WNDAP350 significant problemsI have 5 of these on various network segments over a large geographical area. All are using different wiring, different network switches, nothing in common with any of them except one thing. All are experiencing exactly the same problem.Log excerptMar 21 11:41:51 hostapd: Network Integrality: Ping FailedMar 21 11:41:51 hostapd: Network Integrality: Host: 10.110.255.254 is down.Bringing down all the vapsMar 21 11:41:51 kernel: brtrunk: port 2(wifi0vap0) entering disabled stateMar 21 11:41:51 hostapd: wifi0vap0: STA 00:1b:63:cc:f5:40 IEEE 802.11: disassociatedMar 21 11:41:51 hostapd: wifi0vap0: STA 00:26:4a:c1:51:26 IEEE 802.11: disassociatedHere is what I've learned:When there are no associations at all (over a weekend for example) there are no problems; pings are always successful.After there are a couple (two or so) associations then the above occurs maybe about once every 4 hours. You start getting more associations then the “Ping Failed” occurs more frequently. On one where there are about 30 associations the failure occurs about every 20 minutes, sometimes more frequently.I am aware that these 350s ping their respective default gateways. Examination of the router's respective logs show the routers are working flawlessly. Indeed, everyone “wired” on the various network segments are not having any problems. Each 350 has it's own Gig/sec connection. Measured network traffic is rarely over 3% of available capacity.So, in the 350's firmware, is it waiting a shorter and shorter amount of time for a ping return as the number of associations increase? Therefore, it is timing out waiting for the return when if it would wait just a little longer it would be satisfied?I've got to solve this problem before I can deploy anymore 350s. I'm not replacing anymore WAP54G's which are working just fine.Thanks for any help here.Bob

This morning I replaced one of the WNDAP350s with a Cisco Aironet 3500. Been watching it all day. 36 connections and it's been working great.So, right now my WAP54G's are working fine, the 3500 is working fine, and the Netgear 350's are periodically turning off their radios because they think they're not connected to a network.Hmmmm.... I wonder where the problem lies?

hi,Sorry i think i can't help you; just to say we have many WNDAP350 (firmware 2.0.9) and we never had your issue.They work great (with bugs :D but nothing serious)Did you call the support ?Hope you'll find the way out ;)

Yea... I'm running the latest firmware also.I just replace another one with an Apple Airport. The Airport has been working flawlessly all day.So now..All the Linsys's have always been working well.The Aironet has been working flawlessly.The Apple Airport has been working without problems all day.Just the 350's are periodically deciding they are not wired to the network and then turning of their radios. And, the higher number of associations, the more frequently they decide they don't have a wired connection.I appreciate you relaying your experience with them.Not contacted support yet. Wanted to make sure of the facts before I talked to Level 1/2 support.Bob

Since we have our WNDAP350 we had never need to reboot or something like that until we have upgraded firmwares ;). We use lot of SSID and 2,4ghz/5ghz together.They are wired to a Netgear GSM7224v2. Jumbo disabled for AP. We also have 1 old Cisco Aironet 1131AG. All work flawlessly.Did you try Wireshark to see what's going on ? A reset factory ? With another switch ?;)

I should point out that I believed my 350's were working fine. The users never really reported any problems other then usual “sometime slow printing” or, “my Email client required I re-authenticate to the Email server”; things that could be solved by updating out of date drivers or stop wandering between cells, etc. Most all users attributed their problems to old operating systems, not enough memory, or this is just the way the laptops run. It's the OS; just reboot and everything worked fine.When looking at the 350's logs I would see nothing wrong. At that time I didn't really pay attention to the fact that the logs only kept about 10 minutes of data.The way I found out that these units had problems is from my network management software. It checks to see if all the units on my network are alive by pinging them every 10 seconds. I usually do not check it's logs because I see everything in the green all the time. However, one day I did check the logs and saw that the 350's were frequently not there then reappearing in about 30 seconds or so. When looking at the 350 logs I didn't see anything because the problem had already scrolled out of the buffer. It was a cat-and-mouse game for several days until I caught a 350 going dark. I immediately checked it's log and found the “ping failure”. I saved the log. After doing a lot more legwork I picked up on the fact that the problem was more severe as the number of associations increased. And, the problem was only associated with the 350's.So, like I said, I hadn't been made aware from my users that there were any kind of problems that I could associate with anything other then normal under provisioned hardware for the kind of heavy duty apps. they were trying to use.It's quite possible others have this problem and never know it.Just some thoughts.Bob

WNDAP350's are constantly rebooting

45 Replies

RSchwein
Aspirant
Jun 21, 2011
I admit to beginning to become a little concerned with the talent level of Netgear's software coders. I literally had to do all the work (packet traces, logs, etc.) before they would even admit there was a problem. Even then it took the intervention of Netgear's local sales rep. to get them to act. v2.0.18 was their answer but, I still don't see it on the public download page of the WNDAP350. Bob
Glith
Aspirant
Jun 23, 2011
No issues with your 2.0.18? In that maybe you could send it to me?
RSchwein
Aspirant
Jun 24, 2011
I'm having no issues with 2.0.18 but, I'm not doing anything fancy with them. They are set to a static channel, no VLAN's or QOS settings configured. Rouge WAP detection seems to be working fine. Where would you like me to Email a copy of 2.0.18? Bob
Glith
Aspirant
Jun 25, 2011
I sent you a PM. =)
Mosel
Aspirant
Jul 07, 2011
Would you kindly please provide me the link for 2.0.18? Thank you.
XTed
Aspirant
Jul 12, 2011
I was being to thinking that I was the only one with 4 access points with similar problems with lockouts, dropped connections and no connections at all! Was almost at the point of finding a replacement but a new firmware may solve some of the problems!

Bob / Schwein - I have sent you a PM :)
tcdrake
Aspirant
Jul 13, 2011
I could use this firmware update too. I will PM you.
XTed
Aspirant
Jul 14, 2011
So did anyone manage to get a copy of the beta firmware?
Daedalus01
Aspirant
Jul 14, 2011
Per Netgears regulations, your not supposed to email other people beta firmwares. For one, if only one person mentions a problem and 200 don't, they won't know about a problem. The more people report a problem, the better they know how software is working.
Mr_Plop
Aspirant
Jul 14, 2011
Oh great. I have just installed a WNDAP350 at a client site. Simple config with two SSIDs (on the same VLAN).

I was connected to the 2nd SSID and when about 5-10 other wireless devices connected the wireless access suddenly froze (sort of). My laptop (Vista) was reporting only Local access, but nothing local was accessible.

Strangely, I was able to connect via the other SSID and managed to re-boot the WNDAP350 which fixed the problem. From the sounds of everyone's experience, this fix is temporary!

Is this similar to the issues that y'all are experiencing? I hope they release the firmware fix soon. The customer is spitting chips as I have already had to remove a UTM50 that was causing browsers to hang when accessing HTTPS sites... (but that is a story for another forum...).

It is ridiculous that users are experiencing these problems and then have to provide all the evidence to support to to get anything done...

Maybe I should just switch to another more reliable brand? (If one exists.)

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WNDAP350's are constantly rebooting