Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming MC200 Networking Problems

Hi, I'm new to the Meridian scene and have recently purchased an MC200 & MS200. Like most people I guess, I spent the first few days after setting it up rifling through every band I'd ever heard of's Rhapsody/Napster back catalogue and listening to the amazing sounds coming from my QUAD pre amp/amp & ESL63 setup.

Everything was working fine through my iPad and then I decided to add some CDs onto the MC200. I installed the Control:PC and started to follow instructions.

I was amazed how poor the response rate was in loading and sometimes the inability of my PC to actually find the source. I began to wonder if there was some sort of networking problem as I also began to experience a 'screen refresh' on the the Control:PC which promptly lost whatever I was doing e.g. playing or trying to import CDs from my PC and retuned me back to the opening screen.

I then tried to import music from one of my NAS drives. (By this time I'd found the workaround in the thread read that suggested playing music via the Control:PC before you start importing which improved matters greatly but not completely as the dreaded 'refresh' continues to occur.

So far I have had zero success with importing directly from the NAS drive. The system hangs on 0% import and then either the screen refreshes or simply crashes the Control:PC software.

I've also occasionally noticed a little pop up message in the bottom RHS corner of my screen saying something like 'network conflict error'. This reminded of of problems I used to have with my previous SONOS system which invariably were fixed by changing the SONOS 'Channel' number.

In summary then:

1. Is there a way of changing the MC200 channel number - I've had a quick look at the Sooloos Configuration file but am not sure which element to change (and to what number) as both the system and product address is currently 1?

2. Any ideas on why I cannot import direct from my NAS drives?

3. And finally, anyone get any more ideas on the intermittent screen refresh problem?

Apologies for a bit of a long first post!

RussellP

Hi Russell,

This sounds like a network (LAN) issue rather than a MC200 one.
Some questions to help explore how it is setup:

- Is the MC200 using a DHCP assigned IP address or fixed?

- If fixed have you checked it does not clash with any other device?

- Is PC running Control:PC hardwired to the LAN or connect via WiFi? (When importing it should be hardwired, much high bandwidth.)

Can you run a network scanner (i.e. Fing iPad app) against your LAN and then confirm all your LAN devices have IP addresses are good (i.e. no conflicts).

Regards
Carl

You can download some good [Wi-Fi] network scanners to see what devices are running near the channels you are using.

Try this one from InSSIDer.

This helps a lot when trying to set the routers output channel.

Hi Adam,

That's a good tool for WiFi but for Sooloos the PC really should be hardwired esp. when importing libraries.

The Wired (1GB) vs WiFi bandwidths just don't compare.

Regards,
Carl

Hi Carl,

Thanks for this. I've now hard wired my PC to the router and I can copy from my NAS to my PC very quickly and then import from my PC to the MC200 lightningly quick now!

Still can't copy direct from the NAS to the MC200 though - still just says 'waiting to copy'.

Also, screen refreshing still happens every 30 seconds or so unless I play something in the background then it's usually pretty secure unless it stops or a I get a 'Network interference is slowing Sooloos down' message.

I've tried Fing as you suggest but couldn't find any conflicts with the Router, Modem, iPad, MC200, MS200 or Control:PC IP Addresses.

Any further ideas on resolving the latter two issues?

Regards,
Russell

Hi Russell, when you say "copy direct"... can you describe exactly what you are trying here. Screen by screen, click by click.

Thanks

Hi Nick,

I've not tried this since I put a new router in yesterday and it now works, that is dragging a folder from the NAS drive window to the Control:PC window, although a little bit slower than from my PC's HD but much better than not at all.

Just the screen refresh (losing wherever I was up to with importing, copying, editing etc.) to fix now and I'm done!

Russell

Ok. Glad you're sorted. Assume it was a router issue then.

Yes it looks like it. Thanks for your support

Russell