Proxim/Orinoco b/g on AP 520wl?

[Brann Mitchell]

As the subject says, I've got a 520wl and a Proxim/Orinoco gold b/g card (8470-WD), but the 520wl doesn't work with it. I have scores of other Proxim/Orinoco cards that do work, both gold and silver, but not this 11g one.

I might have missed something, but the AP is running the latest firmware, 2.4.5. Do I load a different MIB? What the heck is a MIB?

Cheers,
Brann

[Matt Hobbs · Accepted solution]

Although not officially supported by HP, you can update the 520wl to the latest Proxim firmware which is 2.5.5.

http://keygen.proxim.com/support/orinoco/ap-2000/2.5.5/OR_AP2000_R2.5.5-B1070-WEB.zip

The supported b/g card that you should get is J8432A.

[Brann Mitchell]

Well, thanks. I was wondering if that was possible... so, I flashed to the 2.5.5, but it still didn't enable the Orinoco b/g card. Red Light. Bummer.

I'm fairly certain that the Proxim b/g card is the same as the 170wl, however, it could be that Proxim made special versions of the b/g cards for HP.

I'm also trying to convert the 520wl to PoE with a splitter, but that doesn't seem to work either.

Does anybody know if the 2600-8PWR has a CLI command to turn PoE on and off on a selected port?

[Brann Mitchell]

In the immortal words of Homer, "D'oh!"

I just read a bulletin from Proxim... nope.

[quote]No. Using the Clients cards in place of the 802.11a and 802.11b/g Kit Cards will not work, since the Kit Cards have a specific hardware ID that the AP is required to detect before recognizing and activating the radios.

The only exception is the Orinoco Classic card, 8410-WD, which is an 802.11b-only radio, and will work as either a client card or as an AP radio card.[/quote]

Awwwww.

[Sergej Gurenko]

I'm not sure if this works but here is he software capable of re-flashing PCMCI wireless cards:

http://www.lincomatic.com/wireless/software.html

The main purpose is to convert Silver to Gold (40bit WEP to 128bit), but also capable to edit other card parameters.

[Travis Truax]

>> I'm also trying to convert the 520wl to PoE with a splitter, but that doesn't seem to work either.

>>Does anybody know if the 2600-8PWR has a CLI command to turn PoE on and off on a selected port?


We have many 520wl APs and after I noticed they were just Proxim AP-2000s, I stopped buying them and started getting the Proxim units. The 520wl do not support poe period. Disassembling the two units yeilded a drastically different board layout... I don't think the circuitry is there for anyone to toggle in firmware.

HP officially backed my assessment on that after I called (for what that is worth). At the time, they seemed to have VERY little knowledge of the units - and I was particularly disgusted that they were so clueless about the product. Where necessary, we used Hyperlink injectors AND splitters for the HPs, and desoldered the strange (good luck finding a replacement) power connector from the power supply. I would be hesitant to load the Proxim FW on a 520wl. The box is the same, but the guts don't match!

Travis-

[Brann Mitchell]

Thanks for the info, Travis. I was contemplating how far with a soldering iron I should dive into these units... but you just answered that!

Well, we also found some AP 420's on eBay, so the two 520wl's I got are pretty much limited to conference room use. On the upside, so far, the regular Proxim firmware seems to work quite well.

Oh, I figured out the PoE off/on too... the 'no power' command (from the CLI) on the port will turn it off.

[Travis Truax]

>>>Oh, I figured out the PoE off/on too... the 'no power' command (from the CLI) on the port will turn it off.

On your 520wl??

[Matt Hobbs]

I'm taking an educated guess here, but I suspect there are different revision 520wl's out there. Some which may be based on the original AP-2000's which did not support PoE, and the later ones are based on the AP-2000 AE's which do.

I've got 2x 520's and I've noticed the different revisions printed on the sticker where the mac-address is, also the more recent unit boots up a lot quicker. I haven't looked into the PoE feature though so next time I get a chance I'll check it out.

[Matt Hobbs]

>>>>>Oh, I figured out the PoE off/on too... the 'no power' command (from the CLI) on the port will turn it off.

>>On your 520wl??

I was confused too, looking back I think Brann was referring to the 2600-8-PWR.