Simplified instructions for Squeezebox Radio Wi-Fi fix (wlanpoke)

[KeBul]

Much appreciated Kev, but the radio access has such a short window of opportunity that I keep getting stuck. It’s the unzip and mv commands that appear to produce an empty directory wlanpoke-mainman. Its shows the renamed directory after I tried to zip and upload it again.

# unzip -o /etc/wlanpoke-mainman.zip -d/etc/wlanpoke
Archive: /etc/wlanpoke-mainman.zip
creating: wlanpoke-mainman/
unzip: zip flags 1 and 8 are not supported
# mv -f /etc/wlanpoke/wlanpoke-mainman/* /etc/wlanpoke
mv: can't rename '/etc/wlanpoke/wlanpoke-mainman/*': No such file or directory

Do the terminal responses offer any light?

Hi Patricia,

Sorry it didn't work for you, some questions...

1. Where did you get wlanpoke-mainman.zip from?
2. Are you using Safari web browser to download the zip file from PomDev2 github site?
3. If so does Safari automatically unzip the downloaded zip file and place the files in a folder within your Downloads folder?

To expand on 3. above after downloading the file from PomDev2's github site in your downloads folder do you have a file called wlanpoke-main.zip or a folder called wlanpoke-main?

Kev

[KeBul]

Much appreciated Kev, but the radio access has such a short window of opportunity that I keep getting stuck. It’s the unzip and mv commands that appear to produce an empty directory wlanpoke-mainman. Its shows the renamed directory after I tried to zip and upload it again.

# unzip -o /etc/wlanpoke-mainman.zip -d/etc/wlanpoke
Archive: /etc/wlanpoke-mainman.zip
creating: wlanpoke-mainman/
unzip: zip flags 1 and 8 are not supported
# mv -f /etc/wlanpoke/wlanpoke-mainman/* /etc/wlanpoke
mv: can't rename '/etc/wlanpoke/wlanpoke-mainman/*': No such file or directory

Do the terminal responses offer any light?

Hi again,

Because of the different time zones, I'll try and speed communication up a bit... I think you are downloading the original zip file which then gets automatically unpacked and then you are zipping back up again and that's causing the incompatibility with the SB Radio's built in unzip utility, there should not be any need to change it's name from wlanpoke-main.zip either, leaving it as that means copying and pasting the commands from my instructions will work.

If you are using Safari then here is what I suggest you do...

1. In Finder go to downloads and delete all the wlanpoke stuff you have in there now.
2. Open Safari and then go to menu item Safari/Preferences...
3. When the Preferences pane opens, in the General tab, at the bottom Untick the box next to - Open "safe' files after downloading
4. Close the Preferences pane
5. Go to this link https://github.com/PomDev2/wlanpoke
6. Click on the green "Code v" button
7. At the bottom of the pop up is a Download Zip link, click on that
8. You should now have a wlanpoke-main.zip file in your Downloads folder - no need to do anything else with this, just leave it as downloaded.

You should now be able to continue from this point in my instructions:

Start terminal, type in commands in bold italics below

>>> cd Downloads (this is where wlanpoke-main.zip is)...

>>> scp -o KexAlgorithms=+diffie-hellman-group1-sha1 -o Ciphers=aes256-cbc wlanpoke-main.zip [email protected]:/etc/wlanpoke-main.zip (This copies wlanpoke-main.zip from you Mac Downloads folder to the SBR's root/etc folder, don't forget to put in your SBR's IP Address instead of the nnn's)

and complete the instructions after that.

Kev

[P Nelson]

Much appreciated Kev, but the radio access has such a short window of opportunity that I keep getting stuck.

I assume you are saying the Radio cannot stay connected via Wifi long enough due to the interference problem. If that is the case, I suggest temporarily connecting the Radio via ethernet until wlanpoke is installed.

good luck

Paul

[KeBul]

Much appreciated Kev, but the radio access has such a short window of opportunity that I keep getting stuck. I

I assume you are saying the Radio cannot stay connected via Wifi long enough due to the interference problem. If that is the case, I suggest temporarily connecting the Radio via ethernet until wlanpoke is installed.

good luck

Paul

Good point Paul, Patricia could also just try temporarily moving the Radio closer to her wifi source (router) see if that helps.

Patricia, what's your setup from a wifi point of view, why are you trying wlanpoke?

Kev

[Patricia P]

All good suggestions. I have one ethernet cable at my mac desk that I can use. Sometimes you have to be told the obvious, so thanks.

I have a 2.4/5 band router, basic ISP type that gives 1Gb speed. I have taken the radio to the router, and the drop out didn't change, about every 5 minutes.

