Apple Airport Extreme
Bluesound Node 2i and Mini 2i
just plugged in my bluesound mini 2i after not using it for awhile and it connects to BluOS but Roon doesn’t recognize it. Although it recognizes my Node 2i. Never had this problem before. Everything is up to date.
Based on experience, replace Apple Airport Extreme with another model and brand and your life will be easier. I had multiple issues with Roon when using Apple Aiport.
I agree with Tor, Roon does not recommend using Airport Extremes as routers, but Airport Expresses can be used as endpoints. Can you test your network short-term by plugging in your Core and Node 2i into the Ethernet ocnnections on the Airport Extreme to validate if this current issue can be isolated to WiFi? Your description above does not go into much detail on the network but WiFi via the AE may be the cause.
Airport will bring issues when it is used as wifi endpoint as well - avoid at all cost when using Roon. My network did not behave in a good way (also on ethernet) when Airport was part of the system.
I verified this on my network by disconnecting it; after everything worked fine.
I have not had this problem before. I had my Pulse Mini 2i in the closet for a while. I plugged it in and it works with the BluOS. I have not had this problem either with my Node 2i. I have 2 Airport Extremes. The main one in my bedroom and the 2nd one at the other end of my apartment in the living room. There has to be some sort of troubleshooting that would fix this. The problem seems to be with Roon. Not my routers.
Brett, you mention that you have two Airport Extremes. Are these both operating as routers? If so, do you have two networks running? If so, the Mini 2i may have connected to the other network and may not be visible to the Core.
yes, they are both connected as routers. But the Pulse mini 2i has always connected to ROON with no problems. It has worked on both 5ghz and 2.4ghz without any problem. I just connected it with ethernet and ROON recognized it right away. After unplugging it now it’s gone again.
Can you provide any more information on how your networks are setup and configured? Also, can you share the IP addresses of your Roon Core, the two AE routers, and possibly the Mini and Node 2i?
My roon core is my iMac which is connected to the Airport Extreme on my desk with ethernet. AE 1 is 73.103.18.191 … AE 2 is 10.0.1.3 … I don’t know how to get the IP address of the iMac core or the Mini or the Node 2i
On your iMac with the Core, can you go from the Apple Menu to “System Preferences”, then to “Network”? Under the Ethernet or LAN connection, you should see a network address at the top right pane, this the iMac’s address (and the Core’s address). Since you are connected by Ethernet cable, I assume your iMac’s WiFi is turned off so there should not be an IP address assigned to it.
Here is is 10.0.1.6
OK, that’s a good address, and on the same network (or subnet) as the other AE, so they should be able to talk to each other. If you attach an Ethernet cable to the Node 2i or Mini and connect either or both of these to the first AE (with IP address 73.103.18.191), which also is what your iMac Core is attached to, can the Roon Core see these devices? Trying to eliminate some network variables first and ensure the Bluesound devices can be visible if they are attached to the same router.
Yes, that’s what I did earlier. The AE 2 is in at the other end of my apartment connected by ethernet to the Node 2i. When I hooked up the Mini with ethernet to the same router - that’s when it showed up in ROON. But when I unplugged it and set it on the counter where I keep it. It disappeared from ROON again.
Is it possible to connect the Mini via Ethernet to the second router and see if Roon sees it? If not then you can isolate it to either the second AE or the link between the two AEs.
Is WiFi activated in both routers? If so, maybe turn it off on the main router and leave it on only in second router and test the Mini again?
Yes. That’s what I said I tried already. And when I did - roon recognized it. Then when I unplugged it and plugged it back in using wifi roon no longer saw it. Wifi is activated in both routers. On the core app under device info it says 10.0.1.4 for the Node even though it is connected with ethernet. I managed to find the IP address for the node and the mini. The node is 10.0.1.4 and the mini is 172.16.42.5 also I have the mini set up to use the 2.4ghz for the best signal. I used to be able to use the roon app on my phone but the app on my iphone 12 pro doesn’t see roon core anymore either.
I think I understand what is happening. You are running two different IP networks that don’t communicate with each other, 10.0.x.x range and another using 172.x.x.x addressing. Devices on these separate networks by design cannot see each other which is why the Core and Remotes as well as Bluesound devices are having problems.
I am not a user of the AE and not sure how to configure it, or even it is configurable, to support a single address range over two connected AEs. It seems you may be better served by moving to a newer mesh network setup from ASUS, Netgear, or other vendors. These allow you to configure your main router as just that, a single router for the entire network, and then use both Ethernet-cabled and WiFi satellites or extenders to expand the network throughout your home. It seems a two-node system would be all you need based on how your network is configured today.
Before going there, since this was working previously, has anything changed in your network, such as moving devices around between the AEs?
No. Nothing moved
Is it possible to configure the remote AE in Bridge mode? This would eliminate the creation of a second network and would tie the two AEs together into the same network with the same IP address range.
how do you do bridge mode? I just got off the phone with apple support and turned off the 5ghz but it still didn’t fix the problem. Even when I turn on the roon iphone app it only works with my network connection. if I choose 2.4 it won’t find my core
I can’t vouch for this as again I’m not a user of an Airport Extreme, but these instructions I found on the web seem pretty consistent:
What Bridge mode does is treat the second AE as a local network device, being served by the primary AE router. It disables firewall and IP address allocation, leaving that to the AE that is the router. This should eliminate the dual addressing and dual networks you are seeing.
I recommend you keep the SSID on your WiFi the same between the AEs with the same passwords to allow you to connect consistently throughout your home.