Firmware update fix improving iPAD app connection

[m20dev_API]

I think I've discovered perhaps why sometimes the iPad app just won't connect to the m20d Stagescape at all, maybe..would love to hear if anyone else has experienced similar issue to confirm my findings.

 

Here's the usual scenario, and it happened again about two weeks ago:

 

Mixer is already setup and on etc, I do some sound checks, i start recording, then I try connecting ipad but it just gets stuck searching or something and can't connect to it.

 

I try everything like rebooting iPAD a couple times, making sure iPAD is connected to the same wifi hotspot. The StageScape is connected by WIRED ETHERNET (via USB ethernet dongle) to a good powerful 3 antenna wifi access point, when it does connect usually works fine close and far also. So I tried disconnecting from wifi network, reconnecting, all kinds of things to no avail.

 

I even tried removing power from the Wifi Access point and rebooting the wifi router and then reconnecting ipad and trying to reconnect to the Stagescape with the ipad app and still the exact same thing. Nothing I tried worked.

 

I ended up having to stand up (yea sucked no tall stool available and m20d was up kinda high) for an hour or more when I already was feeling light-headed that day so wasn't fun at all, the remote control was the reason to get that m20d so I really hope we can improve on these connection issues. Interestingly and luckily the recording ran out of SDCARD space right when live event finished, I haven't had a chance to look at the files, I'm hoping they weren't corrupted due to having run out of space while recording.

 

Now I think what would have FIXED my issue, is REBOOTING the m20d Stagescape. Many times that's what I do if I have connection issues but unfortunately sometimes I don't have time to mess with the iPAD first so I get the audio done quick and then if event is already underway I can't really "Reboot" the Stagescape to fix iPAD connection issues.

 

What I think is happening is that I'm guessing that sometimes there's a glitch and when the M20D is Booting it does not get a PROPER IP or something, so during that bootup process either the router wasn't ready to hand-out or the Stagescape glitched somehow in grabbing it via dhcp, anyway somekind of network glitch results in the Stagescape not getting a proper network connection on bootup. BUT there should be a way for us to RESET the NETWORKING on the Stagescape without having to reboot the mixer completely.

 

Is there any info panel anywhere that will show us more detailed networking information on the Stagescape? It would be very useful for diagnosing. I'm thining though that likely the current firmware doesn't provide a good way to reset the networking and it might only happen properly by rebooting the stagescape.

 

Has anyone had similar experience where they could not connect to the Stagescape from the ipad app until they REBOOTED the mixer?

 

I'm hoping this can be fixed in a  firmware update where we can have a method to tell mixer to try and 'renew' IP ADDRESS or reset network or something like that without requiring a reboot to clear its brains.

 

I do recommend to everyone though to ditch any of the USB wifi dongles and just connect a good wifi access point to the stagescape via USB ethernet. I tried with USB wifi dongles but its just much better with wifi router. If we can get some feature to reset networking on stagescape etc I think it will really help establishing successful remote connection if it fails on first try.

 

Otherwise if somehow there's a proper way to reset the m20d networking without rebooting, that I've missed, I'd love to know, thanks!

(maybe unplugging USB ethernet dongle and plugging it back in? I can't remember if I tried that or if I just unpowered the wifi router or temporarily unplugged cat5e ethernet cable)

[dboomer]

Have you tried "forget the network" on the iPad?

[m20dev_API]

Thanks, that would be yes and no. I did not try that in the particular incident I mentioned above, but I did try that before other times and it did not help.

Is there a way to make the stagescape show us some more info? some secret tap here tap there and get some detailed network stats/settings etc?

 

In other words I want a way to check if the m20d thinks it is connected to the router properly and if its sending and receiving packets from it. Since if its not, which is what I think was happening, it can't be fixed from ipad side, it won't work until the link between the Stagescape itself and the router is fixed.

