[ap-utils] AP strangeness

[Jan Rafaj]

On Mon, 24 Jan 2005, John Coppens wrote:

> Hi Jan.
>
> Did that - interesting. I didn't see an exact time frame for 'arp ping' to
> 'icmp ping'. If the interval is rather large ('tens of seconds'), that
> could explain the problem. I'd passed this 'arp trick' on (I believe)
> Cisco AP specs, but didn't think it applied to the Atmel chip.

I've seen it has been mentioned 'up to 3 minutes after AP start'
somewhere, but it may differ among different firmware versions tho..

> The unit identifies as '802.11 AP (Ver. 0.0.1.16)' which doesn't fit in
> the version numbering scheme of Intersil/RFMD mentioned in the TFTP info.
> The chip is RF3000, which seems to RFMD though.

It *is* the ATMEL+RFMD AP - but one of the first series, that was
populated with just a single SRAM chip. It has been produced for a very
short time, and has been quickly replaced by 2 SRAM version (which
identifies itself by 2 SRAM chips onboard and 0.2.X.X version of AP
firmware). Funny thing is, that all it would really need is just to
solder/populate second SRAM (Alliance AS7C31024-12TC), one stabiliser and
one SMD 470ohm resistor, and you'd get the 'later, full' version out of it
(I did this successfully few times in the past).
Unfortunately, these ICs arent readily available.
No need to mention that you can't upload 0.2.X.X AP firmware to device
that has 0.0.X.X AP firmware inside, without turning it to paperweight.
I'd suggest: if your device works without problems with 0.0.1.16,
leave it that way, and do not try to upgrade even if you'd see
0.0.1.17 or higher version somewhere. Those 1 SRAM devices are quite prone
to all sorts of instability problems according to my experiences
(dunno if thats becouse of bad firmware, but it is very likely)...

> On CNet's webpage there is no firmware (not even a copy of the actual
> version) for the CNAP711 AP. And CNet doesn't reply to e-mails either.

To my knowledge, they (ATMEL) didnt really made any firmware version
available for public download through their OEMs, as for this particular
hardware version (at least, I havent seen any).
Anyway, AT76C510 has been EoL'ed by ATMEL for almost year already,
and that might be why they are just dumb...

Regards,

Jan


> Thanks
> John
>
>
> On Mon, 24 Jan 2005 09:09:05 +0100 (MET)
> Jan Rafaj wrote:
>
> >
> > Hi John,
> >
> > Please download the latest 'development' version of ap-utils, and read
> > ap-tftp manpage, particularly the section dealing with 'ARP PING'
> > feature. It might eventually shed some light onto your problems I guess
> > (at least, 'automagical change of APs IP address' is, to my knowledge,
> > only possible if ARP PING is involved).
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Jan
> >
> >
> > On Mon, 24 Jan 2005, John Coppens wrote:
> >
> > > Hello all.
> > >
> > > I cannot understand why my AP (CNAP-711) changes its Ethernet IP if I
> > > ping at some other IP when it is defined in the route table as
> > > Gateway. This, of course, disrupts the communication with ap-config,
> > > and if I use the search mode, ap-config finds the AP at the IP I tried
> > > to access, but I cannot log in to change it back.
> > >
> > > Power on/off returns the AP to the original, programmed, IP.
> > >
> > > Suggestions?
> > > John
> >
>
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