This going to be a long post, I have had a 30yr career in network engineering, and as an engineer troubleshooting an issue I prefer to know as much information as possible, so I plan to try to give you a complete dump of what I have done., thus I appologize in advance for writing a book.
First I am a complete newbie to AREDN, I understand the principles of the technology but please excuse the lack of in depth knowledge - just trying to learn more about this technology so I can assist with the AREDN network that our ARES group has operational around the county. To really learn, I am planning to build my own test lab like when I first was learning Cisco or any other hardware/software, this way I can learn the ins & outs of the software and how it works without touching live equipment. I am starting with the MiKroTik hAP ac lite, and then will purchase two directional devices so I can simulate a mesh network at the shack.
Also, I am trying to install 3.24.10 which is the build I know is installed on the existing equipment.
Yesterday, I first went into the hAP ac lite and determined that it was running version 6.xxx of the MikroTIK firmware.
Second, I changed the IP on the device to 192 168 1 1 /24, verified try-ethernet-once-then-nand was set and Protected Reboot was not checked.
Next, I connected an unmanaged switch to the Internet port of the hAP ac lite, and the Ethernet port of my laptop. I assigned my laptop a static IP of 192 168 1 10 / 24 GW 192 168 1 1
Next I installed the pxeserv software suggested in the documentation, renamed the RB.elf and put it in the files folder.
In the pxeserv software I set everything to match the documentation on the AREDN website (Option 54 to 192 168 1 10, uncheck Filename if user-class=gPXE or iPXE, et al)
Then, I unplugged the hAP, set the pxe software to Online, and I held the reset button in as I turned on the hAP device until I got TFTPd:DoReadFile:rb.elf B:1452 T:0 then I let go of the reset button.
Information scrolled on the pxeser window, and I forggot to copy it to clipboard. During this the hAC rebooted twice... at that point I figured I was at a good stopping point for the day and I closed down the pxeser application and turned off my laptop
Today, I rebooted my laptop planning to finish the rest of the installation, I first however tried to ping the hAP at 192 168 1 100 and .1, no response, I tried rebooting it, plugging direct to my laptop, ping .100 and .1 again, nothing, and changed the RJ45 to a lan port, tried pining both .1 and .100 nothing.
I then tried to reimage the device again, walked through everything on the pxe server, put the unmanaged switch back in place, RJ456 back in the internet port on the hAP... and tried again... this timme I see the following in the pxeserv window:
10:00:49 AM DHCPc:discovering for another DHCPd on LAN
10:00:49 AM ROOT=C:\Test\pxesrv\files\
10:00:49 AM DHCPd 192.168.1.10:67 started...
10:00:49 AM TFPTd 192.168.1.10:69 started...
10:00:49 AM HTTPd:80 started...
10:00:54 AM DHCPc:no other DHCPd discovered
(this is where I then connected the hAP, rebooted the hAP holding the reset button)
10:01:30 AM DHCPd:DISCOVER received, MAC:18-FD-74-B1-12-CE, XID:6F7D7CDA
10:01:30 AM DHCPd:OFFER sent, IP:192.168.1.100, XID:6F7D7CDA
10:01:31 AM DHCPd:DISCOVER received, MAC:18-FD-74-B1-12-CE, XID:6F7D7CDA
10:01:31 AM DHCPd:OFFER sent, IP:192.168.1.101, XID:6F7D7CDA
10:01:31 AM DHCPd:REQUEST received, MAC:18-FD-74-B1-12-CE, XID:6F7D7CDA
10:01:31 AM DHCPd:ACK sent, IP:192.168.1.101, XID:6F7D7CDA
10:08:49 AM DHCPd:REQUEST received, MAC:18-FD-74-B1-12-CE, XID:41E87468
10:08:49 AM DHCPd:BOOTP REQUEST
10:08:49 AM DHCPd:ACK sent, IP:192.168.1.110, XID:41E87468
10:08:49 AM TFTPd:DoReadFile:rb.elf B:1452 T:0
(this is where I released the reset button on the hAP)
10:10:28 AM DHCPd:DISCOVER received, MAC:18-FD-74-B1-12-CE, XID:19E7E28A
10:10:28 AM DHCPd:OFFER sent, IP:192.168.1.100, XID:19E7E28A
10:10:28 AM DHCPd:REQUEST received, MAC:18-FD-74-B1-12-CE, XID:19E7E28A
10:10:28 AM DHCPd:ACK sent, IP:192.168.1.100, XID:19E7E28A
Any ideas, suggestions? am I missing something or did my attempt to install the firmware brick the hAP?
The fact that apparently the hAP is requesting a DHCP address after installing rb.elf is telling me that it did not take right.
I am going to point you to a pdf file that I have used for every Mikrotik device that I have every installed AREDN on (a lot) and this procedure has worked absolutely 100% of the time. It's at least similar to what you described. Note that in step 9A as I recall the procedure has changed with newer AREDN firmware where you no longer need to enter the password. Also note that after the hAP reboots after getting initial configuration, it will have a different address and DHCP address range. Since the dumb switch is in line, your computer will never see the LAN connection fail and will therefore NOT get a new DHCP address. Either force a new DHCP connection, or simply unplug the LAN connection from the computer momentarily and then plug it back in. This will force it to get a new DHCP address from the hAP.
https://www.arednmesh.org/sites/default/files/AREDN%20Mikrotik%20Install...
Today, I rebooted my laptop planning to finish the rest of the installation, I first however tried to ping the hAP at 192 168 1 100 and .1, no response,
There is virtually no advantage to using 3.24.anything ... start over with current firmware otherwise you are wasting your time. Unless however you are on a strange islanded network where no one updates anything and there is only OLSR.
Ed