Unitiserve misbehaving!

just fired the mac up to check on the desktop control..and noticed that the ip address had changed..put in the correct ip and desktop control works. ..so was the problem just one of the ip address having changed on its own?..how can this happen ?

Because you have not fixed the IP and its connecting via DHCP.

DHCP 'renews' ips once in a while and things can change.

So how do I fix the ip address?

You do this by accessing your router. Look for either the "Static Address" or (preferably) Reserved address.

with the reserved address option you normally identify the MAC address of the Unitiserve and then reserve an ip address for this  within the range allotted by your router. With this option you leave the Unitiserve on DHCP.

Gerry

Can someone please clarify garyi seems to say DHCP alters the ip address ( what's DHCP ? ) GerryMog says reserving an ip address leaves unitiserve on DHCP..I don't understand...am not REALY a computer type!...to add insult to injury the iPad has lost connection with the unitiserve just now and the mac is showing a different ip...changing the ipaddress on the mac still does not allow the desktop control to work ...have tried shutting down etc..no change..leaving the unitiserve off all night yesterday resulted in it connecting as soon as turned on this morning! ...I wonder if there is another problem?

DHCP is Dynamic Host Connection Protocol - off top of my head.

In any case it is meant to eliminate need for specification of IP Addresses by equipment connecting; the DHPC Server is present in that segment of the network and sorts all the IP address allocation out automatically.

...back to playing my CD.

DB.

Have you tried deactivating your firewall?  It sounds like there is something else at work that is trying to prevent access and keeps shutting things out?

I'll try to explain further...

DHCP is a service most likely running on your router that allocates IP addresses from a specified range - let's say 192.168.0.10 to 192.168.0.50 for example. When any device on that network configured to use DHCP is powered up it sends a special message to the DHCP server to ask for an IP address. The DHCP server selects an unused IP address from that range and gives it to the requesting device. It can carry on using that address until the lease expires, which it the time limit the DHCP server gives to the device in the response to the original message. When the lease expires the device has to ask for a new IP address - it may get the same one back, but there is no guarantee.

If you want to guarantee that the same device is always allocated the same IP address, you have to configure the DHCP server to tell it to do this. This is often referred to as reserving an IP address. To to this you have to tell the DHCP server to always give the same IP address to the device with a specified MAC address. The MAC address is the permanent hardware address of the devices network adaptor, usually written as a set of Hexadecimal numbers.

Using DHCP allows you to manage all your IP addresses centrally from one place, rather than having to set dedicated IP addresses in each device manually.

Hope that helps.....

Thanks for the replies everyone ..this morning ,switch on and iPad connects with no problems,I can see ip address has changed from yesterday..put new ip into mac and that connects control panel ...will have to see if unitiserve looses ip address again today...it seems to loose connection after a period of use and then a period of rest !?  Richard can you please clarify for mr exactly what you have done ?....thanks ..Steve w.

The fact as any device that is network dependent and accessed via the network will always rum into issues somewhere down the lineon dhcp.

It simply not difficult to resolve and has nothing to do with 'apple networks' (an airport by apple is just a mediocre router afterll) 

I knowphil does not like it getting to geeky around here, but its the same for everything. If i want to access the configuration of my nas i need to have the ip, if i want to remote control xbmc i need the ip. In both cases if they are fixed its a far better user experience.

Agreed, I have 15 devices all with reserved addresses on my network, and I have never encountered a single problem.

Reserving an address on most routers will be a simpler job than connecting up an active Naim system!. Just read the manual and follow the instructions. it certainly does not need an IT expert.

Sometimes a picture speaks a thousand words... Here is a screen grab of my router configuration screen where you can reserve IP addresses and allocate them to particular MAC addresses. The ARP table on the left shows all the devices that have been seen by the router, the IP Bind List is where I have reserved particular IP addresses for devices. These devices in effect get a fixed IP address, but I manage it centrally from my router. Most decent routers will have something similar.

Ah, the pleasures of networks. They are notoriously fickle in my experience. I will never again use a network for my Hi Fi.