 

If there isn't a way now to check, I really think you guys should add some way to access a network diagnostics info panel through a firmware update since it should greatly help diagnose any connection issues. Sometimes the connection problem might indeed be between iPad and Wifi router, but in my case I think connection issue was between Wifi router and m20d via the wired usb ethernet adapter because the iPAD was communicating fine with the Wifi Router so it makes sense that the issue was likely with the Stagescape's direct wired connection to the router.

[Digital-sound]

I have never had a problem connecting, but did go through a period of constantly losing connection and reconnecting. Using a router with 5GHz (airport express for me, but there are others) ended the problem. Good connection and stays connected.

[m20dev_API]

When you had your disconnection issues, was there an issue with your iPAD wifi link to your router? In other words do you know if you lost actual WIFI connectivity from your router to the iPAD or was it just the connection to m20d that went dead? I'm guessing you may have not tested to ascertain that so I'm thinking in your case your iPAD was dropping wifi connection and reconnecting etc. In my case iPAD wifi was working perfectly no problem, just couldn't connect to Stagescape that's why it seems like the StageScape did not have a proper working connection to the wifi router and would only be fixable on rebooting the m20d.

 

Maybe dboomer can check to see if there's any diagnostics info on the Stagescape we can access somehow, or if he can confirm what the Stagescape does if it initially fails with dhcp/obtaining IP etc, does it try to recreate/renew connection or how can we force the stagescape to reset its own network connection without having to reboot it entirely which of course is not really an option during a live event.

[Digital-sound]

You are right, I didn't test, but for me, I am almost certain it was because of all the 2.4GHz in the room.  So likely not the same as your problem.  It never happened when the venue was empty during sound check, just later on when the venue was full.  Empty room - no problem, full room -  dropped connection.

[dboomer]

There is no secret button push to either read out or re-trigger the info.

 

First I have to say that I'm certainly not a wi-fi expert.  When the mixer first starts up it sends a "if there's any router out there, please send me an IP address ... I'll take anything" and then the router answers back and assigns it usually based on the mac number it sees form the mixer.  Once that happens (so if it ever works) even if the cable were to get disconnected it should re-connect once that cable is plugged back in.  If you were to unplug and re-plug the USB/ethernet adapter that would cause the system to poll again for the IP address without re-booting.  I would expect the router to always re-assign the same address based on the mac address of the mixer.

 

What's wrong ... there are a lot of suspects.  We have never seen any bug in the firmware that might cause the mixer to stop sending to the USB port the info needed for the router.  Of course you could be the first  :D .  You could have a hardware issue, but it's much more likely that you either have a problem with the USB adapter or the router. Have you tried swapping them out? Are you using the apple branded interface?

[Rick_Auricchio]

dboomer said:

When the mixer first starts up it sends a "if there's any router out there, please send me an IP address ... I'll take anything"

 

Correct. This is called a DHCP request.

 

and then the router answers back and assigns it usually based on the mac number it sees form the mixer.

 

The router is free to assign any IP address within its normal range. Many routers can, however, be configured to behave as you say: "Always give this IP address to this MAC-address device." [Often called "IP Address Reservation."] Most are not configured this way by default.

 

 If you were to unplug and re-plug the USB/ethernet adapter that would cause the system to poll again for the IP address without re-booting.

 

This is how a well-behaved network device should behave, so we expect the M20d should indeed send a new DHCP request and obtain an IP address.

 

  I would expect the router to always re-assign the same address based on the mac address of the mixer.

 

Perhaps, perhaps not. This is up to the router. If it's configured for "IP Reservation" as mentioned above, then it will always issue the same IP address. If, instead, it's in the usual default setup, then the router may either a) reissue the same IP address, or b) avoid reissuing that address for a while and instead issue a different one.

 

However, this is all somewhat academic, because the iPad looks for devices using Apple's "Bonjour" network protocol. It's those data packets that count: the whole concept is to avoid dealing with IP addresses for the connection. If perchance the M20d doesn't resume "advertising" its presence via Bonjour after a network interruption, then the iPad won't find it.

