Q: iPhone 4S with iOS 6 can't connect to open Wi-Fi network on HP/H3C WX5004 controller

We are also having this issue at our University.  Interestingly enough, our WX5004 controller works fine with the iOS 6 A5 devices, but those same devices do not work with our H3C/HP blade access controller on our 7500 core switch.  The extended capabilities IE length error is the same on that unit.

We are still running the older 3Com firmware version 5.20, Release 2107P10 on our WX5004 (which is still available on HP's web site).  Moving to that firmware might fix your problem, although I'm not sure if it would create other problems for you. 

Our 7500 access controller blade is running the very latest H3C/HP firmware version 5.20, Release 2308P02 and I've been thinking of reverting to an older version to see if the problem is resolved by doing that since a large number of our ResNet students have already upgraded to iOS 6 and have been cut off from their wireless network.

I'd imagine that this will come down to HP/Apple finger pointing as to the cause of the problem, so we may be on our own to fix it.

I guess I wasn't clear.  We are also having problems with iPhone 4s and iPad 3 devices, but only on one of our wireless networks.  iPad 3 and iPhone 4s work fine on our wx5004 with an older version of the wx5004 firmware but not on our ResNet which runs on a different style H3C controller that is running the very latest firmware for that AC.  We also run WA2620-AGN's and I just thought you would like to know that different firmware on the access controller might "fix" your problem until such time as HP or Apple come up with a permanent solution.

I did experience a very similar issue with my LANCOM 1821 Wireless router after having updated my iPad to iOS 6.

My router reported the following in its log:

"Rejected Association from WLAN station xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx []: Cannot support all requested capabilities in Capability Information field."

I did contact LANCOM regarding the issue and they traced it down to the 802.11r. Their old router firmware did reject all association requests, which had the new capability bit 12 "Radio Measurements" set, that was previously reserved.

Luckily I got a patch from them, so that my LANCOM 1821 now ignores this capability bit:

iPad mit iOS 6 kommt nicht mehr ins LANCOM 1821 WLAN (German)

Maybe this helps you to get a solution from your router manufacturer.

Greetings from Germany,

Jens

HI,

i am affected by this problem myself. We are also using the H3C WX5004 with WA2620AGN accesspoints.

Today I got update from H3C and got a new firmware to download.

HEre is the description:

The issue of the extended capabilities should be address in 5.20R2308P07  ftp  link below for the WX5004

The issue was as described below :

(1)           R2308P06 does not support Extended Capabilities (IE) which is contained in association request from the IPAD 3 IOS6, as below. This has been fixed by  the R2308P07 code.

Regards

Florian

If you contact support and tell them that you have a WX5004 with Apple devices which are experiencing wireless issues after an upgrade to iOS 6 and where the controller logs show:

* WMAC/7/ERROR : Invalid Extended Capabilities IE length (4).

* WMAC/7/ERROR : Error while processing information elements

There is a version of code that you will be provided that fixes the issue.

I, like Christian, figured that this was Apple's problem, since everything else works fine and those devices worked before the upgrade. I'm glad to see that there's something that can be done about it! On the phone with support now and hopefully they will send me a link to download the 5.20R2308P07 code. Thanks guys!

Yesterday we received the latest firmware WX5004-CMW520-R2308P07 from HP support. This morning we applied the update to our controllers. All Access Points WA2620-AGN have also received the patch and updated themselves. iOS6 devices (iPad3 and iPhone 4S) now connected. Well done HP!!!! ;o)

HP Support gave us wx5004-cmw520-r2308p10 rather than p07 for some reason (perhaps I have a slightly different model - mine is an H3C WX5004, hardware version B). After installing that, the associated firmware updates for the AP's, and rebooting, everything is fixed. Well done HP indeed!

This software has been posted publically for the following products:        

• JG261A HP 5800 ACCESS CONTROLLER OAA TAA MOD
• JD441A HP 5800 ACM FOR 64-256 APS
• JD447B HP WX5002 ACCESS CONTROLLER
• JD448A HP A-WX5004 ACCESS CONTROLLER
• JD448B HP WX5004 ACCESS CONTROLLER
• JD469A HP A-WX5004 (3COM) ACCESS CONTROLLER

https://h10145.www1.hp.com/downloads/DownloadSoftware.aspx?SoftwareReleaseUId=97 96&ProductNumber=JD441A&lang=&cc=&prodSeriesId=&SerialNumber=&PurchaseDate=

That URL is all one string so please make sure that if you're copying and pasting you get all of the characters.