To answer you, Steve, I started over.  Got rid of the US and bought a Northstar Essensio DAC, which outputs into the Qute. This is my volume control. All digital inputs, wireless connectivity and the power amp disabled. I am using only a single input, from my Macbook Pro. I use the Northstar provided USB lead. The Qute feeds the 250.2 and thence PMC OB1i speakers.  Fuller details with interconnects on my Profile page.

This was going to be a quick and temporary solution until something better came on the scene. I wanted a combined DAC/preamp. But it must have an analog volume, not a digital type.  It must also be as easy to see from the listening position as the display on the Qute.  I was once hoping Naim might do something, but hope has faded as they seem determined to encourage me to spend money on a multiplicity of boxes.  Not interested in doing that both for financial and the KISS principle.

Richard

Update.I have done nothing..it's sorted itself out without my help!...ah the joy of streaming!...let's hope for another six months of good behaviour.

Richard, its all actually rather easy.

You find it complicated, some will. But some will find setting up an lp12 complicated, or a rel sub.

Networks can and are extremely reliable, critical systems run on them after all.

I recently updated my routers firmware for no other reason than new firmware was available and noted its up time was in excess of three months. Three months with neary a hitch, and no doubt another three if i had left it.

I am not a network admin.

Your argument follows through that why not stick the needle in the groove, very easy that.

Its more demonstrative of your abilities if you would not have a clue regards updating things, and in fairness is preciesly why forums like this exist for every conceivable device throughout the world. People need help. Does not make the technology any less exciting/innovative/excellent

Simply posting in every thread that 'oh i feel sorry for you and your network' is not really providing assistance is it?

Not this - thanks for the input Jason but in this case it won't be firewall ... 98% certain it'd be a DHCP lease renewal issue.

*USUALLY* routers will keep a record of which devices they've issued what IP addresses out to and when the DHCP lease is renewed then they hand out the same IP address again and everything is hunky-dory.

What can happen though is if, say, the router has been power cycled or has rebooted itself (perhaps due to a firmware update initiated by the ISP maybe) then it will lose its table of what it has allocated to whom and then start reissuing IP addresses from the ground up ... hence devices can not only be issued a *DIFFERENT* address but they could also be issued an address that is still being used by an existing device which causes all sorts of problems.

There are two ways around this - you can either reserve addresses within the DHCP range for devices on your network using your router (if it supports this functionality) or you can set static addresses on the devices themselves (outside of the DHCP range).

Cheers

Phil 

... as is driving a car the first time you get into one ... as is turning on all the right bits of my hifi for my girlfriend ... as is getting all the bits of a Sunday Roast to be ready at exactly the same time.

Everything that you don't understand can look complicated but networking follows a simple set of basic rules and follows those rules very precisely - once you understand those basic rules then it does become quite simple. (One day someone else here is going to work out that it isn't rocket science and I'll be replaced by a meerkat with a pencil. ) 

I must disagree Richard ... if hard wired networking were unreliable then every business in existence would cease to be able to operate. (Well, every business in existence apart from the coachtrimmer in Bovey Tracy who I'm trying to reach at the moment who doesn't have a website and doesn't even have a mobile phone number...)

DHCP is a *VERY* rugged standard if it is used correctly - I suspect that the OPs issue was caused by either his router rebooting / crashing and restarting / being power cycled and therefore restarting DHCP with blank allocation tables and the rest of his network devices not being restarted.

I'm sorry but what did we have the option to use USB for and not do? Perhaps you could clarify this for me?

We provide the option to connect USB devices to our Uniti and ND series products (we exclude iPods / iPhones from the NDS because of the electrical noise they generate).

USB would have been of no use for any kind of distributed audio implementation - USB is a direct connection between two devices and is only really reliable at distances of up to 3m without adding repeaters which adds propagation delays. Ethernet networking allows for many-to-many connections and for single "hops" (when running wired) of up to 100m which is usually enough for pretty much any property. (If you need to go further in a run then you can easily get round that.)

