Night terrors caused by SqueezeBox

[snarlydwarf]

The Squeezebox doesnt really have an "off".

It has: Playing Music, Not playing music, and alternate-screensaver.

Pressing the Off button doesnt turn it off: it is still on the network, attached to whatever server it was attached to when you pressed the red button, and displaying whatever that server tells it to display (usually the time, but you may want it displaying RSS feeds or something).

That is not "off" in traditional terms, not even "sleeping".

[andyg]

The easiest way to tell where you are is the clock when 'off': if it shows seconds you're on SlimServer, if it's just hours and minutes, it's SN (we save lots of bandwidth and CPU cycles by not showing seconds). Note that you can switch to an hh:mm format in SlimServer too, so this only works if you haven't changed the default.

[NauticusLX]

So, even though the 1st resonder to my initial post was being glib, he was actually right, in that the SB isn’t actually turned off. I only use SqueezeNetwork, to access the internet radio stations. And like I already said, it was at 5:30 am, Eastern time,Sunday morning. I have it set so NOTHING displays when it’s “off”. So, are you telling me that this whole thing happened . . . by DESIGN? Frankly, this just puts us back at square one. This is not at all reassuring, to think that this thing happened ON PURPOSE! What’s amazing is your implication that this is a routine phenomenon that happens to everybody! Yet no one else has related similar experiences – granted all don’t have the SB in their bedrooms. But since your servers are probably only down for maintenance at such early hours, can’t you be more discrete about it, like maybe an email the next morning, or the day before, even though I don’t see why such advise is necessary. I can’t tolerate the anticipation that it might happen again, since it’s in my bedroom, which is, not incidentally, absolutely pitch black. And the question remains, after all these posts (because you keep beating around the bush): how can I keep this thing from happening again? And why couldn’t I put the thing back in “stand by”, but had to pull the plug to turn off the dam display? (BTW, I’m not being rude, I’m being emphatic, because this is a bigger deal than I think Slim Devices knows, even if it only affects some people more than others. Being awoken in the middle of the night is not simply an inconvenience. Seriously, I don’t need to be receiving messages from friggin robot servers in the middle of the friggin night!) If the only way to avoid this is by pulling the plug every night, then so be it. I can just put a switch on the cord to turn it off. I consider this to be an undocumented bug, or just plain bad design. Now, would it be a bad idea to unplug it every night or put an on/off switch on the cord? Silent night, holy night, don’t let the bed bugs bite!

[ceejay]

And the question remains, after all these posts (because you keep beating around the bush):

Actually, I don't think anyone is beating around the bush, the answer is quite simple and has been said several times. The SB never turns off unless you unpower it.

I too have an SB in my bedroom and would also find it annoying to be lit up, which is why I set the brightness to "off": this works for me because I have it connected to a local server, but won't work for you in the circumstances you've just hit.

If its going to make you this ill, I suggest you simply turn it off at the power supply before you go to sleep.

Thanks for the entertainment, though...

Ceejay

[mherger]

Please calm down a little bit. What happened might be annoying, but no
reason for such a behaviour.

Let's try to understand what happened and how you can prevent it.

> So, even though the 1st resonder to my initial post was being glib, he
> was actually right, in that the SB isn?t actually turned off.

Correct. Squeezeboxen never really are off, except when you unplug them.
Otherwise they are always connected to some server (or at least should be
so), either a SlimServer or Squeezenetwork.

> it set so NOTHING displays when it?s ?off?. So, are you telling me
> that this whole thing happened . . . by DESIGN?

Squeezeboxen are dumb devices. All they do and display is fed by a server.
If you display the clock, it's the server who tells it to display those
few numbers. If you set brightness to 0, it's the server who tells the
device to display the numbers with brightness 0 - which you usually don't
see.

Now, what happens if the server is down? If the SB lost connection to the
server? It is telling you so (some of the few things the box actually can
do without the server ;-)). And as it doesn't about the fact that you told
the server to use brightness 0, it will display that information anyway.
And there's a good reason to do so: if it didn't display that information
(or use brightness 0) in case you were actually listening to some music,
you'd think the device was dead.

Therefore yes, this is by design.

> Yet no one else has related similar experiences

I've learned to sleep in trains, buses, at home, in the field, hanging
from some bolt in a vertical wall. This helps.

> all don?t have the SB in their bedrooms.

I use it everyday as my alarm clock.

