V-M200 Access Points Require Daily Power Cycle

[genistas]

Hi,

We've got about 15 HP V-M200 APs in our school district, all were replacements for our older Netgear products. The problem is that they require almost daily power cycles to continue functioning. They function correctly for a day or two, and then suddenly stop forwarding traffic. The SSID is still visible, and clients maintain their associations, but all network resources are inaccessible.

A quick note, some of these access points are being powered by POE and others are not. The same problem exists regardless. Also, they all have different SSID's and all APs within the same building are operating on different channels. They obtain IP's through DHCP reservations tied to their wireless MAC addresses. The current firmware is 5.4.1.0-01-9867  which came preinstalled. I am unable to find a new version.

[tschaps]

I can't help much except to say that I know what you're talking about. I got 10 of them last Christmas break to install at my medium-size independent school, and I had that same problem (still associated, but no network traffic) with some of them all the rest of the school year. That was on the original firmware (at least 2 versions prior to yours), and then over the summer I upgraded them to the latest then (and still current on the support page) 5.4.1.0-01-9503, and it seems to have made all the difference. Nothing changed in my configuration otherwise or switch settings otherwise.

I don't suppose you can install a firmware version lower than what your AP came with. All of a sudden I'd get a frantic call that a classroom of laptops had a strong network connection but no connectivity. I could ping the AP without any problem, but the web interface was very slow, glacially slow to load. So that is how I got by, I created a single group of bookmarks that would all open in tabs with one click every morning, and then I could run down the tab line close the tabs of the APs which loaded right up. If any were still spinning well after the others had loaded the home page, I would reboot them. 

This sucks, I know, but it minimized precious downtime in the school. 

Not related to this but based on your description, I can tell you that my overall network stability and useability increased dramatically when I started using the same SSID throughout the building and followed Cisco's recommendation of only using channels 1,6,and 11, spread out as much as possible, but some overlap is inevitable. If AP's are on the same channel and can see each other, they cooperate and minimize the interference. Wireless traffic on adjacent channels is seen by APs as wireless interference, or noise, and it slows the throughput. I've recently experimented with some Open-Mesh wireless equipment, and that all uses the same channel, no matter how close together the APs are, and it all works very well. So I'd stick with the three channels. If you're in a '13 channel' part of the world, I believe you can use 4 successfully without interference (1,5, 9, 13?), but we have just 1,6, and 11 here.

Good luck

[genistas]

Thanks for the input. Could you please point me to the support page you're referring to? The only page I could find had only one version of the firmware, and it was much older than what i'm currently running.

I will make the change to channels 1, 6, and 11. There will be significant overlap though, as we have 9 APs in one building. Also, I have been considering using the same SSID on all APs for a while now. Maybe it's time to bite the bullet and just do it.

Thanks again!

[tschaps]

This latest version I got, which is older than the one that came with your new devices, was just released in May. The download page is:

https://h10145.www1.hp.com/Downloads/SoftwareReleases.aspx?ProductNumber=J9467A&lang=en&cc=us&prodSeriesId=4318739

Don't worry about the overlap, just map out your areas of heaviest expect use, and try to arrange  the nearest 3 APs to be on the three different channels. In areas of lower use, I'd bet you could have five or more APs in the same room on the same channel, and you could use a couple laptops with no problem, only with a lot of devices would the bandwidth get streessed. The protocol for sharing wireless spectrum is pretty efficient.

You might also consider putting one or more on the 5 Ghz band in heavy coverage/use areas. Most devices can use 5 Ghz in either 802.11n and or 802.11a nowadays. Still use same SSID though. It works great. lots of channels to choose from.

[kanapana]

I'm experiencing the same problem. Weird that when you click the troubleshooting-link on page:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SupportTaskIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=110&prodTypeId=12883&prodSeriesId=4318739

You get to a page describing the same issue with "HP MSM317 Access Device Series"

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=110&prodSeriesId=4318739&prodTypeId=12883&objectID=c03007176

Unfortunately I am unable to find the suggested firmware builds 5.4.2.74-01-10103 and 5.5.2.4-01-10021.

[Ryan Richardson_1]

I'm having the exact same problem with my V-M200 devices.  Did anyone have any luck getting the newer firmware?  

[gglater]

Please log a case with support, and provide them with whatever data they need to elevate the issue. This issue, while it is clear that it has been experienced in a number of environments, has been challenging to reproduce. HP is working on a proof of fix, and will likely offer it first to customers with open support cases." When a software fix is finalized and released, it will be available at the following URL for customers entitled to it: https://h10145.www1.hp.com/downloads/SoftwareReleases.aspx?ProductNumber=J9467A

[kanapana]

Sorry, but I am not a professional in navigating between/in your support sites (I end up in infinite loop very there).

Can you give me a direct link to the place where I can open the support case? I just can't find it.

[gglater]

You can open a case online, via email, or call support.

http://h17007.www1.hp.com/us/en/contact/

or call  1-800-334-5144.

Please follow up here with the case number you receive.

Thank you.

[kanapana]

Here are the ids (dunno which one is more useful):

Case ID: 4637482889

HP Networking support ID* PSID-142649