I've had a Roberts Stream 205 connected by category 5 cable to an Ethernet port on my BT Home Hub 3 for some time and had no problems with streaming radio over this link.

 

However, after a small unrelated change I made to the Home Hub set-up, I now find that when I switch the radio on first thing in the morning it will not connect over the link.

When this happens, the radio produces an error report saying that DHCP service (Presumably from the HH3)  is not available and, when I delve further into it, a data screen from the radios system settings shows an incorrect IP address for itself (169.254.136.255), it should be 192.168.X.X and that the radio has no entry for the  internet Gateway, Primary and secondary DNS services. (169.254.136.255 turns out to be some team chat forum in the States, which I've never been a member of.  Euh ?)

 

The change I made was to set the power save function on HH3 to 24 hour continuous operation. This I understand completely turns off the 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi wireless as well as putting the HH3 in a low power mode. This was done because I suspected that the 2.4 Ghz was conflicting with a newly purchased 5 Ghz Wi-Fi radio (BT 600 Wi-Fi) operating in the same room (And it excludes the BT FON service running off the hub).

 

I should also say that I turn the HH3 off at night for security and power saving reasons.

 

From limited testing I've done, it appears that that Stream 205, even after itself being turned off and on again,  is happy to connect to the HH3 and internet  whilst the HH3 is operating in Power Save mode and the radio already has the correct address data in its memory, however, as soon as the HH3 is turned off for longer than half an hour, when the HH3 and the  Stream 205 are subsequently turned on,  the radio seems to have lost its connection data from memory (Reporting no DHCP service)  and misreports its IP as this dubious 169.254.136.255, as well as having no entries for Gateway, PDNS and SDNS. The problem can be got round , on each occasion, by either turning off power save on the HH3 and re-booting the hub (Re-instating DHCP ?)  and turning the Stream 205 on or off again or manually keying-in the correct IP, Gateway, PDNS & SDNS addresses on the radio keypad, but obviously is time-consuming and bloody annoying.

 

It appears to me that the Power Save function suppresses DHCP on the HH3. I'd like to avoid this without switching off power save.

 

Is this possible ?

 

 

Cheers

 

Nick

Edited 18 February, 201511 yr by Clunkclick

Solved, after a bit of experimentation. 

 

Setting the entry for the Stream 205 in the HH3 to a static  IP address  and then altering the entry in the Stream 205 to match solves the problem. The radio then appears as a connected device on the HH3 listing and can access the internet.

 

The relevant entry location in HH3 is found in Advance Settings, Home Network. Each registered device is listed there, together with its internet connection status and IP address. All you have to do is enter the IP address which you wish to use for static purposes, click on the "Yes" radio button and then click "Apply" and then restart the HH3.  Then you have to enter the same IP address into the radio. Job done.

 

As a point of information, the static address you use doesn't have to be outside the range of addresses used for DHCP by the HH3, as is the case with other manufacturers modem/routers. The HH3 allows you to select an address within its active DHCP range and then nominate that address as static. When so set, the HH3 then ignores, for the purposes of DHCP scans,  the address you've selected as static.

 

It appears that the Power Save function on the HH3, when activated,  does something to restrict the capability of the DHCP function, which, in this case, was banjaxing the radio's ability to register as a connected device with the HH3 and make an internet connection.

 

However, the HH3 Power Save function doesn't seem to effect other devices connected to the HH3 (Desktop PC, Playbook)  and their ability to register as devices with HH3 and obtain an internet connection - I've left these other devices on DHCP and they operate fine.

 

The code scribblers fingers have escaped the piano lid, again !

 

 

Nick

 

 

Edited 20 February, 201511 yr by Clunkclick

I've had a Roberts Stream 205 connected by category 5 cable to an Ethernet port on my BT Home Hub 3 for some time and had no problems with streaming radio over this link.

 

However, after a small unrelated change I made to the Home Hub set-up, I now find that when I switch the radio on first thing in the morning it will not connect over the link.

When this happens, the radio produces an error report saying that DHCP service (Presumably from the HH3)  is not available and, when I delve further into it, a data screen from the radios system settings shows an incorrect IP address for itself (169.254.136.255), it should be 192.168.X.X and that the radio has no entry for the  internet Gateway, Primary and secondary DNS services. (169.254.136.255 turns out to be some team chat forum in the States, which I've never been a member of.  Euh ?)

 

The change I made was to set the power save function on HH3 to 24 hour continuous operation. This I understand completely turns off the 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi wireless as well as putting the HH3 in a low power mode. This was done because I suspected that the 2.4 Ghz was conflicting with a newly purchased 5 Ghz Wi-Fi radio (BT 600 Wi-Fi) operating in the same room (And it excludes the BT FON service running off the hub).

 

I should also say that I turn the HH3 off at night for security and power saving reasons.

 

From limited testing I've done, it appears that that Stream 205, even after itself being turned off and on again,  is happy to connect to the HH3 and internet  whilst the HH3 is operating in Power Save mode and the radio already has the correct address data in its memory, however, as soon as the HH3 is turned off for longer than half an hour, when the HH3 and the  Stream 205 are subsequently turned on,  the radio seems to have lost its connection data from memory (Reporting no DHCP service)  and misreports its IP as this dubious 169.254.136.255, as well as having no entries for Gateway, PDNS and SDNS. The problem can be got round , on each occasion, by either turning off power save on the HH3 and re-booting the hub (Re-instating DHCP ?)  and turning the Stream 205 on or off again or manually keying-in the correct IP, Gateway, PDNS & SDNS addresses on the radio keypad, but obviously is time-consuming and bloody annoying.

 

It appears to me that the Power Save function suppresses DHCP on the HH3. I'd like to avoid this without switching off power save.

 

Is this possible ?

 

 

Cheers

 

Nick

 

The 169.* address you reference is APIPA (automatic private IP addressing) It is used because the DHCP process did not receive a valid usable IP address. 

 

When your radio is requesting an IP your router being put into sleep mode must not be issuing this which is why you get that IP & this is why giving the device a static works well.

The interesting thing is that other DHCP run devices can connect to the internet following a HH3 re-boot when the HH3 is in Power Save mode. I presume that the OS software in the radio is substantially paired down and hasn't got the modules to make a "Push" type connection which would be necessary once the connection data in working memory disappears with the re-boot. What surprises me more is that the Playbook can !

 

 

Nick

Edited 20 February, 201511 yr by Clunkclick