USB Support

Inertiaman said:
So the mystery continues. The Pixel 6A can see the USB much more consistently than the Pixel 3, although even its not foolproof. I've still had several "where did USB go?" moments w/ the 6A in the past week.

But the "big news" is I've discovered that I can "force" the Pixel 3 to see the USB with a little trick: toggling the "Enable IP v6" switch in the Network Status section of the Device screen for the Amp. It doesn't matter if its currently enabled or disabled; whatever the setting, if the USB isn't visible, I just change the setting, then within 10 seconds the USB shows up. I've done this about 12-15 times now, so it appears pretty reliable.

This seems to confirm that there is something wonky with the way the app and Amp are communicating over the network. Presumably the toggling of the IP version does something to reset/refresh the connection, and voila! you get USB.

I just wish Wiim would pay even the slightest attention to some of these debug scenarios and/or respond to my ticket. 24 days and counting since they've said anything.
Click to expand...
Let me know your ticket number and I’ll see if I can prompt them
 
Inertiaman said:
But the "big news" is I've discovered that I can "force" the Pixel 3 to see the USB with a little trick: toggling the "Enable IP v6" switch in the Network Status section of the Device screen for the Amp. It doesn't matter if its currently enabled or disabled; whatever the setting, if the USB isn't visible, I just change the setting, then within 10 seconds the USB shows up. I've done this about 12-15 times now, so it appears pretty reliable.
Click to expand...
Not sure if this is good or bad news. 😜

I've had this IP V6 toggle switch enabled from the start, whatever that might mean. However, this leads me more and more.ro believe that the actual file system used in the thumb drive is not really important.
 
harkpabst said:
Not sure if this is good or bad news. 😜

I've had this IP V6 toggle switch enabled from the start, whatever that might mean. However, this leads me more and more.ro believe that the actual file system used in the thumb drive is not really important.
Click to expand...
As far as I can tell, IPv6 is enabled by default when you install the app. I just happened to read somewhere in an old Pro (or Pro+?) thread that some IPv6 issues were causing problems, so I tried disabling it to see if it helped my issue. That worked . . . for a while. But then USB was lost again. That's when I discovered the "reset" effect of toggling back/forth.

I agree, the thumb drive file system / content may influence the initial scan/index process, but it has nothing to do w/ this losing-the-USB issue.
 
Wiim finally responded to my ticket on the 25th, asking me to provide the MAC and UUID of my Amp, because they had a firmware revision to push to me. I responded immediately with that info, and began checking for updates several times a day. Finally, this morning (29th), a firmware revision was available. I updated to 5.0.608834, and . . . . no change to the USB behavior whatsoever. At least nothing that I am able to notice.

Immediately after the update, the amp re-connected to my WiFi and displayed the media server with no problems. However, on my next attempt to play music from the media server just a couple hours later, it was the familiar situation of no USB, no media server, and the perpetual waveform animation of "looking for media server."

My workaround -- toggling the IPv6 selector -- continues to work. Its literally less than 5 seconds, every time, that the media server becomes visible after the IPv6 toggling.

FWIW, the firmware update notes did highlight improved USB media server discovery as one of the impacted functions. Well, not improved enough for me.

EDIT: even when the media server wasn't visible, all three of my Wiim devices were able to play content from the server that was still in their play "qeue" that was originally started when the server was visible. Three different artists playing without problems on a Mini, Pro+ and Amp. Its fascinating and frustrating that the actual network connections are obviously there, functioning without problems, yet the media server and its contents cannot be seen/browsed.

QUESTION: did others also receive the 5.0.608834 update today? I'm curios if this was pushed just to a limited group, or all amps worldwide.
 
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Inertiaman said:
QUESTION: did others also received the 5.0.608834 update today? I'm curios if this was pushed just to a limited group, or all amps worldwide.
Click to expand...

608834 is a regular update.

Update : 5.0.608834

Wiim amp update. 😊 Edit : There is a possibility that there will be no sound from the subwoofer after the update. In that case, Please try the following: 1. Turn off the power of Subwoofer 2. Unplug the WiiM amp power cable (3. Unplug the subwoofer cable) (4. Connect the subwoofer cable) 5...
forum.wiimhome.com forum.wiimhome.com
 
Wiimer said:
608834 is a regular update.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I was sort of expecting that. It makes me wonder what was the point of soliciting my MAC and UUID values? Obviously they weren't necessary for me to update. I initially thought perhaps they were pushing a beta update to me to verify a fix. But it was neither a beta update or a fix.

