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SkyFi does not connect to network

I have a SkyFi 3 with firmware 1.3.2. It works fine with its own wireless network, but I also want to make it work when connected to my own wireless network in client mode. When I switch to client mode, I am told that the SkyFi is successfully connected to the network, but my router never tells me that the SkyFi has connected, and I cannot reach it. Fortunately, its own network still works, so by connecting my iPad to that network, I can regain contact. The Wireless configuration page tells me that it is in client mode, and it gives my network as its network.

What could be wrong?

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26 comments

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    Bill Tschumy

    I just tested this again with my network and it is working.  Let me ask some questions:

    1. Did you pick your network from the scanned list or did you type it in?  

    2. If the latter and it is a 5GHz network, that won't work.  SkyFi 3 can only join 2.4 GHz networks.

    3. Are you sure you typed your password correctly.

    4. What type of router do you have?  There is a small chance that it is not compatible.

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    Steenkh

    1. I picked the network from the scanned list.

    2. As far as I know, there is no 5Hz network, but I'll check when I go there next time.

    3. Yes, I believe I have typed the password correct.

    4. I'll check it

    Thanks for your comments.

     

    Steen

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    Steenkh

    Well, I am at last reunited with my telescope and SkyFi- for a week of cloudy nights :(

    Happily, I can tell you that my SkyFi now connects to my network with no problem at all! I have no idea why it did not happen before, but it does not matter now.

     

    I am curious why the SkyFi connects to the router as "New-host" but is recognized by SkySafari as "SkyFi". I also wonder why it changed the name back to SkyFi on connection when I had given it another name, but it's not important. I think it's highly unlikely that I'll ever be close enough to another SkyFi to cause confusion.

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    Bill Tschumy

    I've never heard of "New-host".  Perhaps it is something specific to you router.  

    Glad it is working for you.

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    Andrew Moeren

    Are there any tips for this? I have exactly the same problem.

    Skyfi 3 says connection successful but my router does not see it. Skyfi's own network remains operational, and when you connect and check settings it says it is indeed the client with the correct settings, it even lies about it's ip address.

    Updated to 1.3.2 and still the same behaviour, 2.4 GHz network and wpa security. No other devices have had issues with this router.

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    Bill Tschumy

    Andrew,

    Are you still seeing a separate SkyFi network?  If so the attempt to join your local network failed and it fell back to creating it's own hotspot.  You are sure you are typing the password correctly?

    What brand of router are you trying to join?

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    Andrew Moeren

    Yes, this sounds like the issue. Skyfi should not state connection successful in that case. It's a Virgin Media Super Hub (Arris TG2492S)

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    Bill Tschumy

    SkyFi doesn't state anything as far as I know.  You have set it up to join your network, but it failed.  The fall back it to create its own network as it does by default.  When you join that network at 10.0.0.1, it will still show that it is setup to join you network, but that doesn't mean it is succesful.

    So you are sure the password is correct?  What kind of security are you using on your network?

     

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    Andrew Moeren

    Yes the password is correct, I have just connected using this computer. wpa-psk tkip.
    Could the problem be the router is on channel 11? I notice skyfi's manual settings only go to 10.

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    Bill Tschumy

    I've sent an email to the guy that wrote the firmware to ask if any of that is a problem.

    Is this a 5GHz-only network by any chance?  I believe SkyFi only works on 2.5GHz networks.

     

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    Andrew Moeren

    Router is dual band, 5 and 2.4Ghz. It plays with all other devices fine. I'll try manual settings later. If that fails, I'll try changing the channel.

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    Andrew Moeren

    I think I've tried everything and still no joy. Changed channel to 10, tried manual settings, still does not connect.

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    Bill Tschumy

    I'm investigating this.  Stay tuned.

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    Andrew Moeren

    Are there any updates, can I help in any way, provide logs etc.?

  • 0
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    Andrew Moeren

    A month goes by and no reply, anything?

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    Bill Tschumy

    Sorry for the delay.  You did sort of fall off my radar.

    I have not been able to figure anything out about this.  It is almost impossible to diagnose without your specific router.  Do you have another router you could try connecting to?  If it fails there as well then it would indicate something you are doing wrong.  If that one works then we mush not be compatible with your specific router.

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    Cheyenne Wills

    Hey Bill, I'm running into the same problem SkyFi 3  Firmware 1.3.

    Here are the symptoms (btw... I do systems programming... so I kind of know my way around network stuff..)

    Anyway.. the device is configured as wireless client, dhcp.  My router (ASUS) sees the signon and assigns the ip address (10.0.0.37) that I have given to MAC address.  I can ping the ip address from within my network just fine, however if I try to http to the address it just spins.

    What is interesting is that the SkyFi 3 is still presenting it's own access point.  I can connect to it and from there I can pull up the status screen from the http://10.0.0.1 address  The status screen shows that the device is configured as a wireless client and that it has the ip address that it got from my router.

    I believe that you are still in my neck of the woods.  (I work out on the Diagonal) if you want to try to meet up and I can give you my device to look at..

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    Bill Tschumy

    Cheyenne,

    Sorry you are having problems.  I'll send our firmware guy your description and see what he says.

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    Bill Tschumy

    He is checking.  He asked that you to make sure to power cycle the SkyFi after changing the settings to connect to an existing network.

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    Cheyenne Wills

    Will give it a try when I get home this evening

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    Cheyenne Wills

    Still have the problem.  As soon as it reboots, it's back to "Access Point Mode".

