Balance One Core Freezes

Morning Folks,
My first post for a while as my Balance One normally works faultlessly. However yesterday I had no internet access and found that I couldn’t access my Balance One on my browser to check what the issue was. Looking at the Balance One unit, all LED’s looked normal and there appeared to be network traffic (I could still access my LAN equipment ok).

I rebooted and everything cam back to normal for 24 hours, then the same thing happened. Rebooted and ok for 40 mins.

I have since rebooted and upgraded the Balance One to FW 8.02 and will see how that goes.

There was nothing in the event log to say why the Balance One had frozen, but I thought I would ask here if there is anything I can check. If it happens again then it could be a ticket item ?

Thanks in advance,
Andy

Hi. That behavior is very much unexpected and contrary to our experience. May we assume there are no “environmental factors” that may be correlated with this, e.g., periodic power sags? (Low V causes microelectronics to do very wacky things.)

Updating to 8.0.2 was a good move.

Yes, I’d say to absolutely do as you suggest. First thing to do after such event occurs is to capture a diag report. Also turn on RA when you enter the ticket.
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This is the sort of [fortunately, rare] thing that will require Peplink’s engineers to “get under the covers” to explore.

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Morning Rick-DC,
The freezing event has happened again, however I can’t find the Diagnostic Report and Remote Assistance items in my Balance One web UI - appreciate if you can advise.

Thanks,
Andy

Scratch that last comment - I couldn’t see it for looking right at it !

Andy

@AndrewStymac1966 I suggest you try reducing the power output of the internal wifi transmitter, or if practical turn it off entirely. I and some others have seen unexpected shutdowns when the internal wifi transmitter was set to high power.

AP > settings > SSID name in use > Output Power

I had previously used Fixed Max thinking why not? I haven’t seen this problem since changing it to Fixed Medium. Ultimately there is nothing to gain by the access point having a higher output because the device connected to wifi (phone, laptop, etc) doesn’t have as much transmit power anyway. Your phone might see the Balance One transmitter on high power but that doesn’t do any good if the device doesn’t have enough power for the Balance One to see the reply.

Hi Don, thanks for your reply. Its a Balance One Core that I have which doesn’t have wifi - apologies I should have been clearer when I originally posted :slight_smile:
I have raised a ticket and am running beta FW from this morning and will see what happens. However I have had 5 identical events now since the weekend, so something has changed with the unit or the install.
Andy

I would suspect the power adapter. I had same issues on a Peplink 30 box.

The adapter is not special - its common with many other 12v 1A wall warts that are used everywhere.

I really would submit a ticket --as suggested earlier. I’ll also point out that the possibility of a bad wall wart, as thoughtfully suggested by @rossh_pl, should not be ruled out. That could cause the behavior your describe. You may want to try that. If you do, note that the rating should be 12VDC @ not less than two amps. Such a unit as is often furnished with small switches, low-end routers, etc is insufficient.

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Hi Rick,
Just to confirm I did raise a ticket and Peplink can’t see anything wrong with the software and nothing in the diagnostic report. They have told me that if the problem persists I need to get a new unit (mine is out of warranty by 6 months now unfortunately).
I am trying an alternative power supply so will see how that goes, however what I’m using is 12v 1.5A - the router says it needs a max of 15W, so 1.5A should be enough ?
Andy

Hi. OK. Check the rating on your existing PS. I’m thinking it’s 2A @ 12V but I may be wrong. The amperage rating on your test PS can be greater than the OEM but not less. Don’t “chintz” on the rating – microelectronics can do really goofy stuff when the V drops beyond component design specs.

Sure … P=IE suggests a 1.5A PS should be sufficient. Agreed! But if the purpose is to test and see if it a wall wart issue I’d allow a bit more headroom and use a PS rated similarly to the OEM. Just one guy’s opinion. :nerd_face:

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