one replay loses touch with the other after some time

[dyker]

Replay 5540 can no longer see my replay 5040. I recently upgraded the 5040 putting in a 250G drive.

the 5540 is hardcoded to 192.168.0.201
the 5040 is hardcoded to 192.168.0.202

If I reboot my router, and pull the plug on each replay letting them power up they will both see each other for several hours. After about a day day the 5040 will see the 5540 but the 5540 cannot see the 5040. If I try to initiate a stream it will say something like "the 5040 is no longer online" or something like that. The 5540 CAN see the dvarchive machine on the network. Kind of weird that the 5040 can see the 5540 but the opposite isn't the case. I've had both replays about 3 years+ each an this problem has just cropped up in the last couple months. What is going on? The dvarchive computer can see all the machines all the time. Why does the 5504 lose contact with the other replay? What can I do to fix (or what did I do to cause this).

I know I've seen these questions in the past and I'm wondering if someone can please help me now.

[Murphy]

Did you disable the DHCP server in the router?

[dyker]

No, but I thought DHCP supported both static and dynamic addresses ( the 2 replays are both assigned/static as noted). I have several other computers and devices in the house, slingboxes, VOIP... etc... and would like them dynamic. Do you think tho that is the problem cuz I can play around with that if that is usually the culprit...
?

[whirly]

Have you tried to find the other RTV's via the 243/Zones menu?

[Ed Rempalski]

I used to see this before I setup my router to assign an IP address to the Replays (and a few other devices) assigned by their MAC addresses. This way should the Replay ignore the fixed IP's that I configured them to have and try to get a DHCP, the router always hands them the same IP.

I use Netgear routers and they allow me to set a group with fixed IP's as noted above, as well as still having DHCP available for any other users, wireless etc. around the house. I have 5 Replays in the house and haven't seen this issue in years.

[Murphy]

[QUOTE=dyker]No, but I thought DHCP supported both static and dynamic addresses ( the 2 replays are both assigned/static as noted). I have several other computers and devices in the house, slingboxes, VOIP... etc... and would like them dynamic. Do you think tho that is the problem cuz I can play around with that if that is usually the culprit...
?[/QUOTE]
That is the problem. The underlying operating system (VXWORKS) will request an IP address long before the ReplayTV application is loaded and running. This can happen every 7 days because of the maintenance reboot. There is no way to force VXWORKS to use the static IP address that you have configured. There are only two options. Use a router that allows IP addresses to be assigned based on the requestors MAC address. This is the method that I use and I have never seen the problem. Not all router have this capability. The one that I use is an IOGEAR GWA504. The second option is to run a completely static network. That means turn off the DHCP server and manually assign IP addresses to EVERY device on your network.

[adone36]

[QUOTE=Murphy]The second option is to run a completely static network. That means turn off the DHCP server and manually assign IP addresses to EVERY device on your network.[/QUOTE]

That does not work. As I demonstrated in the past, without a DHCP server on the network, besides taking longer to boot, a Replay may choose a "default" address, prob in the the 16X.XXX.XXX.XXX range and still have the problem.

[sfhub]

[QUOTE=adone36]That does not work. As I demonstrated in the past, without a DHCP server on the network, besides taking longer to boot, a Replay may choose a "default" address, prob in the the 16X.XXX.XXX.XXX range and still have the problem.[/QUOTE]
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8840870&&#post8840870
The example you gave in the past was
1) booting your replays before the router/DHCP server had a chance to start up
2) the router/DHCP server subsequently starting up

This is different than never having a DHCP server running.

I can assure you from analysis of the packet dumps that if a DHCP server is never on your network the trigger for the bug will not exist.

I think the confusion is you are interpreting no DHCP server to mean "no DHCP server at the time Replay boots"

It is actually means "no DHCP server ever responding to Replay" which would be the case if no DHCP server is running.

The ironic thing was I worked with Replay to get this bug fixed and it was completely resolved and tested but got lost when they added the changes to make it more difficult to convert a 55xx to 50xx.

[dyker]

[QUOTE=Ed Rempalski]I used to see this before I setup my router to assign an IP address to the Replays (and a few other devices) assigned by their MAC addresses. [/QUOTE]
Thanks for all the replies...
>>the 5540 is hardcoded to 192.168.0.201
>>the 5040 is hardcoded to 192.168.0.202

When I said that I meant that I hard-coded it in the Replay menus. I will see if my D-Link DGL-4300 Router (http://support.dlink.com/products/view.asp?productid=DGL%2D4300) can assign. Hmmmm.... I just installed a firmware upgrade to the router recently...

Can someone take a look at this page on the Firmware emulator for my router (http://support.dlink.com/emulators/dgl4300/Basic_DHCP.html) and tell me if that "add DHCP reservation" section is what I want to use?

