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[Nevalti]

I had this working fine once upon a time but I moved the IDPI to another system and I changed the router to a Mesh. Now I can't work out how to connect the IDPI to my NAS.

The IDPI appears to be working fine, it is connected to my network and I can control it with JRemote. It plays music just as it should. I can load a library from a memory stick but I can't work out how to connect to the music on my NAS (a ZyXel NSA310S). The NAS is working fine as far as I can tell, I can access all its contents with 8 other devices - no problems at all. Perhaps my problem is not understanding what to enter to get the library stocked with music - or perhaps I have not made the NAS connection yet???

When I couldn't get it to work, I deleted the old NSA310S library (which had stopped working) and I THINK I have re-connected the NAS by entering http://169.254.115.115 as the url. I can't be SURE I have connected it properly.

The next step seemed to be to tell it what folders to get the music from. I therefore went through the sequence....

Library Options - Configure import - Add - Browse - File system     BUT ..... that is where I run out of ideas. I can't see where on earth I should be looking for my NAS, let alone for the folders that I want to import. I currently only want to import the one 'music' folder including all sub-folders.

I have the window 'Select Path' in front of me but I can't see anywhere to go to find my NAS. That may of course be that I have not understood how to connect to it.

HELP!

[Nevalti]

UPDATE:
I have made some good progress. I have found that if you select 'Tools/Options/Use Media Network to share....'  then my two NASs and all other networked devices appear in MC under 'Playing Now'. That's great, a big step forward.

On my Windows versions of MC, it is then simply a matter of selecting the NAS (etc), then double click in the centre of the screen and the option pops up for me to select the folders that I want - that's all fairly simple.

On my idPi (Raspberry pi with iD software) I can repeat the same process but after I click the centre of the screen to import music files, the option to select my NAS or any sub-folders never appears. I cannot see what path I should follow.

Everything is clearly working with Windows & the NAS but on the idPi I am stumped. What am I missing?

[zybex]

169.254.115.115 is likely wrong, that's a range of IPs used when the network is not configured correctly. You need to find out the correct IP, or the network name of your NAS (not the model). How do you access your NAS settings page? If it's in fact with that IP, then your new MESH router is likely badly configured - check if DHCP is enabled on it, it should be giving out IP addresses on the 192.168.x.x range.

You can use the working windows PC to see the name of the NAS device in MC or in Windows Explorer\Network. You can find the correct IP address on the NAS settings, or, after finding out the name, by running this command on a CMD command prompt: "ping NASNAME" (replace NASNAME with actual name).

Then on the AutoImport settings you can use either the name or the IP address (without HTTP prefix). Ideally you should also know the Share name that you have configured on the NAS for your music folder... Try typing these as the autoimport folder - one of them should work:

NASNAME
\\NASNAME
\\NASNAME\Music    (assuming the shared folder is called Music - this may be case sensitive!)
//NASNAME
//NASNAME/Music

192.168.0.100      (use the actual IP address for your NAS)
\\192.168.0.100
//192.168.0.100

[Nevalti]

Many thanks zybex. It's a pleasure to meet someone who understands networks. I don't! All I have learnt is, when things go wrong, turn EVERYTHING off and back on again so I did that. A power-cut taught me that trick.

You hit the nail on the head. The IP address was wrong. When I turned it all back on again, it had a different IP address: 192.168.5.67  just like you said it should. I had no need to search for the NSA310S NAS, it was there on the list and when I told it to load it did  so I have not had to try any of your suggestions ..... yet.

As you seem to understand networks, can I ask you a question about a related problem please?

I frequently lose remote access to my two idPis and get a mystifying report from the iPhone JRemote app. I can't recall the precise wording but it fails to connect to the idPi and tells me that there are 'two paths' or something like that. In amongst the gobbledegook that I don't understand, it refers to a Virgin router that I used to use but is now just a modem. I stopped using the Virgin router many months ago and I now use the Tenda Mesh that I mentioned earlier. Both idPis are connected to the Tenda Mesh and work perfectly once they are awake but they seem to want to revert to the Virgin router even though it's wifi is turned off. If the iPhone app fails to wake them up, I can start the idPis manually, which is an absolute pain, and then the app will control them just as it should.

Is there a way of making the idPis forget all about the old Virgin router so that they only try to connect to the Tenda Mesh? There is a node just a few feet away from both of them.

A very similar issue applies with the Windows based MC that I have. Sometimes they will wake up the idPis and sometimes they will not.

