Emplode won't connect to Central via USB ethernet

So, I replaced the drive in my Central, because it was causing all kinds of problems. Seen here. Since then, everything's working fine, except I can't connect through the USB ethernet adapter that I know worked previously (over a year ago). It's a Linksys USB100TX. I can get ping replies, and of course see the lights flash on the adapter and hub, so I know it's communicating, but it's not saying much. When I used ethereal I see just a lot of SYN and ACK tcp packets. I've tried browsing the playlists, but only ever get a 200 OK response, no content.

I currently am running the version of the player / emplode that came with the unit, but I've also tried player 1.10 and emplode 2.0. I haven't tried jemplode.

Any ideas appreciated.

Chris

Hi Chris,
One of the things that has "bit me" on the Centrals a couple of times is that I have configured the network settings in the HPNA screen instead of the correct screen for the USB adapter...If you'd want to take a look at your network settings and report back with your configuration, maybe that would give us a clue to grab into...Interesting that you can ping, though. I've been using Emplode 2.0 with no problems...Thanks, Randy

Looking at "External Adapter 1", I'm configured manually (no DHCP):
IP: 192.168.1.8
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
GW: 192.168.1.254
DNS: 192.168.1.100 / 192.168.1.100
Use this adapter for internet lookup is checked.

For anyone that can view tcpdump files (freeware Ethereal can), I've attached the network trace of my machine trying to connect to the Central via emplode. My machine is .1, the central is .8. Interestingly, the Central did a lookup for production-2.replaytv.net, is that normal? BTW, I checked, and my replaytv is 192.168.1.9.

Trying attachment again because it looks like it was too big. Zipped is 120,817b.

Hi Chris,
This question probably isn't related to your problem, but I was curious about your DNS addresses since they look like internal network addresses to me. I'm on Time Warner Road Runner and the addresses I'm using for DNS resolution are their servers...Just curious if you're doing something different and/or unusual with your DNS lookup...Thanks, Randy

Yeah, I'm running my own internal DNS, because I have an Active Directory Domain here. I do network consulting on the side, so I have SQL Server, Exchange, and IIS running internally. I don't think it's related, because any addresses my DNS server can't resolve are forwarded to Comcast (formerly AT&T Broadband formerly Mediaone) DNS servers. The Central is able to do cddb lookups and check for new software.

My networking knowledge doesn't help me in this case, because the unit replies to pings and even replies to http://192.168.1.8:12078/content/100?_extended=1 requests. The problem there is the reply is useless. I get a 200 OK from the server, but the content length is 0.

I'm going to try jemplode later today to see if I get any more information.

Thanks,
Chris

I'm going to try jemplode later today to see if I get any more information.

If you do, make sure to scare up the latest JAR file from Mike Schrag, his most recent ones are the most compatible with the Central. There's a thread on the Empeg BBS about it where I talk about how I got hierarchical playlists running on the Central with it.

You said that the unit replies to pings and also replies to HTTP queries, so we know that the ethernet adapter is working. So i'd say the next thing is to look at the Emplode options and see if any of those are off. And of course try Jemplode like you said. What version of emplode are you running?

I did get the latest jar file, but the results are the same. The unit is not detected by jemplode. That's not to say that jemplode and the unit don't communicate on some level, it just looks like whatever handshake is supposed to happen, doesn't.

I get the same type of network traffic using both emplode and jemplode (as one would expect). I can see that my machine does send packets to the Central, and the Central sends packets back to my machine. The thing is, it just does this for five seconds, then there is five seconds of network silence, then they talk to each other again for five seconds.

I've tried both the version of emplode on the Central cd (what, 1.58 or something?), and emplode 2.0, I get the same behavior. I have serial, usb, and network broadcast turned off. I'm specifying the ip address of the central. I have also tried using the network broadcast option, but that doesn't work.

It's weird to me that the HTTP reply doesn't give me any information. It looks to me like something is definitely wrong in the Central. When I make that query, and there are one cd's worth of mp3s on the unit, shouldn't it come back with something? Like I said, a response, yes, a response with any data in it, no.

Thanks,
Chris

I should also mention that I have a USB keyboard and have played in the shell before (haven't made any changes since the last software upgrade). I can also ping my machine from the Central. If anyone has ideas for things to check inside the shell, I'd love to hear 'em.

Chris

One more symptom...

The lower (orange) light of the two "Link / Activity" lights in the back, is blinking once per second. The upper (green) light is not lit at all. The lower light does not blink in syncronization with network activity.

Thanks,
Chris

Ummm, so, thanks to all for the help and suggestions. Anyone want to guess? (Remember, it's been a while since I've used it, and just replaced the drive)...

As part of further troubleshooting, I connected to the Central over USB, for the first time on the new drive (hint). Once connected, I went to player configuration, gave the player a name, and looked at the Password tab. Guess what's on there (only when connected over USB)... A checkbox that says "Allow emplode to connect over network". I sheepishly checked that box, and syncronized.

It works much better now. ;-)

Thanks again,
Chris

Heh, completely forgot about that one. Sorry I didn't think about it before.

I think that option is actually available somewhere on the Central's screen, too, if I recall correctly. In other words, I don't think that connecting once with USB is a requirement to get that setting set.

Doh, That has gotten me before too...

Sean in NC

I've never gotten mine to network either. I also have a Linksys USB100TX. Neither my link nor activity lights light up so I thought it might be a problem with the USB adapter so I tried using it with a PC and it worked and the lights lit up. Now I've got the USB cord plugged into the back port on the Rio. I originally tried using it with the OS that came with the Rio Central and it did receive an IP address through DHCP then, but I don't think the lights lit up and I couldn't connect to it through emplode so I upgraded the OS to Version 1.10-rc1 (build 23). Now the DHCP doesn't work so I configured the IP address manually along with a standard class C subnet mask and my gateway. I didn't put in the DNS servers and I don't think that should matter at this point. I do not get a response from it when I ping it from my computer. I've also manually configured the Home PNA to a different IP address, but changed that back to Automatic and unchecked the checkboxes after it didn't work with that interface and now I just have the External Adapter 1 manually configured. When I installed the new OS I did check the "Allow emplode to connect over network" which may not have been checked when I received the unit with the original OS on it, but I did not set up the ISP settings because I figured that was only for going through the phone line and I also did not put in a password, but I don't believe any of this matters at this point since I'm not getting a link light, can't ping and the DHCP doesn't work. Tony or anyone, do you believe something got broken with the newer OS for the USB network adapter drivers or that something got corrupt during the driver installation? Which OS version and USB adapter do you use with your Rio Central? Should I try reinstalling the OS with the USB adapter plugged in this time? Should I try installing the original OS again? What am I missing here?

Neither the link nor the rx/tx light on my USB100TX adapter ever worked, regardless what firmware I had installed on my central. Nevertheless the adapter worked right out of the box with the "external adapter 1" set to auto or a manually set IP respectively.

Have you ever tried to connect your PC to the central directly using a crossover cable to rule out everything else on your LAN?

Actually I haven't tried the crossover cable, but I will. It's just that I doubt that the LAN is the problem since the rest of my network seems to work fine and even the port I've got the adapter plugged into on my switch was used by an Xbox 360 without issue. Good to know that the lights don't work on yours either 'cause that's one less thing to worry about.

Yes, it works now! IT WORKS!!! The problem had nothing to do with the network nor the configuration; the stupid network cable was bad.