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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!

  • in reply to neilk

    "she doesn't understand the need to solve a problem because of the intellectual challenge involved!"

     

    Join the club! image

     

    I feel a need to stop whatever I'm working on after 5pm once it is working (enough) and not start on the next step, otherwise ructions ensue as I try to resolve the last little problem - and there's always one more as you know.

  • in reply to neilk

    Hi    and     thank you both so much for you help and suggestions. I fear I will have to abandon this problem for now: my wife is working from home and getting through her work much faster than when she is in the office!!

     

    As a consequence she has embarked on, and I have been dragged unwillingly into, spring cleaning and reorganising the "office" area - ie the conservatory. As a consequence, this is the first opportunity I have had since my last post to sit down and reply to you!

     

    On top of that, because we can stream from the PC or laptop to the Chromecast  (to be honest the UI via windows is faster and slicker than the UI built into the players on the Humax) she has been telling me for some time to stop fiddling around trying to solve a problem that doesn't matter...................she doesn't understand the need to solve a problem because of the intellectual challenge involved!

     

    Thanks again for your input. I will get back to it!

     

    Neil

  • image

     

    I have re-read your post and decided to invest a little time in analyzing the issue. I sketched out this drawing to make sure I have captured the details. The broadband router is new. It has four different devices that connect to it. It has a wired side that gets used to configure the greenhouse device when necessary. The device wireless network connections are not consistent at times intermittent.

     

    I have worked in the industry that supported broadband routers. Each model has its nuances. A number of years ago I did some research for a magazine article I wrote on Raspberry Pi connecting to broadband routers. I can share the article but only if you contact me. I don't own the rights to the article in order to post it in a public forum.

     

    The writing was about configuring wireless on a Pi and how it can be impacted by distance and type of wireless router the device is trying to connect to. At one point I had a over a hundred feet of extension cord across my yard to see how far I could get before the devices disconnected. The writing may give you some insight into wireless connection issues. I seem to recall it talked about some wireless tools.

     

    My test for you dilemma would be a simple one. Install another wireless router and wire it to the broadband router. I would use a router that has external antenna. You can beg, borrow or steal the test router. It just to establish something reliable.

     

    Here are my thoughts. Try to establish one device with a consistent wireless connection. It doesn't matter what device but you have to feel confident one of the devices is reliable. You now have a stable configuration (i.e. router and device). Now make changes to this setup, do you find any issues. Device position, device obstructions, antenna directions.... If you get to this point and have gain some confident, move another device to that router.

     

    I agree, replace the broadband router! What if the provider sends the same type. What if the location is the problem. What if there are obstructions. It may not be easy to replace the broadband router. Working in the industry, I had access to the supply chain for all models of broadband devices the company used. I had the flexibility of giving the customer a few different units and asking them to try stuff. You don't have that luxury.

     

    I don't know what your technical back ground is. Looking at the details in your posts I see you as being methodical in your approach to problem solving. If there are 5 variables in an equation and three keep changing without your knowledge, while you are working on one of them, what are the chances you will solve the equation? You need to eliminate variables.

     

    I recently had an intermittent wi-fi on a Samsung DVD. The unit is old and went through an online upgrade. The vendor insists nothing changed. It all of a sudden doesn't like the network that it uses to connect to netflix. I isolated the issue to the device by stringing a 100ft of CAT5 cable from the basement router to the device. On wireless sometimes yes it will work and sometimes no. If you stand on one foot, chew gum and rub your belly it works. Well about 90% of the time. I get the grand kids to help me out when it goes doesn't. At some point after this health crisis I will shop around for a replacement Samsung. The vendor says the software is not the issue. I'm not convinced.

     

    If you would like to read the article, drop me a line and I can share it with you. It is a tutorial for setting up wireless on Pi's written for an intermediate to advanced user.

  • in reply to neilk

    I find wifi infuriating to debug when it goes wrong.  You have to assume that if it worked without issue on your old router and works intermittently on your new router then it's unlikely that the wifi module in the humax is failing.  I recently had a problem with PS4 not picking up the network - it's 2.4Ghz as well.  No rhyme or reason for it, 'yesterday' it worked, 'today' it didn't - I ended up unplugging it and carrying it closer to the router to see if it was still working (it was.)  I sorted that out by changing the broadcast channel on the router from Auto to 1 or 3 (can't remember.)  As I say, some routers, particularly BT but I may just be paranoid, broadcast a strong signal which can cause interference. 

     

    The only things I can suggest are:

    • Are you able to power up your old router and log into it to check settings and do a comparison? 
    • Does your new router allow you to set the channel width for 2.4Ghz?  It's better at 20Mhz rather than 40Mhz (or 80Mhz.)  The 5Ghz channel should be set to the widest. 
    • Does it have traffic prioritisation (QoS or WMM) - enable WMM if it has it.

     

    I'm sure you've tried all those things and obviously I have no idea if they would help.  It might be worth downloading and trying a wifi analyser application.  Have you access to a wifi extender to try?

  • in reply to neilk

    And it's no better! If anything, it's worse.....disconnectiong and reconnecting every 10 to 15 minutes!

     

    At least I can stream on my Laptop and cast the stream to the Chromecast...............until that stops working!!!!!!!!!!