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

[symphx]

thank you , I had then I forgot subsequently.

[symphx]

well I did it I think to a T, followed everything and A BIG NOTHING, ZERO. Do I need to update firmware? or what can I be missing, are we sure this works?

[POMdev]

well I did it I think to a T, followed everything and A BIG NOTHING, ZERO. Do I need to update firmware? or what can I be missing, are we sure this works?

I believe your initial problem was that you couldn't connect to your Squeezebox radio using winSCP, and after following the advice to changing the "File Protocol" from SFTP to SCP, you tried again and got "nothing."

Since it has been several days since your post with no replies, I downloaded and installed WinSCP, and I must say, this is quite a nifty "app." However, it does somewhat isolate the user from some of the details of making a connection, so it is hard to see what is going wrong.

I was able to get "nothing" (no response from the app) when I made a change to an existing saved connection and hit the Login button, which was disabled, so i got "nothing." I had to save the configuration first, which activated the button. Also for a new session, the Host Name control requires something entered before the Login button becomes active.

Entering an invalid IP address and clicking Login immediately opened a "progress" window titled by the address displaying "Searching for host..." before closing and displaying an Error message: "Network Error: connection to 192.168.0.0 timed out." (I would prefer that the progress window wouldn't close when displaying an error message.)

With a valid SB radio IP address (or host name) entered, pressing Login opened the progress window displaying "Searching for Host..." and "Connecting to Host...," then a Warning dialog asking "The first key-exchange algorithm .... Do you want to continue...?" This indicated to me that WinSCP had connected to the radio, and the radio responded.

This is what I saw here. I am a beginner with WinSCP, so maybe there are other things that occur. Or perhaps you are running into issues further along the connection process. If you can describe the results you are getting, that would be helpful.

[P Nelson]

I installed the development branch of Wlanpoke Version="0.8.7.1a 12/02/2022" on one of my SB Radios. Below are my observations after using the development branch for a week.

The test radio is in a location (family room) that tends to have a lot of interference with the suspected WiFi 6 (AX) from a neighbor's wifi system. Since installing the development version, I have not had to reboot the radio. Another radio in the bedroom using version 0.8.4.1 4/6/2021 will occasionally (every few weeks) will require a reboot.

Yesterday, I worked in the front yard, and since the test Radio has a battery I brought it with me. I sync several radios and periodically the radio would stop playing. I assume this is because the wlanpoke was restarting the wifi function. The music would sometimes resume on its own. At other times the music would stop, but I have to restart the music by pressing play on the radio. Unfortunately, the manual play would happen frequently. I have no idea why the different behavior.

If I have to reboot the test radio in the upcoming weeks, I will report back.

PomDev, thanks for developing Wlanpoke.

Paul

[slartibartfast]

I wonder how many people with Wifi6 have issues with some of their devices (not Squeezeboxes) and don't realise that Wifi6 is the culprit. Everyone might be better off if they turned of Wifi6 on their routers 🤣

[Tony T]

I wonder how many people with Wifi6 have issues with some of their devices (not Squeezeboxes) and don't realise that Wifi6 is the culprit. Everyone might be better off if they turned of Wifi6 on their routers 🤣

So,… how do I turn off my neighbors WiFi6? 😁

[slartibartfast]

So,… how do I turn off my neighbors WiFi6? 😁

Talk to them. It could be affecting them as well 🤣.

[POMdev]

... So,… how do I turn off my neighbors WiFi6?
Talk to them. It could be affecting them as well 🤣.

Right. Also, this issue affects other devices, such as IP cameras, IOT gadgets, etc., which also frequently drop off. However, the failure is minor or the software reconnects them after a time. For example, here are the results of pinging some IP cameras every 1 second:

Cam 24 days /day last 24 hours
Cam 1 164973 6873 424
Cam 2 28913 1204 749
Cam 3 45596 1900 51
Cam 4 67779 2824 45
Cam 5 4703 195 4
Cam 6 2901 121 7

Of course, the worst camera is the most important! The last camera is in the basement, near the radio with the best (lowest) 1 ping failure performance, which is still significant. Ethernet cameras had much smaller (but not zero) 1 ping failures. Some days are much worse than others. For example, the last 24 hours numbers were far smaller than the average per day figures for the 24 day period..

These numbers are much higher than the "PingFails" script's one every 2+ second tests, and so are not comparable to the script statistics... Ok, time to make a similar monitor for the radios! ... (later) ... Done and running. We will see how they compare at a future date.

More than just the "legacy" radios are affected by WLAN outages. This might make talking with neighbors easier.

[P Nelson]

I installed the development branch of Wlanpoke Version="0.8.7.1a 12/02/2022" on one of my SB Radios. Below are my observations after using the development branch for a week.

