My issue I’ve seen on a number of threads, so I don’t think I’m the only one, and I have yet to find a solution that fixes the problem. I’ve been fighting with this for the past several weeks, and I need to ask for help.
After each fresh install, everything works fine for about 10 minutes or so. Afterwards, when I try to connect any additional devices to the UI (via web browser, Android app, etc) the connection times out. I’m unable to connect and control the Volumio device, even though Volumio is still connected to the network, and music continues to play.
Controlling devices that remain connected in the Web UI sometimes are able to retain a connection to the UI and can control Volumio for extended periods of time. The router sees the Volumio device, and the connection is strong.
Things I’ve tried. SD Card / image:
New image, new SD card, higher capacity SD card, faster SD card, different imaging software, different extracting software, format FAT32 pre image flashing. Even tried Volumio development image. Devices:
Tried Raspberry Pi 3 A+ (with and w/o DAC) Wifi only, Raspberry Pi 2 B+ (Ethernet & Wifi Dongle with and without DAC), Raspberry Pi 4 (with ethernet and wifi), ZBox Media PC x86 with wireless. Connection:
Started with Ethernet, then connected to WiFi. Started with Wifi Hotspot & connected to home network Wifi. Ethernet only. Wifi only. DHCP automatic IP address and Static IP address. SSH to device and turned wifi power save -off in system wireless.service Power:
2.1A 5V power supply. (Occasional undervolt detected upon boot, but not common during operation) 2.5A 5V power supply. (also occasional undervolt, but less frequent. ) Router:
DHCP with assigned IP, Static IP, reboot router, reset factory settings router.
(So far DHCP with assigned IP seemed to behave slightly longer vs. Static IP) My conclusions thus far: After all these combinations, I encounter the exact same result. Works fine for 10 minutes or so, and then the UI becomes unresponsive. I’m unable to access the IP from other computers, ssh, or access the SMB mount, yet the connection to the router is still solid with a valid IP address.
I suspect there is some sort of setting within my Asus RT-AC88U router that isn’t playing nicely with the device. I do have a mesh network, could that be an issue? I do have firewalls, but nothing assigned to this IP or MAC address, (or any of the computers/devices used to control Volumio). Is there something that I’m missing? I’ve seen this subject in at least a dozen other forums, and several of those remain unresolved. I’m happy to provide logs if it’ll help. Though, I’m unable to access the /dev/ page after the UI becomes unresponsive. Sometimes I’m able to access the /dev/ page if the computer I’m using is already connected to the UI in another tab/window when the connection goes haywire.
Other devices include - Family member’s Laptop connecting to Volumio IP address via web browser, or any other computer on the network accessing the same. Also, the Android Volumio App. edit
It seems the original browser I use to connect at first seems to remain active and functional as long as I don’t close the browser. There seems to be about a 10 minute window where I can connect from different computers as well, but afterwards some of the browsers time out. In my experience if I leave one computer on with the browser open and active, I’m usually able to retain control of Volumio. However, if the browser is closed, or the computer goes to sleep, I’m unable to reconnect.
I have my router reserving an IP address for the MAC address of the Volumio device, and it seems to stick to its “assigned IP” pretty well. I had set to static in the past, and it seemed to have more issues connecting. The router “sees” the volumio device and it has a valid IP address, but other computers just cannot get a response back from the address. Does Volumio only allow 1 “parent” controlling device/webpage/application?
I just tried using the google DNS
8.8.8.8
8.8.8.4
Unfortunately the problem still exists. I’m unable to connect through another computer or phone on the network. However, I’ll have to play around a bit more and see if other DNS settings resolve the issue.
Yes, all on the same home network. I don’t know if it matters, but it is a mesh network where some of the other devices could be accessing through another router. However, I’ve directly connected to the ethernet on the same primary router with another computer and was unable to access Volumio.
Possibly a silly question, but the DNS settings, should I inputting them in the DNS settings within Volumio, or should I be changing the DNS settings on my home router? Or both?
I gave it a try yesterday, and tried a few different DNS with no luck, the problem persists. At first I thought it might have done the trick as after I rebooted Volumio I was able to connect, and immediately connected 3 devices. (2 laptops and 1 phone) Things worked well, however as each device either went to sleep, it eventually lost connection and I was unable to reconnect.
From what I’ve observed, as soon as the browser or application is terminated or suspended, the connection is unable to recover. I’m not sure where to go from here.
I’ve spent this week trying to polish the settings in my home network, and I think I might have fixed issues that have been bothering me with other devices, but my Volumio experience has still been rocky. I had Volumio up and running for about 3 hours today when suddenly the playback stopped. I checked the router, and it showed a solid connection, but I was no longer able to connect to the UI through web browser or app.
I decided to try something different, and killed the internet connection to the MAC address of the Volumio server, and to my surprise, my music started up again! It seems like a temporary solution. I’d prefer to have connection to the internet as I do enjoy using the Pandora plugin. However, using the router’s parental controls to cut the internet connection seems to be a better alternative to power-cycling the Pi.
I also checked the logs around the time of this funny business and I got something like this. Not sure if this can help diagnose what’s going on here…
I haven’t discovered a satisfactory solution as of yet. I actually had a major disruption last night and had to spend about 30 minutes trying to get my Volumio server running again.
I suspect my issue last night had something to do with my DHCP server. As soon as I removed the IP address reservation, and power cycled Volumio, I was able to get it connected to a different IP that was responsive. I then was able to setup another IP reservation on my DHCP server, and it seems to be working again.
However, I have yet to find out a method to maintain a solid connection through the UI. It seems as though after 2-3 devices connect to the UI through either web browsers or Android Apps (Family members on their smart phones) the connection breaks down and becomes unresponsive. Not so much immediately, but usually later as soon as a user opens up their browser or app, the UI is unable to connect to the Volumio server.
I discovered an update last night and ran the update to the most modern version. Hopefully that may help stability, but I’m skeptical.