Network problem

[Jean-Baptiste GALLAUZIAUX]

My HL2 worked well with Quisk v.4.1.94 as well as with SDR Console V3 and Thetis 2.8.12 this morning. This afternoon I fail to restart it and find these results :

- Quisk  "No capture device found"

- SDR Console "Device not found on 169.254.19.221"

- Thetis "Error starting SDR software, is it connected and powered?"

D2 is flashing fast, D3 is flashing more slowly, D4 and D5 are steady ON.

Eternet Connector CN3 : Amber Led is steady ON, green Led flashes a few seconds when starting the SDR software then turns steady OFF.

I guess I have now a network failure. What should I check? Wher could I find help? InTroubleshoot Network · softerhardware/Hermes-Lite2 Wiki (github.com)?

73 - Pierre - FK8IH  

[Jean-Baptiste GALLAUZIAUX]

Well, my HL2 worked well ... until it stopped working!

Currently I got two answers :

Don Moore : This is a non latching relay. Check to be sure you don’t have a control line or power supply issue. If you can probe with a scope during relay selection. check to be sure the 3V bus doesn’t drop out. Does the enable line hold true?

>>> Could you elaborate a bit, which latching relay? Control line? Relay selection? 3V bus? Enable line?

Pencoys : I think it might have defaulted to a different IP address outside of your IP range. This happens when it does'nt see a DHCP server on the network.
Its documented somewhere.. :-( 

>>> I guess  169.254.19.221 is the standard IP address and it worked until my HL2 stopped working.

Thanks for these first comments. I would like to get my HL2 fixed as I appreciated very much this nice gear, which is absolutely wonderful and so difficult to buy now.

73 - Pierre - FK8IH

[Mike Brown]

Hello Pierre

Don's response about the relay was about a receive problem some of us have, which seems to be caused by OMRON relays. Your problem is different.

I think the lights suggest your HL2 is working, has an ethernet connection and an IP address, so a hardware fault looks unlikely.

The message from SDR Console suggests your computer and HL2 have not been allocated IP addresses so have defaulted to 169.254.xxx.xxx APIPA IP addresses (see the HL2 Wiki network help page you linked to for more information).

Are you plugging your HL2 directly into your computer? I think this can work but I also think some people have found problems. (Maybe search the forum to see?) Perhaps it would be better to give HL2 & PC fixed IP addresses (you may need to plug both into a regular network first to be able to give the HL2 a fixed address).

If you are connecting the HL2 & computer via a network they should both get IP addresses allocated by  the router using the DHCP protocol. I suggest you reboot your router and check the network connections. It may help to plug HL2 & computer directly into your router. Log on to your router admin page and make sure DHCP is turned on. Your router should show a list of devices on the network. Does it show your computer and HL2? If not you may have a connection problem.

Good luck getting your HL2 going again soon!

73

Mike

G4RAA

[Jean-Baptiste GALLAUZIAUX]

Thanks Mike,

Since I own this HL2 I have used it in two ways :

- directly plugged into my computer without specifying an IP address ;

- plugged into my WiFi router without specifying an IP address and the connexion between my computer and HL2 was by WiFi through the NetCom Wireless router.

In both cases it worked well until it failed two days ago. When I began to use my HL2 I tested an ethernet class 6 cable connexion to the router but did not kept it because of possible latency problems and remained during the last months with the direct connexion by class 6 ethernet cable to my laptop.

Today I connected again my HL2 to the router with an ethernet cable but the HL2  is not shown on the network.

I also connected again the HL2  directly to my computer and checked my network parameters on my PC, which shows there is currently no ethernet connexion.  DHCP is turned ON. I'm sure it worked as I can see that during the last 30 days 33.95Go have been exchanged between HL2 and Thetis, SDR Console and pythonw. Maybe my ethernet class 6 cable failed and I should test another cable?

I shall to read again the  HL2 Wiki network help page but I find it quite difficult to understand. I'm an old OM now and these technologies are hard to understand.

73 - Pierre - FK8IH

[Mike Brown]

Hello again Pierre, a few more suggestions:

Check your HL2's ethernet socket to make sure there is no fluff inside.

Try different network cables. (Some cables are reverse wired and this can cause a problem depending on the device it is plugged into.) 

