UnitiQute Frozen 'Analogue' on Display

Turn off and remove power lead for a few hours as mentioned by Osprey.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will leave it unplugged for 24 hours or so. I did call the dealer and describe the situation, but I did not get any indication that they had seen this condition. I'll email my note above to Naim and see if they have any experience with this problem.

I presume with location that its hardwired to the router?

What router is it?

I am not making excuses for naim here, the device might be buggered, but in my experience if there is an intermittent network connection it can cause any number of devices to go belly up, many is the occasion my mac finder has crashed because a network volume that was available is no longer so.

If hard wired then swap out the ethernet lead for another. For the purposes of checking ensue the qute is on DHCP.

Thanks Gary and David,

The UQ previously was not wired to the router. It was wireless from mac to router, wireless from  router to UQ. About 6 weeks ago, I moved the router to sit beside the UQ, and used a plain old ethernet cable to connect the router to the UQ. At that time, there was not a blip of interruption, and also no change in the behaviour of the entire system. No change in SQ either. 

The internet connection in the house has been faultless, with no oddities in behaviour there either. My inclination is not to suspect the internet, as everything else is fine and fast. We have a high speed connection through the telephone line. 

 Since I've had the UQ, the ability of n-stream on an iPhone or iPad has occasionally been a problem, with 'no streamer' coming up. Pressing the 'OK' button on the remote has usually brought things back to life. But this current problem came up without any intervention, as far as I can tell. We had not used it for a few days, and it was on/ powered up the entire time, but 'sleeping'.

The router is about 3 months old, and supplied by the telephone company (Telus, for any locals following my predicament with fascination). It is not anything unusual, or a speciality musical device. 

The UQ is a fall 2011 model, and a normal production item to the best of my knowledge. 

I don't know Manu, but I've seen the name here. 

BTW I have emailed Naim and had two very prompt responses from Steven; his advice was to reset the remote, which has helped, but as noted earler, it did not 'stick'. 

Again, all your assistance appreciated. 

Update: I reset the router, which returned it to its original state, and then selected the new (factory) wireless name. This seems to have improved things considerably, but it still seems that the 'network starting' message comes up and hangs around much too long. 

But we're getting better, I think. Still, the sudden oddness with the connection is a tough one to figure out. Just like many relationships, I suppose. 

Argh!!!! **@*&%%)^*F$(^G&(&G)GI!!!!!

It was finally working normally, playing internet radio as if all was well. It worked for about half an hour. Then the sound just stopped, and the 'server not found' message came back. The UQ just shows 'network initializing' or some such thing. Everything else in the house that is connected to the internet is fine. The stupid UQ which is 12" from the router can't seem to find the *(&*YT*T  network!!!!! 

Restart everything, and no response. I don't see how it can be an internet problem if I can type this to you over the internet. Only the UQ is crippled. Pads, pods, phones and computers are all fine. 

And yes, I'm swearing as I type. A lot. I'm not as happy as my troll appears at left. 

Its not the qute, Its a naff wireless/router or compatibility between the two.

i still dont understand why you are using wireless if the thing is 12 inches away?

How long have you had the router? The fact you can the net is neither here nor there, hiw is your computer connected to the router? Are you having issues when the computer is on the net at the same time?

what internet speed do you have?

how is the upnp on the network?

Some of the early Qute software revisions had this issue; in some cases, a simple software update* might or might not resolve the issue.  In this case, it is most likely the unit, and not the network, which is why I suggested that he contact his local distributor.

* - includes network streaming module as well as main system micro

garyi,

I mentioned earlier that the router is 3 months old, and that we have high speed internet; DSL or ADSL. I also noted that the iMac is wireless from the router. For the past two years the UQ has also been getting its signal wirelessly from the router. About a month ago I moved the router, and put it next to the UQ. I did not make any changes to the setup and there was no change in the performance of the system at that time. I simply haven't wanted to make a change that might cause a problem. 

I will mention now, that when the router was replaced 3 months ago, the telcom company also did work to the wires and connections outside out house, so I have every reason to believe that the signal coming in is as good as it can be. 

I will, however, try an ethernet connection, and turn wireless off on the UQ. 

The computer is on much of the time, but if I'm listening to music on the UQ, I'm not likely using the computer, and there is no one else using it, or streaming Netflix, or playing online games. BTW moving stream wirelessly to the computer, from the same router, and using the same internet capacity without any problem; I doubt that a 128 mb/s radio stream takes as much bandwidth as video.

What stumped me last night was that iRadio was working perfectly for half an hour or so. I was able to go between UPnP and iRadio, search for iRadio stations and save the presets. Then, the signal just stopped, and the UQ was back to 'initializing network'. 

In the past some stations haven't streamed smoothly; they play, then pause while the signal is buffered, and then it plays, then stops. It is odd because low bandwith stations like Jazz24 from Seattle are a problem, but the 320 Kb/s Naim favourites (Paradise?) come through without any interruption. 

I think I understand your points, but I don't see behaviour that points to an 'data availability' problem. It seems more likely that the UQ is dropping the signal, or somehow 'forgetting't the network. As a streamer, it should work reliably with a good wireless signal. 

DavidDever,

Thanks for the info. Steven at Naim suggested doing the 3.9 update, then 3.22. I will apply my brain to that operation this weekend. 

Also, I see that we both got a bit 'deleted' last night. 

