 flags 0
0 0 flags 0
0 0 flags 0
0 0 flags 0
0 0 flags 0
0 0 flags 0
0 0 flags 0
0 0 flags 0
0 0 flags 0
0 0 flags 0
0 0 flags 0
0 0 flags 0
0 0 flags 0
0 0 flags 0
0 0 flags 0
0 0 flags 0
17 0 flags 0
18 0 flags 0

Registers: io A0000200 mem A0000200 aux A0000200
0000 FF50 0000 0000 0021 0000 0000 0000
0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 2000 0000
0000 039C 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
0500 0007 0000 0098 0000
Radio running: temp 0 C tx_power 100 bb_code 0x0
rssi_threshold 0x0 gain offset 0

Antenna: external , gain 0 (platform 0, domain class A)
PCI sys_id: 0xA503 subsys_id 0x0 (0x4501)

Unicast ciphers 0x1 mcast ciphers 0x1Multicast counters:
Internal MC counts:
0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0
(0) 0 (0) 0 (0)
Log Buffer:


CiscoAP#

P.S. Thank you very much for your continued help with this.
 

nweaver

Diamond Member
Jan 21, 2001
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It's normal for the radio to not have an IP, only the (not sure about 350's) bridge interface, bv0 (the ethernet interface) gets one)