I see one ax SSID in the WiFi networks search, so it's worth trying out this hack until WiFi 6 is more prevalent. I presume that it's not good for energy use as it's constantly restarting the WiFi, hence why it's not part of the current community build.

I did have to rezip the file as the automatic unzipped file wlanpoke.main didn't get transferred. I will make the download again with the preference change.
Update:
I followed the instructions and had no problem. That auto open setting is a tricky one!
The radio is playing on wifi - the "hiccup" occurred after 40 minutes of start. There is a buffer due to 8GB RAM in the LMS server, but the radio stopped mid song, then a second later resumed. The radio is beside the router, so I moved it further away just in case that is a factor.

[P Nelson]

All good suggestions. I have one ethernet cable at my mac desk that I can use. Sometimes you have to be told the obvious, so thanks.

I have a 2.4/5 band router, basic ISP type that gives 1Gb speed. I have taken the radio to the router, and the drop out didn't change, about every 5 minutes.

I see one ax SSID in the WiFi networks search, so it's worth trying out this hack until WiFi 6 is more prevalent. I presume that it's not good for energy use as it's constantly restarting the WiFi, hence why it's not part of the current community build.

.

If your wifi router is AX capable, then see if you can turn off the AX (wifi6) in the 2.4ghz band. That should reduce the interference problem because of the close proximity between the SB Radio and router. I was able to turn off AX feature on my ASUS router. If that AX SSID is from someone else's router, then it must be really close to have the Radio interference every 5 minutes. If that is the case, you may find the pauses as wlanpoke restarts the wifi annoying, so you may want to look into a wifi to ethernet bridge to bypass the internal SB Radio's wifi.

[Patricia P]

If your wifi router is AX capable, then see if you can turn off the AX (wifi6) in the 2.4ghz band. That should reduce the interference problem because of the close proximity between the SB Radio and router. I was able to turn off AX feature on my ASUS router. If that AX SSID is from someone else's router, then it must be really close to have the Radio interference every 5 minutes. If that is the case, you may find the pauses as wlanpoke restarts the wifi annoying, so you may want to look into a wifi to ethernet bridge to bypass the internal SB Radio's wifi.

My router is ac, so there is nothing I can do if the cause is my neighbour's router. Since installing the script I have had two restarts. I looked at the LMS logs, and found many errors relating to artwork caching and nothing about the network as the LMS is wired.

There is brick walls between the detached properties, so find it hard to believe the interference is so severe.

The script :8080 shows
[CODE]

eth1 AR6000 802.11g ESSID:"VM2"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point:
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm Sensitivity=0/3
Retry on
Encryption key off
Link Quality:40/94 Signal level:-55 dBm Noise level:-96 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:11 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
ar6002 chip statistics

------------
tx_packets = 9836
tx_bytes = 1061094
tx_unicast_pkts = 9566
tx_unicast_bytes = 1047192
tx_multicast_pkts = 0
tx_multicast_bytes = 0
tx_broadcast_pkts = 270
tx_broadcast_bytes = 13902
tx_rts_success_cnt = 0
tx_packet_per_ac[0] = 9372
tx_packet_per_ac[1] = 0
tx_packet_per_ac[2] = 180
tx_packet_per_ac[3] = 284
tx_errors = 6
tx_failed_cnt = 2468
tx_retry_cnt = 6
tx_mult_retry_cnt = 1176
tx_rts_fail_cnt = 0
tx_unicast_rate = 54000 Kbps
rx_packets = 33361
rx_bytes = 42538887
rx_unicast_pkts = 28091
rx_unicast_bytes = 13673670
rx_multicast_pkts = 210
rx_multicast_bytes = 53468
rx_broadcast_pkts = 85
rx_broadcast_bytes = 10648
rx_fragment_pkt = 28091
rx_errors = 8991
rx_crcerr = 8943
rx_key_cache_miss = 0
rx_decrypt_err = 0
rx_duplicate_frames = 350
rx_unicast_rate = 24000 Kbps
tkip_local_mic_failure = 0
tkip_counter_measures_invoked = 0
tkip_replays = 0
tkip_format_errors = 0
ccmp_format_errors = 0
ccmp_replays = 1
power_save_failure_cnt = 0
noise_floor_calibation = -96
cs_bmiss_cnt = 0
cs_lowRssi_cnt = 0
cs_connect_cnt = 1
cs_disconnect_cnt = 0
cs_aveBeacon_snr= 40
cs_aveBeacon_rssi = -56
cs_lastRoam_msec = 0
cs_rssi = -56
cs_snr = 40
lqVal = 0
wow_num_pkts_dropped = 0
wow_num_host_pkt_wakeups = 0
wow_num_host_event_wakeups = 0
wow_num_events_discarded = 0

