HM not connecting to network


 

Nathan J

New member
So I had my build go really smoothly and everything was working as designed. I did a test cook and shortly after the HM stopped connecting to the network. I thought it was a bad edimax adapter, so I bought a new one. Now I can't get any connection to the HM on my network.

On the initial build, I could see the HM Wifi on my phone, which I then connected to and finished the set up. I have tried resetting the configuration through the HM and I also tried re-writing the program on the memory card. No matter what I do to try to "start fresh" again, I am having no luck.

I was hoping that connecting through a hard wired ethernet connection on the raspberry Pi would be a straight forward approach to setting it up, but that didn't help.


My next plan is to hook up the HDMI and a USB keyboard to see what I can find, but I am not sure exactly what to look for. Anyone have any advice?
 
I can only guess at what you have going on really.... but sounds like on initial power up you connected to the HM with your phone while the HM was still in Access Point mode. Then you configured your WiFi to client mode to connect to your wifi router, at which point you can no longer connect directly to the HM via wifi (unless you change the WiFI config back to AP mode)

IDK if when you said you "connected and finished the setup" that means you connected the HM to the Wifi in client mode, or did you leave the HM in AP mode?

As for the wired LAN, you would need to connect to the rPi LAN with a computer that has an IP in the same subnet as the default HM IP. It's been a while for me, I can't remember the exact IP number, but it was slightly different than most home network IP schemes, so you might have to take a wired LAN device and setup the IP to match the HM IP group and then try to connect. Once connected change the LAN IP to be in the block of IP's similar to your home network and if you have to use the wired LAN connection again you wouldnt have this trouble.

I'm pretty sure in the HM WiKi it must detail what the default IP on the wired LAN of the HM is, so you should look there for that into. Also, as for not being able to reset to the default settings...The HM board itself makes a backup of the config, and will restore it up first boot if need be. When you re-image the SD card it does NOT erase this backup, so a fresh image does no good in this regard, the HM will still restore your old config (and non working network config) when it boots. To prevent this you would have to use the "No Restore" option on the SD card after you image it. Check the WiKi for info on that too...
 
Thank you!

I followed the "No Restore" option from the wiki and that has got me back to at least the starting point where I can gain access.

I ran out of time last night, but I had a weird issue where it seemed like my computer and phone would disconnect during the wifi set up process (following https://github.com/CapnBry/HeaterMeter/wiki/HeaterMeter-4.x-Software ).

Should I have the HM connected to my router with an ethernet cable along with the Wifi adapter to set up Wifi? Up until this point, I have only used the wifi adapter to do the initial set up.
 
Originally you had to have the wired LAN and the wifi connected to configure the HM, more recently Bryan made the WIFI be in Access Point mode at first boot so you can connect to HM WIFI right away (directly) and you should be able to reconfigure your HM WIFI to Client mode and connect to your WIFI network. If that doesnt go well you can use the wired LAN to connect and poke around.
 
Does it automatically switch modes once I connect to my home wifi? Or are there options in the advanced menus which allow you to use it as an AP vs Client mode?
 
Not only does it not automatically switch between cleint and AP mode, it kinda gets temperamental at times when you tell it to! LOL IDK if that has been smoothed out or not with the Edimax. My Comfast WiFi adapter works great in AP or Client mode, can switch between etc.... oh, and yes... if you got to Config, Network, WiFi, and click EDIT on the wifi device (radio) in there under Interface Configuration/Mode you can choose from Client Mode, AP Mode etc.
 
Lol, thanks for the heads up.


I'm just trying to set it up to run consistently...I'll have to try setting the WiFi one more time into client mode. If not, will running it hardwired be a more straight forward approach for consistency?
 
