We tested firmware version 8.4 on a few MBX Mini devices, and they performed well. Consequently, we rolled out the firmware update to our entire fleet.
We have observed multiple cases where the MBX completely locks up within a day or two of operation. It ceases to transfer data and fails to issue DHCP.
The log files do not show any lead-up or entries near the time of the lockup. It is completely quiet and then it freezes.
We are experiencing an issue with v8.4 where it appears to be implementing client isolation despite not being enabled. Specifically, when a client is connected to the LAN port, it is not possible to ping the default gateway 192.168.50.1. This poses a problem for devices with peer-to-peer applications.
Has anyone encountered either of these issues? I’m referring to the problems observed on the latest release (8.4.0 build 5736) of Peplink MBX Mini devices, which are relatively new, being only a couple of months old.
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We have a ticket open for something that sounds a bit similar, complete lockup with no response on lan or wan.
We have a b310 5G showing it on 8.4.0, and we had a couple of balance 20x’s showing it on 8.3 and 8.4 (although they could, of course, be different issues under the hood).
Doug, see my ticket here Peplink | Pepwave - Forum
It sounds like something rather similar to what I’m experiencing. My MBX came with 8.4.0, so I didn’t really have a choice, but this sounds like something similar. My distributor partner advised me to “default to factory settings” which I did, so we’ll see if that makes any improvement.
Bryn, did you get any response to your ticket?
It happened again. The MBX was online for approximately 8 hours, streaming from one VLAN to another VLAN on the same box using internal wifi. The connection was made to an SFC cloud instance using two onboard cellular radios and one external cell router in the WAN1 port.
The communication gradually slowed down and eventually stopped altogether. It seems like a memory leak or a similar issue. A reboot fixed the problem temporarily, but the memory (or something else) apparently gradually depletes until it freezes again.
I opened a ticket regarding this issue, but there hasn’t been any resolution yet. We have experienced this problem multiple times on different MBX devices. I’m not sure they are looking into it, I haven’t gotten any updates on the ticket.
I am also using SFC Cloud at the moment too. Not sure if that is a common factor, but there’s three of us here in this forum reporting this and I’m sure others that haven’t reported it yet. Hopefully Peplink takes a look at this soon before I start having more production failures than I’ve already had. It seems strange to have a network device that there is no way to get any advanced logs out of. Nothing about this router tells me why it went down or what the crash reason was etc. For $8000 I expect that kind of logging as most basic.
Is there a way to see memory utilization or any advanced process stats on the MBX that anyone knows about?
I just had a weird gremlin with a Balance One on 8.4 where it simply stopped talking to one of my two WANs even though the WAN was working normally: Peplink | Pepwave - Forum
I also found an error/bug with 8.4 firmware where routing FaceTime traffic over SpeedFusion Connect blocks iOS/iPadOS devices from getting system updates:
https://forum.peplink.com/t/bug-report-firmware-84-sfc-for-facetime-is-preventing-ios-system-updates/6568e0c16b7103da4ac477ff/
This happened again to me today…around 2 am. Router just froze up, had to reboot it to get it working again. This is getting to be unacceptable from a seven thousand dollar router. Is this happening to anyone else or just me?
So after I threw a fit, eventually I got Peplink to respond in weird cryptic ways. They gave me a special build that seemed to fix the problem. I ran an MBX for a few weeks and it didn’t lock up once. They just released that new v8.4.1 version and the build number is slightly newer than the special build they gave me, so I assume the fix is in it.
It’s a little frustrating that for as expensive as these are, the only support is via partners, who just relay all the questions to Peplink and then back, which makes everything take forever. I have two RMAs that I’ve been fighting with them for almost six months because it’s have to go through our partner, who know nothing about Peplinks but we were forced to use them due to corp policy.
One of the units has a bent SIM card slot and cards won’t go into it. They partner is suggesting that I update the firmware and try the slot again. That’s the level of skill I’m dealing with - firmware update to fix a physical slot problem. I even sent a picture showing the bent metal side. Argh! I don’t think it’s Peplink that doesn’t get it, It think it’s this game of Telephone that is breaking down.
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Thanks for the information. I share your concerns. This is my first experience with Peplink hardware and it is making me a little reserved to continue with expansion. Just a little transparency would be nice here.