Need to replace the front display of my Naim Unity MYSELF

Boy, you’re a thin skinned lot when it comes to the cost of repairs. Obviously none of you shoot with Leica cameras and had to have them repaired. Going in to pick up my Monochrom today (that I had been planning on selling). Just wanted a calibration, but Leica said a new sensor was needed so $800 plus later... But since I’m ultimately planning on selling it, my choice without repair would be to try and sell at a discount (i.e. pass on the problem), use as is (after a $300 calibration), or keep it as a paperweight. If I do sell it, I’ll be out $800 but it would at least sell, and with a warranty (Leica gives 1 year on repairs which covers the whole camera, not just the repair made, and is transferrable). Yes, it’s frustrating, and I would much rather buy a new lens (or amp) than get something repaired I rarely use anymore, but such is the price of maintenance on high end gear. It goes with the territory. Otherwise just use inexpensive planned obsolescence gear and factor in the cost of replacing vs repairing. 

David Hendon posted:

Pierre

Did you try restarting the app? You restart the iPhone app by double-clicking the home button and swipe the app upwards. Then press the home button once and reselect the app. It should look again for the streamers. Oh I see you use Android. The procedure is different but you should still try it.

You probably know all this, but it's also worth restarting your router and once it has fully restarted, then restart your Uniti and the app.

You don't need the Uniti front display working to do a firmware update. But you need to check what Uniti firmware version you are on before you do anything and you can get that via the app.

best

David

Just adding to the above, when the app shows the Uniti icon it means that it knows this streamer exists normally on your network. When you tap on the icon and you get the circle going round and round, it means the app can't connect to your Uniti on the IP address it expected.

There are two scenarios now. One is that your Uniti already has a new IP address from the router. Closing and restarting the app will make it look again for streamers on the network so it should find your Uniti.

The second scenario is that your Uniti doesn't have a current IP address because something went wrong with the renewal of its IP lease. You may find that restarting your Uniti will fix that as it will get a new IP address and when you restart the app, it will find it. Or you may find that doesn't help because your router is not responding helpfully to your Uniti and hasn't given it an IP address, which means the app still can't connect to it.

That's why restarting the router, then the Uniti and then the app will always get things working unless you have an actual fault somewhere.

best

David 

Richard Dane posted:

Pierre, I've moved this a room where you may get best assistance (although David appears to be doing a fine job).  In all cases where you experience issues it's best to update to the most current firmware.

Thank you Richard. I will get a USB to RS232 cable asap to update the firmware. Will come back (with good news ?) when done.

I have explored other routes like namote, apps under bluestacks, etc... w/o success. I suppose it is some kind of confirmation that the firmware and not the app is not to be blamed (?).

Incidentally, naive question : when you say " I've moved this a room...", well... which room please ?

Thanks again,

Pierre.

@Pierre B

Did you see my posts about your router/network? I think that is where your problem is actually.

Richard has moved your thread to the Streaming Audio room.

best

David

Thanks David. Yes, I saw your post. I did everything you recommend again and again. With the difference that I am using an Android phone and an Android tablet.

The app does find the Uniti but seems to stop, not really able to communicate with it. I have tried Namote under Android and under W10 BlueStacks, Naim app under BlueStacks too. Same result. As this seems to prove the app innocent, I now intend to follow Richard's advice to update the firmware ; Richard told me the front display is not needed for that. I will nevertheless create complete darkness to try to read the current firmware version first. And then get an USB to RS232 cable. In the mean time, I also intend to connect the streamer to my router with an Ethernet cable rather than WiFi, just in case...

Will come back when all done.

Additionally and just in case : I am also communicating with Alain Choukroun http://www.hifi113.com/ in Paris (90 Euros front charge for the diagnostic) and Focal- JMLab near Lyon / Saint Etienne. Both are said to be efficient in the French forum. For the time being, none of them has confirmed they would repair the streamer themselves rather than sending it to England... for the sake of shortening a "cruel absence" :-(

Thanks again.

Pierre.

Pierre

Well good luck with it all. I really doubt that it is your firmware though because although of course that can affect whether one function or another works properly, I have never heard of cases that the app can't talk to a streamer on original firmware.

