New User. Brennan B2 Continually loses connection.

[Chris Murray]

HI All

I have had my B2 for a couple of weeks now. 

I have loaded ~1000 albums so far. Mostly over Wi-fi from my laptop, then a lot loaded directly from an external cd drive. 

Some discs won't read on the B2, so I rip these on my laptop and then "move" them over using Wi-fi.

My issue is that the B2 seems to continually lose connection with the network. The only way I can get it back is to restart the B2.

I have checked my signal strength at the B2 and it is right on -40db. It is right next to my laptop as I haven't got everything loaded yet, so haven't even plugged it into my Hi-fi set up yet.

I am worried if it is this unreliable now, will I have to reboot each time I want to listen to music? Hell worse than that it will disconnect halfway through a track!

Any advice would be gratefully received.

I believe I am using the latest B2 OS.

Best regards

Chris Murray

[osro...@yahoo.com]

I guess you could try enabling Wifi Watchdog:

1. Depress Knob

2. Go to settings

3. Go to maintenance
4. Go to Advanced

5. Go to Wifi Watchdog

6. Click Wifi Watchdog

I hope that this helps.

Rocky

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Hi Chris

Remember there are two players at this party, the B2 and the Router. The B2 is largely passive in this partnership. Have you tried rebooting the router too.
Fred

[Chris Murray]

Hi Fred

I have a Netreset (https://www.amazon.com/NetReset-Digital-Automating-Reboot-Net-Providing-Internet/dp/B01FY1PFLS) attached to my network system. My modem, router, etc. get cycled every 24 hours at 3am. 

The issue I am having is the B2 loses connection and will not wake up. The only solution I have found is to power cycle it.

This is not a satisfactory situation for a $700 device.

I have combed through all of the forum, and have not found very much on this topic.

Overall, I like the unit, however, I could probably achieve the same results with a small form factor PC which would be equally reliable with the advantage of being more usable and able to "stream" other media.

 At this point I am thinking of returning the unit as it is clearly not stable enough for my needs. Having viewed this post https://groups.google.com/g/brennanb2/c/lMkNNE-lck4 from 2019, it would appear nothing has changed.

It's a shame, I really wanted this to work!

Best regards

Chris

[Daniel Taylor]

Hi Chris,

I was just reading a little about that NetReset product you use.  My first impression is that it's a little scary.

I just deleted my response.  Instead, I will just wait to learn why anyone would want to pull power from certain equipment every night.

BTW, that thread from Nov 2019 came to an end when the OP stopped posting, leaving questions still unanswered (at least, in my mind).

[JFBUK]

Hi Chris,

are you using the Wi-Fi dongle as supplied  with your B2  or have you replaced it?

It may be the dongle that's the cause of your connection instability ?

Wi-Fi strength is just one indicator in regard to connectivity.

Have you looked at ping times for network latency and a trace route between your B2 and your router just to make sure nothing weird is happening ?

John

[Jeff. M.]

My B2 is on ethernet, but doesnt the router assign a new IP address when reset? so obviously the B2 would need a power cycle too, to get the new address?  Clearly his wifi is working, so the B2 is not the problem? Correct me if i am wrong.

[JFBUK]

Hi Jeff,

 a bit of a long winded explanation...

it does not matter whether you are wired or wireless, the B2 (or any other device trying to join a network) will send out a DHCP request for an IP address on the network its connecting to.

It sends it out for any DHCP server listening on that network. The first one to respond will allocate an IP address

Typically in a home environment there is only one DHCP server, your router

The server will allocate the B2 the next IP address it has available and it will give the allocation a lease time.

e.g. My lease time is 24 hours = 86400 seconds

Typically a DHCP client automatically attempts to renew its lease as soon as 50 percent of the lease duration has expired. The DHCP client will also attempt to renew its IP address lease each time that the requesting device 

is powered cycled.

You can get the server to always allocate the same IP address by reserving an address based on the MAC address of the network interface card which can be a wireless dongle or the ethernet port

of the B2.

If you have no IP addresses reserved then the sequence you power back on devices can impact the addresses that get allocated to each device.

You may get the same IP address but its not guaranteed.