/CODE]

[Paul Webster]

If the issue is WiFi6 related then it does not have to be a strong signal by the time it reaches the SB Radio.
It seems that something in the 2.4GHz signal that some WiFi6 routers send out triggers an issue with the firmware in the SB Radio WiFi hardware.
It is probably not handling something that would never have been seen in the old days (when the firmware was written many many years ago).
My expectation is that the particular WiFi Access Points that do it can probably argue that it is valid but that does not help old devices that cannot handle it.
Maybe one day someone will work out a firmware patch that can be loaded into the WiFi module - but without access to the source code (which we outsiders do not have and possibly even Logitech do not have) it is very unlikely to happen.

[Patricia P]

I am getting one drop out an hour upstairs, and as I don't have to reset the radio I can live with this.

The router, Superhub 3 is quite basic so binding the radio to my WiFi isn't likely. I will mention it on the virginmedia community pages just in case something can be done.

[KeBul]

I am getting one drop out an hour upstairs, and as I don't have to reset the radio I can live with this.

The router, Superhub 3 is quite basic so binding the radio to my WiFi isn't likely. I will mention it on the virginmedia community pages just in case something can be done.

Ahhh... Virgin Media - so UK, no idea why I thought you were US.

By "binding the Radio to my wifi isn't likely" - do you mean binding the device to the same IP address... if so this can be done in the Superhub Advanced Settings/DHCP scroll right down to the bottom of the page and you can create a reserved rule mapping your device mac address to a fixed IP address.

While you are in the router, switch off wifi channel optimisation... SB Radios do not handle on the fly Channel changes very well, setting is in Advanced/Wireless/Wireless signal - at the bottom of that screen is Smart WiFi, tick the Disable Channel Optimisation button and Apply changes.

If your Superhub wifi is configured for auto channel (in this case for the 2.4Ghz band), might be worth checking with your wifi scanner/stumbler if there's a clearer channel in the location you want to use the Radio - you can then change the Channel setting Auto to Manual and specify the channel you want to use... channels 1 6 or 11 are better because they have minimal overlap, if it's available avoid channel 13 unless you are using the SB Radio community firmware, 13 is not supported on the last official Logitech release.

Finally, checking my sister's Superhub the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands have their own SSIDs VMnnn and VMnnn_5G, I cannot remember if I did that or it comes out the box configured with separate SSIDs for each band - but separating them can help some older devices which get confused and try to connect to the 5Ghz when they don't support it.

Obviously, record any settings before you make any changes so it's easy to revert any changes you make should you feel the need to.

Kev

[Patricia P]

Ahhh... Virgin Media - so UK, no idea why I thought you were US.

By "binding the Radio to my wifi isn't likely" - do you mean binding the device to the same IP address... if so this can be done in the Superhub Advanced Settings/DHCP scroll right down to the bottom of the page and you can create a reserved rule mapping your device mac address to a fixed IP address.

While you are in the router, switch off wifi channel optimisation... SB Radios do not handle on the fly Channel changes very well, setting is in Advanced/Wireless/Wireless signal - at the bottom of that screen is Smart WiFi, tick the Disable Channel Optimisation button and Apply changes.

If your Superhub wifi is configured for auto channel (in this case for the 2.4Ghz band), might be worth checking with your wifi scanner/stumbler if there's a clearer channel in the location you want to use the Radio - you can then change the Channel setting Auto to Manual and specify the channel you want to use... channels 1 6 or 11 are better because they have minimal overlap, if it's available avoid channel 13 unless you are using the SB Radio community firmware, 13 is not supported on the last official Logitech release.

Finally, checking my sister's Superhub the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands have their own SSIDs VMnnn and VMnnn_5G, I cannot remember if I did that or it comes out the box configured with separate SSIDs for each band - but separating them can help some older devices which get confused and try to connect to the 5Ghz when they don't support it.

Obviously, record any settings before you make any changes so it's easy to revert any changes you make should you feel the need to.

Kev

Thanks Kev, this is the best community I have ever been part of. The help and time you and all the regulars give is amazing. I really appreciate it, particularly when I get to listen to my squeezebox 😃

I have been looking at the settings now I have seen the ar6 radio WiFi details. I changed the hub3 from auto to manual and optimization off , still separate SSID, and now b,g rather than b,g,n.
The 20 bandwidth is recommended, but I will do a scan to choose the best channel.
I will also try the radio in different positions if the hub3 change doesn't help.
I think the radio needs to be bound to my router. If I set a fixed IP address, perhaps this will do the job.

