Beoremote Halo cannot connect to devices

[Stan]

I bought a 2nd hand Halo for a great price, but I cannot get it to to connect any of my Beosounds. I was able to upgrade the software, and the B&O app can see and configure it. However, no matter what device or devices I tell it to control, it gets stuck on not being able to connect to the first one. I have a broad mix of devices, some wired, some not, some Mozart, some not. Although, I have not tried controlling each device individually because this requires a reset and reconfigure to get rid of the first device in the list that it cannot talk to. I have tried each class of device individually (wired vs. Mozart vs. non-Mozart).

I am running an older Netgear Orbi mesh which some here have complained about, but with fixed IP addresses for Beosounds, it has been pretty solid. I know that Unifi hardware seems to be the go to solution for networking issues, but it also seems optimized for having hardwired backhauls. Installing one or two hardwired backhauls would make my very cheap Halo quite expensive, and everything currently works (most of the time) but the Halo. I’m not against upgrading the wifi as it’s getting older and does misbehave every once in a while, but I would be looking at a mesh. My house and yard are too big for a single access point.

While this looks like a network problem, I’m used to network errors being sporadic or applicable to some devices and not others. To have all the devices, except my phone unreachable is odd (granted B&O tends to be odd in their own special way). I saw a similar post from ~1 year ago on the remotes forum where someone had this problem and was able to fix it, but the post didn’t provide much in the way of solution details. I did post my question there, but there’s even less traffic there so I thought I’d try the main forum. I’m looking for any pointers for troubleshooting or known network configuration issues.

Thanks in advance.

[NQVHNWI]

I think there is an issue with the App,

Since my beta update this week, the Halo has been unresponsive and you can’t even delete it and re-install!

Another massive leap forward in B&O App development.

[NQVHNWI]

So something to check:-

If you are running 6.0.2, the page layouts have changed. That “Explore” button leads to your account (person icon in top RHS of the screen)

Select Settings >> Products >> Select Product >> Product Settings.

You can remove any “dead” products”, etc….

1. You may find you “missing” or offline product can be connected to the local network
2. You can delete missing or offline product (or the other Halo) and do a clean re-install?

[Stan]

Are you suggesting removing all of my products from the app, and then re-adding them?  I guess I could try this. I do have 9 products so this will be kind of annoying.

I’m heading down another path at the moment.  I’m using Wireshark to look at the network traffic to maybe see what is or isn’t happening. Learning about mDns.

[NQVHNWI]

Just the Halo’s

[LeMirage]

I used to have an older wifi modem/router provided by the cable company, approx 7 years old. Whatever me and the B&O tech guy tried, we were never able to get Halo’s working stable. Once I requested a (free) router upgrade from the cable company all Halo’s worked just perfectly. Also, at least with older firmwares Halo had troubles dealing with 2.4ghz and 5ghz networks transmitting the same SSID.

[Stan]

We have a conclusion:

I installed a new router (Amplifi Alien), reset/rebooted the Halo and all my problems went away :D.  I haven’t installed the mesh node yet, but I trust ubiquiti / amplifi to have their internet stuff buttoned down.  You can buy an Alien from the Amplifi website for $199 which is less than 1/2 of what it was selling for a while ago.  Maybe this means it is reaching end of life, but I don’t think I have tremendous network requirements so this should last a while (hopefully).

My other option was to put the Orbi into Access Point mode and see if my Xfinity/Comcast router was any smarter, but I didn’t bother with this because the Amplifi router seems to be working very well.

So far, there doesn’t seem to be any need to segregate devices to different frequency bands. Time will tell.

[Stan]

Spoke too soon about the Amplifi Alien. It worked wonderfully for all of about 8 hours. Then my wife says “why is the internet so slow?”.  I check my router, and there are only a few devices connected, and my phone is getting very weak coverage standing right next to it.  I do the reboot, factory reset dance with no luck. Let it sit overnight unplugged. This morning still not working well. Support thinks maybe the wifi6 radio has “glitched”.  Fine, every once in a while you get a lemon. Better 1 day into ownership than warranty period + 1 day.

“Luckily”, I have a 2nd one that I was planning to mesh to the first. Let’s give it a try. Fires right up and we’re back in business. I have to change the DHCP address because I forgot one of my devices still has a fixed IP address. Oops. Now, I’m getting crap coverage again. What’s this “additional 5GHz radio” option. I’ll turn that on. Now we’re in business again. Must have gotten switched off somehow. Let’s get these IoT devices into their own sandbox. Oops, where did all my 2.4GHz devices go? Why can’t my wifi analyzer see any 2.4GHz signals? I’ll turn that back off, but still no 2.4GHz network. Now, the wife is complaining again, and I don’t blame her.  She’s on the far side of the house where 2.4GHz kind of works, but there’s no 2.4GHz any more.

Back to the Orbi. All devices are connected and happy again.  Even my Halo!  It must be there’s something about the Halo initialization that was getting stomped on by the router. Now that it’s initialized, no problems so far.

Now, I’m in a quandary. When the Alien worked, it really worked well. Am I just extremely unlucky? Should I have them send me a new one and say 3 strikes and you’re out or is 2 for 2 bad enough to stop wasting my time.  But if not Amplifi, then who? On the internet forums, everybody hates their router 😀 (yes, happy people tend not to post about how happy they are). Oh well.

 

[Carolpa]

what if? you set the Halo to a fixed IP address and set the Halo connection to 2.4GHz, preferable to one channel (f.e. channel 11).

note: I have no idea if your network settings make all these options available.

[Stan]

My old router doesn’t have many options with respect to setting up 2.4 vs 5 Ghz networks. One time during this diagnosis, I tried turning off the 5GHz SSID broadcast, rebooted the devices I wanted to be on 2.4GHz, then turned the 5GHz SSID back on.  The Halo went right back to 5Ghz as did some of the other devices.

The new router, when it worked, worked fine without any of these games.

Right now, the Halo is still working just fine on the old router after doing 1st time initialization on the new router. No reason to mess with success.

[Author]

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