CTR500 could not find an attached WAN device

canuckcam · Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:41 pm Post subject:

I'm not sure if it's power - when this problem crept up, I brought the router/aircard from the trunk up to the front and when the router reported "could not find WAN device," I looked at my aircard and the power and data lights were still on and like you, Dwayne, I connected the 595U directly to my CF-29 Toughbook and it works just fine, no problems at all.

Dwayne, can you edit the thread title so perhaps we can get more CTR-500 users in here that might have this problem?

Dwayne · Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:50 pm Post subject:

I just changed it. -Dwayne

Dwayne · Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 7:43 pm Post subject:

I think the problem is related to the CTR500 hardware. I uploaded the configuration to another CTR500, used the same card and it has been rock solid for 48 hours of use. With the other unit, I couldn't make it 2 hours without the problem occurring. I'm going to keep testing over the weekend. But I'm reasonably certain that the other unit has a hardware problem.

Dwayne · Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 3:10 pm Post subject:

Well . . . spoke too soon. Problem appeared on this unit. Interesting, this time it wouldn't go away. I reset the hardware multiple times and it wouldn't connect at all until I logged in a disabled load balancing (left turned on by accident from when I had two WWAN devices connected). Now it will connect. Would leaving the load balancing setting enabled with only a single modem connected cause this problem?

RJJ · Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 3:29 pm Post subject:

I have also had the same problem a couple of times with-in the last couple of weeks, with the CTR500, and USB727 combo

rj

JGriggs · Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 8:56 pm Post subject:

I caught my problem in the logs. It appears that I was seeing the 24 modem reboot. I believe Verizon only allows 24 hours of connect time. That's why I saw it so infrequently...

Dwayne · Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 8:58 pm Post subject:

I don't keep mine on full-time. Since I turned off load balancing, I haven't had another issue, but its too soon for me to consider it resolved, considering I ran several days without it occurring after switching to another CTR500.

canuckcam · Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 1:18 pm Post subject:

I'm getting a mixture of the Unattached WAN device and "please log into the CTR500" .. except, I don't have the hotspot functionality enabled, simply WPA2 password! Usually reloading the same page in a few seconds works.

I think I'm going to email the 3gstore techs for an RMA.

Dwayne · Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 4:47 pm Post subject:

My problem has worsened. It keeps telling me that it can't find a WAN device. Interestingly, the problem seems far worse when I am mobile than at home. So, is it a vibration issue (from the car), thermal issue (it's not in front of an air vent in the car), a poor reaction to a signal issue on the WAN connection (the connection is usually at least 2 bars, but perhaps a noise or interfence issue????). Is it a power issue? When mobile I am using a 12v CP car adapter or a Tekkeon battery. But . . . I have tried powering off of the battery at home with much better results. I'm stumped as to why it happens so often. Perhaps it happening in the car more than at home is a coincidence??

Another interesting pattern. When it happens, it seems to reoccur pretty quickly. For example, it will work for a hour without an issue. Then the WAN card's light goes off and I get the "can't find WAN device" message. If I recycle the router, it happens again either immediately or within 1 minute. Then it simply repeats - even if I leave it unpowered for 5 minutes before turning the router back on. So why does the frequency increase? I doubt it's thermal, because I've been feeling the card and router to see how hot it gets. When it is happening repeatedly, it is cool.

I tried rolling back to FM 1.42. It worked great for a week and them started having the problem. I've tried multiple CTR500's and multiple EX720 cards with multiple firmware revisions.

I wish I could provide better data. The problem is that these devices changed from being the extremely reliable (in the FW 1.3 era) to being too unreliable to deploy.

Is anyone from Cradlepoint still following this thread? If so, is there a way to turn on more detailed logging? What are our next steps? Because obviously this isn't acceptable for my needs.

Sorry for rambling, but I'm out of ideas.

DFJ · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 Apr 2009 Posts: 8

I had this issue a couple of times and here is how I fixed it:

I performed a hard reset of the CTR500 and then ran the basic setup wizard. I did not change anything except what was called for in the wizard. I guess this would be the minimum configuration. I have not had a problem since and I use the CTR500 every day for 8 hours. I don't know if this is just luck or there is a setting causing the problem. When I was having the problem I had email from the router turned on and logging turned off. The settings now follow this wizard. Good Luck!

DFJ · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 Apr 2009 Posts: 8

Correction - I did change one other thing - I urned on the "time" feature to update the router's time automatically.

starmandan · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 May 2009 Posts: 5

My router is having the same issue. Symptoms started about a week and a half ago. Was running firmware version 1.4.1 since getting the router a few months back. Had zero problems with the thing. Started noticing the internet getting really slow on me to the point where I was forced to connect the USB sprint card directly to the computer to get anything done. Thinking the problem might be a firmware bug, I managed to get the thing online long enough to upgrade the firmware to the latest version. This didn't seem to help much and things have been progressively getting worse. Now the router will randomly lose the USB sprint card saying that no interface is currently active on the WAN but within a few minutes will spontaniously recognize the device again and begin establishing a connection. I can't seem to keep the thing up for more that 20 minutes or so at a time. It is not a modem issue as I can use the sprint card all day long without issue connected directly to the PC. My router is on 24/7 and notice that it does get quite hot, but the USB sprint card gets hotter and it doesn't seem to care. I may try to roll the firmware back to a later version and see if I continue to have the same problems.

starmandan · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 May 2009 Posts: 5

Update: rolled back the firmware to 1.4, the oldest cradlepoint had on their site. Things seem to be doing much better now. I've been connected for almost an hour now without loss of connection. Odd observation, though, my configuration changes to 1.5.1 were not erased with the firmware downgrade.

starmandan · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 May 2009 Posts: 5

Update v.2: Router cratered about 6 hours after downgrading the firmware. Now it gives the error page in the browser even though the firmware says it is still connected, but the status light is obviously orange. Reset the router and was able to stay online for about 30 minutes before it cratered again. I'm calling Cradlepoint tomorrow.

DFJ · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 Apr 2009 Posts: 8

A suggestion: Change the setting in the router which enables "bounce" pages. I believe this is under Administration. When an error occurs the router bounces the pages you are seeing. I have seen the bounce page and then it clears..