Kinsky iPhone discovery issues, works after using PlugPlayer

[macrotech]

(2012-04-03 20:50)sofa Wrote:  

(2011-12-16 22:23)Json Wrote:  Hi,

I have a somewhat interesting problem that began fairly recently.

When I start Kinsky on my iPhone it can't seem to find my KDS or my music library.
But if I start PlugPlayer, also on the iPhone (it has no problems finding KDS or the library) and then go back to Kinsky,
the KDS and the library show up there as well, and Kinsky becomes fully functional.

+1

Me too

[ReneZ]

+1 on iPod

[Jazz59]

(2012-04-04 08:40)macrotech Wrote:  

(2012-04-03 20:50)sofa Wrote:  

(2011-12-16 22:23)Json Wrote:  Hi,

I have a somewhat interesting problem that began fairly recently.

When I start Kinsky on my iPhone it can't seem to find my KDS or my music library.
But if I start PlugPlayer, also on the iPhone (it has no problems finding KDS or the library) and then go back to Kinsky,
the KDS and the library show up there as well, and Kinsky becomes fully functional.

+1

Me too

+1 on new iPad.

[avalon]

(2012-04-06 16:33)Jazz59 Wrote:  

(2012-04-04 08:40)macrotech Wrote:  

(2012-04-03 20:50)sofa Wrote:  

(2011-12-16 22:23)Json Wrote:  Hi,

I have a somewhat interesting problem that began fairly recently.

When I start Kinsky on my iPhone it can't seem to find my KDS or my music library.
But if I start PlugPlayer, also on the iPhone (it has no problems finding KDS or the library) and then go back to Kinsky,
the KDS and the library show up there as well, and Kinsky becomes fully functional.

+1

Me too

+1 on new iPad.

Yes sir me too on iPhone.....what's going on?

[Briain]

Hi

I've been in contact with David at Linn and the problem is that it isn't happening to any of their systems. David informed me how to get a log of the Kinsky events for each startup process, so I sent a few examples (of failed ones) to him on Friday.

In addition, I have been doing a few tests to see if I can help narrow things down a bit, and though it's too early to tell if I've fixed it, it is all working at the moment and thus I thought I'd type up what I've been up to (so hopefully someone else can join in with some tests). If you want to try this bit aren't interested in the history and thinking behind it, you can ignore all the below text and just scroll down to the blue section near the end of this post. Please help by reporting back with your findings such that I can verify if this is a solution to the issue (or not).

So where I've got to thus far:

Reliably Producing the problem

I could very reliably create this issue by doing the following:

Fully closing Kinsky (double click home button and close all apps in the pop-up task bar).
Sleep the iPad for 30 minutes
Start Kinsky

After doing the above, Kinsky was finding no devices (and no Twonky).

My thinkings

So I remembered a conversation I had about a month ago about a totally unrelated subject (actually with chap who used to work at Linn) and he told me he'd read about a case where iPad and iPhone issues on a corporate network (in the USA) and that these devices had been banned by the IT chaps as they were causing problems with the network (he thought they were flooding it with something). He'd also heard that they could be improved by setting the iPad screen back-light to full brightness and only using WPA2, but he really couldn't remember the details of the issue. I have searched for more info, but I just can't find that report, however, I have found posts (and an official Apple knowledge base paper) stating that wireless connectivity issues do exist and can be changed by setting screen brightness to full (how bizarre is that). Well I've never had any issues connecting to wifi, but it got me wondering if this could be something that Apple have addressed in the latest iOS update (when my Kinsky problems appeared) and inadvertently broken something else (delaying discovery) so I decided to try a few experiments.

My plan was to try different WAP's, routers and Twonky versions, but first, I thought it would be good to try 5 GHz (on my existing network) as that's a lot less cluttered than the 2.4G band. I have looked at 2.4 GHz band using my spectrum analyser, and I've not spotted any nefarious signals, but I decided to move the iPad to the 5 GHz band anyway (as part of eliminating yet another potential variable). I did that be creating a second SSID and restricting it to the 5 GHz radio in my WAP. After creating it, I went into the iPad settings and told it to forget my existing network, then I joined the new one, and that's where the fun started! I noticed that though it had connected to the 5G radio, it also showed the existing 2.4G SSID as ticked (implying it was still connected) which doesn't seem right. I disabled wifi on the iPad then re-enabled it a few secomds later, and it then showed only the correct one as being active (i.e. the 5G one). I then tested Kinsky in the way I had been (which always caused a problem) and to my very great surprise, it worked!