[sfhub]

[QUOTE=dyker]Thanks for all the replies...
>>the 5540 is hardcoded to 192.168.0.201
>>the 5040 is hardcoded to 192.168.0.202

When I said that I meant that I hard-coded it in the Replay menus. I will see if my D-Link DGL-4300 Router (http://support.dlink.com/products/view.asp?productid=DGL%2D4300) can assign. Hmmmm.... I just installed a firmware upgrade to the router recently...

Can someone take a look at this page on the Firmware emulator for my router (http://support.dlink.com/emulators/dgl4300/Basic_DHCP.html) and tell me if that "add DHCP reservation" section is what I want to use?[/QUOTE]
Yup, that looks like the right section.

BTW are you by chance using a wireless ethernet bridge to connect one of your Replays?

[dyker]

Nope, all hard wired. Thank you. Also, thanks again for the patient responses. I've seen these threads in the past. I went searching but it seems everyone calls the issue with a different title so I couldn't find any threads.

[Ritan1]

No, but I am - a Linksys, and my Replaytv's seem to lose each other. Is this a particular issue for ethernet bridge users?

[sfhub]

[QUOTE=Ritan1]No, but I am - a Linksys, and my Replaytv's seem to lose each other. Is this a particular issue for ethernet bridge users?[/QUOTE]
Some wireless ethernet bridges use a MAC masquerading technique where all the devices behind the wireless bridge appear to have the same MAC address from the standpoint of the devices on the other side of the wireless bridge. I believe this breaks some of the IP address allocation algorithms in some DHCP servers and exacerbates the DHCP bug.

WDS bridges don't do this MAC masquerading thus do not exhibit this behavior. Examples of WDS bridges include the Buffalo units and Linksys units running DD-WRT.

An example of a MAC masqerading WEB is the Linksys WET54G.

[VisitingLeaf]

sfhub you stated

This is different than never having a DHCP server running.

I can assure you from analysis of the packet dumps that if a DHCP server is never on your network the trigger for the bug will not exist.

I think the confusion is you are interpreting no DHCP server to mean "no DHCP server at the time Replay boots"

It is actually means "no DHCP server ever responding to Replay" which would be the case if no DHCP server is running.

******************************************************************

I have had a DHCP server running in the past. I now have it turned off.

IS there anything I can do to fix this problem now without resetting the Replay's to factory default's

[sfhub]

[QUOTE=VisitingLeaf]I have had a DHCP server running in the past. I now have it turned off.

IS there anything I can do to fix this problem now without resetting the Replay's to factory default's[/QUOTE]
Resetting to factory defaults will have no effect on the problem because it is working as designed. The problem is the design has a bug.

These are the ways to work around the bug:
1) enabled MAC-based IP allocation in your DHCP server
2) disable all DHCP servers on the network
3) change the DHCP renewal to be 16 days

[lonetreejim]

Just reboot the Replay. Hold down the power button for 10 seconds or so.

[FarmBubba]

When I set mine up, I switched the replay from Manual to Automatic IP address, and back to manual a couple of hundred times until it started working. Been working for 3 years now!

[dyker]

all, I switched back to automatic IP address selection and then thru the router force my IP settings based on MAC address (noted above). No problems now for about a week.

[dhodory]

[QUOTE=sfhub]Some wireless ethernet bridges use a MAC masquerading technique where all the devices behind the wireless bridge appear to have the same MAC address from the standpoint of the devices on the other side of the wireless bridge. I believe this breaks some of the IP address allocation algorithms in some DHCP servers and exacerbates the DHCP bug.

WDS bridges don't do this MAC masquerading thus do not exhibit this behavior. Examples of WDS bridges include the Buffalo units and Linksys units running DD-WRT.

An example of a MAC masqerading WEB is the Linksys WET54G.[/QUOTE]

As my wife would say: "Hallelujah Guacamole!"

I have this exact issue . . . so glad that I'm not losing my mind. I'm running a Linksys WRT54GC (with one RTV attached via ethernet directly to a port) and a Linksys WET54GS5 ethernet bridge (with one RTV attached to it via ethernet).

So, sfhub, any solution for this issue? Because I couldn't get the "assign static IP based on MAC address" approach to work, I'm now running no DHCP server with everything that needs an IP set up with a static IP, which is kinda' a PITA for the laptops when they venture outside of the house to hotspots (or our apartment which is also set up with static IPs). Any help on how to resolve this particular issue would be greatly appreciated (and would greatly increase the "wife acceptance factor" -- as it's her laptop that primarily has problems).

Thx,
D

[FarmBubba]

If you don't use the internet sharing on your 5040, you can simply turn on the automatic IP addresses for your replays.
Even if you do use it, if you have your router on a battery backup (or if your have a super power comany), the IP address will seldom change on your replay, and you can change the port forwarding by hand to whatever the DHCP hands to the replay.