The GD 272 strikes again...

What a frustrating mess but as I don't own a 272 I can only offer that yo check and double check all the connections.

Nothing worse than a jealous friend hobbling your Hifi, my sympathies mate. 

.sjb

From your description I don’t think the problem is with N272. I’d look at your NAS.

Few questions: 

1. Is your NAS connected to a router and running well?

2. Can you see the UPnP server on the 1st screen of the server’s root-tree  (either via the app or from the N272’s screen)?

I agree with Adam, most unlikely the 272.    I'm not sure about the Vortexbox as I'm not that familiar with them,  but what UPnP media server software is it running ??  whatever it is a NAS so should be available to the network - as per Adam's Q2 .  And network functionality is were I would start looking,  you OP describes what reads very like a loss of network discovery.   

What router do you have & is it & all the system components set for DHCP,  the router's DHCP function is intended & far & away better left to manage the systems IP addresses.    Once thats checked/done,  power all the system off & leave it off for at least 5 mins so your ISP knows you are offline.  First & all one at a time,  turn on the router & let it finish its startup,   next the network switch if you have one,  then the Vortexbox,  then 272,  finally the app.

Thanks for the replies. Here is the setup, as best as I can describe it:

Preface: I just checked and the SBT on a different system finds & plays everything fine (wirelessly).

The NAS is the VB, and it runs DLNA and LMS (which I think is UPnP?). It is connected via a network cable (CAT5) to the router that sites a foot away. The router is then connected via CAT6a to the 272.

The remote, at the 272 root menu, can see both LMS and the DLNA (Called "Vortex Box Music) - it has always shown them that way. I just went backward through the 272 menus and it also lists them both.

The reason I think something is amiss with the 272 is that any function that lights up the 272 screen, whether via the Naim remote, or directly from the buttons on the 272, the "green screen" (the info screen on the 272 itself) only remains lit for a scant second after stopping input, not for several (10, 20 - I never counted) seconds as it always has. Even just rolling back through the menus to the root, once I ceased pressing the buttons on its face, it almost immediately "goes black". It has never behaved that way before.

Also, from the front panel, I am able to navigate all the way down the tree to a songs selection, select the song, it shows the song on the screen, the first second of play shows (no sound), and the screen immediately goes blank, as described above.

One other thing I noticed last night, and I mention it here in the hopes that it might provide diagnostics for those better informed, is that the tune that I was trying to play via remote last night was for artist A. When I tried from the front panel of the 272 I used artists B, because I simply used the top artists in the list. The app (which is unable to roust the 272 from slumber, despite showing apparent normal function from its interface) shows the artwork for artist A, as one would expect, but the background image (if you are familiar with how the Android app works, which is slightly different than the Apple version in this respect) was showing artist B...the one selected from the panel.

I will perform the entire restart sequence as suggest by Mike-B on my punk AT&T proprietary router. As for DHCP, I do not know about that, but I think the router is set to do all that network mumbo-jumbo on its own, save for when I was trying and failing with wireless I used to switch the wireless channel to avoid the competing traffic from neighbors. But I have been off wireless with the 272 for months now.

The symptoms you’ve described are consistent with one thing on the previous-gen Uniti platform (N272, SuperUnit etc)...

System is muted. 

If I understand N272 correctly the mute button is not existent there. One mutes it from the remote...

The behaviour you describe regarding artists A and B is normal. Weird, but normal. It’s because albums are selected in a different way by the panel and the app. If the app is showing things playing and there is no sound, it could well be that the system is muted or the volume turned right down, as Adam suggests. 

Adam, the 272 is muted via the front panel Naim logo, if that facility is enabled in the menu.

Adam, Dr Mark,  The 272 can also be configured to mute using a proximity sensor behind the illuminated green 'Naim' logo (touch the logo to mute/unmute the 272 if logo muting is enabled).

hungryhalibut posted:

 

Adam, the 272 is muted via the front panel Naim logo, if that facility is enabled in the menu.

Thanks Nigel - so very much the same as my SuperUniti. If the logo is constantly ON, it's difficult to tell when the system is muted For that very reason I enabled the feature LOGO OFF when MUTED.

Thanks - I will check muting when I get home - I am still "troubled" by the rapidity with which the 272 screen goes blank (it has never done this before), and as well when depressing a button again, it shows the cut just selected on the 272 (via Naim remote or front panel) not playing, but instead the list of cuts from that album awaiting selection...like it tried, showed the first second of play on the display, goes dark, but just cannot get it started

DrMark posted:

Thanks - I will check muting when I get home - I am still "troubled" by the rapidity with which the 272 screen goes blank (it has never done this before), and as well when depressing a button again, it shows the cut just selected on the 272 (via Naim remote or front panel) not playing, but instead the list of cuts from that album awaiting selection...like it tried, showed the first second of play on the display, goes dark, but just cannot get it started

That is exactly what happens when you try to play a track on a streamer/preamp that is muted....

Hi again   re " .. the entire restart sequence as suggest by Mike-B on my punk AT&T proprietary router. As for DHCP, I do not know about that, but I think the router is set to do all that network mumbo-jumbo on its own, "  If you don't know about DHCP,  I suspect its set as factory default DHCP.      As for the screen going blank very quickly,    My NDX had a quick go to blank screen once, it was a while ago & for the life of me I can't recall why,  but it must have been a quick & easy fix otherwise I would have remembered.    It does not mean it can't find a network connection as that show a 'wait' screen & eventually tells you no network found - or at least that what my NDX does.

