Auralic Aries Mini setup issues

Nick B · « **on:** 26 May 2016, 10:31 pm »

I have had dealer help in partially setting up my Mini. What remains is to get the music from my Asus laptop to the Mini's internal 1 T drive. A few minutes ago, the Aries recognized the Asus, but the Asus was not configured to share the music folder. A tech did that over the phone and he said permission is no longer required. The problem now is that the Aries does not wirelessly recognize the Asus since the change was made.

My dealer said to transfer the music wirelessly. Any suggestions are appreciated

Nick

jpm · « **Reply #1 on:** 26 May 2016, 11:09 pm »

Maybe you can help us understand your objective a bit better. Are you wanting to transfer music from your computer to the Aries Mini's internal drive, or use the Mini to play music stored on your laptop?

richidoo · « **Reply #2 on:** 26 May 2016, 11:19 pm »

The permissions change might have screwed up Windows somehow. Wouldn't be the first time. Reboot the laptop and try again. Look for Aries in your Windows Explorer 'network' folder. You should find the Aries folder if you click on that Aries icon.

Nick B · « **Reply #3 on:** 27 May 2016, 01:11 am »

I am trying to pull a copy of the music stored on my laptop into the new Mini internal drive. I want a closed loop, so to speak. I do not want to stream from the laptop. I want the Aries to only see the music stored internally.

The laptop has been rebooted twice and it is not recognized. There is no Aries folder under network.

And I thought the squeezebox was a pain .......

richidoo · « **Reply #4 on:** 27 May 2016, 02:38 am »

http://support.auralic.com/hc/en-us/articles/206619947-Connect-ARIES-MINI-to-a-WiFi-Network

According to the documentation, Aries creates it's own network. The instructions in the support link above say to use your iPad to connect to the new Aries network. Then you connect the Aries to your home's wireless network, using the iPad to control the Aries.

JackD · « **Reply #5 on:** 27 May 2016, 02:59 am »

Nick

If you've rebooted your laptop twice and your network automatically assigns IP addresses then it is different than what the Mini thinks it is. At least reboot the Mini and see if it sees it then. The best thing to do however is to assign the Mini and the laptop static IP addresses in the router settings and then shut everything down and reboot in order. Router, extender if any, laptop and Mini. Then follow the instructions in DS and set up the Mini again as a new device. Really pretty simple, but if you don't assign static IP's you will constantly have issues.

Nick B · « **Reply #6 on:** 27 May 2016, 03:15 am »

Thanks, Rich. Already went through that sequence with the dealer. Jack, I think that's what's happening. That is an error message I get. However, I also think the DS has found the wrong folders. It points me to the Aries folder and mentions one other on the screen. The Aries folder shows up in the Asus laptop, but the Aries folder is really empty. The music is stored in the My Music folder on my laptop. I am unable to get Aries to see that and copy that music.

Could anyone confirm if I can get an Ethernet cable and plug it into the laptop and the Mini and copy via hardwire. If so, I'll buy one.

This is eerily similar to the SB2 thing with IP address discrepancies etc. For those of you thinking plug and play....it's not. The instruction manual is fair at best and really not well-translated.

JackD · « **Reply #7 on:** 27 May 2016, 03:40 am »

Nick is the laptop seeing the Mini itself or the empty hard drive? If the latter have you tried drag and drop with a couple of songs and see if they transfer. As to the ethernet cable between the laptop and the Mini no. But if you use ethernet temporarily between the Mini and the router that might work. You should however be able to connect them via USB. I don't know which version of Windows or Ios you are using but I would look myself and make sure the laptop is set up to share all at least until you get the music moved and then you can turn sharing off. I was having all types of issues until I made sure the DS device and the Mini had static IP addresses. Also did you reboot the Mini?

Nick B · « **Reply #8 on:** 27 May 2016, 04:12 am »

My laptop shows the DS app and the Mini, but I can't find where it recognizes there's an internal drive in it. I've done reboots on the laptop and again on the Mini. As to IP addresses, Rich has mentioned that previously, I can see the Mini IP address on the pic by right clicking, but that's all I know
Nick

jpm · « **Reply #9 on:** 27 May 2016, 04:20 am »

Connecting the Aries Mini and your laptop directly are not likely to make things easier - really trading one type of complexity for another.

I would suggest using a cable connection for laptop and mini to get things going - copying ought to be faster too, not that the mini is all that speedy in this regard though!

First, from your laptop are you able to see the mini in windows explorer when you browse the network? If not, can you see other devices on the network (computers, printers etc.)? If you see nothing you should look into whether you have network browsing / sharing turned on on your laptop. Terminology may vary slightly by windows version - this is really just a high level pointer.

If you can see the mini, but not the drive installed in it, did you initialize the disk in the lightning DS application?

JackD · « **Reply #10 on:** 27 May 2016, 04:25 am »

Nick

You are going to have to log in to your router and go to the section in wifi where it shows the connected devices and change the devices in the chain for the music transfer from automatic IP address to Static IP address and then assign each device, Mini, Laptop, DS control device, a fixed addresses. Once this is done reboot everything and then do the setup. Nothing in connecting a streamer up to wifi is plug and play especially since part of the set-up was done somewhere else. The setup needs to be done in the environment it is going to be used in.

Nick B · « **Reply #11 on:** 27 May 2016, 04:37 am »

Quote from: jpm on 27 May 2016, 04:20 am

Connecting the Aries Mini and your laptop directly are not likely to make things easier - really trading one type of complexity for another.

I would suggest using a cable connection for laptop and mini to get things going - copying ought to be faster too, not that the mini is all that speedy in this regard though!

