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

[ldarieut]

Yesterday I updated my old tp link archer wifi router to a brand new Asus rt a86u « end game » router and since then my squeezebox radio keeps wifi for barely a minute before being disconnected, wifi icon turns blue and no operations through the menu brings it back on. I have to reboot it and then it plays for one or two minutes and then off again.
Wlanpoke eventually reconnects it automatically after a blank, but it’s not sustainable.
Anyone know what the problem is? It’s oubviously related to the Asus wifi router.

[Paul Webster]

Probably related to mesh networking.
Search here for WiFi6 for a few threads on the topic and some suggestions for settings to change to mitigate (and lose some of its new functionality).

[ldarieut]

Thanks Paul.
Removing wifi6 support on the 2.4GHz band seems to have fixed the issue.

[dr_glenn]

I started seeing this problem a few weeks ago, possibly right after I upgraded from a DOCSIS 3.0 modem to DOCSIS 3.1. However, my WiFi is older and does not have WiFi6. Nevertheless there are many neighbors.

I have tried wlanpoke, but it has not helped me on two Logitech UE radios running squeezebox 7.7.3r16676. I don't know how to install "community" version.
I have tried these options:
#/etc/wlanpoke/wlanpoke.sh -x &
#/etc/wlanpoke/wlanpoke.sh -x -F 4 -W quick -d /etc/log/ &
/etc/wlanpoke/wlanpoke.sh -x -W slow -d /etc/log/ &

With that last set of options, my wlanerr.log file shows what looks like a successful quick reset at 2022-02-04_05:03.
Then an hour later at 06:05 there are many messages that make no sense to me, then this:

2022-02-04_06:06:33 Squeezebox2.46_0841 wlanpoke 751 exiting: Qr:0 Fr:10 Wr:1 Wc:0 [ 20475 17 0 0 0 0 9 0 8:1 ]
[40654.782128] AR6000 connected event on freq 2462 with bssid f0:9f:c2:31:ac:d8 listenInterval=100, beaconInterval = 100, beaconIeLen = 22 assocReqLen=58 assocRespLen =48

And then many messages like this:
[40654.797324] Network: Infrastructure
[46803.273932] eth1 (WE) : Wireless Event too big (33)
[46803.277501] AR6000 disconnected from f0:9f:c2:31:ac:d8
[46804.561547] debug_hdr_ptr: 0x5018f0
[46808.638241] AR6000 Reg Code = 0x40000060
[46816.571190] channel hint set to 2462
[46816.619553] AR6000 connected event on freq 2462 with bssid f0:9f:c2:31:ac:d8 listenInterval=100, beaconInterval = 100, beaconIeLen = 22 assocReqLen=58 assocRespLen =48

Then these that look like the network services are not functioning:
Feb 4 06:06:26 squeezeplay: INFO net.slimproto - SlimProto.lua:769 connection error: DNS lookup, reconnecting in 3.115 seconds
Feb 4 06:06:27 squeezeplay: INFO net.comet - Comet.lua:810 Comet {mysqueezebox.com}: _getEventSink error: baby.squeezenetwork.com Try again
Feb 4 06:06:27 squeezeplay: INFO net.comet - Comet.lua:1006 Comet {mysqueezebox.com}: handleAdvice state=CONNECTING
Feb 4 06:06:27 squeezeplay: INFO squeezebox.server - SlimServer.lua:789 disconnected mysqueezebox.com idleTimeoutTriggered: nil
Feb 4 06:06:27 squeezeplay: INFO applet.AlarmSnooze - AlarmSnoozeApplet.lua:379 notify_serverDisconnected: SlimServer {mysqueezebox.com} is now disconnected

But then it looks like it's again able to connect to squeezebox.com:

Feb 4 06:06:32 squeezeplay: INFO net.comet - Comet.lua:1047 Comet {mysqueezebox.com}: advice is handshake, connect in 0 seconds
Feb 4 06:06:32 squeezeplay: INFO squeezebox.server - SlimServer.lua:765 connected mysqueezebox.com
Feb 4 06:06:32 squeezeplay: INFO applet.AlarmSnooze - AlarmSnoozeApplet.lua:360 notify_serverConnected: SlimServer {mysqueezebox.com} is now connected
Feb 4 06:06:32 squeezeplay: INFO applet.AlarmSnooze - AlarmSnoozeApplet.lua:363 local player connection status is true
Feb 4 06:06:32 squeezeplay: INFO applet.AlarmSnooze - AlarmSnoozeApplet.lua:370 local player->server is SlimServer {mysqueezebox.com}
Feb 4 06:06:32 squeezeplay: WARN applet.AlarmSnooze - AlarmSnoozeApplet.lua:242 alarm_sledgehammerRearm(notify_serverConnected): nil alarm in progress - audioState is 0
Feb 4 06:06:33 squeezeplay: WARN applet.AlarmSnooze - AlarmSnoozeApplet.lua:248 Audio now in good shape, reset ticker to 0
Feb 4 06:06:33 squeezeplay: INFO squeezebox.server - SlimServer.lua:777 self.mac being set to---->nil
Feb 4 06:06:33 squeezeplay: INFO squeezebox.server - SlimServer.lua:370 Firmware URL: http://update.slimdevices.com/update...7.3_r16676.bin
Feb 4 06:06:33 squeezeplay: INFO squeezebox.server - SlimServer.lua:322 Major: 7 Minor: 7 Patch: 3 Revision: 16676
Feb 4 06:06:33 squeezeplay: INFO squeezebox.server - SlimServer.lua:377 Firmware version newer than SR to SB migration firmware - ok!
Feb 4 06:06:33 squeezeplay: INFO squeezebox.server - SlimServer.lua:387 mysqueezebox.com firmware=http://update.slimdevices.com/update/firmware/7.7.3/baby_7.7.3_r16676.bin force=false