[slartibartfast]

Thanks Kev, this is the best community I have ever been part of. The help and time you and all the regulars give is amazing. I really appreciate it, particularly when I get to listen to my squeezebox 😃

I have been looking at the settings now I have seen the ar6 radio WiFi details. I changed the hub3 from auto to manual and optimization off , still separate SSID, and now b,g rather than b,g,n.
The 20 bandwidth is recommended, but I will do a scan to choose the best channel.
I will also try the radio in different positions if the hub3 change doesn't help.
I think the radio needs to be bound to my router. If I set a fixed IP address, perhaps this will do the job.

I run my Superhub 3 in Modem mode and use a separate router. It allows me to use my Squeezeboxes over the WiFi network when Virgin have an internet outage. It doesn't happen often but when it does you lose WiFi. When I phoned Virginmedia support to complain about it they said it wasn't a problem as without internet WiFi was useless. I gave up after trying to explain 🤣

[KeBul]

I run my Superhub 3 in Modem mode and use a separate router. It allows me to use my Squeezeboxes over the WiFi network when Virgin have an internet outage. It doesn't happen often but when it does you lose WiFi. When I phoned Virginmedia support to complain about it they said it wasn't a problem as without internet WiFi was useless. I gave up after trying to explain 🤣

The Superhub I look after is at my sisters, I've set her up a Squeeze system as well, but most of it is hard-wired with wifi just serving an SB Radio and SqueezeAMP out in her Kitchen area and that uses a Draytek AP902 wifi access point, The AP902 and Squeeze system remained up and running for streaming local music files during Virgins "very complex issue" which had their inet access and IP phone out of action for a couple of days this week, although Big Sis missed being able to control her Squeeze through Alexa.

Certainly shows how reliant we are becoming on the internet, her hubby wasn't amused at the lack of TV... or actually lack of working Harmony hub to control the TV... easy one to get round though, just had to dig out the original Tivo box remote!

I never spotted that the Virgin Superhub wifi wasn't working, wasn't aware of that possibility, I'll check for it next time, cheers.

Kev

[KeBul]

Thanks Kev, this is the best community I have ever been part of. The help and time you and all the regulars give is amazing. I really appreciate it, particularly when I get to listen to my squeezebox 😃

I have been looking at the settings now I have seen the ar6 radio WiFi details. I changed the hub3 from auto to manual and optimization off , still separate SSID, and now b,g rather than b,g,n.
The 20 bandwidth is recommended, but I will do a scan to choose the best channel.
I will also try the radio in different positions if the hub3 change doesn't help.
I think the radio needs to be bound to my router. If I set a fixed IP address, perhaps this will do the job.

No problem Patricia, yeah this is a great community, lots of clever and helpful people here.

It took me a while to work out my SB Radio wifi issues were due to the access point deciding to change channels on the fly when it detected too much "other wifi noise" on the channel I had set it to. This invariably locked out the wifi on the SB Radio - and only a reboot of the Radio would resolve, also the wifi signal strength is important, if for some reason that SB Radio switched to an AP further away it would then become far less stable, in the end I blocked it's mac address on the other two access points I have, so it can only connect to the closest one which shows a Wireless signal strength of 98% in LMS.
Although often blamed, it's not always clear cut that wifi 6 is the cause of every issue.

Keep us informed of your progress.

Kev

[Patricia P]

No problem Patricia, yeah this is a great community, lots of clever and helpful people here.

It took me a while to work out my SB Radio wifi issues were due to the access point deciding to change channels on the fly when it detected too much "other wifi noise" on the channel I had set it to. This invariably locked out the wifi on the SB Radio - and only a reboot of the Radio would resolve, also the wifi signal strength is important, if for some reason that SB Radio switched to an AP further away it would then become far less stable, in the end I blocked it's mac address on the other two access points I have, so it can only connect to the closest one which shows a Wireless signal strength of 98% in LMS.
Although often blamed, it's not always clear cut that wifi 6 is the cause of every issue.

Keep us informed of your progress.

Kev

I don't use wi-fi extender any more, I found it didn't improve the reach of 2.4Ghz.
The only AP I have is the VM superhub3, and it provides 54.7mbps to the radio.
Drop outs are just as bad as before.
I can see the neighbours ax-2.4 signal which is stronger than mine, so if I can prevent the radio seeing it that would be best.
The superhub3 allows me to fix the ip address and limit the mac addresses, but I am not sure that is what is needed.

If I had a ax router she would get interference, and I would not be better off.