Cisco Meraki - 802.11 Disassociation - Unknown Reason

[CallMeMonks]

We've been having issues with our Cisco Meraki wireless setup. Clients are randomly disconnecting from the wireless SSID and losing network connectivity. Only a restart connects the device back to the SSID.

 

The disconnects are very random, sometimes it will start connected for 30 minutes, other times for 3 hours. It's very random. On the Cisco dashboard for the client history there are entries that read:

 

"Successful connection to SSID **SSID_Name** for an hour on AP **AP Name**, but the client unexpectedly disassociated."

 

In the event log there are entries that read:

 

"802.11 disassociationunspecified reason"

 

Can't seem to get to the bottom of why this is happening. The clients are random and not the same model/make, it's happening on different SSIDs and at different times of the day.

 

Spoke to Cisco support and they suggested switching on band steering, which we've done and changing the bit rate and nothing has made any difference.

 

Could anyone help?

[BWMerlin]

We've been having issues with our Cisco Meraki wireless setup. Clients are randomly disconnecting from the wireless SSID and losing network connectivity. Only a restart connects the device back to the SSID.

 

When you say restart are you talking about restarting the client or the access point?

Does this issue happen regardless of security type? i.e. if the client authenticates via 802.1x and cannot connect can it connect via WPA-PSK?

[RobD]

Are you near any radar? Planes or airport etc? Could be a DFS event so the channels are changing?

[bwestlake]

Have you raised this with Meraki support?

[CallMeMonks]

When you say restart are you talking about restarting the client or the access point?

Does this issue happen regardless of security type? i.e. if the client authenticates via 802.1x and cannot connect can it connect via WPA-PSK?

Restarting the client and yes, it happens regardless of the security type.

[CallMeMonks]

Are you near any radar? Planes or airport etc? Could be a DFS event so the channels are changing?

No, we're not near any radars. Where can I check if it is DFS issues?

[CallMeMonks]

Have you raised this with Meraki support?

Yes, and they have been useless.

[computer_expert]

How many clients connected to the same AP when this happens? Is it possible that there are too many clients and the AP is overloaded?

[CallMeMonks]

How many clients connected to the same AP when this happens? Is it possible that there are too many clients and the AP is overloaded?

I would say max 4/5 clients at any one time.

[kearton]

You say the clients are different make/model, but do they have the same wireless chipsets, drivers etc?

[CallMeMonks]

You say the clients are different make/model, but do they have the same wireless chipsets, drivers etc?

They all have the same wireless network card (Broadcom BCM43142). I've updated them to the latest drivers I could find. I know it's an old wireless card but that shouldn't stop it working.