    I dropped the firmware back to 1.3.1 level, and it works correctly.

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    Bill Tschumy

    That's interesting.  I will forward this to the firmware engineer.  At least it appears you have a work around for now.  Have you tried 1.3.3?  That is the latest on our site:

    http://www.skysafariastronomy.com/skyfi-3-professional-astronomy-telescope-control.html

     

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    Cheyenne Wills

    1.3.3 was the level that I am having problems with.

    So with 1.3.3.  I can configure the SkyFi to connect to my wireless.  It does connect (I see it on my router, and I can ping it from my network), but it won't accept any web connections (nor can I connect to it from the Sky Safari android app).  If I power cycle the Sky Fi app, it doesn't connect to my network, but it does bring up the SkyFi access point.  I can connect to it,and the "odd" thing is that the status says that it is configured as a "Client" with all the correct settings..

    I can downgrade the device to 1.3.1 and everything works (I do have to go through the re-configure steps).  Upgrade to 1.3.3 and it fails, downgrade again to 1.3.1 and it works.

    As far as I know, I can live with the 1.3.1 level..

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    Bill Tschumy

    OK, at the start of the thread you said you were on 1.3.2 so I thought that was where the problem was.  Do you know if 1.3.2 has this issue or are you unable to tell due to the original problem?  It would help to know exactly which release caused this.

    For what it worth to other's reading this thread, this does not seem to be a general problem.  Most folks are able to join existing networks just fine.

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    Cheyenne Wills

    Sorry about the confusion (it looks like I didn't fully specify the version number in my first response).  

    Same problem with 1.3.2 and 1.3.3

    Again to repeat what I am seeing (using 1.3.2)

    1. Load new firmware (1.3.2 in this specific test) & do a poweroff/poweron cycle.
    2. From phone connect via default Access Point (SkyFi)
    3. from phone Browse to http://10.0.0.1
    4. (verify firmware load -- http://10.0.0.1/firmware.html does show 1.3.2)
    5. configure wireless (Client mode, found my wireless network, set wireless password, use dhcp (router has 10.0.0.37 reserved for the make address).  
    6. after apply get messages saying device has connected to the network and is rebooting
    7. router shows device with the assigned IP address of 10.0.0.37
    8. can ping 10.0.0.37 from other systems on my network
    9. try to access http://10.0.0.37 -- no response (times out eventually) -- from phone or other systems on internal network
    10. poweroff unit
    11. router no longer sees the mac address
    12. power on unit (after at least a 10 count)
    13. router shows the device with the assigned IP address of 10.0.0.37
    14. can ping 10.0.0.37 from other systems on my network
    15. try to access http://10.0.0.37 -- no response (times out eventually) 
    16. netstat -nat |grep -i 10.0.0.37
      tcp 0 1 10.0.0.2:33772 10.0.0.37:80 SYN_SENT
      tcp 0 1 10.0.0.2:33774 10.0.0.37:80 SYN_SENT
    17. SkyFi shows up as a Wireless access point
    18. connect to SkyFi wireless access point (from phone)
    19. from phone, I can http://10.0.0.1 and the status returned shows: Battery: 100% Device Name: SkyFI Wireless mode: Client, IP Address: 10.0.0.37 MAC address: xxxxxxxx
    20. router still shows device connected with an assigned ip address of 10.0.0.37
    21. can  no longer ping 10.0.0.37 from other systems that are connected to my internal network (router still shows device connected -- and my phone is still connected to the SkyFi WAP -- which I can still browse off the 10.0.0.1).

     

    Fails with 1.3.2 and 1.3.3.  

    Works with 1.3.1

     

    Additional info:

    • my internal network is a 10.0.0.x network.  My internal gateway is 10.0.0.1
    • It appears that I can no longer ping the 10.0.0.37 address from my internal network once I have connected my phone to the SkyFi WAP (again the router still has the device showing up as connected to my wireless)

     

  • 0
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    Cheyenne Wills

    So I ran an additional test that shines some light on the problem.  (And as Bill mentioned, this may be something specific to my environment or my device).

    I set up another wireless network that assigns 192.168.xx.xx addresses.  I loaded 1.3.3 firmware, and was able to connect the SkyFi 3 to my 192 network.  I was able to successfully access the SkyFi from other devices on my 192 network.  I was able to bring up the status/config pages just fine.  The status page showed that the device was running in client mode and connected to the SSID that is associated with my 192 network with the proper assigned 192 address that I served it.

    Now the interesting thing is that at the same time, the SkyFi 3 device was also broadcasting the SkyFi SSID.  I was able to successfully connect a mobile device to that SSID and was able to bring up the status/config pages using the 10.0.0.1 address (which showed the exact same status information that I was getting from the 192 side).

    So... it appears that the SkyFi 3 is continuing to broadcast the SkyFi SSID and is accepting connections and will respond to requests coming off that connection (using a 10.0.0.x) network while at the same time the SkyFi is connected as a client to a different WAP and using the assigned address there.

    This does explain the symptoms I was seeing above.  The problem appears that the SkyFi continues to have an active 10.0.0.x network up at the same time that it's connected as a client, and in my case my gateway router is 10.0.0.1 (so you have both the SkyFi and the gateway trying to use a 10.0.0.1 address).

     

    So...  for now when connecting to my internal network I will have to use the 1.3.1 firmware unless I reconfigure my lan (which I don't want to do at this point in time)

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