Link Mac Mini direct to Devialet Expert via Ethernet

[baddog]

And after making that change enable both WIFI and Ethernet on the Mac and reboot.

Also my apologies, as I cannot recall, what router are you using?

[efranklin]

Aaah! Real newbie mistake, thank you. I've updated it and ... the #$%^& problem still persists.

When I now also switch wifi off to see if the ethernet option will then work, I now lose the ethernet option in Devialet AIR - not sure if that's expected or not?

[baddog]

Hmm, something is askew here.

It appears you have everything setup properly. Can you post a screenshot of the Devialet AIR settings that show the IP address information, et al on the right side of the volume dial?

Might I suggest you shut down the Mac Mini, the Devialet, and the Apple Extreme?

Boot first the Extreme, then the Mac Mini (with WIFI AND ETHERNET enabled) and lastly the Devialet.

Sometimes networks get confused, but I will be honest the behavior on the Mac side is most puzzling. Have you tried a different ethernet cable between the Mac and Devialet.

[efranklin]

Rebooted ... same problem.

My router is ancient but I've never had a problem with it: Netgear DG834G.

Quick check: I'm not certain I know what you mean by "enable both Wifi and Ethernet" ... I've simply set them up on System Prefs and they have green lights so I presume they're enabled?

I'm also getting identical behaviour whether I use my MBP or the Mac Mini. I have tried a different ethernet cable, and both work fine elsewhere.

I'll do the 3-way reboot as you suggest and get back to you ...
   

[baddog]

Yes you have them enabled correctly. This is very very odd, at this point you appear to have everything setup correctly.

So wireless by itself on the Mac Mini works.

Ethernet by itself on the Mac Mini works.

Wireless with Internet sharing turned off (and via ethernet) on the Mac Mini works.

But Wireless with Internet sharing turned on the Mac Mini does not work, is that correct?

What model Mac Mini do you have? Does it not have an ethernet port you can use, I see you are using the adapter to connect it to the Display/Thunderbolt port on the Mac Mini?

[efranklin]

The thunderbolt Ethernet connection is because I'm doing all the testing on my Macbook which only has thunderbolt outputs (I have the thunderbolt / ethernet converter cable) - it's much easier because I can only access the Mini over wifi (it doesn't have a monitor / keyboard), so if I lose or switch wifi off then I can't access it. (Actually I can, using Duet and my iPad over a USB cable, but it's not as easy as using the MBP!).

Wireless from the Mini to the Devialet works (but very poorly unless I put the Extreme right next to the Dev). I admit I haven't tested this for some time now, and earlier today disabled Wireless on the Dev (I think one of the posts in reply to this query suggested it should be disabled).

Ethernet direct to the Dev works (from both the Mini and my MBP) provided Wifi is switched off.

Wireless with internet sharing turned off works - this is the only way I ever had it - I'm not sure what you mean here by "and via ethernet", as my understanding is that wireless is not via ethernet. Anyway, in my setup I used wireless when there was no ethernet cable.

I have also successfully used ethernet cable when the Dev was connected by cable to the Extreme (this is last year, though, when I had the Dev close to the Extreme).

I haven't tried wireless with internet sharing on. I also haven't tried wireless with the ethernet cable connected between the Mac and the Dev. But the ethernet connection works fine when wireless is turned off, irrespective of whether sharing is on or not, and it stops as soon as I switch wifi on, again irrespective of whether sharing is on or not.

Maddening!

[baddog]

Ok that is indeed maddening because you seem to have everything setup correctly.

So basically if you have the Mac connected to the Devialet with wireless turned on in the Mac, and Internet Sharing turned off, you get wireless on the Mac. However once you enabled Internet sharing (which based on your pictures you have setup correctly) then wireless no longer works on the Mac.

That almost makes me think there is a hardware issue on the MacBook.

The only way to eliminate that possibility would be to see if you can get this same setup to work correctly on the Mac Mini ( I cannot recall if you already tried that ).

[efranklin]

I have done everything on the mini that I've done on the MBP - I get exactly the same result! That rules out anything specific to the mini or even OSX. The problem must either be the way I've set it up (since I use the same setup on both mini and MBP), or some general network setup, or maybe hardware on the Dev?

I also forgot to mention that I've rebooted the router, Extreme, Mini, MBP and Dev, and let them come up in the order you suggested - still same result!!!

So, maybe just to be sure I haven't misunderstood something, this is what I have done:
- on the Devialet I have enabled USB (which works fine but doesn't automatically switch bit rate to match that of the source file), Ethernet and Optical (I sometimes wanted to use this, although it's pretty irrelevant now)
- the Dev Ethernet connection is configured with DHCP off and fixed IP address of 192.168.0.70. (I note that when I scroll through settings on the Dev using the little round screen, it always shows DHCP ON when I get to the ethernet settings - this seems strange to me, but maybe it's normal?)
- on both my Macbook Pro and Mac Mini I have the following settings:
   - System Prefs / Network / WiFi: Configure IPv4 using DHCP, Mask 255.255.255.0
   - System Prefs / Network / Ethernet: Configure IPv4 Manually, IP Address 192.168.0.71 (Note: I never connect both the MBP and Mini at the same time, so I don't expect there to be any IP conflict here)
   - System Prefs / Sharing: Internet Sharing enabled, for Ethernet

And with the above settings, whether I do the test from my Mini or the MBP I get the same result:
- I can get the ethernet connection to work provided I have switched Wifi off. (This usually does require some "fiddling" that I can't really pin down, such as disabling Devialet AIR, sometimes more than once)
- once it's working, as soon as I switch wifi back on again the music immediately goes silent (and input signal levels on the Dev screen go to zero).

Hey ho - it's all rather complex. I do lament the absence of any decent configuration user guides from Devialet!

[baddog]

1.USB - you mention the Devialet doesn't switch bit rates - what music software are you using? This should not be an issue with USB, unless you are perhaps using iTunes?

2. On my Devialet when scrolling settings via the round screen it shows DHCP OFF. I am thinking you should check your settings in the online configurator and re-download them onto your SD card. Or if you have a spare SD card, verify your settings in the configurator and download and swap in the new SD card.

3. What version of firmware are you running on the Devialet?

4. Do you have iPhone you can install the Devialet application on? If yes, I would be interested if you can change the volume and inputs when:

a. the Devialet is connected to Mac  via ethernet with WIFI off. My expectation is this would not work

b. the Devialet is connected to Mac via ethernet with WIFI ON. My expectation is this would work.

5. While we are at it, what version of MacOS are you running?

[Hifi_swlon]

My D is also set to static IP, and the display screen also shows 'DHCP OFF'

Are you sure you haven't set the same IP for wifi and Ethernet on the Devialet?