Unfortunately, I did have another variable in that I accidentally kicked off a Twonky database rebuild in my NAS (via an RPC call in a bookmark; I was fizzing as I really wanted to test one thing at a time), so I decided to forget the 5G network, reconnect to the standard 2.4G one and see if the fault returned (as I expected). I've only had it running a few hours, but thus far, Kinsky has behaved 100% perfectly. Of course, like any theory, it can only be debunked when a flaw is found (when Kinsky doesn't work) and to be honest, that's really what I'm expecting to happen; if so, I'll progress my investigation into the other areas and update this post when I've found out what's causing the problem.

In the interim, it would be useful if someone else could try the below steps and see if it helps (or not) and feed back the information (as that will speed up the debunking process).

Suggested steps to fix things (note that you'll need your wifi password)

Open your iPad (or iPhone) settings page
Tap the Wi-Fi section
Tap the blue arrow at the right of your connection
Use the top button to 'forget this network'
Go back a page and switch the wifi off (top right button)
Turn the wifi back on after a few seconds
Select your network and join it again (you will need to enter your wireless password)

If there's still a problem

I'm not sure if this will help (as I'm still trying to establish exactly what's happening), but if you are using a dual band wireless router (or dual band WAP) and the above has not helped, you could try disabling one of the radios as that's another area where there might be an issue with the iThings (I'll test that one more fully over the next week). Out of the two radios available, you're probably be best disabling the 5G one unless you are only using devices that have both bands and also if range isn't a problem (the 5G system doesn't get as far as the 2.4G one). If everything does have dual band capabilities (and if your signal is excellent) then 5G is a really good band to use as there's far less competition for space on it (and no DECT phones, no baby alarms, no microwave ovens) so you could use that band instead. Most folks won't be in that category as many devices (other than iThings) are single band (2.4G only).

Footnote (my caveat to fall back on and save me getting a red face)

As I say, it really is far too soon to tell if this works and thus it might all be a total red herring, so I'll update this post later with a progress report (or sooner if it starts acting up again).

Bri

[avalon]

Hi Brian,
Good for you, Linn should pay you to be their emissary as at the moment they could do with one. I will give this a try and as I am going up tonight to my Friends house for a few drinks I will do the same in his house, they have 2 iPhone 4s and iPad 2 and I have iPad 2 and iPhone 3GS.
I have a sonos system now as well Brian and well it's better than it should be at the price, but they launched new updates this week for both devices for bug fixes, one of them stated as freezing, which is something my kinsky does.
Well I hope you are onto something Brian.

I suppose I should say for David's benefit I and my friends are having these problems and I saw the same thing happening at my dealers, so we are not imagining it....


Avalon

[Briain]

Hi

Thanks for offering to help! The hassle is that it takes so long to test as when I tried the latest nightly build of Kinsky, it all looked okay (then the old problems came back after a few more tests) so it will help debunk the above if you try it and it makes no difference. I'd be surprised if this is a fix - life is never that simple - but I did observe that odd behaviour (not forgetting the network) and there are these other issues (which Apple might have 'fixed' in the update) so you never know!

More important than any of that, though; enjoy the drinks!!

[avalon]

And the music..... Taxis here

[Briain]

Well I've tested it (over the past 4 hours) by fully closing Kinsky, sleeping the iPad, then starting it 30 to 40 minutes later (so that's quite a few cycles) and it's discovered everything every time (and been quick to do so). I guess it could be that the iOS update has put the cached wireless networks into some sort of 'odd' state and that deauthenticating, then stopping and startint wifi, and re-associating (with the wirless password; just as if setting up on a completely new wireless network) has somehow cleared the issue (though as I type that, it does sound just a little farfetched). I would be a little surprised if it were quite that easy, and it's still too early to say that it's actually fixed, but I must admit that it is starting to look mildly promising (famous last words).

I've just rebooted everything and will leave the NAS to hibernate the disks, then I'll fire up Kinsky tomorrow morning, see what it finds, then report back. To be honest, I'm fully expecting the issues to reemerge, but I am a staunch pessimist (though I'd call it realism). Of course, another difference (from most users) is that I'm using the latest nightly build of Kinsky from the OSS site, but that was just as problematical as the released version from the Apple market, so I'd expect that to be irrelevent.

As the famous saying goes, only time will tell!

[To be a Rock and not a Roll]

Could be completely unrelated but here goes....

I had major issues when I 1st started using Kinsky on my IPad 2, I disabled one of my wifi connections so it only points to a single valid wifi ( net gear extension in my listening room )
Even without fixing my IP's it totally solved my issues.
I would go as far as to say it's robust Jesus I wished I'd never typed that

However I have never updated the IOS on my IPad and now having read this stuff I have no plans to either