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Trouble Firmware WMS5316
Hi, I recently bought 1 WMS5316 and 2 AP WNDAP350. I boot the wms5316 and click on every menu with firefox6 on W7 32bits - Everything is ok. Then before to tune all the stuff, I decide, like ...
Hey all,
So after way too many hours of troubleshooting, we got our WMS5316 and 6 WNDAP350 WAPs configured and working on firmware v2.1.2.
I created a Word doc for our internal use, but here is what I found that works:
This document covers setting up a Netgear WMS5316 WiFi controller and a Netgear WNDAP350 WAP on firmware version 2.1.2 (both controller and WAP have the same firmware version number). The setup is very specific and will not work otherwise, so these instructions will need to be followed exactly.
1. Prepare the WMS5316
a. Download the firmware v2.1.2 from Netgear’s site
http://support.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/19382/~/wms5316-firmware-version-2.1.2
b. Change your IP to be something on the 192.168.0.X subnet (other than 192.168.0.250 or 192.168.201.237)
c. Here are the defaults:
i. IP: 192.168.0.250
ii. Username: admin
iii. Password: password
d. Upgrade the firmware (“Maintenance” tab -> “Upgrade” subtab)
e. Factory Reset the WMS5316 by pressing the button on the back of the unit for several seconds. Resetting the device through the web interface will not do the trick.
f. Do the base config (change the IP address, password, VLANs, SSIDs on the controller as you see fit). I would use an internal NTP server as some of the default gateway settings on the WAPs can cause issues.
i. See additional info at the bottom of the document.
2. Prepare the WNDAP350 (Only setup one WAP at a time)
a. Download the firmware v2.1.2 from Netgear’s site
http://support.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/19747/~/wndap350-firmware-version-2.1.2
b. Change your IP to be something on the 192.168.0.X subnet (other than 192.168.0.250 or 192.168.201.237)
c. Here are the defaults:
i. IP: 192.168.0.237
ii. Username: admin
iii. Password: password
d. Upgrade the firmware (“Maintenance” tab -> “Upgrade” subtab)
e. Factory Reset the WMS5316 by pressing the button on the back of the unit for several seconds. Resetting the device through the web interface will not do the trick.
f. Do nothing else with the WNDAP350. Do not change the IP, do not change the password, do not change the device VLAN, do nothing.
g. Make sure that the WAP is on the same physical/virtual network (VLAN) as the controller. The subnets may not match between the controller and WAP, but that is what we need. The simplest way to achieve this is to just plug the WAP into the controller port.
3. Join the WNDAP350 to the WMS5316
a. Log onto the web interface of the WMS5316. On the “Configuration” tab -> “Access Point Discovery” subtab, click the “Search” button.
b. You should now see the WAP. It should show as a WNDAP350, an IP of 192.168.0.237, and a place to put a new IP address in. Check the box beside the WAP and enter the new IP address for it.
c. Click “Add” and after about a minute or two, it should show in the “Configuration” tab -> “Access Point Groups” subtab.
d. You can now edit the WAP, buy making sure that the WAP is selected and clicking the “Edit” button.
i. Name
ii. Password
iii. Group
iv. Default Gateway (Leave this blank)
v. Untagged VLAN (if needed)
vi. Management VLAN (if needed)
e. The WAP may disconnect for a few seconds, but it will reconnect. The changes that were made here, will apply to the WAP itself, including password.
f. If you have additional WAPs to setup, then go back to step 2 and complete this document before adding a 3rd, 4th, etc. You must only do one WAP at a time.
Additional Info:
• I had better luck using only the “Basic” group on the controller than using “Advanced” groups
• Sometimes the one of the SSIDs that you can configure on the controller doesn’t propagate to the WAPs, so you may need to log onto each WAP and manually configure this SSID.
• Turn off “WMM Powersave” in the QoS settings. This can cause disconnections of devices and perceived slowness.
• I left the “Load Balancing” feature off as it seemed to cause issues with disconnects. This may have only affected older firmwares through.
• Once all of the WAPs are setup, I would recommend running the “Channel Allocation” to autodetect the best channels for the WAPs to be on. I had to run it twice to get the best config.
• Firmware v2.0.9 on the WNDAP350 had issues where the MAC address would randomly change between the Ethernet MAC address and the 2.4Ghz MAC address as well as cause tons of disconnects and lag and does not allow Apple (Mac) devices to connect with stability (so I've heard).