Most half decent add in PC soundcards do support either optical or electrical S/PDIF and most decent motherboards do too (the gamers want them as do the home studio crowd).

You generally wouldn't want to be using a basic off the PC-World shelf PC for running into your HiFi - you'd usually buy or build something that was in a more discrete or acceptable looking case, possibly with an SSD drive in it to keep the noise down, and you'd be unlikely to be using a motherboard with a very basic integrated audio solution so I think it's reasonably safe to say that running S/PDIF out of a computer into a HiFi isn't really an issue.

S/PDIF requires no driver support from us and requires no drivers to be written by us - S/PDIF "just works".

I'm again afraid that I don't understand some of the statements that you're making so please do bear with me ... 

USB may be truly generic as a fitment to computers but as an audio transport it does introduce issues of its own - not least that any USB slave device requires drivers and a way of getting those drivers onto your PC and having them work with your combination of hardware and OS type / version. You only have to look at the number of USB devices that are available for Windows computers and then contrast that with the number of similar USB devices supported by OSX and then look at the USB support under Linux ... I promise you that if you think networking is difficult then USB support across platforms is a whole other world of pain.

I'm also not sure where we have stated that "USB is limited to 96kHz" - that's a very generic (and also incorrect) statement to make and if we have done so then can you please point me to it so that I can correct that.

[By the way - our Naim DAC supports sample rates of up to 32bit/768kHz via its USB input which is far in excess of that supported by an S/PDIF connection. ]

Now...

CD bitrate audio is 16 (bits) x 44,100 (samples) x 2 (channels) per second which is a tad under 1.5 mbits/sec,

24/96 audio is 24 (bits) x 96,000 (samples) x 2 (channels) per second which is a tad over 4.6 mbits/sec,

24/192 audio is 24 (bits) x 192,000 (samples) x 2 (channels) per second which is a tad over 9.2 mbits/sec,

USB 1.1 supported a maximum data bandwidth of 12mbits/sec so as a basic transport even USB 1.1 would TECNICALLY have the bandwidth for even up to 24/192 audio (practically though it wouldn't as signalling overheads would prevent that).

USB 2.0 supports a maximum bandwidth of 480 mbits/sec which is more than enough for 24/192 audio.

USB 3.0 supports a maximum bandwidth of 5 Gbits/sec (over ten times faster than USB 2.0) and has been a ratified standard since 2008. It has been available as add-in cards for PCs for a good three years and is generally included on most modern motherboards.

Apple do support USB 3.0 on their current models but are generally moving towards Thunderbolt as their preferred connection method.

You say in your comments that...

"When that comes along (already on the latest Apple MB's) and then the DACs become upgraded, all argument about speed will be rendered obsolete."

...however there is no actual requirement for "DACs" to be upgraded as there is already more than enough bandwidth available now for audio transmission via USB - one thing that USB 3 implementation would add to a DAC though would be much more digital noise to suppress which isn't a good thing.

Of course - and I am glad that you have expressed your opinion ... hopefully I have been able to provide some accurate and useful information in return.

Cheers

Phil

Spot on Phill and you only need to do this once and for the important devices and then forget about it. You don't need to be some sort of networking geek to ask questions, make a plan and set this sort of thing up.

Most people wouldn't - and don't - unless there is an issue in which case the tech support at NetGear / Belkin / LinkSys will first ask "Are you on the latest firmware?" (Hopefully they'll be able to log in remotely to take a look for you and check themselves.) and if not will get your device updated to the latest code to see if that resolves the issue.

As an example - my parents aren't techies in any way and they've changed their ISP and installed a new router (supplied by the new ISP) without me being involved...

So you have updated your OS on your Mac - why did you do that?

I only ask because I think you may be illustrating your own point here in that you have updated your Mac to get to the latest version of the OS but did you do that to cure a specific issue or just because you wanted  to be on the latest and greatest version of your computers OS?

