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  • Author Author: neilk
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Unintended Consequences........

neilk

Just before Christmas last year, my ISP offered me a deal whereby I could have my broadband connection upgraded to twice the speed and actually pay a little bit less, provided I signed up for another 18 months contract. The deal also included a new router. I have been satisfied with my ISP and the price was competitive so I signed up,

 

The router arrived, the switch over occurred and my desk top PC (cable connected) was back online and looking good almost immediately. I then went through the process of reconnecting both laptops and the wireless printer to the new SSID. I then brought the ESP8266 greenhouse monitor inside so that I could update the firmware via a cable connection - can't do OTA updates if the device can't connect to the network! Finally, I reconnected the Humax hard drive video recorder to the new SSID (we don't have a SMART TV).

 

Then the trouble started: my wife's laptop periodically refused to connect to the WiFi, or would drop out whilst she was using it and refuse to re-connect, although mine was OK. The only fix seemed to be to disable and then re-enable the WiFi adapter and then reboot the laptop. Strangely, after a few weeks, this behaviour stopped! Then the Humax video recorder started to regularly disconnect from the network, - every hour or so - flashing a message up on the TV screen to tell us and then re-connecting after a few seconds, flashing another message on the screen!! Although annoying, this was not a big problem, because we rarely streamed content from the Internet.

 

However......... In these extremely difficult times of enforced stay at home, we decided it would be good to be able to access streaming content. So we did, and it was very inconvenient when the recorder disconnected from the network in the middle of a film! I did some Googling and found a suggestion that certain models of Humax recorders don't like to connect to an SSID with a long name. Easy peasy - I logged onto the router, changed the SSID and password and then reconnected the Humax. By this time it was 9:30pm. We didn't stay around long enough to see if this had fixed the problem with the Humax.

 

The next morning, I sorted out the laptops again and then the printer. My brain obviously wasn't working properly, because I then logged on to my server to check the overnight temperatures in the greenhouse. It took me several minutes to realise that logging had stopped at about 9:20pm when I changed the SSID!

 

Out to the greenhouse, disconnect the unit, back inside and connect the unit to my PC and upload an updated firmware image. Check that it's connecting to the network and logging OK, and then back out to the greenhouse. Strange, it's not logging anymore. Back out to the greenhouse; watch it for a while, waiting for the blue LED to flash when it logs - it doesn't.......I wonder if the battery is flat? It shouldn't be!

 

Back to my desk, grab the phone powerpack, back out the greenhouse; plug it in and see the blue LED flash almost immediately! back to my desk and check it's logging. Yes!!

 

Thinking it through, even though the battery had several days of life left in it, when the unit failed to connect to the network at about 9:20pm, it just kept on trying and trying and failing  Connecting to the network and logging are the heaviest drain on power, so it's only to be expected that the remaining life in the battery drained away between 9:20pm and about 11:30am the following day!

 

To add insult to injury, the Humax recorder continues to regularly disconnect from the network and then reconnect!!! I have no idea why!

Parents

  • Thanks for the story. I don't think the experience is unique to you or centric to computer networking. An upgrade to my satellite TV system has my wife telling me how much she misses the old provider. No mention in her commentary of the problems with the old system or additional cost that were associated.

     

    I have to giggle thinking, some time in the future you are going to discovery the cause of this "dog fault". One of those faults that doesn't give you enough information to find a solution yet is fertile ground for others to offer "I fixed that, with this easy solutions."

     

    I have one or two dog faults around, that occasionally spur me to action thinking I will finally have the solution. Like the hole left in a bucket of water when you pull your foot out, the answer is gone just as you get there.  From your methodology description, I hold out hope you will discover an cause. You may never fix it but at least you know what causes it:)

  • in reply to colporteur

    Hi I like your term "dog faults"......my favourites are the ones where something stops working, so youe dismantle it, intending to repair it. You find nothing wrong, so you clean everything etc and reassemble it. It now works.

     

    You haven't repaired it.....you've made it work!

Comment Children
  • in reply to neilk

    Neil,

     

    I can remember two things that I have broken and then attempted to repair. One was in my youth when I had (found?) a mains radio. I was trying to get the tuner needle to move properly by returning the wire connected to the needle back into the pulleys. For some reason now unknown to me I was trying to do this with mains power on. No big surprise that I electrocuted myself (right across the room) and the radio stopped working. I tinkered with the radio a bit, once I had stopped shaking but couldn't get it working again so eventually decided it was busted and decided to take it apart and salvage all the bits. Two hours later when I had finished and went downstairs I discovered I had fused the lights and the radio could well have still been working, but all I had left was a box of bits.

     

    My other experience was more recently with a CD player that stopped playing audio. So I decided to take it apart and salvage all the bits (some things do not change) but with the power off this time (other things do change!). I had the case off and PCBs out when I thought - 'Why not just check one last time if it is working now', so I did and it was! Fortunately I was able to put everything back together and now have a fully working CD player - apart from the point where the lid gets snagged as it opens - I must have bent something somewhere.

     

    Dubbie

  • in reply to dubbie

    There is something freeing in removing the cover of something that is not working and you have decided it will never work.

     

    Then, there are the mixed emotions of WTF, when you discover the device is working. I never know if I should be happy or embarrassed at fixing something that is working.