× NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Reply

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

martinav
Guide

Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

I am getting this error.  Not sure why.  Sometimes it goes down, sometimes it does not.  Is it RF?  Temperature?  It is outside (well, in a garage, safe from elements... but not controlled), and currently its 74F out there.  Not too much of an issue, humidity 89%.

 

Whats up?

Model: WAC730|3x3 Wireless-AC Access Points
Message 1 of 20

Accepted Solutions
RaghuHR
NETGEAR Expert

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

It is clear for your  Neighbour AP list  that Channel 1, 6 and 11 are congested & the behaviour is expected in this kind of condition.

 

Below  is the details  shows that how many ap's are configured to a particular channel:

 

Channel-1 has configured with 17 AP's, 6 has configured with 10 AP's and channel-11 has configured with 13 AP's and all these are non overlapping channels so you left out with overlapping channels 

 

You can select any channel from these 2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10,  and make sure you use different channel for each AP.

 

View solution in original post

Message 12 of 20

All Replies
LaxmankumarG
NETGEAR Expert

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

Hi,
Welcome to the netgear community!.

We see this kind of alarms when we see more congestion in the channel or more interference in the channel. When we see this kind of alarm we generally see the slowness in the wireless performance. What firmware version you are using on the controller?.

Message 2 of 20
martinav
Guide

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

THanks for the reply.  I have been around for a long time!  Its just rare that I need to fix a problem.  I'm an exclusive netgear guy (except for SMB firewall) and never have much trouble.

 

The controller firm is 6.5.3.9.

Message 3 of 20
LaxmankumarG
NETGEAR Expert

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

Hi,

There could be some intereference in your network, how many neighbor APs you see in your environment?

 

You can go to the page Monitor->Neighbor AP.

For now we are not suspecting anything wrong in the controller except the environment.

Message 4 of 20
martinav
Guide

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

I see 56 neighboring APs.  However, some of those things in my list are not APs.  For instance, a wifi lightbulb and a Samsung TV.  I am in a residential nieghborhood with larger yards.  

 

I did not have this problem with WAC730s.  I found a great deal on WAC740s, and upgraded.  Perhaps I shouldnt have?

 

What now?

Message 5 of 20
RaghuHR
NETGEAR Expert

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

@martinav looks like you have enabled AirQual thats why you are seeing non-WLAN devices.

 

AIRQUAL is a collection of software components used to perform spectrum analysis in the 2.4 GHz and 5GHz bands which detects, classifies interference of different types of non-WLAN devices like bluetooth, mircowave etc. and provides the formatted information to the user.

 

You can disable AirQual from configuration -> wireless page. See the attached screenshot.

AirQual.jpg

 

Thanks,

Raghu

Message 6 of 20
martinav
Guide

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

It is not enabled. Never was. Next?
Message 7 of 20
RaghuHR
NETGEAR Expert

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

Hi @martinav

 

Probably your WAC730 and WAC740 are operating in different channel. As an experiment can you configure the same channel on both APs and check (move 740 to anyother except 11 channel) ? This is just to find both AP are giving the same information. After this experiment you can switch back to original channel.

 

Also please share the controller ,WAC730  & WAC740 logs and configuration back-ups. You can IM me. We will take a look at those logs and share our feedback.

 

Thanks,

Raghu

Message 8 of 20
martinav
Guide

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

I do not have any 730s.  I just have 3 740s.  

 

What is strange, I deleted a spare ssid that I was using as a test for something... I cleared the logs and no errors were logged for several hours.  Now, they are all back again.  I didnt do anything else.  

 

After I deleted the extra ssid, the error log was so quiet, I didnt believe it.  I unplugged one of the APs, just to see if it was alive.  That is the first two entries into the log.  It was great for about 8 hours, then the issues came up again.  Its a mix of all of them too.  Not just one of the APs.

 

 

Message 9 of 20
RaghuHR
NETGEAR Expert

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

Looks like more congestions in your environment. You can export the neighbour AP list from the monitoring page. Please send this.

 

Thanks,

Raghu

Message 10 of 20
martinav
Guide

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

Here is the AP list.