The test radio is in a location (family room) that tends to have a lot of interference with the suspected WiFi 6 (AX) from a neighbor's wifi system. Since installing the development version, I have not had to reboot the radio. Another radio in the bedroom using version 0.8.4.1 4/6/2021 will occasionally (every few weeks) will require a reboot.

Yesterday, I worked in the front yard, and since the test Radio has a battery I brought it with me. I sync several radios and periodically the radio would stop playing. I assume this is because the wlanpoke was restarting the wifi function. The music would sometimes resume on its own. At other times the music would stop, but I have to restart the music by pressing play on the radio. Unfortunately, the manual play would happen frequently. I have no idea why the different behavior.

If I have to reboot the test radio in the upcoming weeks, I will report back.

PomDev, thanks for developing Wlanpoke.

Paul

Yesterday, this test radio had a blue wifi icon and I had to reboot the radio. It ran 10 days without a reboot.

[ThotWorks]

Thank you very much for carefully documenting the "wlanpoke" process. Your kind effort is wonderful example of community. My 4 UE Radios now stay connected to the router, and peace has been restored to the old valley. One day I know I will need to move on; and in that vein I did get a refurbished Grace Audio Mondo Elite - which has contemporary wireless connection technology, and additional music options. I wish I encountered your post earlier. That said, if you'd like a review of the Grace Audio product I can certainly provide that. - Jaycee

[traumfanger]

Hope all is well

I'd like to offer 'thanks' to those involved with the fix and easy instructions for its implementation. I had assumed my Squeezebox Radio had become a brick. Life is good again.


Netgear ReadyNas Duo2 pushing the now fixed Squeezebox, Transporter with new power supply and 6 Raspberry PIs with various configurations and builds, compliments of Max2Play

[Mr.Scary]

Recently my radio was losing WIFI. I had to keep restarting.
I followed the instructions yesterday

Simplified instructions for Squeezebox Radio Wi-Fi fix (wlanpoke) - Squeezebox : Community : Forums
https://forums.slimdevices.com/forum/user-forums/squeezebox-radio/111529-simplified-instructions-for-squeezebox-radio-wi-fi-fix-wlanpoke
Small Package, Big Sound




Unfortunately my radio won't turn on. There is only a logitech badge on a black background and nothing happens. Can you quality get into the software? Can any of you help me and tell me if it is possible to upload the factory firmware? How to do it? help. I'm angry at myself for getting carried away and I'm not an IT guy.

[Tony T]

Unfortunately my radio won't turn on. There is only a logitech badge on a black background and nothing happens. Can you quality get into the software? Can any of you help me and tell me if it is possible to upload the factory firmware? How to do it? help. I'm angry at myself for getting carried away and I'm not an IT guy.

You can do a Factory Reset:

Factory reset your Squeezebox Radio

To factory reset your Squeezebox Radio, press and hold the Power button until the unit turns off; then touch the Power button to restore power. Immediately press and hold the More button until a “Factory Reset” message appears on the screen.

From the Quick Start Guide:

[Redrum]

Mr.Scary, if Tony T 's reset instructions don't resolve it, try a new power supply. Very common problem given the age, and they are cheap. I recently bought one for less than $10USD. You never know, it could have contributed to your initial wifi issues.

Jim

[Tony T]

The "Community Firmware for Squeezebox Radio/Touch/Controller and LMS 8" was just updated to (hopefully) fix the WiFi dropping issue.

I just installed and testing now.

It will be about a month before it can be installed using the plug-in, but it can be installed manually
Need to remove/disable wlanpoke (you can delete rcS.local in /etc/init.d/, or better do a Factory Reset)
When installed: There is a new menu item in this build, under Settings - Advanced - Networking, labeled “Wifi Robustness Options” and In there you will find two new options: Enable ARP watchdog, and Disable legacy 802.11b. Both are disabled by default, enable ARP watchdog will reset the wifi stack if network connectivity seems to have stopped”.


If you want to install early, see how here: https://forums.slimdevices.com/forum...69#post1639569

Download using link
1) Rename baby_8.0.1_r16922.bin to custom.baby.bin and baby.version to custom.baby.version
2) Copy to the LMS cache/updates, or for PiCorePlayer to /tmp/slimupdate/
3) Restart LMS. (You might also have to restart the radio, after LMS has restarted, for the update to be presented in the menus right away.
4) Once you are done testing/updated, remove the custom.* and *.sha files from the update folder. LMS will NOT provide newer firmware updates to the radio when they are pushed out, if the custom.* files still remain.
5) If you have multiple Radios and only want to test on one, after updating on the test Radio, after deleting the custom.baby.bin and custom.baby.version files from cache/updates, or for PiCorePlayer from /tmp/slimupdate/, restart LMS, and on the Non-Test radios, Reboot to remove the Install New Firmware message.
6)...or wait a month, see how testing goes, and use the plug-in in about 30 days.