Nov 4, 2026, 2:05 PMOK I used one of my spare identical APs... and it is now back. But I am FUCKING SEETHING about my bricked original. That is a fucking disgrace and UBNT ought to be utterly ashamed.
- Nov 4, 2026, 2:05 PM
Replies
Nov 4, 2026, 2:16 PM@bloor they're great bits of kit until they suddenly decide they're not. I need to rejig our WiFi network, eyeing up some Grandstreams to replace the Unifis.
- Nov 4, 2026, 2:17 PM
@ahnlak It's absolutely ridiculous there are just no good manufacturers any more. Not a single one where you can just say "use X" and know that it'll be fine.
- Nov 4, 2026, 2:17 PM
@bloor FirebrickAP when? :-)
AlisonW ♿🏳️🌈♾️AlisonW@fedimon.ukNov 4, 2026, 2:33 PM
Squozen 🇪🇺Squozen@mastodon.ieNov 4, 2026, 3:04 PM- Nov 4, 2026, 3:14 PM
- Squozen 🇪🇺Squozen@mastodon.ieNov 4, 2026, 3:45 PM
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- Squozen 🇪🇺Squozen@mastodon.ieNov 4, 2026, 4:04 PM
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- Squozen 🇪🇺Squozen@mastodon.ieNov 4, 2026, 4:10 PM
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- Squozen 🇪🇺Squozen@mastodon.ieNov 4, 2026, 6:18 PM
Hambone FakenamingtonCenturyAvocado@know.me.ukNov 4, 2026, 4:35 PM
Philip Braggsynx508@bsd.networkNov 4, 2026, 4:50 PM@CenturyAvocado @bloor @ahnlak Even if it doesn't brick completely for electronic reasons UBNT firmware has a history of being as bad as their hardware. Annoyingly, though, it's as bad as it is good in other ways, which keeps people buying it. They weren't the first to be shameless about churning out terrible products, I have some ZyXEL APs here, supposedly enterprise hardware, bought when 802.11AC was new. They support that reasonably well… now, but other features they were supposed to support never materialised, including proper SNMP and compatibility with a wifi controller. The firmware they shipped with barely worked at all and improved very slowly as they fixed bugs. It never gained the features that it was sold as having and it kept a small bug that causes it to need reboots every 6 months or so is still present in the final firmware release.
- Nov 4, 2026, 4:52 PM
@synx508 @CenturyAvocado @ahnlak I am sure it is bricked too. I've tried connecting it to a PoE switch and setting an IP on my machine, and holding down the reset for TFTP... and pinging it , etc.
It fucking sucks that just doing a firmware rollback has fucked it. Really annoying.
- Hambone FakenamingtonCenturyAvocado@know.me.ukNov 4, 2026, 5:11 PM
- Nov 4, 2026, 6:34 PM
@CenturyAvocado @synx508 @ahnlak Seems like the jtag is inaccessible without destroying the unit.
What a shit fucking company. I really am disappointed, honestly. Fucking awful. I've actually recommended people buy UBNT stuff too. Never again. Not that I'll change all my own gear out. But yeah, what a horrible way to operate.
And I'm not being a hypocrite. If a firmware upgrade/downgrade fucked a Firebrick (even MILES out of warranty) we'd almost deffo replace it FOC.
- Nov 4, 2026, 6:35 PM
@CenturyAvocado @synx508 @ahnlak But... 5y warranty w/ Firebrick. One year with Ubishite.
- Nov 4, 2026, 6:36 PM
@CenturyAvocado @synx508 @ahnlak In one regard I am glad I've got to the bottom of the problem with my TV on wifi, and it was entirely (as far as I can make out) the TV's fault. But it really looked like it was the wifi's fault for a bit, and I found other UBNT forum users moaning about a firmware (and suggesting downgrading). So I did, and now I have one less access point. And one more bit of e-waste.
Nov 4, 2026, 6:37 PM@bloor @CenturyAvocado @synx508 @ahnlak
I have too much ubiquiti stuff to want to replace it, and yet I find myself wonderful how soon that will change.
- Nov 4, 2026, 6:41 PM
@bloor @CenturyAvocado @synx508 @ahnlak
> If a firmware upgrade/downgrade [broke] a Firebrick (even MILES out of warranty) we'd almost deffo replace it FOC.
My dad still reminds me of the time that his FireBrick just stopped working, and he called @aaisp and A&A posted him another FireBrick and it arrived the next day. Config restored and back in service.
He has recommended A&A to numerous friends since.
OverSoftOverSoft@infosec.exchangeNov 4, 2026, 7:42 PM@bloor @CenturyAvocado @synx508 @ahnlak I really, really like the whole Ubiquiti integration thing, everything in one package and one management interface, but the support has been flaky lately and warranty is just laughable.
Shame, because a couple of years ago they went the extra mile to log into my equipment whilst on a Google Meeting call with me to track down a roaming issue and even rolled it into a future firmware.
There’s a reason I only upgrade firmware when I’m at the actual location though.
- Nov 5, 2026, 12:34 AM
@OverSoft @CenturyAvocado @synx508 @ahnlak me too
Interpipes 💙interpipes@thx.ggNov 5, 2026, 1:15 AM@OverSoft @bloor @CenturyAvocado we have nearly all unifi equipment / applications on full auto for upgrades, now totalling some ~241 network devices, ~40 cameras, across ~90 sites, with perhaps ~20 of which with embedded controllers (eg UDM) and the rest on our self-host Unifi OS server, and, touch wood, have yet to have a firmware update go wrong in any significant way(!?)