In case it is relevant, I also have a Roberts 93i and a 94i that MC can always see and control plus a Ruark streamer that frequently goes missing only to reappear on MC for no apparent reason. That coming and going also applies to the UNDOK remote system that I usually use to control the Roberts and the Ruark so it seems very likely to be a Network problem. The Tenda Mesh wifi signal is strong everywhere and the internet connection is normally at least 70 mbps.

One last snippet which may be relevant. The Tenda Mesh deliberately re-boots itself at 03:00 every morning. Could that be part of the problem?

[zybex]

The "two paths" indication likely mean that your IdPI has 2 different connections to your network - these can be wired or wireless. If they are connected via cable to one router, you must disconnect the wireless connection, leave only the cable.

Alternatively, there's a loop somewhere in your network, allowing for a device to chose one of two paths to reach a destination. Check if you have any device with two cables to the router, or one cable+wifi.

One other point you need to check: only one of the routers/devices in your network can have DHCP Server enabled. Since the Tenda Mesh is your main router, you should leave the DHCP Server enabled there, and disable it in your other router (and on the NAS, if you have one).

Lastly, a tip: when you reboot everything, start with the router, wait until it's up with stable lights, then reboot the other devices. This is so that the network is available and working before the other devices try to connect to it (in particular, that DHCP Server must be available to provide an IP address for other devices when they ask for it on boot).

The tenda rebooting itself is fine, but usually not needed.

[Nevalti]

Thanks again zybex. Having generated the report again, my memory of the words 'two paths' seems to be flawed - sorry.

Neither of my idPi have a wired connection so it must be something else. Maybe I have not disabled the Virgin router adequately. I have certainly turned off wifi but maybe I did not cancel DHCP on it and the idPi are somehow still 'aware' of it via the Tenda.

Yesterday I got exactly the same report when trying to connect to my laptop - so it isn't just an idPi problem.

I have now managed to copy the report. This one applies to my idPi based on a Rpi3:

WOL sent to MAC-address 'b8-27-eb-f6-93-d5'

Connecting to saved addresses

Connecting to IP: 192.168.5.199 Port: 52199

Timed out


Connecting to IP: cpc75876-ando7-2-0-cust669.15-1.cable.virginm.net Port: 52199

Timed out


Fetching updated addresses from jriver.com using access key 'vPzdRy'

Response received

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Response Status="OK">
<keyid>vPzdRy</keyid>
<ip>cpc75876-ando7-2-0-cust669.15-1.cable.virginm.net</ip>
<port>52199</port>
<localiplist>192.168.5.199</localiplist>
<macaddresslist>b8-27-eb-f6-93-d5</macaddresslist>
</Response>


2 addresses found (192.168.5.199 - cpc75876-ando7-2-0-cust669.15-1.cable.virginm.net)

No new IP-addresses found. Updated addresses identical to current.

Does that help clarify the issue? The last line seems to suggest that it wants a 'new IP-address' - but why? Every time it happens, all I have to do is re-boot the idPi and it all works again - so maybe it is then getting a new IP-address. Would it help if I worked out how to have fixed addresses for the idPis and laptop?

[zybex]

The report is not enough, it just shows it can't connect to the idPI.
Next time it happens, please also collect the results of these 2 commands (run in CMP prompt):
  ping 192.168.5.199
  ipconfig /all

Are you sure your idPI isn't just going to sleep after a while? That "WOL" command (first line) is supposed to wake it up, but that work with some routers.  Better disable Sleep/Standby on the idPI and have it always running.

Also make sure you disable DHCP server on the old router. This entry here:
<ip>cpc75876-ando7-2-0-cust669.15-1.cable.virginm.net</ip>

... seems to indicate that your idPI is still connecting to Internet via the Virgin router. Do you have both internet connections active?
Having a fixed IP on the idPI is also a good solution.

[Nevalti]

Thanks again zybex.

Yes, the idPis (two of them) are certainly going to sleep but they NORMALLY wake readily. It is an occasional problem (the worst kind  ). Today they are behaving just as they should, yesterday I had to re-boot one to get it to connect to my 'Tenda' mesh.

Unfortunately I have lost contact with my Virgin Hub. When I switched it to 'Modem mode' I assumed that I would still be able to access it by ethernet cable but I have not yet found a way of doing so.

Before I switched it to 'Modem Mode' I asked it what was connected to it and the only device it reported was the 'Tenda' mesh node that is plugged into it. That, I presume, is exactly as it should be.

Perhaps I should move the Tenda nodes close to the idPis so that I can wire the idPis directly to the node and turn off the idPi's wifi.

