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Cisco Meraki Documentation

Troubleshooting Gateway AP connections

All Meraki access points will dynamically monitor their uplink port for Ethernet connectivity. However, there are a few scenarios when an AP that was once a gateway will not become a gateway again after having its Ethernet cable reconnected. When this happens, you will see the AP signal LED's scan back and forth and an SSID appended with "-scanning" may appear in your wireless network list. Here are some of the things to check when troubleshooting this problem:

  1. Bad cable run or too long a cable run. 
    • Verify the cable run is securely connected on both ends
    • Attempt to replace the current cable run
    • Verify the total cable run is 100m or less - this is a physical limitation of CAT5/Ethernet cables
  2. Faulty PoE injector. 
    • Try swapping the PoE injector in use with a known good PoE injector.
  3. AP does not have an IP address. If the AP is set to obtain an IP address automatically, then it is possible the DHCP server is not responding, unreachable, or out of IP addresses. 
    • Verify the DHCP server is running and reachable
    • Verify there are addresses available for lease in the DHCP pool
    • You can also try configuring the AP with a static IP address to see if it becomes a gateway, this would indicate there is a problem with a DHCP service on the LAN
  4. Verify Layer 1, 2, 3 are working on the Switchport by testing with a laptop.
    • Disconnect the AP from the Switchport
    • Plug the laptop into the same Switchport that the AP was connected to
    • Verify that the laptop is able obtain a DHCP address and is able to ping hosts on the internet. 
  5. The switch port the AP is connected to is bad or administratively shutdown. 
    • Connect the AP to a different port on the switch.

 

How do I configure my access point with a static IP address?

Troubleshooting Meraki AP's