That's a better diagnosis than mine, and it means my config migration theory was wrong. If you saw the same 5 minute delay on every one of those hops, stepping didn't fix anything, patience did. Worth saying plainly so the next person reading this doesn't copy the seven step path for no reason.
The detail worth keeping is the CPU above 90 percent right after boot. Radios and client tables come back in their own time, and 2.4 GHz IoT gear is usually the last to reappear because those clients are slow to rescan. Give an AP five to ten quiet minutes after an upgrade before you believe anything you see.
@Worldcom Exchange, Inc.
Original Message:
Sent: Sep 13, 2026 01:03 AM
From: SM-ks8358
Subject: Is Aruba AP-303H compatible to upgrade from ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.7.1.6_81786 to ArubaOS_Ursa_10.8.1.1_96846
You are probably right. It was late Friday night when I did this, and I think I was a bit tired as well.
Thinking back through the sequence of events:
First, I upgraded directly to ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.13.3.0_96306. When the AP came back up, I noticed that none of my 2.4 GHz IoT clients had connected. I didn't give it enough time before assuming something was wrong. I grabbed the logs and ran them through an AI analysis, which showed the CPU was above 90% immediately after boot.
Without waiting for the AP to settle, I rolled back to ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.7.1.6_81786. The 2.4 GHz clients connected almost immediately after the downgrade, which led me to conclude that 8.13.3.0 was the culprit.
After that, I decided to upgrade one version at a time (8.7.1.11, then the next release, and so on). On every upgrade, I observed the same pattern: right after the reboot, the 2.4 GHz clients would not connect immediately, but after about 5 minutes, once the AP had settled down, all of the 2.4 GHz clients connected normally.
So yes, I think if I had simply waited long enough after the initial upgrade to 8.13.3.0, it probably would have been fine as well. It looks like I mistook the AP's post-boot initialization period for a firmware regression.
Its been almost 2 days and AP is healthy. Thank you for the help.
Original Message:
Sent: Sep 12, 2026 10:39 PM
From: DB86
Subject: Is Aruba AP-303H compatible to upgrade from ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.7.1.6_81786 to ArubaOS_Ursa_10.8.1.1_96846
Good result, and worth noting the stepped path isn't a documented requirement. Instant 8.x doesn't publish a hop chain here, and plenty of people jump several releases in one go without trouble, so nobody should read your seven steps as the rule.
What you probably hit is config migration rather than the image. That's a long way for an old radio config to travel in one step, and 2.4 GHz coming up with nothing able to associate usually points at the radio or regulatory settings not translating cleanly rather than a bad build. Each hop gave one release a chance to migrate its own config, which is why the slow road came out clean. If you want to confirm it, compare the 2.4 GHz radio profile and country code between the two runs. Odds are the direct upgrade left something the old build understood and the new one didn't.
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Dustin Burns
@Worldcom Exchange, Inc.
www.wei.com
- - -
The comments I post here are my own, and not my employers
If my post was useful accept solution and/or give kudos
Personal Blog: www.networkfieldnotes.com
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Original Message:
Sent: Sep 11, 2026 04:20 PM
From: SM-ks8358
Subject: Is Aruba AP-303H compatible to upgrade from ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.7.1.6_81786 to ArubaOS_Ursa_10.8.1.1_96846
I actually went back to ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.7.1.6_81786 and and slowly upgraded as below,
ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.7.1.6_81786 -> ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.7.1.11_84926 -> ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.8.0.3_83072 -> ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.9.0.3_83448 -> ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.10.0.23_95854 -> ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.11.2.2_89329 -> ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.13.3.0_96306
And 2.4G clients are connecting as normal.
Original Message:
Sent: Sep 11, 2026 02:15 PM
From: SM-ks8358
Subject: Is Aruba AP-303H compatible to upgrade from ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.7.1.6_81786 to ArubaOS_Ursa_10.8.1.1_96846
I downloaded the firmware ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.13.3.0_96306 from HPE Networking Support Portal and flashed it.
Upgrade was successful, but post upgrade my 2.4G clients are not able to connect to the AP.
I closed very new to the AP, then I can see the AP on my ipad.
This was not the case prior to upgrade.
Any thoughts?
Original Message:
Sent: Sep 11, 2026 07:25 AM
From: HR-abaef5
Subject: Is Aruba AP-303H compatible to upgrade from ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.7.1.6_81786 to ArubaOS_Ursa_10.8.1.1_96846
I would upgrade to ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.13.3.0_96306 if you can; but it require access to the HPE Networking Support Portal.
