[bmcleod]

After a couple years of living together peacefully, several months ago one of my managed UniFi switches began disconnecting from the other UI devices (making it unmanagenable). After resetting the switch and reconfiguring it several times, I stumbled across the true culprit, which was that the problem goes away when I disconnect my HS-17 from the switch.

My network is now happy, but my DTV System / Network (1 HS17, 2 C61K — wired coax), no longer has an Internet connection. Since it once worked fine, and I didn’t make any specific change when the problem started, my first thought was a firmware update to the HS17, but that’s easy to blame. I will probably open tickets with both UniFi and DTV next, but thought I’d check here for any ideas before I commit a large chunk of my otherwise blissful retired life to answering questions and troubleshooting.

Any thoughts?

 

[WestDC]

Does you HS-17 Show a wireless network? and just can not connect --or Does not see a wireless network in the menu at all? If that is the case the wireless card is DOA and your choice is to replace the unit or use a Wired Lan Connection.

 

[b4pjoe]

I'll assume the UniFi switch is wired ethernet. Have you tried plugging the HS17 into a different port on the switch?

 

[bmcleod]

I'll assume the UniFi switch is wired ethernet. Have you tried plugging the HS17 into a different port on the switch?

Yes, HS17 is wired, and I have tried a different port. I’m deleting the UniFi configuration objects for the DTS gear (naming and DHCP) next, then I’ll shut the HS17 and C61s down for a bit and get a clean start.

 

[bmcleod]

Does you HS-17 Show a wireless network? and just can not connect --or Does not see a wireless network in the menu at all? If that is the case the wireless card is DOA and your choice is to replace the unit or use a Wired Lan Connection.

I’ve never used its wireless connection, though that would bypass the switch.

 

[b4pjoe]

Yes, HS17 is wired, and I have tried a different port. I’m deleting the UniFi configuration objects for the DTS gear (naming and DHCP) next, then I’ll shut the HS17 and C61s down for a bit and get a clean start.

Maybe try using a static IP instead of DHCP and see if it makes a difference.

 

[WestDC]

I’ve never used its wireless connection, though that would bypass the switch.

sorry I did not know that was a wired switch. --static Ip or try your wireless connection if all else fails--You MINI has no input on your "network" as it gets all the information from the hs-17 internet connection

 

[bmcleod]

So my post above hinted at deleting configuration objects, that's because (despite my earlier claim) I now remember making a change about the time this problem started. It relates to the fact that the HS17 does something very unique in how it presents itself on the network, I believe this is either because of an internal bridge between the MoCA and Ethernet network segments, or that the Linux kernel operating the HS17 has its own address (more likely).

It appears I have solved my problem by deleting one of my DHCP assignments for the HS17 (but not the primary one for Ethernet). I'll write up in more detail how I have my network configured, and what's unique about the HS17 when I get a little more time, in the mean time my HS17 is back on the network, and my switch is back to being manageable. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[west99999]

Don’t waste your time with Dtv. It will go way over their head and you will spend hours on the phone. What switch is this? I have HS17 hardwired to my UniFi 16 POE switch and no issue. Also you can check your hs17 under setting to see if it even got an update.

 

[bmcleod]

Don’t waste your time with Dtv. It will go way over their head and you will spend hours on the phone. What switch is this? I have HS17 hardwired to my UniFi 16 POE switch and no issue. Also you can check your hs17 under setting to see if it even got an update.

It’s a UniFi USW-24-PoE, I actually have two of them, and despite my earlier enthusiasm at success by deleting the configuration object (forgetting in UniFi terms), after a while the problem came back. It doesn’t matter which of my switches I plug into, that switch then drops out of the UniFi network (though it continues to work as a dumb switch). I continue to be busy with other projects, and haven’t yet checked what FW the 17 is on, tried a static IP, or Wi-Fi. I also agree DTV would be useless and haven’t bothered with them, though may try the UniFi community. I’ll try to report back here soon

 

[bmcleod]

Tried several things today, previously all network configuration of DTS objects was deleted (which also eliminated DHCP reservation). I checked DTS versions (which appear current), my C61Ks are at 0x16d4, and HS17 is 0x16da. I shut down the HS17, then shutdown everything on my network (routers, switches, APs), brought it all back up and then started up HS17 — no improvement. Then switched from standard DHCP to Static IP on the HS17, and another router restart, still no joy.

