maestro no radio shown

Bill

When I start up my Maestro/6500, the 6500 will not appear in the the Maestro Panel so I cannot connect too it. It did work when I received the Maestro. It's running Ver 1.8.4 and wasn't exposed to ver 1.8.3. I can run the 6500 via the computer. The Maestro connects to the wireless system with no problem but at the next stage where it ought to find the radio, all I have is a grey panel with nothing in it. I have tried changing Network leads etc. It's just the Maestro connected to the 6500. Any Ideas? I am beginning to regret my investment in the Maestro front end.
Bill

G4NRT

I would suggest that the very first thing that you should do is to plug an ethernet cable direct from the Maestro to the Radio.  If that works then you have a network issue and you can troubleshoot that.

David G4NRT

Duane_AC5AA

You might also try disabling your computer's firewall for a brief time to see if that makes a difference.

Mike va3mw

If it works wired, then it is an issue on your access point. Make sure you were not connected to the guest network and there may be a setting regarding the sharing of client information. You need to have that allowed otherwise Wi-Fi clients will not see other Wi-Fi clients and that is exactly what you need to do for the maestro to work Mike va3mw

Bill

All I am doing at the moment is to hard wire the Network from the Maestro to the 6500. The radio is on the Maestro and is connected to my own Network for updates and that is working. What the problem is is when wired via a CAT 5 cable from the Maestro to the Flex 6500, the Maestro cannot see the radio. It doesn't matter which order I switch everything on - I've tried all combinations. It still cannot see the Rig from the Maestro. I have tried using other network cables rather than the one that came with the Maestro to see if that was the problem but it makes no difference.
If I take the Maestro out of the system and go back to running the 6500 via my computer and that is hard wired with the  same cable that was plugged into the Maestro, it all works fine as it should.
Bill

Cal N3CAL

Have you tried cycling power on your 6500 while connected to the Maestro?  I would power off (shutdown) the 6500 and remove external power,  then power it back on with it connected directly to the Maestro.

Cal/N3CAL 

Bill

Hello Cal, Yes, I have done that and have just tried it again but it makes no difference. One thing I have noticed is there are no network lights showing on the back of the Maestro panel at the CAT 5 connector. I would have thought that the green light would have been flashing when the data was being sent/received on the port. As I've said, everything works fine with the 6500 running with the computer as I always did before getting the Maestro and that is using the same lead as I am using with Maestro. All I do is change it over. 
Bill

Bill

Just to let you know that I have just removed the power adaptor that came with the Maestro and connected it to my 12 DC Battery pack. the Maestro has now recognised the Radio and it started after a fashion. What is now happening is the Maestro screen shows the 2 Power/Signal Strength etc Meter combinations, no Waterfall display and some audio noise that sounds as if it is receiving something with a narrow bandwidth setting. The audio is cycling sounding some noise for a few seconds and then it seems to reset very quickly and then restart the noise. Nothing else on the display. Bill

Mike va3mw

Bill

Please boot it without the battery and with external 12v only.

Mike

Bill

Hello Mike,
I have done that but nothing has changed. I am stuck with the Maestro screen showing a black panel with the 2 Slice meters with one at the top left and the other top right. The RF Pwr control will work and I can vary this and the value will show in Red between the two 'meters. There is a upside down V at the bottom of the screen. The Menu button works but I can't load Memories etc. A <display button appears in the bottom left hand corner and that will take me to the panel that lets me select the screen display but that's as far as it goes. About every 10 or 15 seconds, the 6500 does some clicking as if Relays are being enabled/disabled.
The Maestro seems to boot up correctly but ends up as shown above. I am using Ver 1.8.4.18 of the software and I  select this and then Run. Unfortunately, that's as far as I get. 
The 6500 works fine when I run it with my computer as I did before getting the Maestro. I am a big supporter of Flex products but I am really beginning to regret buying the Maestro. Bill 

Mike va3mw

Hi Bill

It might be time to open a support case and let the experts jump in.

Mike

[Deleted User]

Every time I had that problem I noticed a funky IP address. I had to turn off router connected to internet. Shut off Flex and Maestro and restart everything. It took me 20 minutes one morning to get it to connect right. Im starting to regret it too.

Bill

I've just opened a ticket with support. If it went on like this, I would go for a refund for the Maestro as at the moment, it's not reliable. I could understand problems possibly if I was using a wireless link but the Maestro is hard wired via a CAT 5 cable to the 6500. There is wireless on the Maestro but it's not being used for the rig connection. Bill

dlwarnberg

I do not have a maestro but thinking about this if you plug the maestro directly to the radio how are IP addresses assigned?  Normally one would need either to connect to a DHCP system (your router) or hand enter a valid IP address and subnet mask to for the two devices to be able to talk to each other, unless the device has the ability to self assign an IP.. Another thought, not sure a standard either net cable would work with a direct connect.. I'm not sure but I believe the send and receive pair in the cable are different so you would need what they call a crossover cable.  If I'm not mistaken the orange / orange white and green / green white are the pairs in question.

Just a thought

David

Mike va3mw

Hi Bill

I have seen your same error, but only when I have bandwidth issues operating remote.  My thought is is it possible you may have a bandwidth issue through your switch or even a bad lan cable?   I have had a port go bad on a switch once (possibly corrosion on the RF45?).  

Hardware does have issues, and yes it is possible that it might be the LAN connection on the Maestro, but I am just guessing of course.

Is there anything else you can change just to see if the symptoms change?

Mike

dlwarnberg

just love spell checker... that "ethernet cable"

Bill

Hello Mike,
I have changed and tried 4 different LAN cables and it doesn't make any difference. The original cable that came with the Maestro works and I have used it when I link the 6500 directly to the Computer that I was and using at the moment and it all works well. I also tested all of the cables I tried using my network cable tester.
I do now have a ticket open with Flex and I do hope that I can sort the problem out. Thanks again, Bill

Mike va3mw

Hi Bill  

I know it is a PITA but it will help out the guys when they reach out to you.   The more you eliminate, the more you get closer to the solution.

Mike

EA4GLI

I am not sure if this might solve it but try to leave the Maestro plugged to a 12v source for an hour or two and then try to connect. I think there are issues with the Maestro if the internal battery is not charged.

Bill

I had that problem when I first got the Maestro but it's now fully charged. I left it connected for around 12 hours to make sure. Thanks for all of your help. Bill

Tim - W4TME

All FLEX-6000 products uses a link-local mechanism as the fall-back when a DHCP server is not available to assign an IP address.  This process is also referred to as Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link-local_address

Bill

Thanks for all of your help but it's now fixed. I raised a ticket with Dudley and with the usual Flex service, he came back to me with something to try very quickly. What he suggested and it worked was to turn off the Wireless Connectivity and restart everything but only with a wired connection. After a couple of tries, it all started to work as it should. I have restarted the system a number of times through the day and it has worked every time. I have now reconnected the wireless network and again, restarted the system a number of times and it all works as it should. I wasn't using the WiFi for a connection but only to watch for updates to the software. It looks as if the 2 networks were conflicting with each other. Dudley referred to it as resetting the system.  Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. 73, Bill - G4ERV

G4NRT

I am very glad that it is all working Bill!  I think that we met at ML&S when I was singing the praises of the Maestro!  

David G4NRT