Need assistance with rfid reader

[Matthew Johnson]

Hello,

I recently purchased an Alien ALR-9800 used. It powers on and appears to work, however, I'm challenged in connecting it to ART.

After thoroughly reading the user manual,I am unable to locate a default hostname. It states a default ip ( when no dhcp is present), to be 192.168.1.100. Yet, I still cannot connect to the reader.

So my question as it were is:

-how can i locate the current hostname or IP address and/ or reset the reader to the factory defaults??

Thanks a bunch in advance.

[Matthew Johnson]

I found the answer to my question about the reader defaults, by using a different search engine:

1) hostname - alien-xxxxx (x= last 6 of mac).

I'll see if this will connect okay this morning to ART.

Thanks for reading.

Ref: Alien Technology Quick Reference Guide - 2008

[jackrabbittiming]

Mathew, I inherited an Alien Reader and had similar trouble. I reset the IP address to the default setting and nothing worked. I took the night off from trying, disconnected everything, and then tried again the next night. This time I played around with the order in which I connected the hardware. Someone recommended connecting the reader last in an earlier thread. The second night it worked without any problem. So I couldn't tell you what exactly made it work, but I did learn that Alien's are finicky. Keep trying with different connection orders. That might help.

[Brian Agee]

With Alien readers you can open up the "RFID Testing Center" (accessible from the Options screen) and ART should auto-discover and add any attached Alien readers. If it were me, I would turn wifi off on your laptop, then pull up the testing center. Sometimes it could take a minute or two before the it shows up in the software.

[Christian C.]

The first 2 things I would do is do a firmware upgrade and a factory reset using a serial.

With HyperTerm or any other terminal software once the unit is loaded run : FactorySettings

This will clear out any of the old config and set you up on the right path. The Demo Software Gateway (ftp://ftp.alientechnology.com/pub/readers/software/gateway/2.26.03/alien-gateway_2.26.03.zip) is also a nice tool to used to reset and upgrade the unit. The last Firmware they have for that unit is version 100816 available at (ftp://ftp.alientechnology.com//pub/readers/alr9800/firmware/100816/ALRx800_fw_100816.zip)

Hope that helps

[Matthew Johnson]

Thank you Christian, I agree and will try your suggestions.

[Matthew Johnson]

Thanks jack rabbit, I'll give those suggestions a try. I had heard (probably here) of the connection problem too. Hopefully when using this thing in the wild it won't give these problems.

Cheers!!

[Matthew Johnson]

Thanks Brian. I was somewhat aware of that area in art, but just made an assumptiom that I could add the make/model/ip and voila!!

I'll give it a whirl.

Side Q/A - Any idea why antenna shows green indicators in ART even when chips are being missed? Hardware indicator/and ethernet were green on reader too. All looked good. I had to uncheck & check "listen" in "time race" to reset.

[Matthew Johnson]

Hello,

So far I was able to download the Alien Software, connect in and set the configuration to factory default. I attempted to update the iOS but the reader would not upgrade over serial. I cannot connect to the device over Ethernet but have a good link light.

I believe I am at a stand still any ideas that I may be missing? Thanks.

[Christian C.]

If you connect it to hyper term and look at the boot load you will see if there are any errors. I bought 2x 9650 off eBay and both has a toast DSP and could not load the firmware.

C.