could use some starter help for LMS+SBT

[JohnSwenson]

Hi John S. Thanks for giving me a hand.
1st some facts. During the test some media files are on the HD of the laptop that also runs LMServer. As long as my music system is no running properly I'll continue this config. So I'll ignore the Nas for now. The laptop is wired connected to the (wireless speedtouch) router. The SBtouch has a (perfect) wireless connection to the router ; signal strength is 80-90%. Distance between SBTouch and router is about 4 meters.
If I got your message right this is what I've to do.
1. uninstall current LMS 7.7.2-33893 and reïnstall LMS 7.7.1-33750
2. perform a new full scan of the media files on the HD.
3. Start the SBtouch, which now still has FW 7.7.2-r9558 and wait and see if it's downgraded to a 7.7.1-xxxxx version. correct? can I force this?

Is this the way 'we' can proceed? I realize the SBTouch is not wired to the router, but I guess (hope) that's not a problem. If a wired connection is absolutely neccessairy, please let me know and I'll rebuild my living room. ;-)

Can you give me a GO for this procedure? Please confirm.

Rudolf NL

Yes, that is it. When you connect your Touch with the 7.7.2 firmware up to the computer with the 7.7.1 server it should downgrade the firmware to a 7.7.1 version. If it does not do so, you CAN manually load the 7.7.1 firmware, but lets not get into that until it's necessary.

You SHOULD be able to use wireless, but in a situation like yours when you seem to have multiple issues happening at once its best to limit the possible variables while you are trying to track things down. So I still recommend that just for the purposses of these tests that you hardwire the Touch to the network. You might have to move it to another room and plug headphones into the back, or run a long patch cord down the hall. (I keep a 100ft patch cord in my closet just for these sorts of situations)

So the first step is to get things working the way you want it to work with everything on the same computer and everything wired. Once that works we can go back to a wireless connection, and if that still works then go to a NAS.

With the NAS there are two ways to do it: LMS on the laptop and files on the NAS with the disk "mounted" over the network on the laptop, OR, install LMS on the NAS itself. A NAS is just a small computer (usually running linux) so they frequently can run the server as well.

John S.

[GeminiAlpha]

Hi John S.
Last weekend I found out that the network cable (from laptop to router) was unreliable and lost connection so now and then, so I replaced it. Sorry I didn't see it earlier, it could have made things much easier. I thought this was the crucial error that caused all problems, error, it was just one. After replacement I took the following actions.
1. I uninstalled Squeezeview,
2. I uninstalled LMserver 7.7.2-33893
3. I installed LMserver 7.7.1-33750
Because I'm rather stubborn, I did not comnnect my Touch by cable and continued with it's wireless connection to the router which was and is still perfect.
4 I switched on my Touch, it's updating Firmware: 7.7.2-r9663 to 7.7.1-r9558 immediately.
5. LMS settings from the tray ran automatically and I did a remove and fresh scan of my local media collection. It ended correctly.
6. I opened the web interface in IE, it looked and worked correct as well as the "second" settings screen. I did'n't make alterations.
7. I installed Squeezeplay, after that, everything got messy
8 The web interface did'n't work anymore and the settings screen was and stayed empty.
9 I uninstalled everything and re-started at point 3, but never got it working again, not via web interface, not via Squeezeview.
I gave up and took a good night sleep.

to be continued... work in progress...

Rudolf NL

[GeminiAlpha]

to be continued...

As I wrote earlier, I uninstalled everything and because everything failed up to now, I searched for more info. I found out that new LMS software was released: version 7.8.0 That's a new opportunity I thought! 03/28/12
I installed LMS 7.8.0 - r33899
(downloaded from http://downloads.slimdevices.com/nig...ex.php?ver=7.8)
Result: Webinterface via IE8 ok, settings via webinterface ok
After switching on SBT I received the appropriate Firmware update 7.8.0-r9685
I installed Squeezeplay (from same release date) and, believe it or not, everything worked 100% just like I thought it should. Via Webinterface as well as via Squeezeview. The whole day A-OK
Even after the LMS update from 7.8.0-r33899 to 7.8.0-r33917 everything kept on working, also the other day.
03/30/12 At this very moment I get a LMS message from the system tray that another LMS update is available for installation.
Next sunday I will check the present (working) configuration, look if everything still works ok and after that I will try the LMS update from the tray, until then I discard the update.
hang on... have a nice weekend!

