extenders issues w/ new google fiber router

[Nutball]

Good news - Just got Google fiber and it is awesome.
Bad news, none of my extenders are able to connect to my server anymore. They all find the server when booting up, but i just get a black screen when i try to connect.

I have power cycled the extenders and server with no luck. I can see each extender on my network overview page for the fiber network box. I can also ping each extender without issue. However, nothing really happens when i try to connect to the server (black screen , TV says nothing is connected).

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Nutball

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by Nutball

Good news - Just got Google fiber and it is awesome.
Bad news, none of my extenders are able to connect to my server anymore. They all find the server when booting up, but i just get a black screen when i try to connect.

I have power cycled the extenders and server with no luck. I can see each extender on my network overview page for the fiber network box. I can also ping each extender without issue. However, nothing really happens when i try to connect to the server (black screen , TV says nothing is connected).

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Nutball

If I understood you correctly, if you have all your extenders and SageTV server connected to the GF router switch there is the remote possibility that the router will filter some ports, but it shouldn't if is just a switch as firewall rules are normally applied between WAN and LAN and not within LAN; best way to know is to run your extenders/SageTV server on a separate network switch and daisy-chain that switch back to the GF router.

Eddy

[Nutball]

I am already daisy chained though one or two switches depending on which extender.

network in short:

• fiber into house to junction box
• cat 5e from junction box to GF network box
• two cat 5e lines out of GF network box (1 to storage box, 1 to switch A)
• Multiple cat 5e lines into switch A (Sage Server, 2nd computer, Xbox 360, Sage HD 100, Sage HD 200, line to Switch B)
• Multiple cat 5e lines into switch B (Sage HD 300, PS3, Xbox One, Receiver, HDHR).

Everything works (can see all local machines and the internet) except the Sage extenders. I can ping all of them and they all find the Sage Server but they don't seem able to connect.

Thanks again,
Nutball

added info:
I had a similar setup prior to GF install with all the same switches. Difference being a wireless router in place of the GF network box and a cable modem in place of the fiber junction box. The extenders worked fine with this setup. The GF installer originally kept my wireless router in place but Google fiber was having issues with that setup (computers weren't seeing the internet anymore and GF internet speed was ONLY ~250Mbs (instead of the >900MBs without my wireless router in place).

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by Nutball

I am already daisy chained though one or two switches depending on which extender.

network in short:

• fiber into house to junction box
• cat 5e from junction box to GF network box
• two cat 5e lines out of GF network box (1 to storage box, 1 to switch A)
• Multiple cat 5e lines into switch A (Sage Server, 2nd computer, Xbox 360, Sage HD 100, Sage HD 200, line to Switch B)
• Multiple cat 5e lines into switch B (Sage HD 300, PS3, Xbox One, Receiver, HDHR).

Everything works (can see all local machines and the internet) except the Sage extenders. I can ping all of them and they all find the Sage Server but they don't seem able to connect.

Thanks again,
Nutball

OK, just a wild guess...if I recall correctly, the extenders to work need to have access to the internet, so you need to make sure that the extenders can connect to the outside world. My guess is that the DNS is not setup properly on the extenders, as you have changed internet provider to GF the DNS are different and if you have statically configured the extenders then you need to change the DNS address to the GF one.

Eddy

[KryptoNyte]

Are you sure about that RR? I've had some strange Internet outages lately, where my cable modem drops for a few hours, and I think that I was still able to watch TV on my extenders ... as I was trying to determine if TV service was out at the same time Internet was out.

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Are you sure about that RR? I've had some strange Internet outages lately, where my cable modem drops for a few hours, and I think that I was still able to watch TV on my extenders ... as I was trying to determine if TV service was out at the same time Internet was out.

I do recall someone had a similar issue (I need to dig out a little bit) and it ended up to be related to the Internet being off, in particular when the extender performs a cold boot. All my extenders are on static IP and when I changed my ISP long time ago I had, of course, to manually adjust the DNS server otherwise the extenders wouldn't connect properly to the SageTV server...

Eddy

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by Nutball

I can see each extender on my network overview page for the fiber network box. I can also ping each extender without issue. However, nothing really happens when i try to connect to the server (black screen , TV says nothing is connected).

What about the red and green LED on the HD200 (easiest to check) when this is happening, is the red on and the green occasionally flashing? Can you still telnet into the unit when in such state? The extender needs to be in constant connection with the SageTV server, if the network connection drops because is not fully reliable the extender will eventually power itself off (well goes into stand by) and the red LED goes off. I don't recall how frequently the extender checks the connection with the SageTV server, but it is pretty high.

Also there is the possibility that the extender's property files gets corrupted, and that also causes extender to switch off, however it sounds unlikely for all the extenders at the same time. Try to delete those files and let SageTV server generate new one whilst connecting to the extender.

I've got the feeling that is more a network related issue.

Eddy

[Nutball]

tried a few things with no success.

First of all, the red light is on on the HD200 and the Green flashes occasionally like normal. Furthermore, I can still telnet into the extender without any issues.

I tried resetting the network settings on the extenders with no success.

I tried setting an static IP changes with no success.

I deleted the [mac address].properties files with no success. Not surprisingly, they do not auto repopulate since the extenders can not talk to the sage server properly. However, the PC running the Sage service can ping or telnet into the extenders so I know they can actually see each other.

I can operate the extenders in standalone mode without issues. I can even browse the server PC and playback any file I want.

I am not much of a network guy so I am struggling to come up with more ideas.

Thanks again for helping out,
Nutball

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by Nutball

tried a few things with no success.

First of all, the red light is on on the HD200 and the Green flashes occasionally like normal. Furthermore, I can still telnet into the extender without any issues.

I tried resetting the network settings on the extenders with no success.

I tried setting an static IP changes with no success.

I deleted the [mac address].properties files with no success. Not surprisingly, they do not auto repopulate since the extenders can not talk to the sage server properly. However, the PC running the Sage service can ping or telnet into the extenders so I know they can actually see each other.

I can operate the extenders in standalone mode without issues. I can even browse the server PC and playback any file I want.

I am not much of a network guy so I am struggling to come up with more ideas.

Thanks again for helping out,
Nutball

Can you please enable the debug on SageTV server and do the following:

• Start the SageTV service and wait until completes
• Switch on one extender only in the whole network and wait until it fails
• Switch off the extender
• Stop the SageTV service
• Post the "sagetv_0" log file

I think the main problem here is that you have a SageTV server running on your network that probably sensing the existence of the GF extenders on the network and gets confused by a similar, but not compatible protocol and therefore the SageTV server stop functioning properly or is the GF server that gets confused by the presence of another SageTV server and SageTV extenders. Either way it looks like that the two systems cannot coexists very well, so it might be possible that you need to separate the two network (GF and SageTV + the rest) in two subnet, but then you need to have access to the GF router webserver (assuming it has one?)

Eddy

[Nutball]

Found an old 2012 post by timg11 that had the answer. Windows changed my network from Home to Public after swapping my original router for the GF router. A simple change back to Home fixed all my issues.

[TechBill]

Originally Posted by Nutball

Found an old 2012 post by timg11 that had the answer. Windows changed my network from Home to Public after swapping my original router for the GF router. A simple change back to Home fixed all my issues.

Which mean your extender ports was probably closed off by the Windows Firewall when it changed to public mode.

Windows network in Public mode the Firewall are more closed than the Windows in Home mode.


Bill