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[Beamer]

I am a long time user of MC and love the Android Gizmo application.  Unfortunately for me it seems to be unreliable when trying to connect to the server.  The issue I experience is that the program tries to make a connection for some seconds and then intermittently reports a problem connecting with the server.  The problem is present on a Samsung S3 phone, HTC Desire phone and a Google tablet.

When it connects it works great and is reliable but the connection is hit & miss.  If I connect via Web Gizmo in those instances when the Gizmo App will not connect, it connect just fine ?

Is it possible that the Gizmo application could have an option of hard wired IP address for the servers to resolve this issue?

Does anyone else experience this problem?

[JimH]

If your server is slow to respond, you would see that.  A drive spun down is a common reason.

[Beamer]

If your server is slow to respond, you would see that.  A drive spun down is a common reason.

I have two servers with fixed IP addresses and both respond in the same way.  After Android Gizmo failing, Web Gizmo connects immediately and if I try Android Gizmo again it still refuses to connect even though I have started playing music via Web Gizmo. One day it works and on another I am forced to use Web Gizmo ?

Both servers are running with the latest version of MC and the latest Gizmo app on the phones and tablet.  I have experienced this issue since Android Gizmo became available, finally I have decided to try and resolve the issue hence my post.

[JimH]

I see a very occasional failure to connect, but nothing like what you describe.  And it always connects on the second attempt.

Are you connecting from inside your network or outside?

[Beamer]

I see a very occasional failure to connect, but nothing like what you describe.  And it always connects on the second attempt.

Are you connecting from inside your network or outside?

I'm connecting within an internal local area network that for all other usage is rock solid. 

Most connections on the network are static IP with the exception of the phones and tablet but even when I set the tablet to a static address it made no difference.  If it fails, it will never connect no matter how many times I try. Re-booting the server will in most cases fix the issue, needless to say it is not very convenient, hence I am now using Web Gizmo on the failed occasions.  Both servers are running Win 7 and in spite of the Gizmo issue work very reliably for everything else.

Do you know if the Android Gizmo app relies upon computer name resolution?

[JimH]

The wiki topic on Network Access might help.

Is it possible that your servers have more than one network interface?

[Beamer]

The wiki topic on Network Access might help.

Is it possible that your servers have more than one network interface?

Negative just one IP address per server.

[JimH]

Are you up to date on both MC and Gizmo?

Is it possible that your firewall wasn't opened for MC?  It needs access to register your PC with our servers at JRiver.

In Tools/Options/Media Network, there is a test.  Does it always work?

[Beamer]

Are you up to date on both MC and Gizmo?

Is it possible that your firewall wasn't opened for MC?  It needs access to register your PC with our servers at JRiver.

In Tools/Options/Media Network, there is a test.  Does it always work?

The test does NOT work. My understanding of the test is to check communication via the internet. My firewall will not allow this.

Since I am communicating with the server on a local network, Gizmo should not need access to the outside the local area network.  If the issue was firewall related, I would expect the problem to be persistent. Access to the internet for connecting to the MC servers i.e for cover art etc. works just fine as does Web Gizmo.

Both MC 17 & Gizmo are latest releases & as mentioned earlier, I have experienced this issue since Gizmo was first available.

[JimH]

The test does NOT work. My understanding of the test is to check communication via the internet. My firewall will not allow this.

Since I am communicating with the server on a local network, Gizmo should not need access to the outside the local area network.  If the issue was firewall related, I would expect the problem to be persistent. Access to the internet for connecting to the MC servers i.e for cover art etc. works just fine as does Web Gizmo.

Both MC 17 & Gizmo are latest releases & as mentioned earlier, I have experienced this issue since Gizmo was first available.

From time to time, MC will check what IP address it's running on and then register this with our server.  That's just how it works.  If your firewall blocks this access, that might explain why it fails to connect.

