!URGENT!:WS5 SHIPMENT RECALL (Jan,2010 Shipments)

[UBNT-Robert]

WS5 shipments for January,2010 are being recalled from distributors/resellers due to contract manufacture radio programming mistake. The issue causes significantly lower TX power on mid and high channels. We are working with distribution to resolve problem quickly and get new stock available soon.

[LHC]

WS5 shipments for January,2010 are being recalled from distributors/resellers due to contract manufacture radio programming mistake. The issue causes significantly lower TX power on mid and high channels. We are working with distribution to resolve problem quickly and get new stock available soon.

I just received 2 shipped in Janaury.. Will the distr let me know or should I inquire??.. Guess I could test it myself and see

[UBNT-Robert]

Hi LHC,

If your date code does not fall into Dec/Jan; you are OK.

[MaximumISP]

Robert please elabourate
I have received no information from you guys
on how we are to handle this

[UBNT-Mike.Ford]

Robert please elabourate
I have received no information from you guys
on how we are to handle this

Hey Max,

All of the information is being sent out to distributors today. We just issued the recall.

The specific problem is as stated above, low TX power in the high and mid channel range in the neighborhood of 20dB low.

Thanks,

Mike

[doddel]

Dear Mike,
is there no way to repair this, e.g. using a jtag programmer to put other values in eeprom, if that is the problem ? Just received some WS5 with inspection date 04/01/10 so will need to participate in the recall but the logistics of all this will be very time consuming. Would prefer e.g. copying eeprom contents of good WS5 into bad. Can you please confirm what really the problem is in a technical sense ? Thank you.

P.S.
have not been able to see an influence by channel choice.
Tested between 2 WS5 from same 2008 year batch with identical antennas, and 1 WS5 2008 and 1 WS5 2010 with same identical antennas.
Reception performance of the 2010 one is identical to 2008. The 2008 unit receives 12-15 dB less from the 2010 unit compared to the 2008 unit. Tested 5200, 5320, 5500, 5600, 5700 MHz.
at fixed 48 Mbps tx and rx rate for stable readings.

[UBNT-Mike.Ford]

Dear Mike,
is there no way to repair this, e.g. using a jtag programmer to put other values in eeprom, if that is the problem ? Just received some WS5 with inspection date 04/01/10 so will need to participate in the recall but the logistics of all this will be very time consuming. Would prefer e.g. copying eeprom contents of good WS5 into bad. Can you please confirm what really the problem is in a technical sense ? Thank you.

P.S.
have not been able to see an influence by channel choice.
Tested between 2 WS5 from same 2008 year batch with identical antennas, and 1 WS5 2008 and 1 WS5 2010 with same identical antennas.
Reception performance of the 2010 one is identical to 2008. The 2008 unit receives 12-15 dB less from the 2010 unit compared to the 2008 unit. Tested 5200, 5320, 5500, 5600, 5700 MHz.
at fixed 48 Mbps tx and rx rate for stable readings.

Hello,

As painful as it is, they will need to come back to us. Please get in touch with Ben.moore@ubnt.com to get the process rolling along as fast as we can.

Thanks,

Mike

[iw4azy]

Hello Mike, last spring I have bought some WS5 for a project that was not followed; it remained on the shelf till last week, when for testing some panels I have used one of it.
So it seem that the WS 5 are affected from the problem described here (RF output is lower than other WS5 taken from another lot).
Test date is 03/12/2009 and the number of WS5 is 24, I have buy it from I4WIFI in Czech Republic on mid february 2010.
So, can I request RMA to I4WIFI or directly to Ubiquiti (actually I have no business with i4wifi, due to their questionable payments method).

Thanks in advance for help, have a nice day

[UBNT-Mike.Ford]

Hello Mike, last spring I have bought some WS5 for a project that was not followed; it remained on the shelf till last week, when for testing some panels I have used one of it.
So it seem that the WS 5 are affected from the problem described here (RF output is lower than other WS5 taken from another lot).
Test date is 03/12/2009 and the number of WS5 is 24, I have buy it from I4WIFI in Czech Republic on mid february 2010.
So, can I request RMA to I4WIFI or directly to Ubiquiti (actually I have no business with i4wifi, due to their questionable payments method).

