Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Connectivity issues with MS 600 and overall Sooloos system

Hi All,

Figured I reach out to the broader community to see if anyone else is experiencing the same issue I am. My Sooloos dealer (who has been saintly patient and has been extremely helpful and great to deal with - please pm for a referral) and I have been brainstorming the cause of this infinitely frustrating issue.

I have the Sooloos Control 15 and MS 600, both are connected to the Netgear WNDR 3700 wireless router. The Control 15 seems to work well with the Netgear connecting at gigabit speeds, the MS 600 however is where the problem seems to lie.
1. MS 600 connects at slower speeds 100 or less ie in simple terms, the connection light is flashing amber instead of green
2. After rebooting / starting the MS 600, the MS600 zone shows up on the Control 15 and plays music fine, 2-3 songs after the zone drops off and I can't seem to find the MS600 in the list anymore. This is resolved by restarting the MS600 afterwhich the same problem happens again.

I've tried adding a switch to connect the Control 15 and MS600 together to bypass the port management controls of the Netgear and then connect the switch to the router but that doesn't change anything

I'm at my wits end and I think I'm reaching max. frustration point of my dealer

I would REALLY REALLY appreciate any help/suggestions/thoughts/insights as to why this problem exists and out to torture me. I'm still certain I made the right choice with the Sooloos as the brief moments I've been able to experience it has been amazing

Does the M600 definitely have a gigabit NIC inside?

I very much doubt that the M600 needs a gigabit connection (playback only) so it is possible (nothing in data sheet or on line user guide to indicate gigabit) that Meridian have not put a gigabit NIC in it and that what you are seeing regarding connection speeds is normal.

The dropping off the network may be a separate issue, but certainly worth swapping out the network cable for another confirmed working cat5e/cat6 and trying a different port.

most switches run auto speed/duplex these days.
Not all clients like that, or cannot do a proper handshake.

Standarized behaviour: If handshake does not succeed, go to 100 mbit/sec Half Duplex.

If the switch / router side thinks it is 100/full and the M600 defaults to 100/half (if it cannot do a good handshake) you have duplex mismatch.

This normally seems to work, unless you send larger files over the link and than the collission errors start to increase (on the unit that runs half duplex) and that sort of drops the link after there come too much errors.

Use network equipment that is manageble, then most likely you can configure the port manually. It costs more, but you can solve problems with it..

Maybe the MS600 is broken. Get a new one and try again.

Thanks, I've tried swapping ports/cables but the problem doesn't get resolved

Jaco - I'm definitely not a tech expert but I suppose the netgear router is manageable? Is that aimed at targeting the network connectivity issue?

Emerenziano - i'm hoping to avoid having to get another unit at the moment until I've exhausted all options

I'll give the configuration aspect a shot but would definitely want to hear any other thoughts

Thanks!

Yes network connectivity issue..

If it works a short time, the IP (layer 3 information) seems correct.

So it is than either something on layer 1/2 that stops working or it is the Meridian unit.


I work in network bussiness, and these kind of problems can be failures with auto speed/duplex negotiation that happens between ethernet devices.


I have not much experience with netgear, but i read the manual. I see no reference to setting port settings manually

Reading a faq i see:
Auto-Sensing gigabit green switch automatically adjusts the power level based on the length of Ethernet cable and port connections

This seems a nice feature, but will that work ok with every client ?


I would expect your dealer to have some knowlegde in this area if he sells network connected devices.

With a switch you can manage (i use linksys SRW2008 at home) you can view the port settings it ended up on with the auto setting, and also you can select port speed and duplex settings.
Than there are error counters so you can see what goes wrong.
This was like 200 Euro device here, if your dealer sells multi 1000 Euro devices to you, i would expect the dealer to solve this for you.

If he tries eplanations like: it always worked where i installed it before.
Let him take the network equipment from such a location to your house and see if that fixes the problem.

I would certainly try a different router. Alternatively, if you want to try the switch properly, you have to try it standalone (not connected to the router) and configure the C15 and MS600 with static IP addresses.

Thanks Jaco, I"m praying that I will be able to configure the port settings and won't have to purchase another device! The switch I am using doesn't seem to be configurable, it's just a simple plug and play Netgear gigabit switch

I don't think I know anything about duplex settings but I really hope I'll find a solution to this

Thankfully my dealer has been nothing but helpful and professional

Thanks, this is actually my second router. I had a Cisco Linksys previously. Apologies but how do I configure the C15 and MS600 to static IP addresses? So that's aimed at targeting network connectivity and when I plug it back into the router, i'll have internet access again?

you can hookup a switch between your M kit and the router and it should stay working in relation to DHCP.
Other witch might work differently indeed with the handshake.


As for the adressing:
You can use your PC to access the routers web interface.
There is a DHCP pool setup.
Most likely a 192.168.1.0 /24 (255.255.255.0 subnet mask)

Just give the M kit adresses in that block. (last number between 100 and 200 for example, so 192.168.1.101 and 192.168.1.102) There should not be adresses be handed out there, unless you have one huge network at home

I have neither devices, but I assume you can configure the C15 using its own interface (it must have a settings menu?), and the MS600 using the config app.

Thanks Jaco, the system actually works when unplugged from the router and just using the switch but once I plug it in, the problems return

Would giving static IP addresses to the Sooloos units address the connectivity issues? I assume I should use the same IP address for the MS600 and C15? I'd imagine that in your opinion, it's the speed connection that's causing the problem and the static IP addresses might not adequately solve anything?

Many apologies, i'm a home/computer networking novice

Thanks!