Crown Itech Networking

Marlow Wilson

Marlow Wilson

Junior
Jan 11, 2011
305
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16
Montreal/Ottawa
I'm taking a bit of a liberty here (and probably wouldn't have asked this elsewhere) but hopefully it will help someone else.



I have three IT5000hd's in a rack with an old WRT54g Linksys router with an open source DD-WRT firmware (http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index) to enable it as a switch.



Great right?



Well I went down to the shop today to set everything up, and I can't even get a single Itech talking to my laptop directly.
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I loaded files by USB and all is fine for the time being, but obviously I want to get my new setup working as intended. I RTFM, tried both DCHP and Static IP's and couldn't get anything talking. I think I have the HiQnet addresses right but this may be where I'm lost. Now the reason I first mentioned I wouldn't have asked this elsewhere, is that I only really gave this 15 minutes of troubleshooting and then gave up (well switched tasks, the USB works fine for now).



Is there something really obvious I'm missing? I mean I've been setting up wired and wireless networks for years now without too much trouble.



Thanks for the guidance,



Marlow
 
Re: Crown Itech Networking

Have you tried seeing if they show up in the ''Readdress Devices'' window? Generally even if there's network settings issues, devices will eventually show up here - at least in my experience.
 
Re: Crown Itech Networking

Adam Robinson wrote on Tue said:
Have you tried seeing if they show up in the ''Readdress Devices'' window? Generally even if there's network settings issues, devices will eventually show up here - at least in my experience.
Click to expand...



Haven't tried that. I guess I should add that I'm new to System Architect. I was just starting to get Soundweb designer figured out
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I'm hoping to make it back tonight and try a few things, so this is #1 on the list so far.



Thanks,



Marlow
 
Re: Crown Itech Networking

Hi Marlow-



You can see/control your I-Techs IF you use the switch, but not connected directly to your laptop? I take it you're using System Architect.



There are several places things can be messed up, but if it all works through the switch, it's not an IP address or com port issue, nor is it a HiQnet address problem.



I have a couple of guesses, but I'll wait for your confirmation.



Tim Mc
 
Re: Crown Itech Networking

Tim McCulloch wrote on Tue said:
Hi Marlow-



You can see/control your I-Techs IF you use the switch, but not connected directly to your laptop? I take it you're using System Architect.



There are several places things can be messed up, but if it all works through the switch, it's not an IP address or com port issue, nor is it a HiQnet address problem.



I have a couple of guesses, but I'll wait for your confirmation.



Tim Mc
Click to expand...



Sorry if I wasn't clear,



I can't get them talking at all. My goal is to use the switch, but I never got beyond trying to go direct to the computer. (I try to walk before I run... most of the time).



The switch details are in case this thread progresses beyond the direct hookup - just giving the scope of the (hopeful) final configuration.



Marlow

 
Re: Crown Itech Networking

Tim McCulloch wrote on Tue said:
Okay, is there a chance you're using a crossover cable?
Click to expand...



F*** ... I hadn't thought about the cable. I'll check that tomorrow. It's been too long since I thought about networking and somehow that slipped my mind. To make matters worse I had just been redoing the wiring of the POS system which included some crossed Cat cable, so it's entirely possible.
 
Re: Crown Itech Networking

does the router show the amps being connected in the DHCP client table. Have you gone through the network setup in the amp to verify you are in the right domain & subnet?
 
Re: Crown Itech Networking

Tim Kartes wrote on Wed said:
does the router show the amps being connected in the DHCP client table. Have you gone through the network setup in the amp to verify you are in the right domain & subnet?
Click to expand...



I haven't actually tried going through the router yet. I just checked and the cable is NOT a crossover cable. The only problem now is that I forgot my programming (Windows) laptop at home, and the Harmon Pro site seems to be down not letting me download SA 2.3 onto my office computer. I have the setup file for 2.2 backed up, but it won't install .Net or SQL properly.



