Self-Satisfaction on the Internet

Nope, there’s nothing salacious being implied by the title of this post. It’s about the ongoing DHCP client problem with my Logitech streaming audio devices. As a result of the occasional failure to successfully complete the renewal of their private space IP address leases via DHCP, they have been falling off the network.

Several players are Squeezeplay programs on Windows, so they don’t have the problem, like these Logitech hardware players do.

• The first three bytes of Media Access Control (MAC) addresses, commonly called Ethernet addresses, are registered to manufacturers through the IEEE.
• MAC addresses starting with 00:04:20 are registered to Slim Devices, the name of the company that Logitech bought in 2006.^*
• All four devices had DHCP renewal failures with their native 802.11g WiFi implementations when using the G1100 router.
• IOGEAR Ethernet-to-WiFi 802.11n adapters eliminated that problem.
• The problem returned with the IOGEAR adapters on the new G3100 WiFi router. Sheesh. Go figure.
• The Squeezebox Radios have been put back on their native 802.11g WiFi connections. So far, they are compatible with the G3100. Amazing.
• The last firmware update apparently disabled WiFi on the Squeezebox Touch, I suspect unintentionally; so, for now, an external IOGEAR adapter must be used. That’s why signal strength does not appear in the device information.
• The DHCP renewal problem persists on the Squeezebox Touch.

The TCP/IP software on the Squeezebox Touch supports APIPA — automatic private internet protocol addressing. I haven’t noticed if it’s also available on the radios.

Decades ago, in the age of 10 Mbps Ethernet hubs, I experimented with self-assigned IP addresses in Windows. In fact, until working on this latest problem, I believed the feature was unique to Windows.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/troubleshoot/how-to-use-automatic-tcpip-addressing-without-a-dh

Fortunately, I was wrong. With a self-assigned IP address, the Squeezebox Touch is playing nice with the Lyrion music server, the other Logitech players, and the wide world beyond. As long as everything continues to work I’m going to take the win and stop all of the fussing and futzing.

^* Note to tastewar: 2e:2e:2e is no longer registered. https://www.wireshark.org/tools/oui-lookup.html