If you can read the display well enough, you could try a factory reset. You get that by using the remote, pressing the spanner/wrench key and navigate down the list to factory reset.

If it were me I would try that before attempting a firmware update.

best

David

Factory reset done, wifi code re-entered (a real nightmare in the dark, with the remote control, all uppercase). Reset router and streamer. Same result.

Connected streamer direct through Ethernet. When looking for devices, the app turns into circles during hours.

In both cases, my desktop can find the streamer (more reliably with Ethernet) at 192.168.1.12. Seen also by my router app and ping to 192.168.1.12 all OK.

The only hint I have is this one : at the back of the streamer, on one side of the Ethernet plug, the green light flickers "normally" just as the router does BUT, on the other side of the plug, the light is orange.

In case it would ring a bell, here is what I get when connected through Ethernet and when going to 192.168.1.12

PROFILE

DEVICE STATUS

Pierre B posted:

Additionally and just in case : I am also communicating with Alain Choukroun http://www.hifi113.com/ in Paris (90 Euros front charge for the diagnostic) and Focal- JMLab near Lyon / Saint Etienne. Both are said to be efficient in the French forum. For the time being, none of them has confirmed they would repair the streamer themselves rather than sending it to England... for the sake of shortening a "cruel absence" :-(

Thanks again.

Pierre.

 

I've dealt with Focal before - they will send the streamer to Salisbury. No way will they repair it themselves - neither will the dealer.

Incidentally, some on this thread have been a bit harsh on car manufacturers... I had a Renault for a long while, after about 6 years the central display packed up. The bill was over £800. I wrote an irate letter to the manufacturer, and I ended up paying £100. The same thing a year or so later: the winscreen wipers stopped functioning. £800 again for the whole assembly, £110 after I and the dealer complained. Both were known faults.

I'm afraid you are right regarding Focal.

And, yes, I had quite a few problems with Renault in the past. And the air conditioning on a Citroën C3. Rightful complaints are taken into consideration even well after warranty end and I always ended up with a very reasonable amount left to pay, nothing on the C3.

Hello, Naim ?

I received the USB to RS232 cable this morning and could not wait any longer to update my Uniti.

It became a real nightmare. Extremely irritating. The update kept failing and failing after about any number of lines of code sent to the Uniti. I made 50 attempts, never went beyond 40%. Anything between 11 lines and 4,253. And the kind message was that the unit could be unstable or even unusable. Great !  I was close to throw my Uniti to the garbage dump. 

I eventually switched from USB2 to USB1. WHo knows why... It then failed once after a never reached amount of lines then loaded the code to 100%... but failed when restarting the box. Attempt number 52 went all fine from a to z. Phew.

Cherry on the cake : the Naim app and Namote work fine instantly. There was a message at the very beginning of the update process saying that the code level of the Unity was so old that the IP address could not be recovered. That probably explains why the Naim app did not work before. Anyway, the update exec said it would nevertheless do the update and try get the IP address afterwards. All fine… after 52 attempts.

The app does not do it all especially to find and store radios. So I still need complete darkness. But I can leave with it and I am happy not to have to send my streamer to UK and spend hundreds of Euros. I agree it is not quite comparable but I spent only 14.89 for the USB-RS232 cable.

That's it Folks !  Thanks to those who kindly supported and advised.

Pierre.

I’m very glad that you managed to get this to work. But you should find that the app does allow you to find and store radio stations, both FM/DAB if you have that and iradio too. So maybe play with the app a bit more.

Which version of firmware did you upgrade to?

best

David

I have upgraded to 4.6.0 which I believe is the last available version.

On the app click iradio, once its loaded you have a bunch of choices under neath drill in to find stations. Sadly there is no search so it could take a while.

The reason I ask is that you have to do 4.4 before you do 4.6, as per the installation notes. But if you don’t use Tidal then it won’t matter and anyway the original Uniti doesn’t support Tidal without the high res hardware update. That might also be why your app isn’t letting you do iradio memory settings storage.

Also firmware update from below 3.00 require special attention, but I assume you checked that first, as per release notes again?

Anyway after the struggle you had, just enjoying the music is probably the best way.

best

David

Found the trick to search and store. Perfect !  And bye bye front display, the app is much more convenient !