I've now installed the 1.4.2 firmware. I suggest that the password reset instructions include a reminder to clear the browser cache, which I had to do to access the interface after logging in with the default password reset by firmware update.
Configuration proceeded as usual, and my configuration file re-loaded successfully after the first power cycle. Then it failed to reload on the second power cycle, requiring me to manually re-do the MIDI ports page, as usual. The next two power cycles kept the configuration loaded. We'll see how bad it gets over the next few days, but continued failure with the 1.4.2 firmware is verified.
Do you have any more troubleshooting suggestions? If you haven't already, can you double-check the configuration file I've uploaded here?
Hi blipson,
too bad that it's still happening, sorry for that! If we only knew the reason. The BomeBox is used by so many users who just plug it in and it works. Every time...
In any case, thank you very much for your patience.
To troubleshoot a bit more, could you please do two things for us?
1) power cycle the BomeBox and copy/paste the Log into this forum.
You find the Log in the BomeBox web config, menu Log.
2) Now when at one time, you power cycle your BomeBox and the MT project file is NOT loaded, please go to the web config and copy/paste the log into the forum here.
Hopefully by comparing the good log with the bad log, we will be able to find out something...
Thanks!
Florian
PS: we've improved and updated this forum, though I agree it still has serious deficiencies! But it is the official Bome support forum. Of course you're free to discuss elsewhere, but we cannot guarantee that we monitor 3rd party forums and participate in discussions there...
The configuration file has survived the last several power cycles. It failed on 2 of the first 3, but now it's been ok for about 5 in a row. That's actually a far better proportion than before I did the firmware update, but maybe that's just luck and not indicative of anything. I'm not going to switch things on and off just to force a fail, but rather use everything in my normal way, which is about 2-4 power cycles per day. At the next fail, I'll post both a fail log and a regular log.
Are you saying that given my Bome Box's degree of functionality, that a defect is a virtual impossibility? In other words, that a small defect would cause much more erroneous behavior than I've been experiencing? Otherwise, no matter how many good units go out the door, there's bound to be one with a defect. I wouldn't jump easily to that conclusion, but the bad WiFi behavior I've had since day one is suspicious. If you could verify at least one case of a Bome Box's Wifi working without latency with BMT on a Mac that has MacOS Catalina, and not some older version of MacOS, that would be very helpful.
As long as our replies always get appended to this thread in chronological order, this forum's fine. Earlier nesting or some other unexpected order made things quite confusing to follow. It appears if I always use the "Post your Answer" box at the bottom and avoid a direct response via "Add comment," it should be OK. Worse, the "Add comment" button spins forever, so in the past I'd also do an identical "Post your Answer," and then I'd find them both posted. I expect that's a browser issue, but confusing results whatever the cause. If this were a multi-person conversation, nested commentary might be necessary, but since we're down to sequentially dealing with this one problem, I expect it will be ok. File attachment and email notification both work, which is important.
trust me, all problems with this forum are due to the forum software. We’re looking into alternatives, but secretly hope that before we switch to yet another forum software, there will be an update which fixes all the issues we have reported to the manufacturer. It’s a payed software, too… Response coming in the next Post Your Answer block
The new firmware does have a few changes which could improve your situation. But probably not enough...
Or.... a defect. I cannot judge the probability of a defect. Fact is, we have very very few real defects, just a couple of units per year. And we've never had a problem with WiFi or with bad memory. But there are certainly imaginable hardware defects which could lead to your symptoms. I've just run a stress test from a Windows computer to a BomeBox via Ethernet, from where it was connected via the BomeBox WiFi to a Mac running Catalina. The Mac had MIDI Translator Pro running, which looped back all data without any noticeable latency and with very high throughput -- as expected.
If you would like to give it a chance, we can replace your BomeBox. We will send out the replacement box on receipt of your tracking code. Please contact us directly to arrange the details. Note that some world areas are problematic for shipments, currently...
I'll also try again to reproduce your issue.
My apologies again for your problems.
I recommend the same forum software used at elektronauts.com. I’ve been on uncountable forums over the years, and that software–which I’ve seen in a couple of places–is the most modern, with easy and fine-grained tracking, good online and offline notification, thread-diagramming for easy reading and nested commentary, file attachment, automated inline links for places like SoundCloud and YouTube, etc. That’s why I asked Steve to communicate with me there, which we did a few months ago.