Pretty much all of Wiim's communication in my ticket thread have been benign, boilerplate-style non-messages that leave me wondering if anyone is even reading my replies. Like when I tell them I am on rev x, they reply telling me to update to rev X . . . uh, I just told you I was on that rev!?!?
 
Inertiaman said:
My workaround -- toggling the IPv6 selector -- continues to work. Its literally less than 5 seconds, every time, that the media server becomes visible after the IPv6 toggling.
Click to expand...
I don't know if this helps solve the issue, but have you tried turning off IPv6 in your router's settings?
 
Wiimer said:
I don't know if this helps solve the issue, but have you tried turning off IPv6 in your router's settings?
Click to expand...
I'll try, but I actually don't think this issue has anything to do with IPv6 vs IPv4. My sense is that there is an unrelated origin problem. The IPv6 selection is simply providing a convenient means of resetting/refreshing the media server's networking s/w.
 
So with the new firmware and the latest iOS app update v2.8.7 the problems with my large music collection 85,000+ tracks on my external usb ssd has been solved.

Works very well now with a cache within the mobile app so shows music very quickly with good search capabilities
 
My router had IPv6 disabled by default. So I enabled it for the past 12 hours, and the USB discovery behavior didn't change. Still impossible to find the media server, but toggling the IPv6 setting on the amp as a workaround still works (the USB is then immediately found/seen), regardless of whether the router has v6 enabled or not.
 
Inertiaman said:
My router had IPv6 disabled by default. So I enabled it for the past 12 hours, and the USB discovery behavior didn't change. Still impossible to find the media server, but toggling the IPv6 setting on the amp as a workaround still works (the USB is then immediately found/seen), regardless of whether the router has v6 enabled or not.
Click to expand...
I had an issue with a Naim QB2 speaker disappearing from the Naim control app – even though the speaker could be accessed and played via other devices on the network, like your Wiim USB server. I never really got to the bottom of the Naim issue (read: Naim Support gave up without a diagnosis or fix) but a consistent factual pattern was that the disappearance happened after other Upnp apps/devices were connected to the QB2 (eg Tidal Connect or LMS Upnp Bridge), and - the disappearance would not happen for weeks on end if those other upnp apps were not used with the QB2. And I am wondering (*commencing wild and uninformed speculation*) if perhaps some micro-device with an IP address in the Wiim USB circuit is losing its address from some external interaction, then having it reset via the IPV6 switch toggle? (Or not.) Given that all the other Amp/USB users here no longer seem to be having the same issues, it does suggest something unobvious in your set-up might be contributing.
 
Inertiaman said:
My workaround -- toggling the IPv6 selector -- continues to work. Its literally less than 5 seconds, every time, that the media server becomes visible after the IPv6 toggling.
Click to expand...
Might be too obvious, but did you mention this workaround in your conversation with WiiM?

spacegrass said:
And I am wondering (*commencing wild and uninformed speculation*) if perhaps some micro-device with an IP address in the Wiim USB circuit is losing its address from some external interaction, then having it reset via the IPV6 switch toggle? (Or not.)
Click to expand...
I think (or at least hope) that we can rule this out. IP addresses don't appear out of nothing (and if DHCP is in use should certainly be visible in the router's admin GUI). We have been able to verify that the embedded DLNA server does not carry an IP address different to the one of the Amp. I also think we can rule out any correlation with the file system used on the USB thumb drive by now.

From postings here an over at ASR I grew learn that Inertiaman is clearly highly experienced and educated regarding audio and technical stuff in general. It's close to impossible he's simply missing a point everybody else is doing right. There could (in theory) be the one magic setting in his setup that's different from anybody else's setup just because it's correct and he knows better than the rest of us. Possible, but not likely.

Personally I still wonder if this is rather a matter of the WiiM Home App than the WiiM Amp. @Inertiaman, sorry if I had asked this question before, but did you try a 3rd party app like BubbleUPnP to connect to the WiiM UPnP server and stream to the WiiM Amp as a source?

This is what I'm doing right now. It's working for me, but then again USB through the WiiM Home Appm is working rock solid for me, anyway (now).

