ETCpad - Unhappiness!

Hi Robert452,

It seems like there is some confusion about IP addresses that I think might be linked to your issues. There are 3 main ways to set up your network and each has its benefits and drawbacks.

1. Connect the router to the lighting network on the WAN/Internet port and enable DHCP services on the console and the router.
   1. The console will provide an address to the router, the router will provide addresses to the wireless devices.
   2. This is the preferred method for connecting to an existing lighting network with other devices besides the console and router.
   3. The router is acting as a router in this configuration.
2. Connect the router to the lighting network on a LAN port of the router, enable DHCP services on the router, and allow the console to obtain an IP address automatically.
   1. The router will manage addresses for the network devices, both wired and wireless.
   2. This method is good for systems where there is not already an existing lighting network and the only network devices are the console and the router.
   3. The router is acting as a Wireless Access Point (WAP) in this configuration.
3. Connect the router to the lighting network on a LAN port of the router, set all addresses statically to the same scheme (ETC's default is in the 10.101.x.x subnet) and turn off DHCP services on all devices.
   1. Each device will retain its own address and it is the responsibility of the user to avoid address conflicts.
   2. This method is good when every device needs to retain a very specific address
   3. The router is acting as a WAP in this configuration.

In your example, it would appear that your IP addresses on the console were set statically on both ports, which is a valid configuration if those addresses are in the same network scheme as the networks to which they are connecting. The "Obtain an IP Address Automatically" check box tells the console to listen to another device for it's IP address rather than choosing one for itself. The DHCP Service is what serves addresses to other devices listening for an address. So, for each of the console's network ports, it can either listen to someone else for an address or know its address and hand out addresses to others listening to it.

When you are getting an error about devices not having the same IP addresses, that is because each network device must have a unique address (similar to you needing a unique phone number for someone to call you). The other error you might be seeing on the console is if you try to set both network ports to the same network scheme (e.g.: both starting with 10.101.x.x), you will get a message that "Each network must be on a unique subnet" because the two network ports on the console cannot be configured to be on the same network.

Ultimately, I would encourage you to reach out to your local ETC Technical Services via phone and we can help make sure all of the various settings are configured appropriately for your system to function optimally.

A great deal of stuff to work through so your comments are printed out to go in with me tomorrow. I did take a look at things today and thought things were better only to find when leaving the ETCpad sitting stage side for a while the program locked up! Had to do a reboot. Not good :(

You're bang on the money about the "Same IP address error. Port 2 (on the LEFT and Not connected) had a 198.162 while the port to its RIGHT Port 1 and CONNECTED; Had a 10.101. number. Now I know some Routers have to be told to subnet under one or the other and this one's using 198.162.1.1 so I disabled Console's DHCP server and "Getting IP Auto". I put a 10.101 into Port 2 and static 198.162.1.100 into Port 1. I set the Gateway to the WiFi router 198.162.1.1, That just left the Router to address the pad. Back on the pad with the Router and console in the 198 area it came up straight away (at least for now). The pad 'saw' the Router and found the [Element 2 198.162.1.100] etc which I could select and used half the morning.

Plan for the morning is, armed with your notes, power up Console and ETCpad and see if they connect OK. If so power down and repeat for consistency. Any problems and I will go down your notes line by line. Again; this is just a console. WiFi router and ETCpad with no light level signals (ArtNet, sACN) on the ports.

Thanks for your very full notes and I will have my 'phone by me in case I can't sort this out.  The Element 2 actually arrived here without anything other then the power switch lit up! Totally dead. I called Tech Support to see if I should send it back and the tech had me open the case, trouble shoot and back up in about 15 minutes. Best support I have ever witnessed.

Good news. Your answers and others have us well connected now. Some of the difficulty was that networking can exist in the ETC world in many different ways and ours is so simple CONSOLE > Router/WiFi > ETCpad that we had to sort of a lot of "If your doing this . . . .. " etc. Basically; Turned on Router(didn't make any changes). Went into Element 2 EOS setup/network and disabled Automatic IP retrieval and turned off its DHCP server. We hard wired the address on Port 1 as 192.168.1.101. Enabled RDM and WiFi remote etc. Probably didn't need to but as we are only squirting DMX down the pipe we disabled any outputs like ArtNet, sACN amd so on and knocked off TFTP. As said we are very KISS and in the least thought the Console would feel rested working for us.

One or two residuals remain; We shut down and restarted both Console and ETCpad several times and eventually got running. Once the Console was running and we started up the ETCpad we'd get a "Not connected" message. Under WiFi we see; "Not connected to Internet so won't automatically connect" !!!!! Well, OK so we don't want to connect to the Internet but why wont you connect to the Console? 

We can see the NETGEAR03 connection, press the connect button and things look good. Now we open aRFR which goes straight into the ETC program but still - no connection. We back out (the little round button at the bottom) and start aRFR again - same. Eventually we end up with that "Connect" screen with a rectangle saying [Element 2 IP address yda yada] and have to tap it to get the yellow border. Then back in the aRFR we can perform all the task we want. Soooooooooo;

1/ Is there a way we CAN connect automatically?

2/ If we DO have to connect manually how can we go straight into the "connect" screen to yellow border the Element 2 connection?

I mentioned this within another thread that is now buried pretty deeply. We're using a (single) Element 2 cat5'd to a Netgear WiFi router and thence onward to our ETCpad. We've worked out all the IP addresses and stuff and use the pad on a regular bases. But;

Whenever we turn the ETCpad on we get a "Can't connect to Internet, can't connect automatically". So we have to hit' connect' and up she comes.

Now we need to go into the aRFR connect screen to highlight (yellow border) the [Element 2 yada yada] connection bar.

Unfortunately we end up in a Console screen (like the keyboard simulation) where, of course everything is locked up. We hit the small round - return to home - button and retry aRFR. After doing this a couple of times we get the 'connect' screen, tap the bar and we're up and running. So two questions really;

How can we get the TCpad to connect to the Netgear when we turn the pad on.

And once connected to the router, how can we get to the 'connect' screen without going in an out of a ETC screen a couple of times.

Oh, to add to the misery, if we leave the ETCpad sitting stage side for a while - we pick it up to find it is locked up and we have to repeat the whole process!

Hi Robert452,

1. The limitation of an Android device to be able to automatically connect to a network that does not have internet access is unfortunately a limitation of the core Android operating system and nothing that we've been able to change. It is on our list, but pending Google changing their ways, it is not likely to change in the near future.

2. To get to the connection screen, swipe up on the tray and select "Settings" from the available options. Typically the app will return to the last screen you were using if you fast switch applications or use the Android back button and then reopen the application.

Thread merged with existing thread to avoid duplication.

Hmm! Google! What else can we say? This is a good news, bad news answer; Good; I'm not a dummkopf. Bad, because it's  hassle. The "swipe up" looks good - thanks