Network instability with BT Home Hub / Time Capsule / MS200

Support
1

I am setting up my parents with Roon and a Meridian MS200. The complete system is:

Roon 1.0.30 on iMac
Meridian MS200 running firmware 163 (into DSP5200 by SL but using PSU also)
Apple TV

BT Home Hub 4 providing DHCP
Apple Time Capsule (7.6.4) as Bridge (no DHCP - I have double-checked)
A smart switch (I haven’t found out what yet, nor how it is configured)
Hard-wired throughout

It all worked while I was there two weeks ago, then I was away for a week and it stopped working immediately. :unamused:

On my return I’ve seen the instability for myself. The device drops off the Roon list and then reappears. I’ve seen this with both MS200 and AppleTV.

I’ve regained stability in the past few hours by giving the MS200 a fixed IP address. Since then the music hasn’t stopped.

My question is:

What can I do to make this network more cast-iron solid once I’ve left. For example:

  1. What Features does this hideous BT Home Hub 4 thing have which I can/should disable?
  2. What dodgy settings should I watch for when I get access to the smart switch?
  3. (Very specific) The BT Home Hub has given itself x.x.x.254 instead of x.x.x.1. That seems unusual, right? And the MS200 has a setting for Static Ethernet Gateway/Static Ethernet DNS which are both set by default to the expected x.x.x.1. Might that have been the problem when the MS200 was using DHCP? Should I force the BT Home Hub to take x.x.x.1?

Any other gotchas?

2

I would double check the manuals, but as the gateway it really should be x.x.x.1 unless there is a weird reason for it. I would go ahead and give everything a Static IP. I’ve found that Static IPs really make for a more solid foundation. I would never use DHCP on a server at work and the iMac and Apple TC are essentially functioning as servers. Yes, a bit more management/setup initially, but, when DHCP goes wonky its a pain.

Especially since you said this…

3

BT HH4 has no weird issues. I have never had to fiddle with any settings on either Roon, Sooloos or squeezebox.

.254 IP has been standard on all HHubs forever.

The issue may lie with the bridge.

Fixed IP is always sensible.

Teamviewer for parent tech support when you are away.

4

Thanks @ncpl. You mean Bridge? Or you mean the Smart Switch?

The MS200 has been stable for two days, but just now both the AppleTV (which was playing music) and the MS200 (which was silent) disappeared from the network. It took about 10 minutes for them to reappear.

Both were already set to fixed IP before this disappearance.

Ideas where to look next?.. I’m pushing the boundaries of my network experience here, but something’s not right.

5

It could be either of those. Can you remove either of them to see if there is any change? Process of elimination etc.

Has the HH4 been rebooted recently?

Has anything else joined the network recently that could be kicking stuff off ?

6

Closed due to inactivity. If you are still seeing this issue, please open a new support thread.