Wireless Access

Hello,

We have rolled out Surface Pro 4s running Windows 10. We have AP-325s connecting back to a couple of 7240 controllers running 6.4.4.12.

We have multiple users experiencing drop outs from the network. Generally what we see is that users will go offline but their surfaces will still have a valid IP address and association to an AP, but will not be able to ping the default gateway or beyond. The controller will show 100% retries to the client. Waiting a few minutes usually sorts it out, but most people disconnect and reconnect.

We have removed 2.4GHz from the APs in case interferrence was an issue (although it happens on both bands). We have also found older Windows 7 laptops do not seem to have any issues connecting to the same SSID/APs.

It is looking like the Surfaces are the issue, but I was wondering if there is anything we can tweak on the controller and if anyone else has seen this?  Thanks in advance!

What is the driver date and chipset for the Surface Pro wlan driver? 

Thanks for the reply,

We have been trying multiple different versions. One that experences drops alot has 15.68.9048.83 from 24/8/16 although a colleague has downloaded the latest drivers from Microsoft and still has the drop outs. Its a Marvell Avastar AC chip.

Thanks again John

I have been experiencing this same issue with all 4 of the Surface Pro 4's that our salesgroup are using. 

Its the same issue. They will report random events where they show connected to the WLAN but unable to access websites. At the same time they are unable to ping the gateway or anything beyond. Disconnecting from the SSID and reconnecting will resolve the issue as will uninstalling the adapter in device manager and letting the OS reinstall it. 

I have tried using an external USB WLAN adapter but the issue occurs on that as well. The rest of the employees here use Dell latitude laptops all running Intel 7265 adapters with current drivers and not a single report of any issues. We also are using AP-325s with a 7010 controller and currently on 6.5.3.0. 

The Surface Pro 4's are using a Marvell Avastar NIC with driver version 15.68.9112.23 from 12/2016 which is the latest version according to MS driver site.

By chance is this happening when the users are docked to the Surface docking station or when they are undocked? All of these issues appear to us when they are docked. I have yet to have an issue reported when they are undocked. Some of the online reports have pointed to the dock as the potential culprit but I have not been able to make that determination definitively. 

If you do a search on Surface Pro 4 wireless you will get a bunch of results where users are reporting this exact same issue but no resolution or confirmation of an issue from MS.

I do not believe in any way that this is an Aruba WLAN issue. My feeling is that this is an issue in the way the OS is managing the adapter or something in the Surface docks. Having experienced this issue with both the internal adapter and also with an external USB adapter is perplexing and strange. My next troubleshooting step will be to put the external USB adapter in the dock and turn off the internal Marvell adapter and see if the issue still occurs. 

We've tried a USB B/G/N adaptor and experienced the same dropouts although perhaps not as frequent. We have also seen it docked and undocked.

It feels like the Surface is constantly adjusting the power on the NICs but I can't proove that. I belive it is the Surfaces with the issue but its always possible there is a configuration on the Aruba side that could help.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpro4-surfperf/wifinetworking-issue-when-connected-to-docking/d9cfa028-1817-4ab5-a87e-a84d73d945d1?page=1&auth=1

Everything on the controller side shows good connection, client has an IP, RSSI health is 90% or better but the client cannot resolve DNS, ping gateway or access web. Disconnecting and reconnecting fix the issue. I wished this was an Aruba issue because we would get some cooperation and involvement to fix it. With MS I wouldn't hold my breath :)

Amongst other things ( for example,trying older APs on a controller that has a different version of ArubaOS) we went through the Aruba Validated design guide. We adjusted the AP power settings down, turned on airtime fairness, confirmed Client Match was on and set up WMM traffic shaping.

After we made these changes, a user that was experiencing drop outs all the time now has said it's much better, in fact the 4 of us that were testing haven't had a drop out and the wireless has been stable.

We've put the 325s back in place and will continue to test. If we still have issues Microsoft have a new driver in Beta that will be next.

Hi Jroffe,

Is this disconnect issue still occurring for your Surface devices?

We have the same issue and I am curious to know what you actually changed setting wise?

Cheers,

Aaron

Yes we are, although its been significantly better since we upgraded the controllers to a newer version. We went through the Aruba validated design reference; adjusted power down, enabled 802.11 D and H, verified airtime fairness was turned on.  It's aggravating for sure!

Hey there gang...

I have been battling a perception issue at a client site for the last two days where they seemingly want to blame the WiFi.  I found this article, but want to add something for you.

Check the below link out and once you are on the page, look for connected standby.  You will have to hack a reg key, and once you do this, you will now see power options on the Avatar WiFi NIC in the surface!

Good luck as, so far, it's really helped here:

http://www.lovemysurface.net/windows-10-power-settings-for-surface/

Hi Dsammich,

Thanks for the response! 

Unfortunately, after enabling that registry setting, we found this didn't resolve the issue as multiple users reported the disconnections reoccurring. I confirmed that the "connected standby" was disabled on each unit and they were running the default "balanced" power setting with no other changes.

Currently working through this issue with the Aruba TAC.

Cheers,

Aaron

We haven't had any luck with power settings either.  We have a TAC call open too.  In the logs we're seeing ‘Requested Authentication algorithm not supported’  foairly regularly for clients that have this issue.

I am wondering if this is something to do with WMM-PS, I have seen on a client that the AP thought it was in 'power-save' mode when you run 'show ap debug client-table ap-name <AP Name>' and look at the state. and it was about the time when the user had a drop out. If the surface is in a low power state for the W-NIC, that would explain why the controller shows the AP doing 100% retries to the client. Sounds good, although I havent been able to repeat this yet so maybe cluthing at straws.

Did you guys go into the WIFI NIC itself and set it for Maximum Performance?  I had to do that as well...

Hi Dsammich,

Yes, we did try changing that wifi power setting, however, all six of the Surface devices still experienced the issue.

-Aaron

Just to add our issues to the mix. We aren't having disconnects with our new Surface Pro 4s running Win 10 pro 1703, but we are having issues with slow throughput and high ping times or even dropped packets when using them on the 2.4Ghz. Other devices on 2.4Ghz work fine and the Surfaces work fine on 5Ghz.

Hi Jroffe/all,

We are still experiencing the disconnection issues after upgrading to the latest firmware release, 6.5.4.0 (build 60834) for our IAP-315's and IAP-325's.

We are running the latest drivers and w10 build, 1703, drivers etc, for our Surface Pro 4's and Surface Book's.

Extremely frustrating.

We have a ticket open with both Aruba TAC and Microsoft, have submitted multiple trace files for both and after weeks of troubleshooting honestly feel like this is not really getting us any further.

I am starting to regret upgrading from our old Procurve MSM kit to Aruba.

Jroffe - can you please mark this as unresolved?

Thanks,

Aaron

Or, you can open your own thread so it is not confused with this one and you can mark it resolved when you see fit.

By the way, at any time you can  ask to have a TAC case escalated if you feel like you are not getting anywhere.

Done.

http://community.arubanetworks.com/t5/Wireless-Access/surface-device-disconnection-issues/td-p/305219

We are experiencing the same issue. Experimented with several different driver versions and power settings. Problem continues.

Consumer reports is blasting MS for a high rate of returns.  Also heard that MS agreed to refund some customers although I have not been able to confirm that as fact.