Thanks for verifying Catalina. I was very suspicious, as other things have problems under Catalina that work fine under previous versions of MacOS. I've personally experienced this, and it's also documented online.
I suggest this: I purchase a second Bome Box, then later return one of them for refund. If it fails the same way, we conclude the problem is on my end somewhere. But I still can use it because I have one reliable workaround: never power cycle the Bome Box. If I leave it powered up 100% of the time (like a regular router), then I only have to manually re-load on rare occasions, which would be tolerable. Please tell me, though: is the Bome Box robust enough to be left powered on 24/7 over long periods of time, or do you expect that to lead to a premature failure of the device?
In the meantime, I would still like to continue to troubleshoot this situation. I just switched the thing on for the first time today, and it has again loaded without a problem. That's about 8 out of 10, and the last 6 in a row, which is wonderful, but who knows what it means. In any case, I'd really like to see if another Bome Box displays the WiFi latency issue or not because that problem has never taken a break.
I've used the contact form to send you a message, as I do have concerns about shipping that I don't want to publish on the forum.
Hi Blipson, thanks for the reply. We continue via email with the details of a replacement unit.
In the software, we did have to fix a few things to get it to work well on Catalina -- especially the installer.
There is not problem at all leaving your BomeBox on 24/7. We have an array of BomeBoxes here, executing long term reliability tests 24/7 for years... A BomeBox typically uses less than 150mA at 5V, which is below the standby power consumption of many home devices, so there is very little heat dissemination. Just make sure that your USB power supply is also reliable and trustworthy enough for 24/7 usage.
It just keeps working after about 20 power cycles since the last time I posted. If it hadn\'t had those two fails early on, I could start concluding that the new firmware and my new configuration somehow fixed the problem. In any case, it would be dumb to troubleshoot something that\'s currently working unless you have some specific ideas or updates. And with the potential workaround of leaving it on 24/7 to avoid power cycling entirely--and Florian says it\'s feasible to leave the Bome Box powered on for extended periods--I\'ll just keep using it as normal and post immediately the next time it fails.
The WiFi latency is a shame, though. I think the only way to settle that issue would be with a second, know-working Bome Box that I\'d install at the same location so that I could A/B.
I'm now trying the Bome Box's ethernet port to my MacBook Pro 16 using a USB-C to ethernet adapter. The software package is the drumming software BFD 3 from FXpansion. There's still a latency that makes it unplayable, but I think the latency is 100% consistent at about 100-120ms. Can you check to see that I've configured the patch's MIDI ports correctly? It's the patch named "BFD H." I left theMIDI input port the same as for the other patches, and I changed the MIDI ouput port to "IAC Driver Bus 1."
I now seem to have fixed the latency problem when using the ethernet connection. The drum software BFD needed to have its MIDI configuration refreshed. I guess I don't need to select both "IAC Driver Bus 1" and "ThisIsTheCorrectPortPerSteve" so that it will work when a configuration file is loaded and when I don't have one loaded and I'm using BMT.
Also, using the internet connection makes my computer lose internet access even though its WiFi remains connected. Do you know if there's a way to direct all MIDI traffic to the Bome Network and, at the same time, all other traffic to the WiFi network?
Hi, if you put WiFi and Internet on the same network you will get a bouncing BomeBox. It will consistently try to figure out which network connection to use and bounce back and forth between them or simply periodically drop one of the two connections (as you are seeing). The Bome Network software identifies the BomeBox by its name and network so if there are two devices with the same name (one on WiFi and one on ethernet), then this will wreak havoc. It is best to keep each network separate or at least make sure the the BomeBox is only accessible via one media or the other. When connective via ethernet, I typically turn of the WiFi side (unless I have it on a completely different network).
Steve Caldwell
Bome Q and A Moderator and
Independent Bome Consultant/Specialist
bome@sniz.biz
OK, I understand. So far on my computer, it just stays on the Bome Network consistently and locks out the other, but I guess I was lucky.
So now that I verify no latency when using BMT with ethernet, does that shed any new light on why I have such pronounced latency when using BMT with WiFi?
You might look into your WiFI country settings and make sure they are correct. Different countries have different WiFi standards that may introduce latency.