> probably only down for maintenance at such early hours, can?t you be
> more discrete about it, like maybe an email the next morning, or the
> day before, even though I don?t see why such advise is necessary.

That's a reasonable suggestion.

> how can I keep this thing from happening again?

Get a timed power switch which turns off power on your devices at night.
Or unplug manually. As long as you rely on external services (as the SQN)
you always risk to experience the unexpected.

> emphatic, because this is a bigger deal than I think Slim Devices knows,
> even if it only affects some people more than others. Being awoken in
> the middle of the night is not simply an inconvenience. Seriously, I
> don?t need to be receiving messages from friggin robot servers in the
> middle of the friggin night!)

Don't use those robots, then. Really.

--

Michael

-----------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.herger.net/SlimCD - your SlimServer on a CD
http://www.herger.net/slim - AlbumReview, Biography, MusicInfoSCR

[peter]

Michael Herger wrote:
>> Yet no one else has related similar experiences
>
> I've learned to sleep in trains, buses, at home, in the field, hanging
> from some bolt in a vertical wall. This helps.

That should be listed as a software requiremenyt on the box, perhaps.
I've had the opposite problem, an SB failing to wake me up when my DSL
line was down. Fixed that by playing local files.

>
>> all don?t have the SB in their bedrooms.
>
> I use it everyday as my alarm clock.

So do I, but I don't have it on my night stand, but on a cupboard
against the wall opposite from the bed. It's always displaying the clock
and that's no problem to me or the GF.

>
>> probably only down for maintenance at such early hours, can?t you be
>> more discrete about it, like maybe an email the next morning, or the
>> day before, even though I don?t see why such advise is necessary.
>
> That's a reasonable suggestion.
>
>> how can I keep this thing from happening again?
>
> Get a timed power switch which turns off power on your devices at
> night. Or unplug manually. As long as you rely on external services
> (as the SQN) you always risk to experience the unexpected.

Since there seem to be quite a few people who don't like the always on
nature of the SB"s. Perhaps it would be a good idea
to allow them to turn off (press POWER for a few seconds, or shutdown
from the server). This, combined with Wake-On-Lan (for the SB's) could
allow people to schedule their uptimes. Shutting down the server could
take down the SB's automatically. Any recognized IR signal would power
the devices up.

Regards,
Peter

[CCRDude]

mherger: Squeezeboxen are dumb devices. All they do and display is fed by a server.
If you display the clock, it's the server who tells it to display those few numbers. If you set brightness to 0, it's the server who tells the device to display the numbers with brightness 0 - which you usually don't see.

If the Squeezebox is so dumb that the server needs to give it the numbers of the clock, the server knows quite well that the SqueezeBox is in clock (sleep) mode. So he has all that he knows to send a message in the same brightness as he uses to send those clock numbers/letters.

Sorry, while I find this reaction to the bright display a bit harsh as well, he's got a point - just should have reported it nicely as a bug or feature request

[ceejay]

If the Squeezebox is so dumb that the server needs to give it the numbers of the clock, the server knows quite well that the SqueezeBox is in clock (sleep) mode. So he has all that he knows to send a message in the same brightness as he uses to send those clock numbers/letters.

... but this is not the case in the scenario that OP is worried about, ie connected to SqueezeNetwork but SN is down ...

Ceejay

[mherger]

> If the Squeezebox is so dumb that the server needs to give it the
> numbers of the clock, the server knows quite well that the SqueezeBox
> is in clock (sleep) mode. So he has all that he knows to send a message
> in the same brightness as he uses to send those clock numbers/letters.

The problem is the case when the box looses contact to the server. It will
then display something like "Connecting to Squeezenetwork..." or similar.
At that stage there's no information about the brightness setting
available to the box.

> Sorry, while I find this reaction to the bright display a bit harsh as
> well, he's got a point - just should have reported it nicely as a bug
> or feature request

Exactly. Many just don't understand that complaining will help less than
nicely reporting a problem or asking for a solution.

--

Michael

-----------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.herger.net/SlimCD - your SlimServer on a CD
http://www.herger.net/slim - AlbumReview, Biography, MusicInfoSCR

[fairyliquidizer]

I know you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.
-Hal

In the voice of HAL:

Look NauticusLX, I can see you're really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill and think things over.

It's puzzling, I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like this before.

Let me put it this way. The SB3 series is the most reliable computer ever made. No SB3 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information. We are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error.

This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.

This conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.