New POWERNODE falls off the network -- during play, randomly throughout the day

Answered
Chris Shenton
  • Edited

I received a POWERNODE last week, and it sounds quite nice, great form factor, etc. 

But it's practically unusable. It seems to fall off the network, all the time.

If I haven't played it for a while, it seems to fall off the network: the macOS and Android apps cannot see it.  Just now, while in the middle of a song (played from my NAS Library) it stopped. I'm a network geek, and know it tells my home LAN DHCP server its name:

Active DHCP Leases
Hostname    IPv4-Address    MAC-Address    Leasetime remaining
COM-MID1    192.168.255.224    8C:C1:21:6A:09:C1    2h 22m 58s
LivingRoom    192.168.255.163    90:56:82:80:B6:83    2h 34m 35s
MBP16    192.168.255.249    14:7D:DA:D4:1D:2D    3h 58m 33s
lab-nas    192.168.255.20    00:11:32:31:3E:4D    3h 15m 21s

...

So I pinged it, and it's no longer on the network:

chris@penguin:~$ ping LivingRoom.shenton.org
PING LivingRoom.shenton.org (192.168.255.163) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 192.168.255.218 (192.168.255.218) icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.255.218 (192.168.255.218) icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.255.218 (192.168.255.218) icmp_seq=3 Destination Host Unreachable

Unsurprisingly, I also cannot get to its settings web UI at http://livingroom.shenton.org by DNS name or IP address http://192.168.255.163/

 It does this multiple times a day. I have to physically unplug it to have it appear on the network again. Below, you can see it come back; note the long ping times in the first two successful pings, does it indicate anything?

From 192.168.255.218 (192.168.255.218) icmp_seq=50 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.255.218 (192.168.255.218) icmp_seq=51 Destination Host Unreachable
64 bytes from LivingRoom.shenton.org (192.168.255.163): icmp_seq=52 ttl=62 time=2128 ms
64 bytes from LivingRoom.shenton.org (192.168.255.163): icmp_seq=53 ttl=62 time=1097 ms
64 bytes from LivingRoom.shenton.org (192.168.255.163): icmp_seq=54 ttl=62 time=73.1 ms
64 bytes from LivingRoom.shenton.org (192.168.255.163): icmp_seq=55 ttl=62 time=5.37 ms

Oops, after playing again for about 60 seconds, it again fell of the network, stopped playing, and was unreachable by the Web UI.

It's completely unusable.

Any suggestions for diagnostics? 

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Comments

13 comments

Date Votes
  • Official comment
    Mark T.
    Sr. Support Crew Member

    Hi Chris,

    Is your player wired or wi-fi? Since you said you are a network geek, I hoped it's a wired network.

    Please send us a support request using the BluOS App, BluOs App >> Help >> Send Support Request.

    Also, if you can give us a summary of your entire network setup (make and model of your network appliances and if the network is wired or wireless).

    Thanks for #LivingHiFi

  • Chris Shenton

    OMG, I pulled the power, waited 30 seconds, plugged back in, and it came up -- and lasted an entire 5 seconds before falling off the network again. 

    From 192.168.255.218 (192.168.255.218) icmp_seq=132 Destination Host Unreachable
    64 bytes from LivingRoom.shenton.org (192.168.255.163): icmp_seq=133 ttl=62 time=2287 ms
    64 bytes from LivingRoom.shenton.org (192.168.255.163): icmp_seq=134 ttl=62 time=1255 ms
    64 bytes from LivingRoom.shenton.org (192.168.255.163): icmp_seq=135 ttl=62 time=231 ms
    64 bytes from LivingRoom.shenton.org (192.168.255.163): icmp_seq=136 ttl=62 time=4.77 ms
    64 bytes from LivingRoom.shenton.org (192.168.255.163): icmp_seq=137 ttl=62 time=4.97 ms
    From 192.168.255.218 (192.168.255.218) icmp_seq=169 Destination Host Unreachable

    It didn't even have enough time to load the full settings web UI so I could find the firmware version. 

     

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  • Seppi Evans
    Hi-Res

    If this is genuinely a Powernode 2 then I would take it back to the seller as the Powernode 2 was replaced by the Powernode 2i, then the 2i with HDMI and subsequently by the POWERNODE in May 2021.

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  • Chris Shenton

    My mistake, I confused the name; I've edited my original post's subject to correct to POWERNODE. My June 4 order, directly from Bluesound, states:

    Bluesound POWERNODE
    Stock Type: New
    Region: US
    Colour: Black

    Addendum: when it's fallen off the network, the top proximity/display panel is responsive in that it changes based on touch, but nothing happens with audio.  The top/front indicators are solid blue during its net-less-ness.