[JoyRoy1]

There is no secret button push to either read out or re-trigger the info.

 

First I have to say that I'm certainly not a wi-fi expert.  When the mixer first starts up it sends a "if there's any router out there, please send me an IP address ... I'll take anything" and then the router answers back and assigns it usually based on the mac number it sees form the mixer.  Once that happens (so if it ever works) even if the cable were to get disconnected it should re-connect once that cable is plugged back in.  If you were to unplug and re-plug the USB/ethernet adapter that would cause the system to poll again for the IP address without re-booting.  I would expect the router to always re-assign the same address based on the mac address of the mixer.

 

What's wrong ... there are a lot of suspects.  We have never seen any bug in the firmware that might cause the mixer to stop sending to the USB port the info needed for the router.  Of course you could be the first  :D .  You could have a hardware issue, but it's much more likely that you either have a problem with the USB adapter or the router. Have you tried swapping them out? Are you using the apple branded interface?

Hello!

Can you helpme!

I bought last week Line6 stagescape M20D and I want to conect it with my ipad. In specificate wrote when I need LinksysAE 1000-EU. But i can not to bay it nowhere - I check the email and not find,and in Latvia also. Where I can bay it?

Maybe you can sugest me what to do???

Sinserly

Janis Kalnins.

[Digital-sound]

Hijacking the thread a bit. There are a few options but the best by far has been a router, hard wired via ethernet cable to the M20D using an Apple branded USB to ethernet adapter. Then, connect your ipad via the router.

[ureaman]

Having same problem with my iPad dropping connection at gigs, never at home, so I bought a new Apple Express with the adapter to avoid the 2.4 GHz. I am having trouble configuring it properly for the StageScape. Could someone walk me through now to get this to work? Tried several things that didn't work. Thank you. I have MacBook Pro 10.9.5 using Airport Utility.

[SiWatts69]

Do a complete HARD reset of the airport express... It may be worth disconnecting your iPad from any other wireless network you have up and running whilst you do this.

 

1.Disconnect everything except the power from your Airport Express. Press and hold the reset button until you see the status light (LED) start to flash amber rapidly, which should occur after about five seconds.

2.Release the button and the device will reset.

3.Wait about a minute for the base station to finish restarting, then in Settings > WiFi on your iPad you should see an entry for "SET UP NEW AIRPORT BASE STATION" with "Airport Express xxxxxx" beneath where xxxxxx is a sequence of 6 letters and numbers.

4.Once the iPad has initially connected, in AirPort Setup, choose Create a New Network (Recommended)

5.Name your network (the name you enter is irrelevant)

6.Name the device (again name is irrelevant)

7.Create and enter a password. This password is simply the password for managing your Airport Express and connecting to it with your iPad and has nothing to do with the stagescape connection directly.

8.Continue without Internet connection (plug no cables in)

9.Wait til setup completes and click "Done"

10.Plug Network cable to LAN port on back of Airport Express (LAN port has the arrows icon)

11.Plug other end of network cable into USB to Ethernet adapter

12.Power up your M20d and when fully booted plug USB to Ethernet adapter in to the USB port.

13.On M20d screen, press the "i" icon in top right corner of screen and select the "Wi-Fi" button on the left.

14.You should see green text stating "Status: Ethernet connected"

15.On iPad, launch the Stagescape remote app

16.Press green "CONNECT" button in app and you should see a "Choose a StageScape" screen.

17.Press the offered entry and you should get an "Enter StageScape M20d PIN" screen. Enter the pin displayed on the M20d screen.

18.After a few seconds, your M20d WiFi screen should now display "1 Remote Connected" and the iPad should now show your SETUP screen.

[Rick_Auricchio]

Ureaman has opened another thread asking about how to set up the Airport Express; so any discussion of that procedure should move to the other thread.

[SiWatts69]

Yep Rick, and my reply was 15 hours BEFORE that additional thread appeared :-)