If different cables don't fix the problem it is possible your HL2 has somehow been programmed with a fixed IP address. The wiki network help page says this can sometimes happen:

"There have been several reported cases where fixed IP addresses have been assigned when not wanted. It's not clear how this is happening. The only way to set the fixed IP address is to send a message over Ethernet to the HL2 telling it to install the fixed IP address. The theory is that some software may be doing this unintentionally, or the user is doing this without realizing its impact. "

If that has happened the wiki network troubleshooting page says you can temporarily force the HL2 to use DHCP or APIPA again by shorting the CW and PTT pins to ground as you turn it on. If it works you would then need to use your SDR software to reset the fixed IP Address. Instructions are on the wiki network troubleshooting page.

If you need more help you could try a computer repair shop (eg Digital Computers in Noumea). Take a printout of the HL2 network troubleshooting page, or give them its address, so they can understand what they are dealing with!

Best 73

Mike

G4RAA

[Paul2e0ymt]

Hi Pierre,

Test cables by plugging from PC to router and seeing if you have connection to the outside. Suggest plugging PC/laptop in the router by Ethernet, do the same with the HL2. Try loging onto your router and interrogate connected devices "Ethernet" see whats there. I find making notes/labels on the mac addresses helps but anyway thats one thing to try. Make sure AV is not blocking and thats also a good way to check connected devices with network monitor.

Im new to Hermes but hope that helps in some way.

73 Paul

On Saturday, 30 April 2022 at 09:27:00 UTC+1 jb.gall...@gmail.com wrote:

[Jean-Baptiste GALLAUZIAUX]

Hi Mike,

I verified my ethernet sockets, both in HL2 and computer and they are clean.

I just checked my Windows 11 network parameters with these results for the advanced ethernet network parameters:

- starting HL2 I can read "Identification" then about 10 seconds later "Unidentified network";

- after stopping HL2 less than 3 seconds later it indicates "not connected network".

About the ethernet parameters I translate from French :

- IP address attribution : Automatic (DHCP);

- DNS server attribution : Automatic (DHCP);

- Builder : Realtek

- Description : Realtek PCIe Gbe Family Controller;

- Pilot : 10.35.510.2019

- MAC address : 08-97-98-80-83-1F

Hi Paul,

I tested my class 6 ethernet cable by stopping WiFi on my computer and plugging my PC to the router. My PC is connected and has a normal access to the internet. I started the NetCom router setup program and my laptop is identified as connected by wire and I can read all details about it. Well the problem is not with the cable.

About AV, I'm using Microsoft Defender and updates it every day. Do you think a Microsoft update could have blocked my HL2 connexion, I know Microsoft are prone to make modifications in the interest of the client without information of it? Where should I look to check it?

73 - Pierre - FK8IH

[ron.ni...@gmail.com]

Do you have access to any other computers (maybe a neighbor's kid's Raspberry Pi, etc.) with an ethernet port?  If so, try using one of them to check the network connection to the HL2.  No SDR software is required.  With a direct ethernet cable (no router) connection, you should be able to Ping 169.254.19.221 about 60 seconds after freshly powering up an HL2 in factory configuration. If the HL2 responds to Ping from another system, then the problem might be with your computer or software configuration.  73, Ron - n6ywu

[Jean-Baptiste GALLAUZIAUX]

Hi ron.ni

Thanks, please find the results :

C:\users\JC\ping 169.254.19.221 

Sending a 'ping' request with 32 bytes of data 

Response from 169.254.182.209: Unable to reach destination host 

Response from 169.254.182.209: Unable to reach destination host 

Response from 169.254.182.209: Unable to reach destination host 

Response from 169.254.182.209: Unable to reach destination host 

Ping statistics for 169.254.19.221: Packets: sent=4, received=4, lost=0 (0% loss)

This shows the same problem with another computer under Windows 11 and as the HL2 was not recognized by the Netcom router when I connected it to one ethernet port of the router this shows that the problem comes from the HL2.

73 - Pierre - FK8IH

[Jean-Baptiste GALLAUZIAUX]

Hi Ron.ni

I did the same ping 169.254.19.221 with the HL2 stopped (no power supply ) and got the same result. My HL2 seems to be dead to the network.

73 - Pierre - FK8IH

[Paul2e0ymt]

Pierre,

Strange...why is it retrning a different IP address from the ping> different subnet all together ?

