Apex Controller Networking issue

saltgeek1 · Apr 4, 2019

Hi All,

I have a 2016 Apex controller and recently the ethernet connection has been really spotty, as in it will remain connected for one or two hours then it drops (while I am at work) for several hours. I have rest the controller and that is the only way to get the network connection to reestablish. The current workaround is connecting it through wifi only which seems pretty stable so far (fingers crossed). The controller seems to be still operating correctly without the network connection, for example, ATO and various other endpoints still function, just no local link connection (apex.local or <ip>) nor apexfusion. I am currently on the latest firmware: Installed AOS -> 5.04 7A18. I am not sure what else to try.

Billldg · Apr 4, 2019

I have to ask, I'm sure you can understand why, but have you done a reset on the controller and start over on the connection. If you have an apple phone then it is easier, if you have an android phone then u have to download an IP search widget, use the one apex recommends.

Just thought of something, is your router a 2.5 ghz or 5.0 ghz, Apex is meant for 2.5 ghz, it will have problems with the newer 5 ghz routers. I think it's a 2.5 ghz, may be 2, not sure, but either way.

pelphrey · Apr 4, 2019

Did you assign the Apex its own IP address? I wonder if there is a conflict there?

saltgeek1 · Apr 5, 2019

Thanks, guys for the feedback, so what has kept the unit stable so far was an assignment of a static IP address. I wonder if the internal DHCP client is segfaulting/crashing, as I was watching the request coming into my dhcpd server and notice that from time to time the assigned IP to the unit would drop out. The linux ip tool would list the address as failed which means the device is no longer attached.

example:
> ip neigh show <--- this command list all arp request with the associated MAC address and its state.
172.16.1.1 dev enp3s0 lladdr a0:40:a0:54:3b:ce REACHABLE
172.16.1.4 dev enp3s0 FAILED <-- apex controller

I wonder if Neptune Systems has run into this in the past, I wish there was a debug console or system logs I could take a look through.