Rudolf NL

[Mnyb]

to be continued...

As I wrote earlier, I uninstalled everything and because everything failed up to now, I searched for more info. I found out that new LMS software was released: version 7.8.0 That's a new opportunity I thought! 03/28/12
I installed LMS 7.8.0 - r33899
(downloaded from http://downloads.slimdevices.com/nig...ex.php?ver=7.8)
Result: Webinterface via IE8 ok, settings via webinterface ok
After switching on SBT I received the appropriate Firmware update 7.8.0-r9685
I installed Squeezeplay (from same release date) and, believe it or not, everything worked 100% just like I thought it should. Via Webinterface as well as via Squeezeview. The whole day A-OK
Even after the LMS update from 7.8.0-r33899 to 7.8.0-r33917 everything kept on working, also the other day.
03/30/12 At this very moment I get a LMS message from the system tray that another LMS update is available for installation.

Next sunday I will check the present (working) configuration, look if everything still works ok and after that I will try the LMS update from the tray, until then I discard the update.
hang on... have a nice weekend!

Rudolf NL

Note that 7.8 is the very bleeding edge beta version it does updates several times every week and can suddenly stop working totally, but if you are inclined to join the ranks of voluntary beta testers ( like me ) and maybe write bug reports and provide detailed info to the devs now and then, by all means welcome .

A somewhat safer beta is 7.7.3 that one should be most safe bug fixes not so much experiments with the latest stuff.

[GeminiAlpha]

Mnyb.
Thank you for warning me, I'll keep it in mind! My next question could have been how often updates come out, but you read my mind and answered it before I could write it down.
04/01/12 I installed LMS 7.8.0-r33924 and after that I got SBT 7.8.0-r9702 and everything still works in my configuration.
For the time being, I'm happy, but keeping your 7.7.3 hint to in mind.
I'll report my upcoming findings in this thread.
Rudolf NL

[GeminiAlpha]

updates LMS from 780-r33924 to r33928 to r33930 were successful, SBT is still on 780-r9702. System still works.
See signature for present configuration.
regards, Rudolf NL

edit: 4/19/12 LMS now on 780-r33924, SBT is still on 780-r9702. System still works.

[GeminiAlpha]

I got a 320 Gb usb drive for my birthday and ready to fill and connect it directly to the Touch.
What's better (read: max compatible), ntfs or fat32 formatted? I'm Windows user. LMS runs on XP (see signature)
Any other precautions an/or advices? Thanks!
Rudolf NL

[toby10]

Touch and USB / SD Troubleshooting & best practices for best performance

USB or SD card devices

- Check the formatting of the device, Touch supported formats: FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, ext2, ext3
- Touch can only see/use a single partition, format as a single partition, or use only the first partition for all relevant music files
- Remove any included USB/SD device “utilities” as these can cause issues
- Make sure there is at least 10% free space (20% even better)
- Remove any non-music related files (videos, documents, programs, pictures, data, etc…)
- Or, if removing such files is not an option, place a . (dot) in front of folders that are not music related (folders not containing music files, album art, playlists). A simple (dot) in front of a folder means that TinySBS will ignore these and (hopefully) greatly speed up scan times.
- Attach device directly to your computer and run basic maintenance utilities (disk cleanup, error checking, defrag)
- Storage unit must be writable (Touch’s server must install files and be able to write to these files)
- Quick Test: Place a small, single folder of music on the device for initial testing (why have it scanning for hours if it isn’t going to complete the scan)


USB HD

- Try an external USB power source, HD power supply or a powered USB hub. (Touch may not have enough bus power to power the USB HD)
- Try a different USB cable
- HD Sleep mode can cause issues (may have to completely rescan HD every time it “wakes”)
- If you turn OFF Touch or HD, or unplug HD, Touch must completely rescan the entire HD

Very useful tutorial & configuration ideas to get the most out of the very limited Touch inbuilt server:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82070