You need to establish the IP for the HL2 device. Pinging a previous IP may in fact not work anyway as DHCP could assign it a different one unless you have programmed it in the router. Get access onto the router from a browser, how-to is usually on the router including the password.

73 Paul

[ron.ni...@gmail.com]

Hi Pierre,

ping 169.254.19.221 only works with a direct connection between the computer to the HL2, and no routers in the path (maybe unplug all your routers to make sure none are assigning DHCP addresses).  The HL2 must be freshly powered on, but after waiting maybe 30 to 60 seconds for the LEDs to indicate a self-assigned IP address. If you use a router, then the HL2's IP address must be freshly discovered, perhaps after each HL2 or router power cycle.  73, Ron, n6ywu

[Jean-Baptiste GALLAUZIAUX]

Hi Paul,

I do not use a router and try to repair my HL2 using a direct connexion between my HL2 and my PC (laptop using Windows 11) with a class 6 ethernet cable.

I have tested the cable by connecting direcly my PC to my NetCom router and it works well, which means the ethernet cable is working well.

I tested the ping 169.254.11.221 with another Windows 11 computer with nearly the same results except that it answered "Response from 169.254.182.24x..." this responding IP being different from the IP with my computer which gave ...209. Amazing... I do not understand these response IP addresses.

73 - Pierre - FK8IH

[Jean-Baptiste GALLAUZIAUX]

The Wiki "troubleshoot Network" page writes in "Temporarily recovering from an unwanted fixed IP address or MAC address" ..."short the CW and PTT pins to ground when power is first applied. This can be done using the front panel 3.5mm stereo jack called CN4 and labeled KEY/PTT whose tip connection is the CW input and ring connection is the PTT input."...

Practically how can I do it? Should I build a 3.5 stereo plug and ground the tip and ring solder lugs to what?

73 - Pierre - FK8IH

[Jean-Baptiste GALLAUZIAUX]

One big step forward!

I made a 3.5mm  stereo plug and connected the tip and the rim to the sleeve, which grounded the CW and PTT an restarted my HL2.

I then started Quisk and got the following :

Capture from Hermes: Mac 0:1C:C0:a2:13:dd, Code version 73.2, Rx4, ID6, IP 169.254.19.221

Everything looks OK now.

I tested also SDR Console and Thetis and they both seem to work.

Then, reading again the "Troubleshoot Network" page and opening the page "  How do I perform address management using the Quisk Application?" 

I compared the settings shown on that page and the settings shown on my running Quisk, which are a picture of the settings stored in my HL2 EEPROM and they are not the same, which might be the reason my HL2 does not start:

- Eeprom IP Usage - my current setting read on Quisk "Set Address" - the reading on the Wiki page "Ignore"

- all other settings Eeprom Mac Usage, Eeprom IP Address and Eeprom MAC Address are exactly the same read on Quisk and on the Wiki page.

My problem probably was in this Eeprom IP usage and the Help provided by Quisk is self explanatory :

"Eeprom IP usage : this is the way the EEPROM IP address is used at power on. 

'Ignore' means it is not used at all.

'Set address' means DHCP is not used and the EEPROM IP address is used."

'Use DHCP first' means the EEPROM IP address is only used if DHCP fails."

I also pinged my HL2 :

ping 169.254.19.221

Response of 169.254.19.221 : bytes:32 time=1ms TTL=128

I changed the 'Eeprom IP usage' to 'Ignore' and now my HL2 IS WORKING AGAIN NICELY. I spent some hours to solve it but succeeded.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR HELP!

73 - Pierre - DK8IH

[Mike Brown]

Great news Pierre - I'm very happy you are back on the air!!

73

Mike

G4RAA

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[Jean-Baptiste GALLAUZIAUX]

Mike,

You were right : my problem came from DHCP being OFF on my HL2 and ON on my computer, they could not connect.
Your solution was the good one : plug a tip-rim-sleeve shorted stereo 3.5mm plug in the Key/PTT socket of my HL2 and start it, which enabled DHCP. Then I used the Setup of Quisk to write in the HL2 Eeprom the good setting to have DHCP ON on the HL2.
This closes this thread. Thanks again.

73 - Pierre - FK8IH