First, from your laptop are you able to see the mini in windows explorer when you browse the network? If not, can you see other devices on the network (computers, printers etc.)? If you see nothing you should look into whether you have network browsing / sharing turned on on your laptop. Terminology may vary slightly by windows version - this is really just a high level pointer.

If you can see the mini, but not the drive installed in it, did you initialize the disk in the lightning DS application?

Your first two sentences mean the same to me. Don't understand the difference. The laptop sees a number of devices including the Mini. The new hard drive was initialized via the DS previously. Sharing appears to be turned on. Thanks for your ideas

JackD · « **Reply #12 on:** 27 May 2016, 04:56 am »

Nick

I think jpm is suggesting you connect the mini and the laptop directly to the router with an ethernet cable so IP addresses are not an issue. If you do that and then turn both of them on and then do the setup on the Mini as wired you should be able to see the laptop music folder from the Mini when you do a setup new device. Then when you move the Mini to it's intended location you will have to redo the setup with the DS control device with the wifi, but if you don't give them all static IP addresses you may find yourself re-booting a couple of times a day as the DS device and Mini lose contact with each other. I found out the hard way the first couple of weeks.

jpm · « **Reply #13 on:** 27 May 2016, 05:16 am »

Thank for clarifying the wired connection part, Jack!

Quote from: Nick B on 27 May 2016, 04:12 am

My laptop shows the DS app and the Mini, but I can't find where it recognizes there's an internal drive in it.

Nick - if you can see the mini from your laptop, just not the internal drive, you should have no need to change connections or IP addresses, just go to the lightning DS app and initialize the disk. I stumbled around over that myself for a while until I went back and RTFM!

Nick B · « **Reply #14 on:** 27 May 2016, 05:24 am »

I understand the concept re both devices hard wired to the router. Logistically, that's tough to do. The Mini has disappeared from the laptop, so I will reinstall the Mini and work on it in the morning. Thanks

JackD · « **Reply #15 on:** 27 May 2016, 01:09 pm »

jpm

Theoretically you are correct about not having to, but it is a known issue with some routers and their changing IP addresses when allowed to assign automatically. If the device running Lightning DS is turned off and on it can happen. Rather than have a problem that drives you crazy later it is easier to just eliminate the problem and the chance for it now.

richidoo · « **Reply #16 on:** 27 May 2016, 01:55 pm »

Good morning!

Wire vs wifi doesn't matter, those are just hardware layer. Aries worked once, so all the wireless hardware hardware is fine. You're assuming your issues are in hardware or protocol layers, I doubt that, but even with wired ethernet you still need to acquire or assign IP addresses for wire or wifi. Stick with wifi.

The instructions seem pretty straightforward to me. You can't use your intuition to do it how you think it should be. You have to do it the way they say, step by step.

Create Aries hotspot by pressing button on Aries
Connect to Aries network with iPad
Start DS on iPad
Use DS to connect the Aries to your home wifi network.
Use DHCP and enter your wifi password. Wifi and DHCP are working because your laptop is using them.
After you confirm Aries is on your wifi network, stop the DS app.
Disconnect iPad from Aries hotspot network.
Connect iPad to your home wifi network.
Start DS, it should take control of Aries via your home wifi network.

Are you doing it this way?

"Mini has disappeared from the laptop" means that Aries has disconnected from your wifi network. The only way to connect it again is via DS controlling Aries through the Aries own wifi hotspot network that you activate by pressing the button on the Aries. In other words, start the whole above process again.

If Aries keeps disconnecting from your wifi then that's a question for dealer. Also whenever you have issues related to wifi, it is wise to reboot the router too. The router's software is the least robust of any computer in your house.

If you decide to try static IP, you need some information. In windows, run cmd to open command prompt. Run ipconfig to show you the IP settings for your LAN adapter. Use the same subnet mask and gateway IPs in your static setups. Note the IP address of the laptop. If the last octet of the IP is a little above .100, then you can assume DHCP reserved IP range starts at .100, and you can safely use .197 and .198 for your static IPs. They will never be leased unless you have 97 other clients on the network. You don't need to make any changes to DHCP.

internal drive:
http://support.auralic.com/hc/en-us/articles/206621237-How-to-Start-Use-Internal-Storage-
http://support.auralic.com/hc/en-us/articles/206602907
http://support.auralic.com/hc/en-us/articles/206620037

I hope this helps, Nick. Let us know
Rich

richidoo · « **Reply #17 on:** 27 May 2016, 01:57 pm »

Quote from: JackD on 27 May 2016, 01:09 pm

jpm

Theoretically you are correct about not having to, but it is a known issue with some routers and their changing IP addresses when allowed to assign automatically. If the device running Lightning DS is turned off and on it can happen. Rather than have a problem that drives you crazy later it is easier to just eliminate the problem and the chance for it now.

Well that changes everything. Until the bug is fixed, you gotta adapt to whatever works.

jtwrace · « **Reply #18 on:** 27 May 2016, 02:00 pm »

The one caveat is if the wireless network is weak at all the ARIES will struggle. If at all possible I recommend setting up wired then switching to wireless once you confirm wired works properly. This is a way to figure out your wireless network strength. Nearly all issues with playback with the ARIES are directly related to an inconsistent network regardless of what super router you might think you have.

Nick B · « **Reply #19 on:** 27 May 2016, 09:53 pm »

Here's what I'm doing. Found an old external drive and have copied the music from the laptop onto it. Will be plugging thAt ext drive into the USB port on the mini and transferring the files that way. I will be going over all the mini setup instructions again before I do that. So if I understand this correctly, I have eliminated the changing IP address issues because I have eliminated one device (the laptop) from that scenario.
If these music files are accepted by the mini, then it becomes a closed system with the DS app on my iPad and the mini.
Does that make sense? Is it correct?