[Beamer]

From time to time, MC will check what IP address it's running on and then register this with our server.  That's just how it works.  If your firewall blocks this access, that might explain why it fails to connect.

MC does have access to the internet via my firewall but not through the Port that Gizmo is using.  Port forwarding would need to be setup for the Gizmo port to access outside of the local network.  I do not believe that this is necessary.

Automatic program updates work just fine!

[JimH]

You don't need to open any inbound access.

[Beamer]

You don't need to open any inbound access.

Surely MC/Gizmo opens any necessary firewall locations?  I have not read anything indicating that the firewall needs to be messed with to make Gizmo work.

[JimH]

We think it's bad manners to open people's firewalls.

Often outbound connections are open by default, but you can't rely on that.

If a program tries something that requires access, the OS usually tells the user and asks what to do.  Sometimes users just say no.

The topic called Network Access that I mentioned might help.

[Beamer]

We think it's bad manners to open people's firewalls.

Often outbound connections are open by default, but you can't rely on that.

If a program tries something that requires access, the OS usually tells the user and asks what to do.  Sometimes users just say no.

The topic called Network Access that I mentioned might help.

Thanks, I will read up on the topic and post my findings.

[Beamer]

The saga continues.  I read the wiki network access, unfortunately it did not introduce any new ideas.

Yesterday I totally disabled the firewall on one of the servers and re-booted for good measure.  Since both servers are 100% dedicated to MC17 I figure they really do not need a firewall.  Alas this has not improved the reliability it worked fine after the re-boot and today would not connect.  My wife tried half an hour later, during the same session and it connected.  Once connected the sessions are 100% reliable and track the music in real-time without issue.

Is their anyone who can tell me exactly how the connection protocol works?  I really find it difficult to believe that I am the only user experiencing this issue.

[bob]

I have noticed that occasionally on my phone when Gizmo can't connect it goes into odd state where it feels like there is a base process running and a child that's hung. If I kill the hung child (when the OS asks to exit or wait) it goes back to the select screen and works fine. As an alternative, I whack it with System Panel Lite and that does the same thing. I do use it all the time and this is a rare issue for me. I have a very similar issue with the AT Bat 12 app from MLB. It seems to be related to the android OS/Network stack and I don't think it is a Gizmo specific issue..

[Beamer]

Unfortunately my main music server is located on the 1st floor gallery and is controlled remotely making it difficult to massage when required.  What I see on the android device is Gizmo trying to connect to IP address that are not relevant when it fails to connect.

[bob]

The way this works is that your MC PC server sends the IP addresses it uses (all local) and it's public address our server so it can be looked up from anywhere. That way you can use Gizmo from either inside your lan or outside (if you've port forwarded it). If you have a dynamic public or lan addresses, they get updated so that everything still works.

Now you say that you are seeing addresses you don't recognize. Other than your public IP, you should only see the address of the PC on your LAN. Any extra info would come from extra interfaces on your PC. Those interfaces can be physical, like another Ethernet card or modem as well as virtual (like a virtualbox or vmware virtual addresses). Gizmo tries each one until it gets a successful connection.

The test function Jim mentioned sends updated addresses to the server. It also checks to see if your MC PC is available from the internet and from your lan. Note the message carefully. If it says it's not available from the internet but is from the lan, all is good. If neither, there is a problem. To update the IP's, your MC PC has to be able to connect to our key server.

You could try the reset function in the access key menu and generate a new key. See if the IP's change then.

[Beamer]

Bob

Many thanks for the connection process info.  I have attached the response from the test.  If I have understood this result, it indicates all is well for Gizmo to connect locally. Am I missing something?

[Beamer]

Bob

By way of additional information, when Gizmo fails to connect it is trying to connect through my public (static ip) address and not the local IP address??? 

Needless to say it is unlikely to ever connect using that route.

[JimH]

It will try both your internal and your external addresses until one works.

If it doesn't connect on the internal address, it may mean that the internal network is not available.