Perhaps you misunderstood me... The Edimax is a solid device with the HM, so after you get it connected to your WiFi router and all the settings dialed in you should be good, it will connect back easily and stay connected etc.
If you happen to want to have your HM be able to alternate between client mode (connected to your home wifi) to Access point mode (away from home, say camping or at a BBQ competition etc) then you might end up frustrated with the Edimax... Like I said, not SURE that hasn't been fixed, but it had been an issue...
I know someone posted that they use two different WIFi dongles, with one setup for client mode and the other setup for Access Point mode, depending on what WiFI dongle they plug in the HM boots up and works in that mode. Not a bad solution seeing how I paid $3 for my Comfast WiFi and the Edimax is $5-$10.....
 
Ahh, I didn't think of cooks away from home.

What's the model number for your adapter?

To be sure I understand this correctly, the HM will boot and adjust settings based on the WiFi adapter plugged in? No requirement to go into the configuration setup to adjust anything?
 
I'm using a Comfast CF-WU715N with the RALink 5370 chipset. The 5370 has been a pretty solid chipset in my experience, though I recall someone having issues with a model that had an external antenna.
If you want to connect your HM to your home wifi and and have it reliably reconnect, and have an Edimax already, then you're fine. Set and forget, should be pretty rock solid in my experience.
If you want to have AP mode options and experiment more with the HM network connections check out a 5370 device... and report back the proper recipe if you nail it down! I don't really need this function so I haven't explored very far... From what I've read the AP Mode on first boot has been working pretty swift with the Edimax and the latest software release.
 
For what it's worth, I've had equally good results with Edimax EW-7811UnR2 and EDUP EP-N8531. Both purchased from Amazon.
 
Always good to see model numbers of stuff that works good, thanks for posting. Do you use them in client mode, Access Point mode, both?
 
Always good to see model numbers of stuff that works good, thanks for posting. Do you use them in client mode, Access Point mode, both?

Purely in client mode to connect to my household router. I haven't yet tried Access Point mode.
 
New issue I'm trying to figure out...it seems like the HM times out on the network. The blue light in the edimax goes solid blue and the Web interface becomes non responsive. Seems to happen on the hard wired connection too.

Other devices on the network seem to be fine...gonna have to keep working on this in the morning.
 
So if I unplug the usb wireless adapter and immediately plug it back in, the HM will come back online. No need to to reboot the HM.

Wonder if this is an issue with the rPi.
 
I seem to remember something about bent pins on the USB header from some wifi dongles, think that was on the rPi A+ though.
It could be a result of you jostling around the boards physically too, the reason it comes back to life. Perhaps the SD Card isn't seated well? Or the rPi isnt seated well on the HM board? Or the ATMega isn't seated well or needs some solder touch up on the socket? You would think since the linkmeter and wifi stuff is all on the rPi the HM board would be out of that loop, but I've had experience where (after I dropped my HM pretty hard) I started having the same sort of network issues as you, sometimes wifi connects, others you might need to reboot, swap the USB port the wifi is in etc to get it connected. After pulling the HM apart, reseating the ATMega, the SD Card and putting things back together the problem went away. I think there is a point where if communication between the rPi and ATMega is not getting through reliably linkmeter gets hung up and drops or doesn't make the network connection. This is just speculation on my part.
 
I have been searching and that seems to be the most common culprit. I was constantly in and out of it while troubleshooting. I've got a pork butt on the UDS now but after this cook I'll probably pull everything a part and try to do a clean sweep to get everything happy again.

Besides not keeping the connection for longer than A few minutes at a time....it's been great!
 
Looks like the connection issue was indeed related to the parts not being fully seated. I need to do more testing to be sure, but it appears that it is keeping a solid connection.

1st cook went great! Thanks to everyone, especially RalphTrimble, for helping to troubleshoot!
 
I hadn't used my wireless in forever (lost the dongle, woops), finally got around to fixing it. It was being goofy, figured it was because I had so long for a firmware upgrade (AVR and openwrt) I just saved my config URL and did a full reset from the HM button, Bryan had mentioned that in one thread.

Here's the thread where Bryan describes having two separate interfaces and having one in AP mode, one in client, by using mac addresses in the profile.

http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?52778-Extra-meat-probes&p=588369&viewfull=1#post588369

Good to go now, wireless works once again. And I can go AP mode and take this baby on the road
 

 

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