• Firmware v2.0.3 on the WMS5316 makes you type the first 6 hexadecimal characters of the MAC address (OUI) in the controller before it detects the WAPs.
I hope this helps!
So after way too many hours of troubleshooting, we got our WMS5316 and 6 WNDAP350 WAPs configured and working on firmware v2.1.2.
I created a Word doc for our internal use, but here is what I found that works:
This document covers setting up a Netgear WMS5316 WiFi controller and a Netgear WNDAP350 WAP on firmware version 2.1.2 (both controller and WAP have the same firmware version number). The setup is very specific and will not work otherwise, so these instructions will need to be followed exactly.
1. Prepare the WMS5316
a. Download the firmware v2.1.2 from Netgear’s site
http://support.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/19382/~/wms5316-firmware-version-2.1.2
b. Change your IP to be something on the 192.168.0.X subnet (other than 192.168.0.250 or 192.168.201.237)
c. Here are the defaults:
i. IP: 192.168.0.250
ii. Username: admin
iii. Password: password
d. Upgrade the firmware (“Maintenance” tab -> “Upgrade” subtab)
e. Factory Reset the WMS5316 by pressing the button on the back of the unit for several seconds. Resetting the device through the web interface will not do the trick.
f. Do the base config (change the IP address, password, VLANs, SSIDs on the controller as you see fit). I would use an internal NTP server as some of the default gateway settings on the WAPs can cause issues.
i. See additional info at the bottom of the document.
2. Prepare the WNDAP350 (Only setup one WAP at a time)
a. Download the firmware v2.1.2 from Netgear’s site
http://support.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/19747/~/wndap350-firmware-version-2.1.2
b. Change your IP to be something on the 192.168.0.X subnet (other than 192.168.0.250 or 192.168.201.237)
c. Here are the defaults:
i. IP: 192.168.0.237
ii. Username: admin
iii. Password: password
d. Upgrade the firmware (“Maintenance” tab -> “Upgrade” subtab)
e. Factory Reset the WMS5316 by pressing the button on the back of the unit for several seconds. Resetting the device through the web interface will not do the trick.
f. Do nothing else with the WNDAP350. Do not change the IP, do not change the password, do not change the device VLAN, do nothing.
g. Make sure that the WAP is on the same physical/virtual network (VLAN) as the controller. The subnets may not match between the controller and WAP, but that is what we need. The simplest way to achieve this is to just plug the WAP into the controller port.
3. Join the WNDAP350 to the WMS5316
a. Log onto the web interface of the WMS5316. On the “Configuration” tab -> “Access Point Discovery” subtab, click the “Search” button.
b. You should now see the WAP. It should show as a WNDAP350, an IP of 192.168.0.237, and a place to put a new IP address in. Check the box beside the WAP and enter the new IP address for it.
c. Click “Add” and after about a minute or two, it should show in the “Configuration” tab -> “Access Point Groups” subtab.
d. You can now edit the WAP, buy making sure that the WAP is selected and clicking the “Edit” button.
i. Name
ii. Password
iii. Group
iv. Default Gateway (Leave this blank)
v. Untagged VLAN (if needed)
vi. Management VLAN (if needed)
e. The WAP may disconnect for a few seconds, but it will reconnect. The changes that were made here, will apply to the WAP itself, including password.
f. If you have additional WAPs to setup, then go back to step 2 and complete this document before adding a 3rd, 4th, etc. You must only do one WAP at a time.
Additional Info:
• I had better luck using only the “Basic” group on the controller than using “Advanced” groups
• Sometimes the one of the SSIDs that you can configure on the controller doesn’t propagate to the WAPs, so you may need to log onto each WAP and manually configure this SSID.
• Turn off “WMM Powersave” in the QoS settings. This can cause disconnections of devices and perceived slowness.
• I left the “Load Balancing” feature off as it seemed to cause issues with disconnects. This may have only affected older firmwares through.
• Once all of the WAPs are setup, I would recommend running the “Channel Allocation” to autodetect the best channels for the WAPs to be on. I had to run it twice to get the best config.
• Firmware v2.0.9 on the WNDAP350 had issues where the MAC address would randomly change between the Ethernet MAC address and the 2.4Ghz MAC address as well as cause tons of disconnects and lag and does not allow Apple (Mac) devices to connect with stability (so I've heard).
• Firmware v2.0.3 on the WMS5316 makes you type the first 6 hexadecimal characters of the MAC address (OUI) in the controller before it detects the WAPs.
I hope this helps!