Message 11 of 20
RaghuHR
NETGEAR Expert

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

It is clear for your  Neighbour AP list  that Channel 1, 6 and 11 are congested & the behaviour is expected in this kind of condition.

 

Below  is the details  shows that how many ap's are configured to a particular channel:

 

Channel-1 has configured with 17 AP's, 6 has configured with 10 AP's and channel-11 has configured with 13 AP's and all these are non overlapping channels so you left out with overlapping channels 

 

You can select any channel from these 2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10,  and make sure you use different channel for each AP.

 

Message 12 of 20
martinav
Guide

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

Ok, I will do this.  I have one other issue with these APs.  That has to do with PoE power.  The 740s are drawing more power.  I have upgraded my switch to an HP Aruba 3810M.  This switch also fails to power the APs.  What do I need to do?  PoE configuration is as follows:

 

PoE: Enabled

Power Allocation by: class (also tried usage)

Power Priority: High (also tried low)

LLDP MED TLV(PoE): Enabled

LLDP DOT3 TLV (PoE+): Enabled

Pre standard Detect: Off

 

I have been using Netgear separate power supplies, but I should not have to.  Thank you.

Message 13 of 20
RaghuHR
NETGEAR Expert

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

Below is the link which explains the WAC740 PoE requirement,

 

http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/WAC740/WAC740_IG_EN.pdf

Message 14 of 20
martinav
Guide

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

Yessir, I am very much aware of the specs.  This is my 2nd switch that clearly meets the specs.  All 4 access points have problems powering.  Even when it is the only device attached to the switch!  The switch reports it is providing instantaneous 8.9W.  Its well below the 30W capability of the switch, and 30W fully .  Here is an excerpt from the manual of the HPE Aruba 3810M

 

• IEEE 802.3at Power over Ethernet (PoE+) provides up to 30 W per port that allows support of the latest PoE+ capable devices such as IP phones, wireless access points, and security cameras, as well as any IEEE 802.3af compliant end device; eliminates the cost of additional electrical cabling and circuits that would otherwise be necessary in IP phone and WLAN deployments

Message 15 of 20
RaghuHR
NETGEAR Expert

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

Are you saying only with HPE Aruba 3810M our WAC740 is not powering via PoE?  Are you using different switch for your previous setup?

 

Thanks,

Raghu

Message 16 of 20
martinav
Guide

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

I changed the switch yesterday.  I have been powering all APs with the Netgear 12V 2.5A adapters since I changed out the WAC730s for the 740s.  The WAC730s powered via PoE just fine.  I will address this only after I have confirmed resolution with the AP channel issue.

 

My Previous switch was an HPE 1920 switch.

 

Thank you.

Message 17 of 20
martinav
Guide

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

@RaghuHR,

 

I did not find anything where I could explicitly set each AP individually, as you were implying.  Or, perhaps I misunderstood.  I found channell allocation, however, and was able to turn off channels 1 and 11.  That at least eliminated those channels.  It seems like the controller automatically selected different channels for the APs.  So, I think this is doing what you requested.  With that said, I'm still getting environment errors, but just on different channels.  Log attached.

 

I have this setup now:

image.png

and

image.png

Model: WAC730|3x3 Wireless-AC Access Points
Message 18 of 20
RaghuHR
NETGEAR Expert

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

@martinav Those are all informative RF events for you. It is giving information about your wireless enviroment. There is nothing wrong from those events. If you are seeing any other issue other than those informative RF events then let us know.

 

Thanks,

Raghu

Message 19 of 20
martinav
Guide

Re: Bad environment detected on Radio[0]:Channel[11] by AP Garage - WAC740

@RaghuHR,

 

It does appear I had two problems...  One was the channel suggestion, which I showed as the "answer" for this post.  The other was that my DNS settings were somehow erased from my router.  I have corrected both, and it is working reasonably well.  I still have problems with ipads disconnecting and reconnecting.  That isnt right, but I have run out of energy to mess with it any more.

 

I will open a new post regarding the POE issue.  

 

Thanks for your help.

Message 20 of 20
Top Contributors
Discussion stats
  • 19 replies
  • 9406 views
  • 0 kudos
  • 3 in conversation
Announcements