[zybex]

You can probably access the Virgin router via http://192.168.100.1. If not, you can find the correct IP listed as the "WAN gateway" of the Tenda router.

Assuming you have only 1 internet connection, your network should be connected like this:

internet -> Virgin Router (Bridge mode) -> Tenda Mesh -> all other devices (wired/wireless).

Cable connections to the idPI is always preferrable, if you can do that. But they would still go to sleep - you should set them up to never sleep, or you need to figure out how to wake them reliably (WOL is not reliable, but there's no good alternative either...)

[Nevalti]

Aha!  Yes, 192.168.100.1 is correct for 'Modem mode'. I have access again - thanks. I was trying 192.168.0.1 but that only works in 'Router mode'. 

Whilst in 'Modem Mode' my idPis behaved properly and I was briefly encouraged that my problems were solved. THEN.... I found that my Tenda Mesh wasn't getting an internet connection -aaagggggh! I'm going around in circles. I have had to go back to 'Router Mode'.

 I can see no way of turning off DHCP on the Virgin hub which is why I selected 'Modem mode'.

.....your network should be connected like this:

internet -> Virgin Router (Bridge mode) -> Tenda Mesh -> all other devices (wired/wireless).

Yes, that is how it is connected but there is no option for 'Bridge mode'. Is that the same as 'Modem mode'? If so, perhaps I just need to re-set the Tenda mesh base node. I can't try that for a few days as I have a desperate need to keep an internet connection working.

[zybex]

Yes, bridge is the same as modem mode.
What's the model of your Tenda router? The cable from the Virgin router must connect to the WAN port of the Tenda.

[Nevalti]

The Tenda mesh consists of 3 x Tenda Nova MW6 nodes. The first node is indeed connected via it's WAN port to the Virgin hub port 1 and currently(!!!) everything is fine.

Once you set up the first wired Tenda node, and it starts to work, you simply turn the other nodes on and they use the same Network name you set on the first node. I get a great signal all over a fairly large house whereas the Virgin hub simply was not adequate.

Given that the Virgin hub cannot be changed to Modem mode without losing the signal to the Tenda node, what about leaving the Virgin hub exactly as it is, i.e. Router mode but with it's wifi turned OFF, and deactivate DHCP on the Tenda mesh?

The Tenda is currently set to DHCP but there appears to be an option of 'Bridge'. Perhaps that way, I will get the benefit of the better wifi signal from the Tenda mesh and remove any confusion over which device sets the IP addresses. What do you think? Is that worth a try?

[zybex]

No. You have 2 options:

A. Virgin in Router mode, connected to WAN port of Tenda #1:
   - leave DHCP ON on both of them
   - Tenda and Virgin need to have different IP ranges (ie, Virgin on 192.168.2.x and Tenda on 192.168.1.x)
   - Virgin WIFI should be OFF
   - Any port forwarding you need to add is more complex, as you need to set it up on both routers
   - you can connect other devices to the Virgin router, but they won't be able to talk to the devices on the Mesh WIFI

B. Virgin in Bridge/Modem mode, also connected to WAN port of Tenda #1
   - Leave DHCP ON on the Tenda - it will provide IPs to the network.
   - don't connect any other device to the Virgin or you'll occasionally lose internet access
   - nothing else!

It sounds like you have it now setup as B, so it should be fine. It's the better option.

[Nevalti]

Thanks again zybex, I made a good step forward yesterday I found that I had to shut down all three Tenda mesh nodes before the first node would connect to the Virgin hub after I switched it to Modem mode. My Network is now set up exactly as your option 'B' and working. A big bonus is that it seems to have removed the problem I have been having with my UNDOK/SmartRadio equipment as well.

Both my idPis connected immediately and worked as they should. This morning, one idPi was working but the other was not    The error report  was exactly as I posted a few days ago - with the same references to Virgin

Recalling that, when I reset the Network yesterday, I did not have to reboot the idPis, maybe they were still trying to connect to the Virgin hub? I have now rebooted them both and am keeping my fingers crossed that the Virgin hub can no longer confuse matters. Time will tell.

I still have the option of turning off the idPis' wifi and moving the nodes close enough to the idPis to use a cable instead but if it is actually a WOL problem, that would not help. Is it easy to stop the idPis going to sleep?

[zybex]

Progress
Make sure the Virgin WIFI is removed from the list of known WIFI connections on the idPI, so that they don't have the temptation to connect to it.
Regarding how to do that, or how to disable Sleep, please search the forum or post a separate topic as I don't own any idPI and don't know the details.