[Closed] B&W A5 problems - I need help!

no idea, but i wish my wife was a flush as yours!

You need to find where the problem lies (yes I know that's obvious but hear me out). Remove everything except the basics - I assume you just need the B+W unit, the Virgin Wi-fi router and one source (phone, like we did at my house?). See if that works. If it does then add other components on one by one and see what it's not compatible with. Try adding the Mac next, if that works all together then try the AE's.

Or just put a CD in it. 😉

iPhone app works well, I have an a5 connected to an AirPort Extreme (wireless) works fine, what router is giving the ip addresses?

I'm not even sure what it is but it's not a black and white A5 paper issue so i'm out.

Oh no hold on, have you tried turning it of & then on again?

I'd try turning off any wifi security like WPA.

Not familiar with your setup but dhcp would need to be enabled on Ae and the A5
If I where to hazard a guess I would say the A5 is not being assigned an ip address. Is dhcp enabled?

If it's making little sense to you then I'd suggest a seniors IT skills evening class. It real does sound like you've thrown yourself in at the deepend with this, might be best to leanr the basics first. If you're still struggling, your nextdoor neighbours son will probably be able to sort your problem within five minutes.

I'd try turning off any wifi security like WPA.

Dunno what WPA is. How do I do that?

If it's making little sense to you then I'd suggest a seniors IT skills evening class.

Give over! It should just work. I don't have time for that anyway.

It real does sound like you've thrown yourself in at the deepend with this,

No, I haven't. I should be able to plug it in, start the app and it should take a couple of minutes at most. If I wanted shit I had to faff around with constantly I'd go back to a PC. for £400 I expect better. All my other apple stuff gives me very little grief and I can sort it easily if it does.

Right. Worked the WPA thing out, turned it off and it's wiped out my entire network. So thanks for that. Now I've got to reset my AE and redo all the settings.

No, I haven't. I should be able to plug it in, start the app and it should take a couple of minutes at most. If I wanted shit I had to faff around with constantly I'd go back to a PC. for £400 I expect better. All my other apple stuff gives me very little grief and I can sort it easily if it does.

Not to worry, I struggle as well. I can't get to grips with the wireless part really. My computer is telling me it's "connected" yet I cant see any physical connection. Often it's "disconnected". I never know when to trust it. I wish we could just plug/unplug things as we always used to.

It worked ok at my house without all the fancy iMac and AE weirdness.

Is dhcp enabled on the a5 if it isn't then it won't be getting an ip address of the router. Is the A5 connecting to the router

You could try moving the B&W closer to your router. Perhaps it hasnt got a long enough wireless wire?

The problem is that I can't see the A5 in the list of networks like I should be able to.

Don't know why turning off WPA would 'wipe out' your network. It may stop other devices connecting, but turning it back will make things work.
I guess if you're not going to try things, don't ask.

Not sure whether this helps. Is your router next to your stove? I know it's been stormy recently, lightning sometimes interferes with the wireless wires. Can your other devices still connect to the cloud?

[img] [/img]

David. That makes not the slightest difference. I've tried it with them all I the same room

Like I said it seems the A5 isn't putting a signal out.

David, everything else is perfect. No problems at all..... Until I turned that DCHP thing off just now!

I'll keep saying it though: I can't see the A5 in the list like I should be able to.

All in the same room, but equidistant from the cenre? Looking at this photo, everything appears to be equally spaced

[img] [/img]

Don't know why turning off WPA would 'wipe out' your network. It may stop other devices connecting, but turning it back will make things work.
I guess if you're not going to try things, don't ask.

I did try, didn't i? Don't try and be clever.
I don't know why it would wipe it out either but it did. And the only way to turn it back in when my computer can't see the router is to reset the router to factory settings and reset the network.

Ahh. I see that we've reached the "I can't answer the question so I'll just make jokes" stage

Have you managed to put WPA back on now?

Is the a5 connecting to the router? Look in the router config pages you should be able to see a list of connected devices, is it there?

Yes, type in your routers IP address and hit enter.

What options do you have to configure the A5?

So, when you look at the admin pages via a browser on your Virgin Media Wireless Router, do you see the B&W on that?

Could it be that the B&W is connecting wirelessly to the VM router and not the Aiport?

Well, I've just had a look on the B and W website to find out what an A5 was, and saw this paragraph -

Getting a new A5 up and running in your home couldn't be easier. With the free Bowers and Wilkins AirPlay App, it’s a breeze to set up and manage. The app will walk you through the simple steps to connect your A5 to Wi-Fi, and choose and manage your settings, all wirelessly. Because we’re sure you'd rather be listening to great music than messing about with cables or flicking through manuals.

Are you quite sure it's not working, because having read that I can't believe you can possibly be having any problems.

Is the a5 connecting to the router? Look in the router config pages you should be able to see a list of connected devices, is it there?

