General product control issues

First time your Linn DS system has stopped working

In this is the first time your system has stopped working and this only happens occasionally, the system products may have got confused. The simple solution is to switch everything off, the switch everything back in a sequence.

1. Remove power from ALL devices connected to the ethernet. (that is switch everything off, NOT STANDBY)
   
2. Power on the Router/DHCP server
   
3. Power on any network switches
   
4. Power on the NAS (if used) and other ethernet devices
   
5. Power on the Linn DS
   
6. Power on your control devices, (PC, iPad, Pronto etc)

This will get the Linn DS system working again in most cases.

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iPad keeps losing Linn DS/DSM and/or Library

Your iPhone/iPad may have had a software update and changed some of its operation conditions:

• Setup the Wireless connection (Router/Wireless Access Point) to Apples Recommended settings
  

The key point to Security (WPA2 Personal - AES)

• Check stability with a PC

Check the PC connected to the Network using Wifi

& Check the PC with a wired LAN

This will tell you if it is an unstable WiFi connection or only links to iPad operation

Tools for this diagnosis are shown in Network Applications

iPad/PC connected via WiFi cannot see Linn DS but works on Internet

• Some Routers will allow Guest WiFi access and allow Wifi connections to access the Internet but not allow the Wireless device to see anything on the LAN. Therefore the Library and DS are not seen on Kinsky
  

Read the Manual and check your Router is not configured for Guest access. (This is a different setup for every Manufacturer).

• On Windows7 you can define a Network type, (Network and Sharing Centre). This MUST be set as being a Work or Home Network to allow UPnP operation. (Public networks appear to block UPnP operation)

Cannot find the Linn DS on my PC/MAC/iPad etc

The control software family is not the same as on your Linn DS.

Run the Konfig app and check the Software version that is on your Linn DS

On the Control software (Kinsky , ChrousHD etc) check the version you have matches the family version of the Linn DS product)

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The Linn DS is not properly connected to the Ethernet network.

This may be due to a power glitch, try doing a power reset of the system and then try your Linn DS.

If this is a regular issue, that is: happens every few days, try this Simple test to check out if your Linn DS is on the Ethernet network.

1. On the remote control, press the PLAY button. If the Linn DS starts playing music this Linn DS is OK and you can ignore the remaining tests in this section.
2. Use the remote control to select the Linn DS Radio source
3. Continue with the Remote control and select a Radio station

• You may have to try a couple of different Radio stations, but wait approx 10seconds before you change station if you get no audio/music.

• Adjust the volume of the Linn DS to a comfortable listening level.
  

Note: This may take a few seconds to sync with the internet Radio stream.

When the linn DS is playing Music, then use of remote control and the fact that the Radio is playing confirmes that the Linn DS is working and the Ethernet is good. This would signify that it is your control device that is causing the issue..

If there is NO audio/music, this may be an issue with the Linn DS and/or network it is connected to.

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As can be seen from the simple test above, there may be an issue with the Ethernet system. If this doesn’t work then the Linn DS cannot be controlled or play any Music stream.

If you have the experience try the more advanced Network test, otherwise speak to a Network specialist.

The Network test will give more guidance to any network issues and lack of visibility of the Linn DS on you control device.

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iPad/iPhone or Android keeps loosing the Linn DS/DSM or controls erratic

This can be a common problem if the Wifi communications to temperamental. The commands from the iPad/Android are sent but lost because communications noise.
You may think that your Wifi is good as it works OK with the internet but this is not the case. (You have have to double click some pages to get them to show, this can be due to poor wifi or some pages are slow in loading, this can be due to poor communications)

Apple devices require the Wifi to be setup to a specific configuration or it will otherwise start looking for a Wifi signal that does support this configuration Check Here for details of what to check

Wifi noise can be generated by Microwave ovens, DECT phones, wireless Video repeater, Taxi Radios, neighbours Wifi etc so we would suggest checking this with wifi scanner software such as Insidder this can be used to find out who else is broadcast on the same channel are your Wifi and causing interference.
There are two frequencies in use with Wifi, these are 2.4GHz and 5GHz. the 2.4GHz is the typical usage

Some Routers Wifi devices are very poor with UPnP control, namely Sky and BT. If you have one of these Routers we would suggest adding 'Subnet' Router of one that Linn has tried and works reliably.

Other apps running in your iPad/iPhone can cause some issues

The Music on the Linn DS keeping muting

This is dependent on the quality of the Ethernet network. If you have any data path that is slow or prone to disconnection this can cause the muting as the DS is waiting for the data.

The Linn DS can play many different Music streams. These Music streams can require a small data rate, 28K bps (simple Radio stream) to the highest quality streams requiring over 9M bps data rate (192k 24bit WAV Studio Master). So you may only have the music muting on higher speed Music streams,

• Some Routers/WAPs do not receive Music streams via WiFi very well. Devices that we have tested and appear to work in our environment are listed here
  

Note: Different firmware versions may produce different results, so we have included the tested firmware version

• Wireless Multi Media (WMM) - Enabled is reported by some network forums to have benefit to reduce this muting. This is unconfirmed.

• Ethernet-over-mains devices can cause issues as any mains noise, (caused by Freezer, rotary dimmers etc) will reduce the bandwidth available and can also causing delays in the data transmission.
  
  

Tools for this diagnosis are shown in Network Applications

If you are playing Internet Radio, this can be due to:

• Your broadband connection may not have enough bandwidth. Any other device on your Ethernet network could be using your broadband connection and limiting the speed of the music stream to your Linn DS:

For example:

A PC on your network may be downloading Windows update/Anti-virus update.

One of your kids can be watching YouTube video

• The internet in your area is very busy (in some cases first thing on a Monday morning, there is a hive of internet activity from businesses catching up after the weekend [Traffic congestion]), and using up any broadband spare capacity causing a break in your internet Radio Music stream.

If you are using a BBC station check your internet using the BBC diagnostics

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If you are playing from a UPnP Media server

• If your UPnP Media server is running on your PC, the PC may have other tasks running that are taking priority over the Media server software and causing this Music stream/data speed to be erratic.

Solution: Use a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device with UPnP Media server software built-in. The NAS has the sole purpose of Media streaming to your Linn DS/DSI.

• If your UPnP Media Server is on a NAS:

• there may be many users, Linn DS/DSI products accessing Music files are the same time. The NAS has limited resources to feed data to all users and may be close to its limits.
• The Media server may be rescanning/rebuilding its Music library and reduce the resources available for streaming. This will normally recover after the scan.
• Log into your NAS and check the health report. There may be a hard-drive with some performance issues.

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Common to all scenarios

• Your Ethernet connection to the Linn DS/DSI may have bandwidth/speed restrictions.

Ethernet-over-Mains devices may have a something on the mains adding noise that is limiting speed over the Mains cable. This will limit the bandwidth/speed from your music stream to Linn DS/DSI using the Ethernet-over-Mains device. (This may be random as it depends what mains device is causing the noise, (refrigerator, Air-con etc)

Solution: Replace the Ethernet-over-Mains devices and replace them with Cat-5 Ethernet cable to link the Linn DS/DSI. This will no longer allow any electrical noise interfere with your music stream

Bad network cable or network device.

Solution: Retailer or Network specialist investigation

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