[Beamer]

It will try both your internal and your external addresses until one works.

If it doesn't connect on the internal address, it may mean that the internal network is not available.

If the internal network was not available Web Gizmo would fail. As mentioned earlier on, Web Gizmo works  all the time every time, hence my request for fixed addresses within Android Gizmo.

[Beamer]

Just in case there are any other souls our there with this issue.  The solution for me was to Reset the Gizmo access keys (two servers) under: Options/Media Network/Access Key/Reset and install a new key.

I can only assume that as an early adopter of Gizmo, something changed overtime either on my side or the MC server side causing the instability.

[bob]

Just in case there are any other souls our there with this issue.  The solution for me was to Reset the Gizmo access keys (two servers) under: Options/Media Network/Access Key/Reset and install a new key.

I can only assume that as an early adopter of Gizmo, something changed overtime either on my side or the MC server side causing the instability.

Thanks for the report back. I'd guess that for some reason the Gizmo on your android was unable to get the current keys. If you have it happen again, please post back and we can check the value of your keys to see if they contain your lan address.

[patdayco]

I am having a similar problem.  My android galaxy phone worked as remote for MC 17 perfectly a month or so, but now it fails to recognize the "Access Key" about every 2 to 4 days.  A "Reset" of access key allows reconnect, but only for a couple of days before it again fails to connect.  What to do?  
Pat.
PS.  I know that a windows update on the server PC leads to unrecognized access keys, but this instability also occurs when no windows update has occurred....  but I have been good here for the past 5 days,,, nearly a recent record ! :>}

[Beamer]

My intermittent issue has also returned. Worked fine for a while after changing the keys.

[MrHaugen]

Is there a reason why adding an ability to add the server IP address in Gizmo would not work? There are a lot's of people having different issues with addresses, and this might help some. The forums have numbers of issues with this. Everyone does not have internet connection on all their PC's either, and it would also be a good tool to pinpoint problems faster. Why fight against such a basic option in a media and network software?

[Beamer]

Is there a reason why adding an ability to add the server IP address in Gizmo would not work? There are a lot's of people having different issues with addresses, and this might help some. The forums have numbers of issues with this. Everyone does not have internet connection on all their PC's either, and it would also be a good tool to pinpoint problems faster. Why fight against such a basic option in a media and network software?

IMHO This is licence protection out of control.  It is really frustrating to be forced to use Web Gizmo which always works but has a little less functionality.

[bob]

I agree as far as being able to enter an optional address is concerned but it really has nothing to do with licensing, we are just trying to make it easy as possible to use. I'm not sure why some of you are having trouble with it. Personally, I use it every day with changing addresses over a mobile network as well as on my lan and it always works. It really would be nice to figure out what's different for you all.

[MrHaugen]

I agree that this system makes it user friendly for the most people. So, don't get me wrong. This is good. But some are struggling.... Either with connectivity issues that could be solved or troubleshooted faster with a simple setting in Gizmo with IP and port number. Others do not have Internet connection for their server. Yes, there are still several cases where you don't have network when using things like gizmo...

I for one, don't like how Gizmo have to contact other IP adresses before hitting the right one, EVERY single time it connects. It tries at least 3 addresses before connecting to the right one. I'm not sure if this is default, or if it is because I have a couple of NIC's in my server and a few virtual NIC's for my virtual machines. But it is an annoyance factor no matter what, which could be avoided with a simple network setting. That's why I'm interested in a quick setting that would solve this for good. Those settings are not something that novice users would tamper with anyway, but those that have problems would have an option to get over those few obstacles.

[chstuart]

I have searched the forum for connection issues with Gizmo and this one seems to be the most relevant. Occasionally, I have the issue described by Beamer. I had the opportunity to try multiple android phones with family in town for the holidays and all could not connect when this happens. However, usually I can wait and then they will connect. This problem is rare, but it does happen.