Damon,

I had a similar problem develop when I changed my router. The issue seemed to be with the router allocating changing IP addresses for the Qute. Not a problem with most items but the sensitivity of the Qute appears to be a problem. Getting the router to allocate a static IP address (if possible on yours) for the Qute solves the problem. No need to disable DHCP but you will need to go into your routers advanced settings.

Andy

Alan,

Thanks for jumping in. It may be that you and I are paddling the same canoe here (odd metaphor; just made it up, sorry). But we might stumble on a solution that benefits us both. I don't have the complex collection of gear that you do, I think we have a similar connection 'firmness' situation. 

After last nights extreme.... annoyance, the UQ worked this am, and again this afternoon, it seems fine. I'll have to let it go for a while and see if it drops out. 

Please do keep us (me) updated on your experiences and progress. 

There is a bug in the qute software - it's to do with encrypted wireless key exchanges. I proved it with a network analyser a while ago. It is very intermittent so difficult to find out what triggers it. I just moved to a wired connection instead.

pj5,

I appreciate your note. I will try the wired connection between the router and UQ this weekend. I understand that I must turn off the wireless setting on the UQ. I assume of course, that n-stream will still work from iPhone and iPad.

Just posting a follow-up, as I think it's important to 'conclude' topics, esp when one has asked for assistance. 

The UQ has worked well for several days, and it seems 'normal'. It was an odd process, as the things seemed to improve, or get settled, gradually. That is odd, as I would have thought that a connection would either be 'good' or 'not good'.

Even the control connection was strange; the iPhone began to connect with the UQ, but the iPad would not, and then after restarting the UQ, the iPad was able to connect (both running the same N-Stream version). I don't know what has changed, but things seem to be healthy. I'm still a bit nervous about it, but I'll take the success. 

I think that pj5 may be correct about an intermittent bug relating to wireless connection firmness; why the signal would work for half an hour, then just drop out, seems like an electrical / communication gremlin. 

But, for now, we're good. Thanks to all for your contributions and assistance. 

It may be a modest little box, but it sure does sound good!

Like Damon, writing as a follow up / status report. 

My my situation has escalated somewhat: two occurrences of the "Streamer Update Complete" message (The second following a factory reset as recommended in a different thread). I've had a good dialogue with our national distributor (Bonjour Emmanuel!) and it's now being investigated as a firmware bug by the Naim technical team. More news as I learn more... 

Regards, alan 

Alan,

Thanks for the note. I've continued to have intermittent connection issues, strangely when trying to connect our iPad2. My iPhone 4S seems to connect more reliably. We have had several other incidents where the UQ seems to drop the connection when playing iRadio; it is odd as it happens after the radio has been on for half and hour. In this situation, I think that it cannot be related to the UPnP server, as iRadio is completely independent of the computer streaming software. 

Sometimes I can get things reconnected by changing inputs using the remote, but other times unplugging the UQ for a minute, then re-powering it is necessary. 

BTW, I did try using a wired connection from the router to the UQ. used the remote to select 'don't use wireless' as my dealer recommended. The UQ showed' stopping network' and that message just never went away; things seized up completely. Again, unplugging it was the only cure, and even that took several tries. 

Makes me think it is something inside the mystical black box that is the problem.

Alan,

I really appreciate your input, as I think we're getting similar behaviour oddities. Our telephone company changed our router about six weeks ago, and there was no difficulty at that time, nor was there difficulty before the change, so again, I don't think it is a router issue. 

It's odd about the wireless / wired connection. I thought the manual said that the UQ would automatically use the wired (ethernet) connection if it was there, but the dealer said I had to turn wireless off. Your understanding mirrors with the manual says. I'm going to stick with that too. 

Please do let me know if you learn anything from the tech folks. I'm also purely entry-level in terms of my grip on network technicalities. 

You had no issues with the last router but are having issues now. 

Your way forward is clear and i return once more to my original post get a decent router.

your problem is not going to magically disappear and it has all the hall marks of a crappy router, the sort of  router usually supplied 'free' 

Also did you take up dave denvers advice?

garyi,

Perhaps I have not been clear enough regarding timing of component changes; the UQ did not display the current problems for the first 20 months or so, when I had the old router. When the router was changed about 3 months ago, the UQ continued to function as it had before the router change. I did not detect any difference in sound quality or connection behaviour at the time of the modem change, and the system functioned as it did previously for about 2 months. 

I did a speedtest for my connection, and I'm getting more than 5mbs, or whatever the unit abbreviation is; it seems more than enough to keep radio going. 

The router may be crappy, but I don't see why this expensive UQ box cannot maintain a connection to the same crappy router that 5 other devices can connect to, and often maintain much higher connection / data demands. That would remind me of my CD3.5 being unable to play CD's that every other player could work with. 

One similar issue may be that we have updated n-Stream but not the UQ software, and so there may be a bit of incompatibility on that account, but that would not likely be relevant to a connection that drops after 30 minutes of play, and then an inability to reestablish a connection to a router 12" away. 

If the problem is with the wireless connection between the router and the UQ, an ethernet cable should solve this problem. I will try that again tonight, but without disabling the wireless function on the UQ. 

I do agree that the problem will not magically disappear, and I will see what a better router would be; if I can find one, I'll try it. I have no idea what I would look for in a better router. If you have a suggestion RE a brand or a performance spec. or other characteristic, I would welcome that information.