Here’s what is so unusual about HS17, on my network anyway. Most network devices, identifying themselves with their MAC address (a unique fingerprint of their network hardware), and make a DHCP request with hopes of getting an IP address so they can communicate with other devices on the network. Typically a router (or other network device) provides a DHCP server to deliver these IP addresses. Normally these servers are preconfigured and the user doesn’t have to know much for their devices to automatically get IP addresses without them doing anything. The DHCP server sees a request from a MAC address and assigns the next IP address in the pool, it also manages the pool and makes sure no two MAC addresses get the same IP address.

But here’s the rub, on my network this one device manages to get two IP addresses, it’s as if it’s NIC has two MAC addresses, or changes back and forth between two. If I hard code a static address, only one of them changes, it still requests a second address from DHCP. I’m attaching a couple photos showing how it looks to the UniFi management tools. You can see it looks like two different devices, but you can see they are both on the same switch port #22.

My next thought is to reset the the HS17 to factory defaults, anyone reading this know what’s involved to get it functioning again? Is it something I can do myself, or do I need DTV? I assume I have to put some account info in somewhere?

 

[b4pjoe]

DirecTV boxes appear strangley on my network. They all don't show up all of the time. It is random when they appear on the router device list. I can tell which is what when they do show up on the list via the static IP addresses I have assigned them but all 7 boxes say they have the same mac address which is the one from the HR54. But I'm not having the issue you are having. I'd still try static IP's for all of your DirecTV devices and then reboot the whole system and see if that helps.

 

[bmcleod]

DirecTV boxes appear strangley on my network. They all don't show up all of the time. It is random when they appear on the router device list. I can tell which is what when they do show up on the list via the static IP addresses I have assigned them but all 7 boxes say they have the same mac address which is the one from the HR54. But I'm not having the issue you are having. I'd still try static IP's for all of your DirecTV devices and then reboot the whole system and see if that helps.

Mine have been pretty consistent, when I switched from Dish to DTV about four years ago, I had the HS17 and three C61Ks, I could see them in the UI management page or the iOS App, besides DNS names and MAC address (mine are different) I can identify them by the switch port they’re on. Like all other devices on my network, I made DHCP reservations for the three C61Ks, and the HS-17, so they all had Static DHCP assigned IP addresses.

To my recollection this problem started about six months ago, some time after I turned in one of my C61Ks (and deleted it’s configuration), and when I realized the ‘unknown device’ was coming from the HS17s port and I assigned it a separate Static address as well. When the switch started dropping off the network I suspected it had a configuration problem and started troubleshooting there, I only recently realized the problem goes away when I disconnect the HS17.

Though they all had ‘static’ addresses, I will try your suggestion and hard code the addresses at the device (a practice I’m not fond of), before resetting the HS17 to factory default (though there is no way to ’hard code’ the unknown device). Thanks for your input.

 

[bmcleod]

OK, I can’t find any way to ‘hardcore‘ a static IP address on a C61K, if there’s a way to do anything besides DHCP via MoCA, I can’t find it. Can anyone tell me where it’s done?

My HS17 has been hard coded static IP for a week or more with no benefit. It was standard DHCP, and static DHCP before that.

I‘ve switched to WiFi, if only to test, and because the HS17 is no longer attached to a switch, it does solve the problem of the switch dropping off the network, but doesn‘t tell us what’s wrong.

I‘ll probably reset the HS-17, or everything, next, but only worry that some DTV type info is required, does anyone know if any special information is needed during setup (account numbers, passwords, etc)? Put another way, can an end user reset their system to factory defaults and set it back up without an installer?

 

[b4pjoe]

OK, I can’t find any way to ‘hardcore‘ a static IP address on a C61K, if there’s a way to do anything besides DHCP via MoCA, I can’t find it. Can anyone tell me where it’s done?

My C61K doesn't even show me what its IP address is like my other receivers so there is no way to hard code a static IP to it.

Do you have maybe an old cheap router you could plug into your UniFi switch and then plug the HS17 into that old router. (Don't use the internet port on the old router just plug the ethernet cables into the ethernet ports and make sure the lan is on the same subnet.) That way the HS17 wouldn't be plugged directly into the UniFi switch. Might not make a difference. But it might.