Thanks in advance for help, have a nice day

Hello,

That date is not part of the recall. The recall was very specific to Jan 2010, and your units were built 9 months before that.

Thanks,

[marekm]

Could UBNT list the affected MAC address ranges? The problem is, test date is only on the original packaging which I may not be able to find anymore - or is it written somewhere in the EEPROM where it could be read by software?

I have at least one WS5 with the symptom that Tx power seems to be at the low end of the adjustment range, and changing it doesn't seem to have any effect (no change in signal level shown at the other end, and it's about -77 when it should be -70). I may have more such devices which I haven't noticed yet simply beacure I use low TX power anyway (12 dBm, 18 dBi StationBox antenna = 30 dBm EIRP).

[marekm]

OK, I now have all the details of the problematic WS5...
MAC: 00156DC3C776
Test Date: 22/12/09

No matter what TX power I set (from 4 do 23 dBm), the signal received on the AP (Bullet5 + 14 dBi sector) from this station stays the same. Receive direction is not affected, other CPEs to the same sector give the expected results. Not January 2010, but fairly close (test date at the end of December 2009 could mean shipment in January) - is this the same issue?

Again, UBNT please list the affected MAC address ranges - it will make it much easier to verify if I don't have more such devices. I have a complete list of MAC addresses for all of my gear, and date of my purchase is not a clear indication of shipment date (it could have been sitting on a shelf for a few months, like this one - purchased only recently, in June).

[marekm]

bump

Please, I need confirmation of the issue for this device, to tell the shop where I bought it (not the official UBNT distributor). They might not accept normal warranty RMA as I modify all my WS5's by soldering a piece of wire to short the RJ45 shield to ground (and it helps, after many thunderstorms I haven't seen a dead LAN port yet). NS5, Loco5, Bullet5 all have this connection while WS5 don't. Obviously this has nothing to do with the radio, but with some shops any reason is good to lose warranty...

[UBNT-Mike.Ford]

bump

Please, I need confirmation of the issue for this device, to tell the shop where I bought it (not the official UBNT distributor). They might not accept normal warranty RMA as I modify all my WS5's by soldering a piece of wire to short the RJ45 shield to ground (and it helps, after many thunderstorms I haven't seen a dead LAN port yet). NS5, Loco5, Bullet5 all have this connection while WS5 don't. Obviously this has nothing to do with the radio, but with some shops any reason is good to lose warranty...

Hello,

We only go by production date as stated in the first post, we do not have a mac range list.

Thanks,

[marekm]

Hello,

We only go by production date as stated in the first post, we do not have a mac range list.

Thanks,

Thanks. First post says "Jan 2010" but later UBNT-Robert says "If your date code does not fall into Dec/Jan; you are OK." - in the meantime, I've found the original packaging and Test Date of this WS5 is 22/12/09, so it is likely to be affected?

No matter what TX power (from 4 to 23 dBm) I set on that problematic WS5, the Bullet5 AP at the other end shows the same RX signal level from that station (corresponding to the low end of TX power range). No such problem with a few of my other WS5's tested, or in the opposite direction (WS5 shows the expected signal strength received from the AP).

[UBNT-Mike.Ford]

Thanks. First post says "Jan 2010" but later UBNT-Robert says "If your date code does not fall into Dec/Jan; you are OK." - in the meantime, I've found the original packaging and Test Date of this WS5 is 22/12/09, so it is likely to be affected?

No matter what TX power (from 4 to 23 dBm) I set on that problematic WS5, the Bullet5 AP at the other end shows the same RX signal level from that station (corresponding to the low end of TX power range). No such problem with a few of my other WS5's tested, or in the opposite direction (WS5 shows the expected signal strength received from the AP).

Hello,

Yes if the build code is 12/22/09 then they would fall into this category.

Thanks,

[marekm]

It took me some time (to go to the customer and replace their radio - it was not urgent as their service worked reasonably well even at the low TX power), but my recalled WS5 finally has been replaced. Interestingly, the "new" unit has been sitting on the shelf for about a year (Test Date: 02/11/09). Thanks!