Clarification:

Regarding the SATA cable from Deltaco, mentioned in STEP ONE and the one David Neel had difficulties finding; I mistakenly wrote the name that the computer store Webhallen uses (Serial ATA-600 0.3 m). Deltaco's own name for this cable is SATA-1000.

Apologies! Maybe that makes it easier for you to find, David?

Original post STEP ONE on page 1 updated.

Speaking of build components, have the BJCo cables been compared against the MicroConnects? I guess I could order some Blue Jeans Cat 6a while I am waiting for a suitable motherboard to show up... Just curious whether anyone has done an A-B since the MicroConnect was the old 'favourite'.

Azazello,

Thanks for your alternate instructions. Unfortunately, I am no further on. What I have tried so far:
1. Download volumio, extract image file to usb stick. Usb stick then boots HAKAI, but I get lost trying to follow the volumio instructions.
2. Download volumio and extract image file to FAT32 formatted SSD. Then place SSD into HAKAI, resulting in a system which will not boot.

I have not, when working straight to SSD, used the etcher program as it only writes to USB drives.

Any ideas?

David Neel wrote:Azazello,

Thanks for your alternate instructions. Unfortunately, I am no further on. What I have tried so far:
1. Download volumio, extract image file to usb stick. Usb stick then boots HAKAI, but I get lost trying to follow the volumio instructions.
2. Download volumio and extract image file to FAT32 formatted SSD. Then place SSD into HAKAI, resulting in a system which will not boot.

I have not, when working straight to SSD, used the etcher program as it only writes to USB drives.

Any ideas?

You will have to "mount" the Volumio image to the SSD, you can't just extract it. Etcher does work, but you have to put it in "unsafe" mode.

Azazello wrote:
You will have to "mount" the Volumio image to the SSD, you can't just extract it. Etcher does work, but you have to put it in "unsafe" mode.

Thanks! I didn't use etcher as it wouldn't let me select an internal drive, only USB. Is that correct, and could I solve this with a SATA-USB cable?

David Neel wrote:

Azazello wrote:
You will have to "mount" the Volumio image to the SSD, you can't just extract it. Etcher does work, but you have to put it in "unsafe" mode.

Thanks! I didn't use etcher as it wouldn't let me select an internal drive, only USB. Is that correct, and could I solve this with a SATA-USB cable?

You can mount Volumio to the SSD with etcher in unsafe mode :)

Thanks, Azazello, I have an (almost) working HAKAI! It boots and can be configured. I just need to get it to find the LSNAS across the network....

David Neel wrote:Thanks, Azazello, I have an (almost) working HAKAI! It boots and can be configured. I just need to get it to find the LSNAS across the network....

Great! Finding the NAS was quite straightforward for me! You need to leave HAKAI alone for quite some time while scanning the network. If you interrupt it it’s not going to include all records in the catalogue.

Update: HAKAI apparently working fine, except it can't find my music. LSNAS apparently working fine. From LSNAS I can see that HAKAI is part of the network. From HAKAI there are no other drives visible. This appears to be a volumio problem. Have searched the web for answers, none applicable. Currently enjoying music via my ADS/3.

I had anticipated that my ADS/3 might have been in the classifieds by now. Instead it may well be the HAKAI... I understand that if/when working it may perform better, but if I can't even find the LSNAS over the network...

Please note: this is not criticism of the HAKAI concept, merely an understanding that I do not have the IT skills to get it working, and that I may be better off keeping my ADS.

Take a deep breath. I was exactly where you are right now on day two. Eventually you will solve it, don't give up!

Just to check:

You are at: Settings -> My Music -> Add New Drive?

I've had several deep breaths!

Yes, I'm at settings/my music/add new drive.

I'd like to publicly thank Alister Purbrick of Tahbilk Wines in Victoria, Australia. A bottle of his 2017 Viognier has been instrumental in maintaining my sanity these last two evenings, :)

I assume you have tried restarting everything, including the NAS, the router and the HAKAI?

Does it find any other units? Have you tried to play music from your computer?

Yes to all, it briefly found my laptop, then lost that too. ADS works fine.

David Neel wrote:Yes to all, it briefly found my laptop, then lost that too. ADS works fine.

Since I didn't encounter this problem I haven't spent hours googeling it and swearing, so I'm afraid I cant help you. Just don't give up and sell it! Do you still have the NAS you used before the LSNAS? Maybe you should give it a go?

Great work so far, David!

I haven't encountered this problem either. Volumio scans my NASes on the network and the music becomes available. Not sure what's wrong, but don't give up! Take another sip of that 2017 Viognier to regain your courage, there is a solution just around the corner.

Once it's solved, you won't encounter it again.

