FortiAp 221C 5ghz radio 99% with 0 clients

[sanderl]

1 out of 3 221C APs has radio 2 with 3 ssids on 5 ghz. No client are connected (they cant because ssids are not seen there). The channel utilisation is99% ans client count 0. NOTHING helps... what can be wrong?

[Dave_Hall]

Is the AP in question have a FortiAP profile tied to it and/or is any of the wireless settings being overrided? 

[sanderl]

Dave, yes (ofcourse) and no.

[tanr]

What's the firmware version? 

Beyond that:

Do you have other access points that might be trying to suppress this one?

Do you have WIDS and/or background scanning enabled? 

Is spectrum-analysis enabled?  

Have you tried it with only non DFS channels?

[sanderl]

Hi tanr, some more information. I have this issue with wireless for about a year now. The problems are not always the same but most time the go around the 5Ghz band of the radio's. I have currently on the FWF-60E: FOS6.2.3 and the 3x221C APs: 6.0.6. But with all versions (6.2.x and 6.0.x) I had the troubles.

What did I do/have: I started with 1 AP profile for 3x221C APs. With all features on: e.g. RRP, Frequency handoff, AP handoff, all channels selected, monitor channel util, etc... I had 3 SSIDs on all AP's and all radios (2.4 and 5).

I had LOADs of problems... mainly due to the following. 2 devices stream ~6-8Mbps continuously (I need them) and took almost all 802.11b 2.4 radio spectrum (again, I had to, they can't do else). What I experienced is that mostly all WiFi equipment will almost always prefer to connect to 2.4 instead of 5Ghz. Thus I had "issues" due to the lack of available spectrum.

That, combined with all the FG "features" that try to steer client to other AP's and other frequencies made the whole situation very unstable. Thus I started to divide the 1 AP profile to 3 AP profiles to be able to select static channels per band (2.4: 1,6,11 per AP and 5: 36-56 AP1, etc.) and I disable all the fancy features of AP handoff, RRP, etc. That made a relief... BUT I still had issues with clients connecting to and SSID selecting 2.4 and not 5 GHz band... (wifi clients can be stubborn :-)).

Thus I decided to create separate SSID's for 2.4 and 5G. I then changed all devices able to talk 5G to 5G and left the other to 2.4. WHAT A RELIEF!!! Everything suddenly started to work as it should ! :-).

And this all the last 1 year with several FOS 6.2.x and 6.0.x.

But now... I have this working situation but this 1 AP that does not want to work with 5Ghz. I don't see the 5G SSID's when I am around that AP. I do see the 2.4G SSID.

See attached image... 0 clients, 99% channel utilization. nothing helped, reboot AP, reboot FG, disable/select other 5g channels... Thus I ended up in creating a new AP profile and then it suddenly was 0 clients, 0% Utilization.

Thus... I am out of options but to buy ubiquiti :) (little joke).

[tanr]

Assuming you've got an SSID assigned to that FortiAP's Radio 2, and have a valid set of channels, I would expect to see it.

What do you have the transmit power set to for that FortiAP's Radio 2?  Is it set to manual power or auto?  If auto, have you tried setting it to manual and full power (like 23 dBm I think).

To cut out some of the non-config related possibilities, have you tried

- Changing available channels on the AP (avoids some interference)

- Moving the AP to a different location temporarily (in case it's by some RF interference or something reflecting signals)

- Changing the POE port the AP is connected to (in case it's related to weak/unstable power)

- Resetting to factory defaults, then building a new profile from scratch in case its firmware/config is messed up

It's always possible it actually has a bad radio.

Besides checking with TAC, if you have access to some WiFi testing equipment and software (MetaGeek, etc.) that could help you see if you've got interference, a very weak signal from the AP radio, etc.

[sanderl]

Hi tanr, thank you kindly for taking the time to reply an help here.

Can you see the screenshots above? SSIDs are configured on both 2.4 and 5G.

Transmit power is max (auto does not give me good results on other APs (for 5G).

Will try to move physical locations. I tested the wifi devices in clear line of sight with no obstacles at all between.

POE is stable, AP is always up, 2.4G works fine...

Factory reset... I think that is the best kept secret (as many others ;-)) on how to factory reset an AP... (or I might be missing something). EDIT: reset other than by a needle in the box :)

[Dave_Hall]

If the AP in question is suppose to be broadcasting at both 2.4 and 5.0 , check the physical status on the AP itself to see if both WiFi 1 &2 are lit and/or flashing.

[Dave_Hall]

From the Fortigate side, verify the Profile used has both SSIDs enabled, has channels assigned and SSID(s) associated - in the default 221C Profile none of the SSIDS are actually assigned (AFAIK).  Also confirmed none of the profile SSID settings are being overrided. 

And likely the best option to troubleshoot this is to actual log into the AP's GUI itself and check the settings there.

[sanderl]

Hi Dave,

I was not able to properly upload pictures to this forum. i tried but ended up in text and lost some of the typed text in previous topic. i have now discovered I have to make pictures smaller, upload and then refer to then (not easy).

In reply to your previous tip: All lights are green on the AP.

In reply to your last tip: Yes I have applied the correct profile to the AP. I have 2 other profiles applied to 221C APs and they work well.

And none are overridden no.

I have tried to reset the 221c with a paperclip. that did do something but upon return to the FG "nothing happened", at least seemed to :)