The intention of my question is clear, I hope: If playing from the WiiM UPnP server to the WiiM Amp.usingba 3rd party app is possible, then the problem must be with the app (on that particular hardware and/or software).
 
harkpabst said:
Might be too obvious, but did you mention this workaround in your conversation with WiiM?
Click to expand...
Yes, I provided a detailed explanation of the IPv6 toggling workaround. I hope that detailed examples like that would be helpful to someone trying to debug this, but I've received little/no confirmation or acknowledgement from Wiim that they are even reading my statements, let alone using the information.
harkpabst said:
I think (or at least hope) that we can rule this out. IP addresses don't appear out of nothing (and if DHCP is in use should certainly be visible in the router's admin GUI). We have been able to verify that the embedded DLNA server does not carry an IP address different to the one of the Amp. I also think we can rule out any correlation with the file system used on the USB thumb drive by now.

From postings here an over at ASR I grew learn that Inertiaman is clearly highly experienced and educated regarding audio and technical stuff in general. It's close to impossible he's simply missing a point everybody else is doing right. There could (in theory) be the one magic setting in his setup that's different from anybody else's setup just because it's correct and he knows better than the rest of us. Possible, but not likely.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the confidence but not sure I deserve it! :) I'm definitely no IT wiz, but have basic context and aptitude to at least approach things rationally. I do have a little debug background, unrelated to networking, but the concepts still apply (isolate the fault, change one variable at a time, etc).
My router setup has total default from-the-factory settings. I think my Wiim media server setup *should* work out of the box, since my network system is pretty mainstream: Netgear router, no third party firewall or other weird stuff, Pixel phone(s), etc, etc. That said, I recognize that networks are finicky beasts, and I wouldn't doubt that one little configuration detail in Android, or the router, or the Wiim app could throw things off. I just wish Wiim could find it!
harkpabst said:
Personally I still wonder if this is rather a matter of the WiiM Home App than the WiiM Amp. @Inertiaman, sorry if I had asked this question before, but did you try a 3rd party app like BubbleUPnP to connect to the WiiM UPnP server and stream to the WiiM Amp as a source?

This is what I'm doing right now. It's working for me, but then again USB through the WiiM Home Appm is working rock solid for me, anyway (now).

The intention of my question is clear, I hope: If playing from the WiiM UPnP server to the WiiM Amp.usingba 3rd party app is possible, then the problem must be with the app (on that particular hardware and/or software).
Click to expand...
I tend to agree that it may well be an App issue. I have noted in the past that I was able to use VLC to find the Wiim media server even when the Wiim App could not, and even play that content to the Amp as a renderer selected from VLC. I've also share those examples on my Wiim ticket, fwiw. But recently I haven't been using VLC in the interest of keeping the network simpler and minimizing other potential disrupters.

The IPv6 toggling thing + the ability to find the media server from third party apps is a pretty strong scenario to provide context for Wiim, I would think. I've been playing with a handful of configuration options on my router (one change at a time) and had some change of behavior, but its really hard to correlate if the USB server shows up due to a change I made, or just because its intermittent/temperamental nature decided to light it up.
 
Inertiaman said:
Yes, I provided a detailed explanation of the IPv6 toggling workaround. I hope that detailed examples like that would be helpful to someone trying to debug this, but I've received little/no confirmation or acknowledgement from Wiim that they are even reading my statements, let alone using the information.

Thanks for the confidence but not sure I deserve it! :) I'm definitely no IT wiz, but have basic context and aptitude to at least approach things rationally. I do have a little debug background, unrelated to networking, but the concepts still apply (isolate the fault, change one variable at a time, etc).
My router setup has total default from-the-factory settings. I think my Wiim media server setup *should* work out of the box, since my network system is pretty mainstream: Netgear router, no third party firewall or other weird stuff, Pixel phone(s), etc, etc. That said, I recognize that networks are finicky beasts, and I wouldn't doubt that one little configuration detail in Android, or the router, or the Wiim app could throw things off. I just wish Wiim could find it!

I tend to agree that it may well be an App issue. I have noted in the past that I was able to use VLC to find the Wiim media server even when the Wiim App could not, and even play that content to the Amp as a renderer selected from VLC. I've also share those examples on my Wiim ticket, fwiw. But recently I haven't been using VLC in the interest of keeping the network simpler and minimizing other potential disrupters.

The IPv6 toggling thing + the ability to find the media server from third party apps is a pretty strong scenario to provide context for Wiim, I would think. I've been playing with a handful of configuration options on my router (one change at a time) and had some change of behavior, but its really hard to correlate if the USB server shows up due to a change I made, or just because its intermittent/temperamental nature decided to light it up.
Click to expand...
Hi Inertiaman,

We appreciate your patience and for alerting us to your concerns. Could you please provide your ticket numbers? I'll coordinate with our team to address your issues promptly. Thank you for your cooperation.
 
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