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  • Seppi Evans
    Hi-Res

    Wired or Wi-Fi? Probably need something on your router tweaking, best to log a support ticket using the App when the player is connected to your network as this sends the logs.

    From the App select Help…Send support request.

    If that fails you can click on the blue floating “? Support” button at the bottom right hand of this web page.

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  • Chris Shenton

    I really should have titled this support request "It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that ping!" :-)

    @Seppi: I just had it send a support request, after connecting to hard wired ethernet.

    @Mark: when I received it last week, out of the box, I just let it connect to my Wifi -- figured if it's good enough for Roku video, it's fine for audio. I've also got Logitech SqueezeBoxes and Google ChromeCast Audio devices that have been on wifi for years with no problems. But I've just connected it to a Cat-5 cable and it's now on the network; I'm running a continuous ping to see if it falls off.

    My house has 3 floors, each concrete on a metal pan, so I've got an AP per floor: all are TPLink A7 running OpenWrt 19.07.3.  The APs are connected by Cat-5 to a NetGear ProSafe 16 port gigabit switch. The basement AP is also acting as a router connected to my FiOS internet, and runs a DHCP server. The other two APs are on the other floors including where the POWERNODE is in the LivingRoom. The APs all share the same 802.11acn SSID so devices can roam. I've also got a per-floor 802.11bgn SSID for older gear, and so I can connect to a specific AP if needed.  I've configured the POWERNODE with both the shared and specific SSIDs and the behavior seems to be the same, dropping the connection.

    If you need I can draw a diagram. Let me know if you need more details. If it would be helpful, I can disconnect from the Cat-5 and (hopefully) have it send a diagnostic to you when on WiFi since that seems to be more problematic. 

    Thanks for your help.

    (after 25 minutes, the POWERNODE's still visible on the hard wired connection)

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  • Mark T.
    Sr. Support Crew Member

    Hi Chris,

    Two things.

    1. Are your APs (TPLink A7) configured only as an AP or as a DHCP server as well? If not, I suggest making sure only 1 TPLink (in your case the basement Router) is the only one with DHCP Server enabled.

    2. Your Cat-5 cable may need to get replaced with at least a Cat6 cable.

    Lastly, send us a support ticket using the BluOS app in order for our support team members can take a look.

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  • Chris Shenton

    Howdy, Mark.

    Only the basement AP is a DHCP server.

    The cabling in the walls is Cat-5 as Cat-6 hadn't been invented when we built the place. :-(

    I had the BluOS app send you a support ticket with the same subject as this one, about an hour ago. If you don't have it, lemme know and I'll poke it again.

    Thanks

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  • Diederik van den Burger
    • Edited

    Any update on this?

    I have a new POWERNODE, and I am experiencing a similar but slightly different issue. Whenever I group my NODE and my POWERNODE and play music through the Spotify app, often one or both devices loses network connection. It has happened on several occasions now, but I haven't had enough time to debug it completely, so I don't know what the triggers are (like, does it matter which device I set as the main device? My NODE is on fixed volume. Or maybe Spotify/grouping doesn't trigger it). The POWERNODE is on WiFi and the NODE is cabled.

    @Mark T., you said:

    Is your player wired or wi-fi? Since you said you are a network geek, I hoped it's a wired network.

    Well, I consider myself a network geek too, but unfortunately, my rental place does not have ethernet outlets everywhere. Besides, like Chris mentioned, other devices requiring more bandwidth work perfectly fine on the WiFi, so I am not completely sure why this answer is marked as the solution to this problem.

    Maybe this is completely unrelated to Chris' case, but it seemed similar enough to leave a comment. I hope your issue has been fixed in the meantime or someone else can help me out :).

    PS: I have already sent a support ticket in the app (and as of sending it, my POWERNODE was offline because of this issue).

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  • Mark T.
    Sr. Support Crew Member

    Hi Diederik,

    I see your ticket in our queue. A member of our support team will reach out to you soon.

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  • Diederik van den Burger
    • Edited

    Awesome Mark, thanks for your swift reply!

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  • Johannes Pelto-Piri

    Hi,

    I seem to be having the exact same problem, wifi shuts down. I did a factory reset and the problems went away for a couple of weeks.

    Did this get solved?

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  • Tony W.
    Product Support Manager

    Everyone's network differs Johannes so you will have to follow the 'Offical Comment' at the top or e-mail support@bluesound.com as suggested throughout this thread.

     

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