( Just as a general note - it's always risky installing a new OS the day it goes live ... I always give it till the first service pack update before I install on any of the machines that I work on / rely on. )

What bugs / issues in Lion prevented you doing what you wanted to do then? Going by your logic here then you must have had a reason to update to Mountain Lion, no?

Erm - at the risk of being contentious here you did say "This networking is absurdly complicated.  I know all the brands have piled on the band wagon, but even when hard wired it is unreliable." ... 

 

When that happens, as with Steve above, you are reduced to posting on this or another Forum for help - except of course, when it is someone with your abilities, garyi .

  

Again, I don't really agree with your logic here ... if your washing machine stops working do you know how to fix it? If the "check engine" light comes on on your car do you know how to resolve it? Some people do and would have no problem doing that themselves however most people wouldn't and so they'd call the shop that sold them the washing machine or call the car dealer and get their advice.

If you want to learn basic networking (just as if you want to learn basic whitegoods faultfinding and repair or basic vehicle maintenance) then you can do, however if you don't want to get your feet wet (so to speak) then you don't have to, the choice is completely yours.

The OP could have contacted his dealer or us directly and we would have been there to support him just as we would any customer with a query. (Many of the queries I get sent don't even relate to our products.)

...as previously discussed in my other reply - USB is simply not appropriate for what is a distributed / shared audio product that is capable of allowing you to access your music in any room of your house. Perhaps if you're seeing it as simply a preloaded CD player then that may apply however we do give the option of using USB if you wish so I'm not sure what the actual problem is here - if you can help me understand that then maybe I can help?

Cheers

Phil

Oh dear, ..I seem to have stirred up a bit of a hornets nest here!....my original post was to enable me to find out if I had a problem with the unitiserve that may or not be common amongst other users...bearing in mind that since purchase and ripping of my music collection my system (uniti /unitiserve/Vienna accoustics shonenburg) had performed without fault..I did have issues with upnp prior to purchase of the unitiserve..but not any more! I was simply a little bemused that the unitiserve would re connect after an overnight shutdown but not after a re start....now I know that maybe the router was altering settings...no problem..I can live with this if is happens as infrequently as it has ie once in six months...unfortunately I do not have the ability to assign ip addresses with our oldish bt home hub,perhaps when that is replaced I will do that. ...I am in the same sort of camp as Richard..not a tech type..just want to listen to the music... Phil , no disrespect ,but you are well versed in the tech stuff, perhaps you find it strange that others find it hard to deal with ? 

I have noticed a tendency for replies from other forum members ( in response to questions from non tech savy members , who specifically ask for simple replies ) to still respond in a tech speak manner almost as though it's unbelievable someone may not understand . However I am willing to try and learn! ...it's still the music that's important to me. ...as ever thanks for people's input. Steve.

Not at all - just trying to make sure that everyone has accurate information if they want to take new information from it and that when these threads are looked at in days / months / years to come that there is useful substance to them.

 It might be worthwhile replacing the BT HomeHub with something a little more stable - even if you keep the HomeHub as a gateway to the internet and nothing else. I know of no decent custom installers who would ever consider using any of the BT HomeHubs in their installs.

Not at all - I'm continually trying to get over that networking ISN'T as difficult as people believe it to be. Unfortunately there's a lot of mystique banded around by the public in general regarding networking - possibly by people who know a little and want to make it seem that they know more, possibly by people who don't understand it and therefore it has to be difficult because they don't follow it.

It's my aim on here to TRY to get over the basics without scaring users that it's in any way hard or requires some sort of devine gift to get right - hence why I try to moderate discussions when they start getting a bit esoteric.

Sometimes an answer does require a certain level of "tech speak" ... it is not possible to go through a complete networking primer on a forum posting. There are a large number of useful network primer resources on the internet if people want to look at them and I'm more than happy to try to answer any questions that people may have...

"Try and learn" ... that's probably the most important statement here. (Well, apart from music being important too.) Being open to learning new things and not just dismissing something as "rubbish" or whatever. An open mind is a magical thing.

Phil