- Interpipes 💙interpipes@thx.ggNov 5, 2026, 1:17 AM
@OverSoft @bloor @CenturyAvocado I also had a good experience with their support a long time ago when I reported a UX / enrollment problem with the USG Pro 4 when it first launched and was sent two free AC Lites for my trouble!
I have been lucky enough that I haven't really had cause to talk to them all that much since then, so it would be sad if they were materially worse these days. :(
fraggLe!fwaggle@moodoo.orgNov 4, 2026, 8:20 PM@bloor @CenturyAvocado @synx508 @ahnlak Just glancing over the Unifi forums suggests that there's a bit of an issue with the U6+ series and flash.
But I'm also once again struck by the fact that they run a pre-release stream and then seemingly pay zero attention to the bad outcomes and just push it to official release anyway?
I'd seen people saying that since some years back when they fired all their expensive engineers now they're just banging rocks together...
AlisonW ♿🏳️🌈♾️alisonw@hachyderm.ioNov 4, 2026, 8:12 PM@synx508 @CenturyAvocado @bloor @ahnlak
I have Zyxel APs here with never a problem (so far?!) but I have updated their firmware more than once.- Philip Braggsynx508@bsd.networkNov 4, 2026, 8:25 PM
@alisonw @CenturyAvocado @bloor @ahnlak Some are fine, I am sure, the particular model I bought was not. They released a "version 2 hardware" which had all the promised features but that was the final straw and these were torn out an replaced with Unifi APs, which was a frying pan->fire move. I'd prefer it not to be a such a lottery, that's all.
Chewiechewie@mammut.gogreenit.netNov 5, 2026, 9:19 AM@CenturyAvocado @bloor @ahnlak that's what I'm using at home with 5 APs, and it works well
Nov 4, 2026, 2:19 PM@bloor gosh, Ubiquiti is/was my go-to and have a handful of them. Which one gave you trouble here?
- Nov 4, 2026, 2:20 PM
@imrehg U6+ APs. With Cloudkey. Unsure who is at fault. But essentially downgrading firmware (which was offered as a 1 click operation) bricked an AP to the point where it won't seem to even go into TFTP mode. Great.
- Nov 4, 2026, 2:20 PM
@imrehg More annoying is that even after swapping in the spare (which to be fair the UBNT ecosystem seems to make fairly easy) the original problem (tv seeming to keep disconnecting from wifi) is still there, even with a massively older firmware on the AP. So ULTIFAIL. Made things worse over all.
- Nov 4, 2026, 2:23 PM
@imrehg complicating this is that i'm unsure when the problem started. and Both the TV and the AP have had firmware upgrades at some point possibly around the point where the issues started occurring .
- Nov 4, 2026, 2:25 PM
@bloor i have some U6Pro and AC LR, managed by a UCG Ultra (came off self-hosted controller a little while back)
Since it's TV that's disconnecting, I wouldn't hold their netwrork hardware quality to much as an example... Might be something to trace there? 🤔
Still it can be crap on both sides (it never rains but it pours).
Maybe I give them too much benefit of the doubt, just coming from experience that APs could be fixed and bugs debugged when I stopped fuming. Then after the fix resumed :)
Don Thompsonguardeddon@mas.toNov 4, 2026, 9:51 PM@bloor @imrehg
I had a failure with a U6+ earlier this year, totally unresponsive, gibberish on the UART. The U6+ APs apparently used an often defective eMMC module. Apparently, the issue was an incredibly low tolerance for writes! Even tho’ mine was out of warranty they made an exception & replaced it. I’ve two U6+ in a customer install, need to check them but I reflashed them with OpenWrt.- Nov 5, 2026, 12:09 AM
@guardeddon @imrehg I called LinITX who I bought it from, explained the situation. They were impeccably helpful but ultimately said, no sorry, it's out of warranty.
My only real recourse would be via them as the supplier, and they've effectively closed that door.
So I've got a bricked device going to e-waste.
Again, this makes me not want to ever buy UBNT shit again. Despite being something of an evangelist for them in the past.
- Don Thompsonguardeddon@mas.toNov 5, 2026, 7:45 AM
@bloor @imrehg
I went direct to UBNT’s support site.
I had acquired the particular unit in a non-operating state & expected to resurrect it by re-flashing OpenWrt via the UART & first stage bootloader. I’d opened the shell to access the UART port pads. Surprisingly, without much persuasion, they agreed to replace as a special RMA case. I’d found many posts, across various fora, describing the eMMC storage problem. - Nov 5, 2026, 7:45 AM
@guardeddon @imrehg interesting
- Nov 5, 2026, 7:46 AM
@guardeddon @imrehg I sent a follow up email to linitx last night as I am pretty sure they hadn’t seen all the forum posts when we spoke on the phone
- Don Thompsonguardeddon@mas.toNov 5, 2026, 7:47 AM
- Nov 5, 2026, 7:48 AM
@guardeddon @imrehg let’s see what linitx say. TBH I won’t hold it against them if they say not possible / it’s legit out of warranty and this is a UBNT fault really
Andrew ElwellElwell@mast.hpc.socialNov 4, 2026, 3:00 PM@bloor one of my u6+ shat itself on a firmware update. Out of warranty but because there were already a bunch of folks on their forums with same issue they RMAd it free (excluding outbound postage for me)