12
Troubleshooting the Access Point Join Process
Access points can fail to join a controller for many reasons: a RADIUS authorization is pending; self-signed certificates are not
enabled on the controller; the access point’s and controller’s regulatory domains don’t match, and so on.
Controller software enables you to configure the access points to send all CAPWAP-related errors to a syslog server. You do not
need to enable any debug commands on the controller because all of the CAPWAP error messages can be viewed from the syslog
server itself.
The state of the access point is not maintained on the controller until it receives a CAPWAP join request from the access point.
Therefore, it can be difficult to determine why the CAPWAP discovery request from a certain access point was rejected. In order
to troubleshoot such joining problems without enabling CAPWAP debug commands on the controller, the controller collects
information for all access points that send a discovery message to it and maintains information for any access points that have
successfully joined it.
The controller collects all join-related information for each access point that sends a CAPWAP discovery request to the
controller. Collection begins with the first discovery message received from the access point and ends with the last configuration
payload sent from the controller to the access point.
Operating status Blinking amber Software upgrade in progress
Cycling through green,
red, and amber
Discovery/join process in progress
Rapidly cycling
through red, green, and
amber
Access point location command invoked
Blinking red Ethernet link not operational
Boot loader warnings Blinking amber Configuration recovery in progress (MODE
button pushed for 2 to 3 seconds)
Red Ethernet failure or image recovery (MODE
button pushed for 20 to 30 seconds)
Blinking green Image recovery in progress (MODE button
released)
Boot loader errors Red DRAM memory test failure
Blinking red and amber FLASH file system failure
Blinking red and off Environment variable failure
Bad MAC address
Ethernet failure during image recovery
Boot environment failure
No Cisco image file
Boot failure
Cisco IOS errors Red Software failure; try disconnecting and
reconnecting unit power
Cycling through red,
green, amber, and off
General warning; insufficient inline power
Table1 LED Status Indications (continued)
Message
Type
Status
LED
Message