Problem initializing NWA50AXs

sgntuk · March 2023

I've just bought 1x NR7101 and 5x NWA50AX.

The NR7101 was easy to set up* and is working beautifully. I have an excellent internet connection through it.

The NWA50AXs are proving more difficult. I'm trying to configure these in standalone control mode. They're all exhibiting the same behaviour: I plug them into a PoE+ switch also connected to the NR7101 (with an internet cconnection) and they blink slowly green and amber indefinitely. Sometimes they'll settle on steady blue (then steady green when a device connects over wifi) but will eventually return to slowly flashing green and amber.

I can connect to all of their default SSIDs over wifi, but they won't serve anything when I try to visit http://1.1.1.1, http://setup.zyxel.com, http://192.168.1.2, or https:// for any of those. Same for a wired connection.

Firmware version is V6.25(ABYW.2)

I've been trying to follow the quick start guide

https://download.zyxel.com/NWA50AX/quick_start_guide/NWA50AX_006.pdf

Troubleshooting steps:

Screenshot showing 5 uninitialized access points in the ZYXEL One Network utility

I've tried connecting one to another network - no difference.
I've looked at them in ZON. They all show up fine. I'm able to set device name and IP settings.
I have tried to update the firmware via ZON but the upgrade fails both from the internet and from a local file.
I've tried assigning them static non-conflicting IP addresses.
They don't show up in ZAC.
I've tried connecting them to Nebula Cloud Control (just to get them working to begin with). None of them ever managed to connect/initialise at all, and so I've removed them from the account.
I've tried factory resetting them using the hardware button.
I have connected them one-by-one & tried troubleshooting steps (to avoid conflicts on 192.168.1.2).

The one way I am able to operate them is: attempting to 'restore defaults' in ZON causes them to go from green/amber to steady blue (/steady green) for a short amount of time.

*With the NR7101, I did encounter one serious software bug. When setting the admin password in settings (not the setup wizard), I was permitted to enter a 35-char long password. When subsequently logging in, the device would not accept a password longer than 32 characters. Neither would it accept the default password, the previous password, or the new password truncated to 32 characters at the start and end. The device was effectively soft-locked and I had to factory reset using the hardware reset button.

sgntuk · March 2023

OK no worries I think I've sorted it.

The router was in IP passthrough mode by default, so only my laptop had internet. And the other network I tried didn't have a sufficiently stable connection for initialisation.

The only problem I have now is I couldn't disable nebula discovery on the NWAs for standalone mode, but that's a problem for tomorrow. We've got internet and everything's working fine via Nebula.

Please could anyone advise, is the "Base Pack" on Nebula free & perpetual? If so I could just leave everything as-is (if it ain't broke &c)

Zyxel_Judy · March 2023

Hi @sgntuk ,

When setting the admin password in settings (not the setup wizard), I was permitted to enter a 35-char long password.

Could you share with us the place you set the admin password?

When we go to Maintenance > User Account to change the Password with length as 35 characters, the message pop-up and need to re-type the password.

The only problem I have now is I couldn't disable nebula discovery on the NWAs for standalone mode.

Did you try to disable nebula discovery on the NWAs by ZON or in WEB GUI? Which message/status you got when you disable nebula discovery on the NWAs for standalone mode?

As our reproduce, we just couldn't disable nebula discovery on the NWAs in case the NWAs are managed by Nebula. If doing the progress by ZON, there was a message as "Fail to set NCC discovery"

Here is the WEB GUI in case the NWA is managed by Nebula

Here is the WEB GUI in case the NWA is in Standalone mode. We can turn ON/ OFF the Nebula Discovery.

is the "Base Pack" on Nebula free & perpetual?

According to the present plan, there is free and no time limitation for using Nebula Base Pack for all case. If there is any new business plan/ adjustment, we’ll announce on the official website and Zyxel community.

sgntuk · March 2023

OK no worries I think I've sorted it.

The router was in IP passthrough mode by default, so only my laptop had internet. And the other network I tried didn't have a sufficiently stable connection for initialisation.

The only problem I have now is I couldn't disable nebula discovery on the NWAs for standalone mode, but that's a problem for tomorrow. We've got internet and everything's working fine via Nebula.

Please could anyone advise, is the "Base Pack" on Nebula free & perpetual? If so I could just leave everything as-is (if it ain't broke &c)

Zyxel_Judy · March 2023

Hi @sgntuk ,

When setting the admin password in settings (not the setup wizard), I was permitted to enter a 35-char long password.

Could you share with us the place you set the admin password?

When we go to Maintenance > User Account to change the Password with length as 35 characters, the message pop-up and need to re-type the password.

The only problem I have now is I couldn't disable nebula discovery on the NWAs for standalone mode.

Did you try to disable nebula discovery on the NWAs by ZON or in WEB GUI? Which message/status you got when you disable nebula discovery on the NWAs for standalone mode?

As our reproduce, we just couldn't disable nebula discovery on the NWAs in case the NWAs are managed by Nebula. If doing the progress by ZON, there was a message as "Fail to set NCC discovery"

Here is the WEB GUI in case the NWA is managed by Nebula

Here is the WEB GUI in case the NWA is in Standalone mode. We can turn ON/ OFF the Nebula Discovery.

is the "Base Pack" on Nebula free & perpetual?

According to the present plan, there is free and no time limitation for using Nebula Base Pack for all case. If there is any new business plan/ adjustment, we’ll announce on the official website and Zyxel community.

sgntuk · March 2023

Thank you so much for your fast advice!

On the NR7101 password issue:

I was indeed using the user account you screencaptured. However, when I submitted the form, the only feedback I got was the session timeout notification (though I assure you the password had changed), so it wouldn't surprise me if this was a fringe case handled in an unpredictable manner. At the time I was on the out-the-box firmware (unsure now which version) so the bug could have been fixed in newer releases.

On the NWA50AX cloud discovery issue:

I was trying to disable Nebula discovery through ZON, and saw the error message you described.

The web GUI was per your first screenshot, as though the access points were already tied to Nebula. They weren't registered to any NCC site at the time they connected to the internet though. A possible cause for erroneous behaviour could be the repeated boot cycling without internet during troubleshooting? The onboarding experience wizard I expected was not displayed when I eventually accessed the web GUIs for the first time.

Now they are connected to Nebula, up-to-date and functioning as expected, it should be simple enough to revert to standalone control if I need to.

That said, I'm extremely impressed with NCC, especially that the base tier provides everything you need for a home environment. I had been reluctant to use cloud WLCs since finding very early iterations to be gimmicky and unreliable. But I'm going to keep everything on Nebula for the time being.

Zyxel_Judy · March 2023

Hi @sgntuk

At the time I was on the out-the-box firmware (unsure now which version) so the bug could have been fixed in newer releases.

You can go to the Download library to download the latest firmware and upgrade for your NR7101 to check the password issue.

The web GUI was per your first screenshot, as though the access points were already tied to Nebula.

We’re thinking whether the AP was registered to NCC before by someone? Do you have the brand-new AP?

The onboarding experience wizard I expected was not displayed when I eventually accessed the web GUIs for the first time.

Recommend you do factory reset to check whether wizard displays.

Now they are connected to Nebula, up-to-date and functioning as expected, it should be simple enough to revert to standalone control if I need to.

We’re pleased to hear that your NWAs connected to Nebula and works as expected. In case, you revert to standalone mode (unregister AP from NCC) and have issue with disabling cloud discovery, please tell us and provide us a remote session (Teamviewer/ Anydesk) to check your NWAs.

Problem initializing NWA50AXs

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