No. As I've already said a few times.... 🙂
It doesn't [i]seem[/i] to be putting out a signal.

So, when you look at the admin pages via a browser on your Virgin Media Wireless Router, do you see the B&W on that?

I can't do that because, as I've already said, it's not being used as a router, just a modem. I'd have to unplug it, carry it to the computer an physically connect it with a cable to turn it's wifi back on.

Have you managed to put WPA back on now?

Yes.

Gotta go out now. Laters....

I can't do that because, as I've already said, it's not being used as a router, just a modem. I'd have to unplug it, carry it to the computer an physically connect it with a cable to turn it's wifi back on.

I know it shouldn't be, but it's a sensible thing to check - just in case something odd has happened.

Also, try downloading a WiFi analyser app or use the OS tools (see http://osxdaily.com/2012/07/31/wi-fi-scanner-mac-os-x-mountain-lion/) to see what's really 'out there' in the world of WiFi

Hope you get it sorted Peter. I had a look on the internet for answers for you, and apart from those helpful pictures above, I found this thread http://store.apple.com/us/reviews/H9847VC/A/bowers-wilkins-a5-airplay-wireless-music-system

Sounds like youre not alone with the connection issues,.

A bit of RTFM suggests that the A5 doesn't work by having its own wireless network, but rather joins your existing network. I would try connecting via an ethernet cable for the initial setup as described in the manual, then posting back what happens (blue light etc).

DHCP is (simplifying a bit) how the internal IP addresses for all the kit on your network get doled out. Think if them like internal phone extension numbers. This is usually handled by one piece of kit, either the router or a wireless access point. As you have three potential handlers, (Virgin hub even though it has its wireless turned off, plus 2 x AE) there may be conflicts. These can be tricky to sort out even for someone who is comfortable with dealing with them. I would turn off the extending AE, make sure that only one of the main AE and Virgin box are acting as a DHCP server, and see if that works.

Apple's "just works" reputation is a bit of a myth really: like PC/Android stuff it "just works" until it doesn't, and is then unhelpful in helping you figure out the problem. If your view is that you can't / don't want to work out what's going on, and frankly that sort of thing isn't for everyone, probably worth getting someone in to look at how you've got it all set up.

A bit of RTFM suggests that the A5 doesn't work by having its own wireless network, but rather joins your existing network. I would try connecting via an ethernet cable for the initial setup as described in the manual, then posting back what happens

Correct, but it has a 'setup network' that you join like a normal network, to, err, set it up. Then it joins your network

I did indeed plug it in at one point, and got the solid purple light I was after, but I couldn't see it as an Airplay device so unless I'm missing something there (Quite possible, but there were no more instructions on the B&W help menu after that) that didn't work either....

I have two. They didn't like it when I had an extended network and seem to try to connect to the wrong part of it and get confused. If you can try setting it up on the main network with the extending AE turned off.

Mine are now faultless on a single network which covers the whole house with my powerful Asus Dark Knight router.

I've got a couple of zepplin airs. Once worked perfectly, the other needed a firmware update until it flashed up yellow then purple flashing. It was a while ago but I had the b&w app downloaded & plugged it into my laptop I think to do it

I have two. They didn't like it when I had an extended network and seem to try to connect to the wrong part of it and get confused. If you can try setting it up on the main network with the extending AE turned off.

Yep. Tried it.
The problem is that I can't even initiate that set up process any more, as, like I've already said a few times (phhhhh) the A5 isn't showing up on the list of available networks and the apps can't find it at all because of this. It's like it doesn't even exist.

Can you set it up wired and then change the settings?

So, if I understand it right, then from a reset it should work as an access point creating its own network, then after config it drops this network and hopefully connects to the network you've told it to. From what PP is saying, after a reset it still isn't presenting its A5 network. My guess is it's either iffy design of the networking side, or channel interference with the existing networks. Either way, the manual gives little technical setup for the networking side. Overall impressions is that it's a very expensive speaker which looks nice and probably has good sound, but the networking side may be a bit cheap and certainly poorly documented. I get the impression PP doesn't enjoy this type,of problem, and why should he, so probably best to return and get something different.

Well. It's sorted! A nice chap called Matt at B&W called me after I lodged the issue and we spent a while on the phone sorting it. There were 2 issues, one of which I can't fully explain, and I'm positive I'd tried anyway, which was to simply move the A5 into another room, no more than 10 feet further from the router. Then we could see it's setup network. Bizzare. I honestly can't work that out.
The second, which made the setup fail first time as it had done for me in the past, was special characters in the Apple generated network name - Peter's Wi-Fi Network - Once I'd shortened that to 'Peter' it set up first time.
So, now i can annoy the neighbours... 🙂
I tell you what too, these A5s are just as seriously impressive at home as they are in the demo room of the store. It's sitting on top of our American-style fridge-freezer, and I think it's using it as a bass tube of some sort.... my god that's loud!
🙂

Good news!