Wireless Networking just flat out does not work

evaughan · Fri Feb 25, 2005 8:49 pm

You must be kidding! It just isn't ground breaking to write a wireless interface these days!

I even ordered the D-Link DW-111, with the EXACT hardware revision (A1) because Roku web site said it was in production and working. Yet, it simply does not and will not work. Works fine on any other device, so it's not the wireless adapter. Bring it up, it says initializing interface, and then the dreaded " Unable to initialize WLAN0 - no DHCP address"

Then, I even updated to the 2.1 beta--destroying my built-in demo (no big deal) and dealing with some other documented limitations. Absolutely no difference. The D-Link Link light blinks rhythmically on and off, about 1 second per blink. It does that within 2-3 minutes of attaching the USB (of course you can't boot with it plugged in, or the box hangs, as also documented on this site).

Come on Roku--you have " Perfecting" in your slogan. There's nothing perfect about this! $400, 1 week later, two USB wireless cards, and nothing is working at all. What is the deal?

Anyone have any other ideas of what else to try? I am out of ideas, and there is very little else on the web site.

TIA

allyn · Fri Feb 25, 2005 10:35 pm

i've never tried using a wireless dongle with my hd1000 but you might want to get a wireless ethernet bridge (also called "gaming adapters") instead. examples include the linksys wet11 and wet54g, netgear me101, etc.

the photobridge will think it is wired. it is just an "implementation detail" that there is a wireless link between it and the rest of the network. you would also be able to share the wireless connection with other wired devices down the road instead of having to buy a wireless dongle for each one.

evaughan · Sat Feb 26, 2005 9:56 am

So you have the bridge working this way for your HD1000?

Thanks for taking the time to answer.

soiaf · Sat Feb 26, 2005 11:45 am

What is your wireless access point (what brand etc.)?
Are you using WEP?

evaughan · Sat Feb 26, 2005 2:12 pm

Linksys WAP54G. No WEP. Tried to make it very simple, Full SSID Broadcast, no WEP etc. Doesn't even appear to try to work.

Does ANYONE have the HD1000 working wirelessly without having to buy a bridge?

Jowi · Sat Feb 26, 2005 3:14 pm

evaughan,

try to enable the WEP encryption, i think it will work then.
I have changed to a Wireless/Ethernet bridge too, itÂ´s much faster.

Greets

Joachim

vj9999 · Sat Feb 26, 2005 3:47 pm

Like Jowi said, WEP is required (I'm pretty sure - I am using wired network now, but I did have mine set up on a WEP enabled network before).

http://www.rokulabs.com/support/ConfigureWiFi.pdf

evaughan · Sat Feb 26, 2005 5:33 pm

don't see that WEP is required at all in the documentation---it just says you're going to need it. Never worked with ANYTHING that required WEP.

At any rate, when I turn WEP on, it does make some progress, but the thing is unbelievably flaky (I am on 2.1). It says it connects, but shows no IP address at the top. If you go to System Information, it says it is not connected under Wireless. Then at another point, it shows an IP addess at the top, but even with an IP address at the top, System Information shows that no connection to a wireless network.

And the worst part is, it doesn't find any shares. so the whole goal of trying to share my iPhoto library is still failing.

Soundbridge works well, seems like they had different programmers working on the box. Intuitive to setup, works well with wireless, gives you good information on the wireless setup, even signal strength. These look like two different companies products.

So, with WEP enabled, I almost have a connection. Any other suggestions?

Thanks for all the input.

TheEndless · Sat Feb 26, 2005 6:01 pm

evaughan wrote:
don't see that WEP is required at all in the documentation---it just says you're going to need it. Never worked with ANYTHING that required WEP.

At any rate, when I turn WEP on, it does make some progress, but the thing is unbelievably flaky (I am on 2.1). It says it connects, but shows no IP address at the top. If you go to System Information, it says it is not connected under Wireless. Then at another point, it shows an IP addess at the top, but even with an IP address at the top, System Information shows that no connection to a wireless network.

And the worst part is, it doesn't find any shares. so the whole goal of trying to share my iPhoto library is still failing.

Soundbridge works well, seems like they had different programmers working on the box. Intuitive to setup, works well with wireless, gives you good information on the wireless setup, even signal strength. These look like two different companies products.

So, with WEP enabled, I almost have a connection. Any other suggestions?

Thanks for all the input.

Have you tried with WEP enabled under 1.5.18? 2.0 is still in beta for a reason

TheEndless

evaughan · Sat Feb 26, 2005 9:53 pm

No, is there a way to go back to 1.518? It's been beta for months, and according to the forum it is ready for prime time.

TheEndless · Sat Feb 26, 2005 9:58 pm

evaughan wrote:
No, is there a way to go back to 1.518? It's been beta for months, and according to the forum it is ready for prime time.

- Download 1.5.18 from here: http://www.rokulabs.com/support/downloa ... Update.php
- Rename it "formatup.rok"
- Copy it to a CF card
- Put the card in the Roku and reboot.

TheEndless

evaughan · Sat Feb 26, 2005 11:22 pm

Okay, bought a Wireless Bridge as people suggested. That did fix the networking problem. But the only reason I bought this box was to be able to browse and display my iPhoto pictures. I have Sharing turned on in iPhoto. I have enabled port 445 in the firewall, but the HD1000 doesn't see anything mounted. If I go to Add in the Network Shares dialog, it does have the name of the mac, and I can add a user name, but it never shows any shares at all.

Any ideas?

Why doesn't this thing just work out of the box like the Soundbridge did? With the Soundbridge, I powered it up, set the wireless name, and it sees the iTunes library just fine. Help!

soiaf · Sun Feb 27, 2005 7:15 am

I know practically nothing about iPhoto, but just did a bit of reading.
Any MAC/iPhoto experts, please feel free to correct me.

iPhoto seems to be able to do sharing of your picture library. Looking around, the relevant TCP port it uses is 8770.
But the HD1000 does not support the iPhoto method of sharing pictures, it only understands Operating System/File System directories/folders.

You would expose these type of folders to the HD1000 as SMB shares (which is where port 445 comes into play) - so you find the directory on your MAC that your photos are stored, and share out that directory (as an SMB share) - I think that the Mac refers to this as 'Windows Sharing'.

Heres another post about iPhoto and the HD1000
http://www.rokulabs.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=335

As for your original wireless issue, heres a few previous posts that might help:
http://www.rokulabs.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=142
http://www.rokulabs.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=151

evaughan · Sun Feb 27, 2005 11:16 am

I am just so amazed and thankful for people taking the time to help here.

Okay, that all makes sense. I have a Mac, but am no means a Mac guru. The SMB sharing makes sense, but I have no idea how to " SMB Share" my iPhoto library. Can anyone advise?

soiaf · Sun Feb 27, 2005 1:04 pm

Heres the link to the Roku guide for setting up sharing

http://www.rokulabs.com/support/RokuHD1000-MacSharing.pdf

Had a quick look on the net also, this seems to give plenty of extra general information about Macs and SMB, might be a bit out-of-date however.

http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2003/03/18/samba.html

Wireless Networking just flat out does not work

Wireless Networking just flat out does not work

HD1000 is working with bridge?

Mac Sharing

Who is online