My biggest issue with Gizmo is that the music will stop and start in various intervals and durations. I am still connected to the server, but the music just pauses and starts over and over again. Its very annoying especially when you are entertaining others. At first, I thought it was an issue with my cell reception while I was driving, but recently I had the same problem at a friend’s house so I connected to his wifi in an effort to remove the reception variable. This did not fix the problem. What would cause Gizmo to stop and start music while still connected to the server? I would say this happens about 50% of the time I use Gizmo.  Gizmo is wonderful…. when it works correctly. Any thoughts?

BTW, I can connect with Web Gizmo on my laptop and never have had this problem.

[Beamer]

I cannot say I have experienced my music playing intermittently but this is probably because I am forced to use web gizmo most of the time.

The connection issue is real and very frustrating because there is quite a simple fix.  Unfortunately it is considered low priority  

My web connection is as good as it gets, lots of bandwidth and low latency, I also have a fixed public IP address and static internal addresses and it still fails.   I will say that if it connects it normally works OK. Just like you, it frequently fails just as you are showing it off to friends.

[jkp]

I have experienced exactly the same issues documented here on current version MC18 and latest Gizmo across a variety of Motorola Android phones.

It's fine for me because I can work around it and know its quirks, but it is stopping me from taking MC18 multi room fully live in our house because I can anticipate my wife's response the first time there is a glitch!

In addition, I would say that I am also reluctant to recommend MC to friends (despite how impressed some have been on seeing and listening to the setup I have) as it is not sufficiently 'bullet proof'.

[MrMolok]

Same problem here - often Gizmo fails to connect and tries reconnecting over and over again.
Server with fixed IP and no spin up issues due to solid state drive only.

Really annoying and as a result I am today the only one in the family who operates JRiver - Impossible for the kids and the wife hates the instability 

[patdayco]

It's been a few months since my original post on gizmo reliability problems via my android phone.  I have observed a few things that may be helpful.  When the phone stops connecting to my server via gizmo, my android tablet stays connected just fine.  Once, after failing one night, it reconnected just fine the next morning with no user changes at all.  Sometimes, but not always, the disconnect is visible by observing no "radio" button selection among my long list of previously used code keys (access your code listing via gizmo home button).  Reselecting the latest access code restores the server connection in those instances.  Once I was able to restore connection by toggling the wifi on the server... but only once.

[JimH]

Make sure you have the latest version of Gizmo.  It should be better for weak or sporadic connections.

[gotoma8]

Hi, I am using the trial version and gizmo.  I am having trouble when I try to play music, it says Server Error.
Gizmo is on my Kindle and it gets to the music files fine, just won't "play" it, can anyone help?
Thanks
Tuan

[Ekpen]

I cannot say I have experienced my music playing intermittently but this is probably because I am forced to use web gizmo most of the time.

The connection issue is real and very frustrating because there is quite a simple fix.  Unfortunately it is considered low priority  

My web connection is as good as it gets, lots of bandwidth and low latency, I also have a fixed public IP address and static internal addresses and it still fails.   I will say that if it connects it normally works OK. Just like you, it frequently fails just as you are showing it off to friends.

Greetings:
I am also experiencing Gizmo connectivity issues, similar to the issues already stated.
I have both private and public IPs.
In my situation, I have tested my network setup with Directv Geniego- out of home, and tight vnc out of home connections. They both work when I am not at home. But with Gizmo it is a trial and error. It fails when you do not want it to fail.  A couple of days ago, I disabled my Samsung Galaxy Note  Wifi, enabled 4G LTE and attempted to connect. It just failed. I have luck connectingwith the Geniego and tight vnc apps.
Then I just decided to  shut down the PC and powered it on again. I then connected successfully with Gizmo, 4G LTE was still on the handset.
This leads me to believe Gizmo might have issues connecting if the PC goes to sleep, or this might have something to do with PC idling, or the state of WOL on the PC. This is just my guess or suspicion.

George