Basic Access Point Troubleshooting

If no lights are lit on the unit

This means that the AP is not powered up or is in Dark Mode:

• Verify that the AP is not running in Dark Mode.
• How is the AP powered?
  • If using an AC adapter, try another known working AC adapter and try another known working power outlet.
  • If using a PoE injector, replace cabling between the AP and “out” jack on the PoE injector, and the cable from the “in” jack on the PoE injector to the LAN. Ensure all Ethernet cabling is less than 100 meters in length.
  • If using a PoE switch, ensure the switch is IEEE 802.3af (or IEEE 802.3at) certified, ensure that the switchport that the AP is plugged into is enabled and has PoE enabled. Replace cabling and ensure it is less than 100 meters in length. Try another known working switchport that powers another Cisco Meraki AP. Try another ASIC on the switch to rule out a bad ASIC. Try another PoE switch that is known to be working.
  • If the AP is powered by both PoE and an AC adapter, remove one of those two power sources.

If no LEDs light up on the AP, please Contact Support for further guidance.

If there is one solid orange power LED

This means that the AP is powered on, but can't connect to the cloud.

• Wait 2 minutes, as the AP might just be booting up.
• Check layer 1 connectivity.
  • ​Replace the network cable.
  • Try connecting the AP to a different switchport.
• Check the upstream network configuration.
  • Ensure that the AP is on the appropriate VLAN. If a native VLAN is configured on an upstream 802.1Q trunk port, then ensure the access point's VLAN tag is not the same ID as the native VLAN. Specifying the same VLAN ID would tell the access point to tag its management traffic with that ID, which would likely cause it to be dropped by the upstream switch port.
  • Verify that the upstream switchport is configured to allow the AP on the network.
  • Check that the AP is getting a valid IP configuration, either configured statically or by using DHCP.
  • Ensure that any firewalls upstream are allowing the AP to communicate with Dashboard.
  • Collect packet captures on the upstream device to see if traffic from the AP is replied. If the AP is connected to Meraki device upstream, you can collect Dashboard Packet Captures.
• If possible, connect to the AP's local status page for more specific connection info.

If all else fails, collect the SDB Bundle (OOB Logs) from the Local Status Page of the device and provide it to the Meraki Support Team.

If the LED is cycling through the rainbow colors

The AP is initializing and trying to find a gateway:

• Ensure the AP is plugged into the correct switchport on the correct VLAN, and if DHCP is not running on that VLAN, assign a static IP to the AP.

If the LED is blinking orange

The AP is unable to find a gateway:

• Ensure the AP is plugged into the correct switchport on the correct VLAN, and if DHCP is not running on that VLAN, assign a static IP to the AP.
• Collect packet captures on the upstream device to see if ARP, DNS and DHCP requests from the AP are replied. If the AP is connected to Meraki device upstream, you can collect Dashboard Packet Captures.