Topic: How do I get my Classic Chumby to stream music again?

I have 10 Classic Chumby's and they no longer see any Wi-Fi connections when they scan.  I tried to manually connect and the devices cannot see anything.  At one point the Chumby stated that it was unable to download the control panel.  But the most frequent message I get is  -  failed to obtain IP address   -  chumby.com unreachable.  Any help?

Re: How do I get my Classic Chumby to stream music again?

The "failed to obtain IP address" is something that's totally local to your network.  The fact that 10 devices are all failing in the same manner points to a problem with your access point.

Re: How do I get my Classic Chumby to stream music again?

I have a Chumby Classic (just one, not ten of them) that has had a similar problem for quite some time now.  When I go through the network settings, it sees my network, obtains an IP address via dhcp, appears to be connected, but says that chumby.com is unreachable.  Same thing when I enter the network information manually.

Occasionally, however, it will connect and work OK.  It seems to disconnect/reconnect intermittently, as I'll catch it with the Star Trek clock displaying at times, and at other times the default offline clock is up (though it spends the majority of time not connected).  This actually started happening a couple of years ago, and I'd given up on it and left it unplugged until a few weeks ago when my Chumby One (which had no connection problems) died and I started playing around with it.

I've got a couple of laptops, an android tablet, a droid phone, an iPhone, a wireless web cam, and a Grace Mondo Internet radio all routinely connecting without issue, so I'm reluctant to blame it on my AP.

Re: How do I get my Classic Chumby to stream music again?

pjsauter wrote:

I've got a couple of laptops, an android tablet, a droid phone, an iPhone, a wireless web cam, and a Grace Mondo Internet radio all routinely connecting without issue, so I'm reluctant to blame it on my AP.


Just curious, how do you like your Grace Mondo? I got mine a while ago and really love it.

Tar, feathers, congress. Some assembly required.

Re: How do I get my Classic Chumby to stream music again?

pjsauter wrote:

I've got a couple of laptops, an android tablet, a droid phone, an iPhone, a wireless web cam, and a Grace Mondo Internet radio all routinely connecting without issue, so I'm reluctant to blame it on my AP.

I had connection issues with my Classics that were remedied by assigning them static IP addresses. Other devices worked OK on the same network. When I got a new router, the problem disappeared and the Chumbys both worked fine with dynamic IPs. It seems to be a combination of something to do with the Classic plus certain routers.

Re: How do I get my Classic Chumby to stream music again?

Duane wrote:

The "failed to obtain IP address" is something that's totally local to your network.  The fact that 10 devices are all failing in the same manner points to a problem with your access point.


I made contact with my network technician who had me do a couple of things including connecting a computer and an iPhone wirelesssly, and that was successful.  The Chumby however, still does not connect.  It does not even see any Wi-Fi connections.  I went a step further and took 2 of the Chumby's to two other locations where Wi-Fi is present and tried unsuccessfully to connect to their signals.  The same result occurred.  They cannot see Wi-Fi to make a connection.  Is there a Master Reset, or something else I can do to try to render all of these units useful again?

7 (edited by pjsauter 2013-04-10 15:23:26)

Re: How do I get my Classic Chumby to stream music again?

BoloMKXXVIII wrote:
pjsauter wrote:

I've got a couple of laptops, an android tablet, a droid phone, an iPhone, a wireless web cam, and a Grace Mondo Internet radio all routinely connecting without issue, so I'm reluctant to blame it on my AP.


Just curious, how do you like your Grace Mondo? I got mine a while ago and really love it.

I love it.  While the Chumby widgets were cute, I really only used it as an Internet radio, and the Mondo is far superior at that one task.  And the price was comparable to the Chumby (at the time I bought my first Chumby).  The "local" feature is great for getting all your local stations, and it's very easy to add other streams and presets.

The price was comparable to what I paid for the Chumby classic, and it's way better (IMHO) as an Internet radio than the Chumby was.  It's NOT a Chumby, of course, and if you love all the Chumby widgets that used to be available before the demise of Chumby, then it's not for you.  For me, it's a great alternative.

Re: How do I get my Classic Chumby to stream music again?

steelpaw wrote:
pjsauter wrote:

I've got a couple of laptops, an android tablet, a droid phone, an iPhone, a wireless web cam, and a Grace Mondo Internet radio all routinely connecting without issue, so I'm reluctant to blame it on my AP.

I had connection issues with my Classics that were remedied by assigning them static IP addresses. Other devices worked OK on the same network. When I got a new router, the problem disappeared and the Chumbys both worked fine with dynamic IPs. It seems to be a combination of something to do with the Classic plus certain routers.

It seems to be the same for me whether I use DHCP or static IP.  Maybe there's an intermittent (physical) connection  problem.  I've yet to pull the thing apart and see if everthing's seated properly.

Is there a network "card" in the Chumby Classic that I can pull and re-seat?

Re: How do I get my Classic Chumby to stream music again?

steelpaw wrote:
pjsauter wrote:

I've got a couple of laptops, an android tablet, a droid phone, an iPhone, a wireless web cam, and a Grace Mondo Internet radio all routinely connecting without issue, so I'm reluctant to blame it on my AP.

I had connection issues with my Classics that were remedied by assigning them static IP addresses. Other devices worked OK on the same network. When I got a new router, the problem disappeared and the Chumbys both worked fine with dynamic IPs. It seems to be a combination of something to do with the Classic plus certain routers.

If it NEVER connected, that would be one thing.  But it intermittently connects, and that's hard to figure out.  And it sees the network (it actually sees both of my APs and I can try connecting to either one).  So,  I dunno. I'd love to have my Chumpy work consistently, but it's probably just one more thing to throw upon my pile of bad electronic investments.  But I hate to let go, 'cuz I really love the thing.

Re: How do I get my Classic Chumby to stream music again?

pjsauter wrote:

Is there a network "card" in the Chumby Classic that I can pull and re-seat?


Yes, there is. Please see the teardown here: http://broo2.blogspot.com/2008/01/naked-chumby.html

Tar, feathers, congress. Some assembly required.

Re: How do I get my Classic Chumby to stream music again?

Duane - It there anything else I can do to try to reset my Chumby's, if that's even possible?

Re: How do I get my Classic Chumby to stream music again?

You might want to try using a wired Ethernet connection to see if that solves your problem. That is what I have done with my Chumbys, because I have found the wireless connection to be pretty crappy when trying to stream radio. Of course, I don't know if in your situation, you are close enough to your router to allow this. See this page of the wiki: http://wiki.blueocty.com/index.php?titl … d_Ethernet

I use the Linksys USB200M, readily available on Ebay for a few dollars, and am very satisfied with that solution.

13 (edited by nathanm 2013-04-13 15:38:11)

Re: How do I get my Classic Chumby to stream music again?

tanlines wrote:

Duane - It there anything else I can do to try to reset my Chumby's, if that's even possible?

I don't think that's the problem. However, it's worth a try if you don't mind losing your audio streams. You can either A: factory reset by rebooting while touching the screen, or update your Chumby by downloading the firmware available here. Then, boot while touching the screen and tap "Install Update" and then "USB Drive" or something. Make sure the a USB drive with the update file is in your Chumby, as the stub servers don't currently offer updates.