Hours later I try to use the radio and it can't connect, so I power cycle it. Here we are:
2022-02-04_16:19:29 Squeezebox2._0841: 749 at uptime: 16:19:29 up 0 min, load average: 0.96, 0.21, 0.06
-
2022-02-04_16:19:32 Squeezebox2._0841 wlanpoke -x -W slow -d /etc/log/ 749 at uptime: 16:19:32 up 0 min, load average: 1.12, 0.25, 0.08
2022-02-04_16:19:40 Squeezebox2.46_0841 192.168.1.46 192 46 gateway 192.168.1.1
-
2022-02-04_16:45:36 Squeezebox2.46_0841 192.168.1.1 ping failed after 1567s eth1 AR6000 802.11g ESSID:"GDN-U" Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: F0:9F:C2:31:AC8 Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm Sensitivity=0/3 Retryn Encryption keyff Link Quality:38/94 Signal level:-57 dBm Noise level:-96 dBm Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0 Tx excessive retries:6 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0


Can someone make sense of this failure for me?

[POMdev]

...With that last set of options, my wlanerr.log file shows what looks like a successful quick reset at 2022-02-04_05:03.
Then an hour later at 06:05 there are many messages that make no sense to me, then this:

2022-02-04_06:06:33 squeezebox2.46_0841 wlanpoke 751 exiting: Qr:0 fr:10 wr:1 wc:0 [ 20475 17 0 0 0 0 9 0 8:1 ]
[40654.782128] ar6000 connected event on freq 2462 with bssid f0:9f:c2:31:ac:d8 listeninterval=100, beaconinterval = 100, beaconielen = 22 assocreqlen=58 assocresplen =48
and then many messages like this:
[40654.797324] network: Infrastructure
[46803.273932] eth1 (we) : Wireless event too big (33)
[46803.277501] ar6000 disconnected from f0:9f:c2:31:ac:d8
...

The script is failing at 06:06:33. After the "exiting" message, the script copies a portion of the system logs to its log file before exiting. These messages are Squeezeplay, the wireless driver, and other system messages intermingled.

...Hours later i try to use the radio and it can't connect, so i power cycle it. Here we are:
...

These are normal sign-on and wireless reset messages that show the script working.

Your script is failing from time to time. This has happened to several, perhaps many, users for whom the script does not work. The failure is caused by the script attempting to perform an "illegal operation" and the shell causes the script to exit. See the discussion in this post. If the script is failing because of occasionally seeing some access point whose name contains an apostrophe (e.g., Jim's WiFi), you could try the fix mentioned on GitHub in that post.

[Mercenary]

Thanks to rojikewel and POMdev,
my radio started to quickly and regularly loose the wifi connection. Pretty much out of nowhere and without any changes from my side. Maybe neighbours have installed new devices that cause interference but I don't know.
In any case I followed the well written instructions and for now it seems as if the problem has disappeared.
I am so thankful for that. I already started searching for a new device and was a bit upset but now there is no need.

Just one of the many occasions where I am happy to be part of the Squeezebox community and for sticking to these great devices. I still can't really understand why they did not gain much more traction. I almost think they were ahead of their time which did not do them good.

Cheers,
Merc

[muggo]

Many thanks to rojikewl and POMdev
I followed the instructions & now have a reliable radio.
Cheers
Paul

[FredFredrickson]

Does this have any potential applications for the Duet Receiver? My receivers fall offline all the time.

[mrw]

Does this have any potential applications for the Duet Receiver? My receivers fall offline all the time.

No. Duet Receiver runs different firmware.

[SAL9K]

I have a 4xRadio on 2.4G WiFi arrangement, and have been experimenting with wlanpoke with the hopes that it may help mitigate a sync problem I'm regularly having (1-2 times per day), where playing a random mix of CD quality FLAC's will suddenly terminate, and get stuck at the end of a track (always at the end, for reasons unknown as of yet).

Strongest signal location:

Ping 2s-1q6f Events, Fails[0..7] 42422s :    Qr:0 Fr:0   Wr:1 Wc:0  [ 12762 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 ]
Step 0:0, limit:results: [ 12: 18: 26: 37: 53: ]   Wlan: Rate=54 Quality:62/94 level:-33 retries:134
Gaps:10 @1653495601 -Gap+OK secs: +920,-4+2201,-5+10860,-4+1179,-4+4446,-4+4406,-4+4326,-4+4466,-4+3183,-4+2240,-6+4153,
Resets:0 @1653495601 -Gap+OK secs: +42423,

Weakest signal location:

Ping 2s-1q6f Events, Fails[0..7] 42428s :    Qr:0 Fr:0   Wr:1 Wc:0  [ 12654 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 ]
Step 0:0, limit:results: [ 12: 18: 26: 37: 53: ]   Wlan: Rate=48 Quality:46/94 level:-49 retries:182
Gaps:9 @1653495663 -Gap+OK secs: +2025,-4+76,-4+897,-5+5710,-4+2040,-4+2362,-3+6612,-3+2061,-3+5530,-3+15082,
Resets:0 @1653495663 -Gap+OK secs: +42428,

I have seen the "Fr", full reset, value increment but only a couple of times over a 3-4 day period, and it's been associated with a ~40 sec gap, and they've occurred on even the highest RSSI physical locations. The "Wr" value increments much more often, and can artificially be activated/incremented by simply switching the WiFi control channel on the router. Can someone describe what the conditions are for "Wr" incrementing? The wlanpoke manual.txt seems to indicate it has something to do with a Radio "wpa_cli" application... what is the tie in for wlanpoke Wr, and wpa_cli, and what is the problem with wpa_cli (is it prematurely self-terminating, and wlanpoke needs to restart it?)?