If you power cycle the router and lots of connecting devices then its first come first served for address allocation so the previous allocated address may go to another device.

John

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

The B2 is a server on a house's LAN - If you remove the LAN from under the B2 it is NOT going to be happy (Most people  - I hope - have their router set up to always give the B2 the SAME IP number). It s likely that the B2 would need to be restarted after such an event. I computer centres the order of shutdowns and restarts is critical.

I can see no real point in rebooting the Router every night (it says to remove malware) - if malware go on it will have already embedded itself to survive a boot. It is more important to keep the Router patched.

Fred

[Jeff. M.]

Thanks John and Fred, so I was right in thinking that that the router reset evry night could be the cause of some of his problems? So, if he used a static address it would help a lot.

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

A static address , in my opinion, is essential for enjoyable use of a Brennan.

I am not certain how an active B2 would respond to having the router to which it was connected powered off then on again. I could try and see, but I am not minded to invest my time into doing this because I think regularly rebooting your router is simply not a thing you should do.

I suspect that from the network layer side a (fixed IP) connection would heal, but it is possible that the "removal" of the connection could cause issues with software higher up the the user stack.

Fred

[Chris Murray]

Hi all

This doesn't go anywhere near explaining the issues I'm having. 

The B2 loses connectivity at random times. I can power cycle it to wake it up,  and 20 minutes later it will be unresponsive. Other times it will behave for several hours.

It always has the same ip address. 

I am using the supplied wifi dongle.

The purpose of rebooting the router etc. Nightly has nothing to do with malware, it is to clear the cache and stop the build up in the system. Nightly may be excessive, but it doesn't hurt anything. I've been doing this for 10 years and no other piece of connected technology in the house cares, (garage doors, web cams, radios, pcs or cable boxes and DVRs).

Thanks for all the responses!

I'm still on the fence. 

Best regards 

Chris 

[Daniel Taylor]

I'm still confused about rebooting the router every night.  You say it's to clear the cache?  In the router?  My feeling is that if a router needed to be constantly rebooted because it's cache was building up, it was poorly designed and should be replaced.

Also, I'm not entirely clear on the other problems your B2 is exhibiting.  You said: "The B2 loses connectivity at random times. I can power cycle it to wake it up,  and 20 minutes later it will be unresponsive. Other times it will behave for several hours."  That seems to be unrelated to power cycling the router.  Maybe we need to forget about that and look more closely at what is going on with the B2.  My suggestion would be to take the NetReset unit out of the picture for a few days and see how the B2 behaves.

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

OK,

So your connection to the B2 is using WIFi.

What signal strength is the B2 seeing?

Fred

[Chris Murray]

50db 

[Daniel Taylor]

-50 is borderline problematic.  Personally, I would not be happy with any worse than -40.  Here's the standard advice on WiFi strength:

Your signal strength should be better than -50 (-40 being better, -60 being worse) and not fluctuate wildly.
To improve your signal strength, try the following:
Move your B2 closer to your router.
Switch the WiFi dongle to USB C.
Move your WiFi dongle to the end of a USB extension cable.
You can buy a new WiFi dongle that has an antenna.  Look for one that has the RT5370 chipset.
If none of that helps, you could try plugging a network cable between the inside back of the B2 and your router (and remove the WiFi dongle).
If that solves the problem, then it was definitely a WiFi problem.

[Dennis]

If your WiFi signal strength is fluctuating between -40 and -50 (see below) there may radio interference that could also explain the disconnections. Various household electronics (microwave ovens, some cordless phone) operate near the same frequency. Any possibility of connecting the B2 to your router with an ethernet cable, at least temporarily for diagnostic purposes, as suggested by Daniel Taylor?

On Sunday, March 6, 2022 at 2:52:34 PM UTC-5 manxm...@gmail.com wrote:

50db 

[PMB]

Hi Manxm...,

Try the WiFi dongle (marked 802.11n and/or has an antenna) in USB C - power the B2 off before swapping ports.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Ray Dion]

I agree with the network signal strength issue. Having a stronger signal or a wired connection could eliminate the problem or exclude it as the cause. 

When the disconnect/unresponsiveness occurs does the display still show/scroll the IP address or does the B2 know it is not connected with no IP address?