Adam Zielinski posted:

DrMark posted:

Thanks - I will check muting when I get home - I am still "troubled" by the rapidity with which the 272 screen goes blank (it has never done this before), and as well when depressing a button again, it shows the cut just selected on the 272 (via Naim remote or front panel) not playing, but instead the list of cuts from that album awaiting selection...like it tried, showed the first second of play on the display, goes dark, but just cannot get it started

That is exactly what happens when you try to play a track on a streamer/preamp that is muted....

Thanks, Adam - believe me, I very much want you guys to be correct and me incorrect. How that got turned on is beyond me as I had not touched the Naim remote or face controls since I don't know when.

DrMark posted:

Adam Zielinski posted:

DrMark posted:

Thanks - I will check muting when I get home - I am still "troubled" by the rapidity with which the 272 screen goes blank (it has never done this before), and as well when depressing a button again, it shows the cut just selected on the 272 (via Naim remote or front panel) not playing, but instead the list of cuts from that album awaiting selection...like it tried, showed the first second of play on the display, goes dark, but just cannot get it started

That is exactly what happens when you try to play a track on a streamer/preamp that is muted....

Thanks, Adam - believe me, I very much want you guys to be correct and me incorrect. How that got turned on is beyond me as I had not touched the Naim remote or face controls since I don't know when.

Then, if it is muted, you presumably did it with the app?

I can confirm that you can definitely do it accidentally with the app, on an iPhone at least. I did it a couple of weeks ago and had a very stressful several minutes until I realised!

best

David

Yes if I did it it was the app. Prior to this malfunction I probably had not been within 5 or 6 feet of the actual rack as it sits across the room in an untravelled cul-de-sac area.

I wish the display would tell you it is muted...I know there is not much real estate there, but that is pretty de rigueur for that sort of stuff. Or in the app, which I did not see anything to alert me. Dave, I am sure if it can be done on iPhone app it can be done on Android - I have both and they differ in workflows a little, but not to that degree.

I won't mind a slice of humble pie and a rag to wipe the egg off my face, as the thought of the cost of a service (especially amidst all my current medical bills) terrifies me.

I don't use Android, but on the IOS app there is a mute symbol just on the left of the volume control in the Now Playing screen. It's a loudspeaker with a cross next to it or a loudspeaker with white sound waves coming out.

I'm sure none of us think humble pie or egg is at all appropriate. We've all been there or somewhere similar. Fingers crossed that it is that simple.

best

David

If you set the logo to be off if muted, it’s easier to see what is going on.

On a TV etc ... when you adjust the volume the mute goes off

This does not happen with the 272 ...

Might help if it did I guess

I was about to say you should turn of the 'Mute' function, as a joke. Then I read further down that you actually did have the mute fiction on...  

Japtimscarlet posted:

On a TV etc ... when you adjust the volume the mute goes off

 

Not on mine. Volume doesn't reset the volume. It didn't on my prev Naim 5i amp either.

It is time for my humble pie, (and Peter Frampton is nowhere in site) - the only "defense" I have is that I didn't know I had turned mute on (perhaps done by answering the phone while the display was still active on the phone), and the activity when interfacing on the 272 panel is certainly strange, inasmuch as the cut would appear to start, then immediately go blank...re-illuminating the screen showed me to be at the song selection screen; which doesn't exactly lead one to think it was playing on mute. Had I seen the song selected and the timer counting up, I would certainly have considered something akin to mute, or other signal path interruption.

This doesn't much obviate my embarrassment, but it IS a very strange way to present the display in that case, especially when in any other instance the screen stays on for a number of seconds prior to going dark (as recommended here)  - subsequent fiddling seems to indicate  that unless you catch the Mute on/off messages that display for one second, there is no indication on the front panel. I did not know about the setting Nigel has shown here, and I just modified that so it will stay on during mute (presumably for the same time as other functions).  It does seem an odd function to offer. ..and now that I know this is how it behaves on mute it is not as essential having trod this path.

That logo mute is certainly to my mind an unusual feature as well, having now played with that.

Anyway, thanks to all for talking me off the ledge - it is still the most frustrating piece of audio gear I have ever owned, especially when compared to the intuitive ease of use of the SBT interface.

Been there m'self with various pieces of my hardware.  So frustrating 'til I realize, "Doh, it's muted."

Bart posted:

Been there m'self with various pieces of my hardware.  So frustrating 'til I realize, "Doh, it's muted."

I have spent quite a bit of time trying to work out why my right channel wasn't working, then remembered my cleaner had been in that day and turned the 135 power switch back on. (I know that's the obvious place to start, but for some reason decided to reseat cables first.)

After a thunderstorm power down, I have both forgotten to turn on the 250, or not depressed the button solidly enough to actually have it come on, and wondered why it wasn't playing, but finally noticed the unlit Naim logo. In this instance, I had never (intentionally) used the mute, so it didn't occur to me until pointed out by the folks above.

At least in those instances, I was able to hide my idiocy and solve the issue.