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Brand New NanostationM2 I Can't Configure

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kb5zvp
Brand New NanostationM2 I Can't Configure

OK, 2 Nanostation M2's came yesterday, brand new - I broke the seals.

I can ping them, but I can't access the configuration page in the browser.  I get a connection time out.

The lights on the unit - Power (on steady), LAN1 (on and blinky with traffic), alternating signal leds 1&3, 2&4

I think I saw this when I tried to program up my bullets, and I solved it by putting a switch between the 'puter and the POE injector (why IDK.)  But I've tried now with and without the switch and I still get the same thing.  I can ping it, but I can't browse to it.  Nor can I SSH into the device.  Did I get bricks from the factory?  

Thanks!
Scott

PS: computer IP 192.168.1.22 (and ...100 and .21 and .101 out of frustration) / 255.255.255.0
 

N8NQH
N8NQH's picture
some info here...

about  communicating with new units directly:
http://www.tim-yvonne.com/ham/mesh/reflash.htm

also, before reflashing to Aredn... identify the M2's you have; very important at the moment (XM - XW, 5.5 - 5.6 concerns):
http://www.tim-yvonne.com/ham/mesh/nanostation/

K5DLQ
K5DLQ's picture
Try a different browser.
Try a different browser.
Firefox, Chrome, etc.
 
N8NQH
N8NQH's picture
that's a good idea; I have

that's a good idea; I have ran into issues with new units and IE; to where Firefox brings up the initial Air-OS login screen just fine.  Once the AREDN firmware is loaded, IE works fine again.  I guess I should add this tidbit to my web page !

k1ky
k1ky's picture
I like using Chrome...

I have found that Chrome works best for me with the FIrmware upgrades because it gives me a "progress counter" at the bottom lefthand of the screen indicating the percentage of file upload.  I also use the UBNT discovery tool to communicate with the AIROS loaded equipment.  It allows me to select any of the available IP addresses, including the 169.xx addy on the node before and after flashing back to 5.5.11 - and I don't have to set my computer to a fixed IP addy - it still runs fine with DHCP.  Never any issues unless I'm dealing with a "Bricked" unit.

I've alse learned that "Patience is Key" when uploading Firmware and upgrades.  Get it started and go take a drink or a smoke or something.  Some of these can take 5 - 10 minutes before the node comes back "automatically". And don't abandon the current browser screen if you think something is wrong.  Just open up a new tab and poke around.


 

KG6JEI
Alternating LED's sounds like
Alternating LED's sounds like it's in TFTP recovery mode. Perhaps accidently hit the reset button?
K5DLQ
K5DLQ's picture
Good catch Conrad.
Good catch Conrad.
You do NOT want to put the device in TFTP mode to downgrade AirOS. 
YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST USE THE AIROS gui in "normal" mode.  Just power it up normally.

There is no GUI in TFTP mode.
 
kb5zvp
Huh.  Thanks guys.  I've
Huh.  Thanks guys.  I've tried multiple browsers, and if I've hit the reset button I'm not sure how I did - they both came out of the box like this, which seems really weird to me, but here we are.

So, it sounds like I need to try and tftp a file onto the device, and it should be a ubiquity factory file, and then use the standard gui to load on AREDN?

Thanks for your help
Scott
K5DLQ
K5DLQ's picture
perhaps your PoE adapter is
perhaps your PoE adapter is bad (and shorting the reset button).  Do you have an alternate PoE adapter to try in it's place?
kb5zvp
Tried that to no avail either
Tried that to no avail either.
kb5zvp
Patch Cables Matter!
OK, lesson learned here - the issue was a 6' patch cable I was using for setup here on the bench.  It was a flat "super flixible" variety between the PoE injector and the Nanostation.  I changed the cabling so that my shorter Cat6 went from PoE to Nanostation, and the longer cable went from the Lan port of the PoE to the computer.  While the flexie cable was speed rated for GbE, it must not have had enough current capacity.

Thanks for your help and suggestions!
AE6XE
AE6XE's picture
Better test that cable or
Better test that cable or toss it out.   To put the Ubiquiti into tftp mode means that a couple of the wires on that cable were shorted together.   this is what the reset button on the Ubiquiti Power Brick does.  There's some buried forum posts on the exact pins-wires that are shorted to remotely do the reset over the cat5.
kb5zvp
hrmph!  Thanks for that info!

hrmph!  Thanks for that info!  I'm suspecting that I've got something else going on as well.  would it perhaps be the pair that a phy uses to auto-MDI-X?  

GRRRR!  My 3 bullets didn't give me this kinda fits :?

sorry, I sent prematurely!  

So I've a switch between the computer and the POE injector, and if I hit the wrong port, the station will go into tftp recovery mode.  But now when it boots, LED4 does a slow blink, and then after about 4 seconds goes into a fast blink!

I was able to get aredn on it - by first downgrading to an airos 5.5x, and then uploading aredn (latest released).  Then, I went to put my lat/lon into it and thats when it started terribly misbehaving.  

So, I'm not sure if I did it or is something else?  
Scott

AE6XE
AE6XE's picture
Here's the definitive write
Here's the definitive write up:  https://dren.dk/mreset.html .      The "short" has to put voltage on one of 4 wires, so if any of the POE V+ wires shorts to one of these 4 wires, it apparently does the reset action.
kb5zvp
thanks for the info.  the
thanks for the info.  the orriginal offending cable is gone.

I took a nanostation that was getting itself into TFTP mode, flashed it via TFTP, and it still enters mode.  
Then, I did nothing else but unplug the cable from the nanostation, and plug in a bullet, and it works just fine.
re-plugged the nanostation, and it's in tftp mode.

I'm beginning to think it's the nanostations itself.  Where's the Gremlin spray!

Scott
AE6XE
AE6XE's picture
Visual inspection of the pins
Visual inspection of the pins on the NS ports?   Maybe they're bent, corroded, foreign object, etc. 
kb5zvp
nope, they all look good.
nope, they all look good.

Gremlins is my current working hypothesys.

So, I switched laptops to an old toughbook with winXP instead of my HP and windows 7.  The toughbook works fine, but when I connect to the HP laptop, even with a switch in the middle (or not), the nanostation starts to act funny.  Rock solid on the panasonic.

Even super weirder that the switch doesn't isolate the issue.
N8NQH
N8NQH's picture
you wrote:  the issue was a 6' patch

Congrats  in figuring it out !

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