I've spent time this morning with some peripheral items, so I can concur that the GS108T is an improvement over my GS105. The blue jeans ethernet cables arrived today, they are a good step forward from my previously selected Belden cables, lowering the noise floor and letting more information though. So far, so good.

The inability to access the LSNAS is frustrating. I don't have another NAS to try, and I have double-checked all the network settings. After googling extensively, there seem to remain three possibilities:

1: Volumio can't work with my router, which is a 4G Wifi router rather than conventional broadband.
2: The lack of effective, clearly written documentation for Volumio is hiding a solution available via the UI.
3: Volumio requires Linux skills beyond me - the forums seem full of bug fixes done from the command line.

I will continue to search for an answer, by trying to use the HAKAI in another system. At the moment I feel that Volumio is not sufficiently featured or documented to be suitable for a non-technical user. An example of this: I entered all the LSNAS info manually, then got a popup message to say that the drive mount had failed. The popup vanished before I could read it, and there is no record of what I entered on the screen. So I can't even learn from my mistakes!

David Neel wrote:I will continue to search for an answer, by trying to use the HAKAI in another system. At the moment I feel that Volumio is not sufficiently featured or documented to be suitable for a non-technical user. An example of this: I entered all the LSNAS info manually, then got a popup message to say that the drive mount had failed. The popup vanished before I could read it, and there is no record of what I entered on the screen. So I can't even learn from my mistakes!

Absolutely agree. It's horrible. But wait 'till you hear it!

David Neel wrote: 1: Volumio can't work with my router, which is a 4G Wifi router rather than conventional broadband.

If that’s the problem it should work if you disconnect the WiFi-router?

It must work with the router on some level, to have received an IP address, at least, otherwise it wouldn't/couldn't have found the LSNAS... No idea how the service discovery works in Volumio - maybe that's the bit that's not working between your almost-HAKAI and 4G router? Don't suppose you can borrow a different router from someone to rule that in / out as the problem?

tokenbrit wrote:It must work with the router on some level, to have received an IP address, at least, otherwise it wouldn't/couldn't have found the LSNAS... No idea how the service discovery works in Volumio - maybe that's the bit that's not working between your almost-HAKAI and 4G router? Don't suppose you can borrow a different router from someone to rule that in / out as the problem?

Quick check: UPnP/SSDP doesn't rely on DHCP/DNS so not sure how the 4G router would cause Volumio problems. Have you established that it's receiving an IP on the Ethernet interface? I found a thread where only the hotspot was working, the W/LAN wasn't working, then it did, mysteriously*. Moral seems to be to keep trying. Wine optional ;)

* https://volumio.org/forum/lan-and-wifi- ... t6919.html

tokenbrit, thanks for the info on routers. I think I've now ruled that out as the problem, as other things have started kicking off!

Shock horror! Volumio has been (please note past tense) connected to the LSNAS. It turns out the issue was partly in my Windows settings on the LSNAS. But even when I got these corrected, and Volumio would find the LSNAS, it still wouldn't mount the drive, as it insisted that I provide a username and password. The LSNAS is set up not to need any password, so that it can be used without screen and keyboard, and just switched on. Finally, I created a new user account for Volumio so that I could give a password. Then, it all connected.

Success at last? Well, no, because Volumio has scanned the library and found the music, but seems to have applied the same album art to almost everything. And it crashes most times you try to play a new track....

So back to the drawing board. I've deleted the music drive from volumio to start again, and now it's back to can't find the drive...

EDIT: it's now connected and playing....

it's now connected and playing....

UB40 Red Red Wine?

tokenbrit wrote:

it's now connected and playing....

UB40 Red Red Wine?

Not on my playlist! But there is steak tonight, which might have consequences....

Good news! It's working and playing music. How good? I messed up the initial comparison because the Linn silver interconnects got put back wrong way round :( And the volume is strangely low, not sure if I'm missing something. First impressions are positive, though watch this space....

David Neel wrote:Good news! It's working and playing music. How good? I messed up the initial comparison because the Linn silver interconnects got put back wrong way round :( And the volume is strangely low, not sure if I'm missing something. First impressions are positive, though watch this space....

Great work David!!

There's a digital volume control in Volumio, which you should turn up to 100 when your volume is controlled later in the chain.

If you disable the DVC in Volumio, it doesn't produce full volume (100) but is instead fixed at some lower setting. I complained to the Volumio team about this, but I'm not sure they did anything about it.

Thanks very much for the info guys,this is exciting news as I've been trying for years to get a decent sound from a digital file.I decided to forget about the easy stuff (Spending cash) at the moment and concentrate on getting volumio up and running on a laptop and compared to other distros Ive used I was surprised how quickly i got it up and running on my 320 ssd Thinkpad .It found my 2 NAS and router instantly.It has a great snappy feel though a bit flaky at times but a pleasure to use,very impressed..Thanks again guys