• What is being used to control the B2? I used the webpages when ripping disks. Occasionally I had to refresh the webpage instead of just clicking a new function. 
• Is the NAS turned on and if so does it work? 
• Can you make contact by using an app instead of a webpage?

 If the description of WIFI disconnected is accurate then all of these should fail. Just trying to confirm here. Ideally going to the wired connection could help understand if the WIFI has an issue. 

Is the entire unit unresponsive? Can you control it from the front panel or remote? Does it continue to play music after it becomes unresponsive?

This could isolate if the unit is not responsive at all or only to network commands. Either way I think it would be useful to reload the OS on the SD card. Perhaps there is a corruption going on? My guess.

[Chris Murray]

Hi Ray

The unit loses connection randomly. 

While I was researching these units, no one said anything about signal strength being critical. Also being told to buy another Wifi antenna seems a bit unprofessional. The documentation is almost nonexistent. I appreciate the efforts of some of the folks on this forum, however, I would have thought I was buying a product, rather than a project.

• What is being used to control the B2? I used the webpages when ripping disks. Occasionally I had to refresh the webpage instead of just clicking a new function. 

I'm using a laptop, although I also have accessed the B2 using my Android phone and tablet.

• Is the NAS turned on and if so does it work? 

No.

• Can you make contact by using an app instead of a webpage? 

Sometimes.

The unit has always displayed the IP address in the scrolling information. 

Measuring the signal strength with my phone by the unit I have -40db the unit says -50db.

Best regards

Chris

[Daniel Taylor]

Any device that connects by radio waves - WiFi, Bluetooth, cell phones - has to have a decent signal in order to communicate.  In my city, with my cell phone, it's sometimes difficult to get a signal to make a call, even in areas where I usually don't have a problem.  When the signal strength is thought to be contributing to the problem, all we can do is relate to you what we have discovered in the past.

When I first got my B2, I wanted a better signal, so I bought a WiFi dongle with a larger antenna.  In my case, because the little dongle was already getting -29 (being only two feet from the router), the new one only gave me a couple of dB improvement, so I just stuck with the original one.  It works pretty well most of the time.

The fact that your phone gets a better signal strength than the B2 is probably because the phone has a larger antenna.

I'm sorry this seems to be turning into a project for you.  I know that's not what most people are expecting.  But stuff happens, and you can either try to deal with it or send the unit back for a refund.

Getting through the problems sometimes seems to have something to do with attitude.  I've seen problems reported here that would make me tear my hair out, but the persons just kept on plugging, finally got through it, and now they're happy with their Brennan.  But others have comparatively trivial problems, which are made worse by their attitude.  I'm not trying to minimize your situation - it's somewhere between the extremes.  Only you can decide whether it's worth it to keep working on it, or to hang it up and call it a day.

Have you tried any of the suggestions to get a stronger WiFi signal?  Moving the B2 much closer to the router, even though it's inconvenient, and not a permanent solution, can give an indication of whether we're on the right track or not.

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

If you are using a WiFi Connection to the B2 then this connection is being provided by your House Router and this Router is responsible for the quality of the connection, the B2 is passive.

The B2 is a SERVER and needs a good connection to the Router (and from there on to the internet for some functions) and if it is not being provided with a good connection then it will/can not perform properly.

Your Phone and PC may seem to work OK on your home LAN but they are just going to the Router and out to the WAN/internet, the B2 is a service ON your LAN/intranet and this an extra requirement on your Router.

When people have problems with the B2 they blame the B2 because that is what they perceive they are using, however many problems are in the "plumbing" (the LAN/Router), but this is invisible to most users. Just like real household plumbing,

you are in a mess if it not functioning properly.

I therfore find your comment "While I was researching these units, no one said anything about signal strength being critical." a little strange - could you reasonably expect ANY device to work properly if it had a BAD connection?

Your issue is more than likely a "plumbing" problem but, that said, we can probably help you get your B2 working if you want us to.

Fred

[PMB]

Hi Chris,

If you email us on -  thebrennanb2  @  gmail  .  com  - no spaces, with a brief description of the issue and an address, we will send another dongle for you to try.

Paul

Brennan Support.