UM3 drops wifi

[Kief 2]

My UM3 drops the wifi connection semi-randomly. It seems to happen within an interval of 20-60 minutes from starting the printer. When it is restarted it works again for 20-60 min. I've seen that a few people are having issues with the UM3 and wifi but i haven't found anyone with this exact issue yet. 

 

I tried doing a factory reset and it worked fine for a couple of days before the issue was back. Any ideas what i can try next?

[CarloK 203]

@Kief This problem sounds unfamiliar. Is it possible for you to send me the log files? From the printer menu, save the log files to USB. You can then email them to my private inbox on this forum: click my avatar picture, and then on top of the page is a 'Message' button.

[CarloK 203]

@Kief Thanks for sending the log files.
I see the message: "wpa_supplicant[292]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-BEACON-LOSS"

This is new to me and I searched the internet: Often this is caused by a mismatch between sender and receiver. It can be a bug in either the printer, or in your WiFi access point.

 

The UM3 printer is not having an update planned, and even then it's not sure it would fix this problem. So, for you, the only thing you can control is your access point.

Things you can try:
- Check for a firmware update in your access point

- Disable ip.v6 in your access point

 

If this doesn't work, then you'll have to change the connection from your printer to the network. Here are some suggestions:

- Use a cable instead of wifi

- Replace your wifi access point by another type (or add one next to the existing one, the printer is slow and 2.4GHz only so there will be old wifi routers lying around)

- Place another wifi connection device next to your printer and connect this by cable to the printer. For example, a wifi router or a wifi extension device

- Add a powerline modem to create an ethernet connection in the vicinity of your printer without ugly cables. Costs about €50

[Kief 2]

@CarloK thanks for the reply!

I will try to your suggestions. Need to figure out how to update my routers firmware and disable ip.v6 lol.

 

Would rather not have a cable running through the house so thats the last resort 🙂

[Kief 2]

On 5/12/2022 at 11:52 AM, CarloK said:

@Kief Thanks for sending the log files.
I see the message: "wpa_supplicant[292]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-BEACON-LOSS"

This is new to me and I searched the internet: Often this is caused by a mismatch between sender and receiver. It can be a bug in either the printer, or in your WiFi access point.

 

The UM3 printer is not having an update planned, and even then it's not sure it would fix this problem. So, for you, the only thing you can control is your access point.

Things you can try:
- Check for a firmware update in your access point

- Disable ip.v6 in your access point

 

If this doesn't work, then you'll have to change the connection from your printer to the network. Here are some suggestions:

- Use a cable instead of wifi

- Replace your wifi access point by another type (or add one next to the existing one, the printer is slow and 2.4GHz only so there will be old wifi routers lying around)

- Place another wifi connection device next to your printer and connect this by cable to the printer. For example, a wifi router or a wifi extension device

- Add a powerline modem to create an ethernet connection in the vicinity of your printer without ugly cables. Costs about €50

@CarloK, I ended up installing a powerline modem to use the ethernet connection instead, which works fine. Problem now is that i cant seem to find the printer in cura. Does my computer also need to be ethernet-connected to find it?

[CarloK 203]

@Kief The UM3 announces itself on the network with a protocol named mDNS / avahi / Bonjour. It's very well possible your powerline modem creates a new subnet and that this protocol isn't forwarded. It goes beyond my knowledge to dive into the details of your specific devices and configuration.
What you can do, in Cura you can enter the ip address of your UM3. This often works.

[Kief 2]

On 5/14/2022 at 11:13 PM, CarloK said:

@Kief The UM3 announces itself on the network with a protocol named mDNS / avahi / Bonjour. It's very well possible your powerline modem creates a new subnet and that this protocol isn't forwarded. It goes beyond my knowledge to dive into the details of your specific devices and configuration.
What you can do, in Cura you can enter the ip address of your UM3. This often works.

@CarloK, sorry to bother you again. I looked this up and according to the manufacturer of my powerline modem (tp-link) there is nothing that isnt forwarded because of the devices.

 

I did get it to work somehow for a while but when i restart the printer it suddenly has a new IP that i cant even see on my network. Is there a way to permanently change the IP back to the one that worked? why does it change automatically?

 

As you can probably tell im not very IT-savvy 🙂 so sorry if these are stupid questions.

[CarloK 203]

@Kief This goes beyond the 3D printer topics from this forum, but let's give it a try.
The ip address changing is weird. The most likely reason is that you have multiple devices on your network which assign ip-addresses. Such device is named a dhcp server.

 

What is the IP address the printer gets?

If it starts with 192.168.x.x then there is a second DHCP server on your network. Some of the power line modems are more advanced and also provide this functionality. This can be switched off when you go into the maintenance settings of the modem. What modem brand/model do you have?

[Kief 2]

@CarloK Sorry for going offtopic and a huge thanks to you for all the help.

 

Both IP-adresses indeed start with 192.168.x.x. The router on the network  provides two wifi connections, 2.4G and 5G as well as the threaded connection, if that makes any difference. To my knowledge there are no other DHCP servers (assuming the router is the only one) unless it is like you say that the powerline modem provides this.

 

The modem is a set of tp-link AV1000 PA7017 (https://www.tp-link.com/us/home-networking/powerline/tl-pa7017-kit/). I have tried to access the maintenance settings but cant figure out how to. The manual does not provide instructions either 😕

[CarloK 203]

Your powerline modem looks great for this purpose; it has almost no options, so nothing that can be configured wrong. As far as I can see it provides no DHCP service, which is good.

 

You said both ip-addresses start with 192.168.x.y
Is the 'x' for both addresses identical? If not, then that's the problem.
Can you give the brand/model of your router?

[Kief 2]

@CarloK

 

The x differs, the IP:s I get are 192.168.0.219 and 192.168.68.115.

 

The router is a TP-link archer AX10 (https://www.tp-link.com/se/home-networking/wifi6-product/archer-ax10/)

[CarloK 203]

The 192 168.0.x is from your above referenced WiFi router. The 192.168.68.115 I can't explain. It originates from another device in your network. Connect the powerline modem to the wifi modem. 

[Kief 2]

@CarloK

192.168.0.219 is the IP that works, the other one not at all. What do you mean by connecting it to the wifi modem? My router is the wifi modem right? in that case it is already connected to it.

 

Could another device in the network cause this by simply being connected to the network or does it have to be directly "related" to the printer, like the router or powerline modem?

[CarloK 203]

Any device on your network that's configured to provide the DHCP service can assign ip-addresses, it doesn't have to be directly connected to your printer, as long as it is somehow connected to the same network.

 

Now it looks like you have two devices on your network which assign ip-addresses. This is wrong and creates difficult to trace problems. Do you have an idea which the other device might be? Do you have more (wireless) routers in your home?

 

Instead of trying to figure out which is the other culprit, you could disable the DHCP service in your Archer AX10 router. Check the (internet) manual for this device on how to do this. After this, all devices connected to this Wifi will have to be reset for reconnecting to the internet.