I think it may have to wait for another day!
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Re: Crown Itech Networking

Shane Presley wrote on Wed said:
Marlow , those amps sound broken... you should sell them to me
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Click to expand...



What would you do with 3 crown amps in a sea of QSC?
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In other news...



I moved from the back office to the front office to try on another computer. SA 2.3 is downloading now so hopefully I get get this going finally. Plus... I think the amp rack looks nice here.
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Thanks sf.netters (We'll really have to come up with some sort of collective label!
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)
 
Re: Crown Itech Networking

Seriously, Marlow, do you have connectivity and communication to the router from the laptop?



When you say switch - I get to thinking you've turned off the DHCP server on the router, which is not what you want. If you're talking about the router functioning as a routerw/DHCP server active, but just using the ''switch'' or LAN side, then that is what you want.



I'd work on getting the laptop talking first - get the router to assign an IP address to the laptop and see if you can access the router configuration panel via IP - If that is successful...



Set the amps (I don't know how) to use DHCP. Plug those puppies into the router LAN ports and use the laptop and the router admin page to see whether the router sees the amps.



I hate to ask...



You don't have anything in question (amps or laptop) plugged into the WAN side, do you?



frank
 
Re: Crown Itech Networking

frank kayser wrote on Wed said:
I'd work on getting the laptop talking first
Click to expand...



This is exactly what I'm trying to do. I've left the networking equipment out of the equation for now. My final goal is wireless control of the Itechs and some DSP for delay lines which is why I mentioned it.



If I can't make it happen with the office computer I'll take another crack at it tomorrow morning with my laptop and a regular switch to start, if anything.
 
Re: Crown Itech Networking

using the front panel controls you should be able to navigate into the advanced menu and look at it's IP address. from there you can also assign the IP information.
 
Re: Crown Itech Networking

On the office computer I got things going one at a time directly to the computer. I'll try to figure out what I was doing wrong tomorrow with the laptop and hopefully I can get things going wirelessly tomorrow. As always, thanks for the help.



Marlow
 
Re: Crown Itech Networking

Marlow Wilson wrote on Wed said:
On the office computer I got things going one at a time directly to the computer. I'll try to figure out what I was doing wrong tomorrow with the laptop and hopefully I can get things going wirelessly tomorrow. As always, thanks for the help.



Marlow
Click to expand...



Marlow, I don't know where things are going wrong, but it sounds like a router issue.



A crossover cable isn't likely to matter these days; most every router, and every single gigabit device supports auto crossover.



The amps can be configured two ways: static IP and DHCP. You most likely want DHCP enabled, with the amps grabbing an IP from the router. You must have DHCP enabled on your router, though, and disable access control, MAC filtering, etc, at least for now.



If the amps do NOT get an IP, they get an ''automatic private IP'' just like a Windows computer when it doesn't get an IP. In this mode, the amps will still talk, so if you have to, you can connect the amps straight to the computer or through a switch only with no router. Ultimately, this isn't very reliable and you need to get that router working.



Test your router with a computer or some other devices and make sure they get IPs and can talk.



Make sure the Itechs have the newest firmware.



And as already said, if you check the ''Readdress Devices'' window, you absolutely should see the amps.



If you have multiple network cards in your computer, make sure System Architect is only set up to use the network with the amps on it, and make sure System Architect is online!



 
Re: Crown Itech Networking

Morning update. I got everything working with my laptop over wireless.



I actually was able to do this with the stock firmware on the WRT54g as well (but not with the other firmware, so there must have been a setup error somewhere). I have the antennae mounted to a 1ru blank and now have a very convenient way of accessing the DSP as I walk a room or sit at FOH.



System architects Networking diagnostic/setup tools make this WAY easier than setting Baud rates in buried menus on the Soundweb Designer. Big thumps up for modern networking made user friendly for the quasi-computer literate among us.



Cheers and thanks for the help.



Marlow
 


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