As mentioned earlier, you should stay on the 8.x versions as 10.x only work with Central Cloud management.
8.7 is really old. I can't comment on OpenWRT running on the AP, it's not supported from an HPE perspective as far as I know.
If your AP reverted back to 8.7 after a factory reset, you can do the same with 8.13. The AP has two firmware slots; a standard upgrade between Aruba Firmwares will leave the running version as the backup firmware. After the upgrade, you can use the factory reset to go back to the previous version before the upgrade.
If this doesn't answer your question, please ask it in a different way.
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Herman Robers
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If you have urgent issues, always contact your HPE Aruba Networking partner, distributor, or Aruba TAC Support. Check https://www.arubanetworks.com/support-services/contact-support/ for how to contact HPE Aruba Networking TAC. Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of Hewlett Packard Enterprise or HPE Aruba Networking.
In case your problem is solved, please invest the time to post a follow-up with the information on how you solved it. Others can benefit from that.
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Original Message:
Sent: Sep 10, 2026 02:17 AM
From: SM-ks8358
Subject: Is Aruba AP-303H compatible to upgrade from ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.7.1.6_81786 to ArubaOS_Ursa_10.8.1.1_96846
Please help me whenever you can.
Original Message:
Sent: Sep 08, 2026 05:29 AM
From: SM-ks8358
Subject: Is Aruba AP-303H compatible to upgrade from ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.7.1.6_81786 to ArubaOS_Ursa_10.8.1.1_96846
I am just trying to be cautious here.
I was running OpenWrt latest on this till last week (without issues for more than a year, by POE using a Aruba 2530-8G-PoE+ Switch) and suddenly started seeing AP loosing network connectivity to main router freuqently, When I checked the console (serial) I could see below logs,
[13640.935998] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 0: transmit queue 0 timed out 2694430 ms[13645.975944] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 3: transmit queue 0 timed out 2699470 ms[13650.855926] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 1: transmit queue 0 timed out 2704350 ms[13655.895907] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 0: transmit queue 0 timed out 2709390 ms[13660.935896] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 0: transmit queue 0 timed out 2714430 ms[13665.975840] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 1: transmit queue 0 timed out 2719470 ms[13670.935838] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 0: transmit queue 0 timed out 2724430 ms[13675.975812] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 0: transmit queue 0 timed out 2729470 ms[13680.935771] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 1: transmit queue 0 timed out 2734430 ms[13685.895759] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 0: transmit queue 0 timed out 2739390 ms[13690.935750] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 0: transmit queue 0 timed out 2744430 ms[13695.975686] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 2: transmit queue 0 timed out 2749470 ms[13700.855666] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 1: transmit queue 0 timed out 2754350 ms[13705.895657] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 0: transmit queue 0 timed out 2759390 ms[13710.935618] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 1: transmit queue 0 timed out 2764430 ms[13715.895608] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 0: transmit queue 0 timed out 2769390 ms[13720.935567] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 1: transmit queue 0 timed out 2774430 ms[13725.895544] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 0: transmit queue 0 timed out 2779390 ms[13730.935547] ipqess-edma c080000.ethernet eth0: NETDEV WATCHDOG: CPU: 0: transmit queue 0 timed out 2784430 ms
OpenWrt teams asked me try out newer snapshot version and I was seeing same issue there too. Finally they suggested reverting back to stock Aruba firmware to see if I see the same issue there.
Its been more than 12 hours I reverted and I don't see the issue happening with Aruba firmware.
When I reverted back, the firmware version is "ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.7.1.6_81786", So I was trying to find out what is the latest I can upgrade to.
Just incase, if there are issues while upgrade/after upgrade with "ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.13.3.0_96306" will I be able to safely revert back to "ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.7.1.6_81786" using serial console?
Thanks.
Original Message:
Sent: Sep 08, 2026 04:57 AM
From: AP-e172d8
Subject: Is Aruba AP-303H compatible to upgrade from ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.7.1.6_81786 to ArubaOS_Ursa_10.8.1.1_96846
AOS10 requires Aruba Central, so no that is not for you if you don't have Aruba Central.
Instead you can use the latest LSR which is ArubaInstant_Ursa_8.13.3.0_96306
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If my post was useful accept solution and/or give kudos.
Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of HPE or Aruba.
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