Raspberry Pi 4 Model B / FPP will not connect to network

[rjtodd1]

Hi All, 
I cannot figure out what I did as I had the FPP working before.  I went to add a second FPP to run some projectors and that's when it failed.  I formatted the SD card and etched it as directed but when I apply power, there is no activity light lit on the FPP ethernet net jack but the switch/router does light up showing activity.  The FPP used to announce the assigned IP address but it longer does and nothing show up in router home page. At first I though it might be my router as it is about 5 years old but same thing happens with a new router. With the old router, every time I attempted to power it up, I would need to reboot the router as we lost internet connection throughout the whole house.  I feel it's simple as it worked before.  I have reinstalled the software, new cat5 cable, used previous release software.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.  

[JonD]

I cannot figure out what I did as I had the FPP working before.  I went to add a second FPP to run some projectors and that's when it failed.

Are you having problems with 2 of them or just the one?

there is no activity light lit on the FPP ethernet net jack but the switch/router does light up showing activity.

If the OS was not booting properly, or if two devices were trying to use the same IP, it is possible to see the router interface light up, but not the Pi.  I have seen bad SD Card extenders cause that as well.  Is the Pi attached to a controller?  You might go back to basics and remove the controller (if attached) and place the SD Card directly in the Pi (if an extender is used), maybe try a different SD Card, or try to boot up to a known working FPP installation.  The Pi4 itself could be bad, but they are pretty durable and that would not be my first guess.

With the old router, every time I attempted to power it up, I would need to reboot the router as we lost internet connection throughout the whole house.

If you assigned the gateway address to the Pi IP address, and both the PI and router were trying to use the same IP, that might cause a conflict that would impact the entire house.  Normally the router would win on a conflict, but anything is possible.  Another possibility is if the PI and router are both handing out DHCP addresses.  It would be unusual for a defective device to take out the entire network, unless it was trying to use resources that belonged to something else, or was providing resources to the network that it should not be.

[rjtodd1]

Thanks for your reply Jon, 
1) right now I am back to just one.  I have gone back to square one with a new router and nothing. 
2) I'll try a new SD cand this weekend along with a brand new Raspberry pi and provide an update.  
3) I have Falcon controllers and they work just fine.  

Thanks for your help.  I'm just so confused as I've done this before and it's pretty straight forward.  

Have a great weekend! 

[rjtodd1]

Update.  I plug in the ethernet cable and power up and I lose access to the internet.  I unplug the cable and the internet returns.  Crazy.  Any thoughts....that you can repeat. LOL .

[Poporacer]

Crazy.  Any thoughts.

Not without more information. You probably have your network configured incorrectly. A LOT more detail will help. Which FPP are you plugging in the Ethernet cable to? Where is the other end going? What interfaces do you have configured and how???
Screenshots and explanations of all of your network interfaces would really help. (screenshots and NOT pictures of your screen please)

[JonD]

I have learned never to say never, but it is unlikely the Pi4 hardware (even if defective) is taking down your entire home network.  My first guess would be network configuration as well. 

You might be able to leave the network cable unplugged and try to connect to the wifi tether.  A monitor on the Pi4 is typically not needed for FPP, but if you have one laying around it might be helpful to troubleshoot.

[rjtodd1]

Thanks all, 

I hooked up an old Pi with the new software and it worked fine.  Something went wrong with this one so I'm trashing it.  Thanks for your help and I least I found out it wasn't me this time.  

Have a great weekend and thanks again for your replies.  

[rjtodd1]

Update! The Pi4 appear to loose connectivity and I can no longer access it at all after I ran FPP connect from xlights.  It has now happened on (3) separate Pi 4's  When I run the FPP connect on my Pi 3 and B+ it woks fine.  Has anyone else experienced this before?  I was hoping to use the Pi 4 because of the 2 HDMI outputs but this is getting expensive.  Any ideas?  

[JonD]

There are thousands of Pi4 devices running FPP and you are the only person reporting this issue.  It is very rare for ANY device to take an entire network down.  It is highly unlikely for three different Pi4s to have the exact same unique issue.  It almost has to be something unique in your environment.

You either need to share more information about how your system is setup, or jump in the xLights Zoom Room for assistance.  The Zoom Room would likely be quicker and less frustrating, but you can post more information here as well.  We would need to know the IP/Subnet/Gateway of all the devices in play. Print screens of their configuration even better.  (To share pictures you need to hit the black reply button instead of using the quick reply option.)

IP information on the following would be a good start.
FPP wireless
FPP ethernet
Internet Router
XLights device PC/MAC/Linux
Light Controller.



 

[rjtodd1]

Thanks JonD! I agree it's got to be something on my end and some day I'll jump into the Zoom Room and ask for help.  For now I'll just use the Pi3's and move on.  Thanks for the reply. 

[tbone321]

I would take a close look at your IP addresses of all of these devices and make sure that you don't have a duplicate address, especially if one has the same address as your router.  If you are putting in static routes, take a close look at your entries and make sure that you are not creating routing loops that never let the data out.

[rjtodd1]

good idea.  I'll double check 

Thanks 

[MikeKrebs]

Update! The Pi4 appear to loose connectivity and I can no longer access it at all after I ran FPP connect from xlights.  It has now happened on (3) separate Pi 4's  When I run the FPP connect on my Pi 3 and B+ it woks fine.  Has anyone else experienced this before?  I was hoping to use the Pi 4 because of the 2 HDMI outputs but this is getting expensive.  Any ideas? 

What are you uploading to FPP? It shouldn't be changing the network side but maybe the sequences are so far out of whack, it is causing a problem.

If you move the sdcard to the Pi3, does it boot up?

[JonD]

I formatted the SD card and etched it as directed but when I apply power, there is no activity light lit on the FPP ethernet net jack but the switch/router does light up showing activity.

What is attached to the Pi4?  Are there any hats or controllers attached to the Pi4?  Are there any 3rd party USB wired or wireless network cards being used?  Assuming this is an out of the box Pi4, and nothing else attached other than a standard SD card inserted directly into the Pi4 SD card slot... no link light on the Pi could imply bad cabling or that the OS did not load properly.

You mention you have replaced cables, but are these store bought cables or ones you made yourself?  I have seen people make their own cables and not realize the color order is critical.  The Pi3 has a slower network interface and might tolerate bad cabling better than a Pi4.

The FPP used to announce the assigned IP address but it longer does and nothing show up in router home page.

This typically means the OS is not loading correctly, or that the announcement setting is turned off (not sure what the default is).  I don't use this feature and don't have any suggestions.
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With the old router, every time I attempted to power it up, I would need to reboot the router as we lost internet connection throughout the whole house. 

If the FPP device was trying to use the same IP as the router it could cause this, but a fresh FPP image install should default the FPP IP to a DHCP IP address.  I would think you would have to login to the FPP device and either restore an older config, or manually assign an IP to have a router conflict.  Also, routers typically win IP conflicts.

There could be a bad static route in the old router.  If they are getting a DHCP address from the router, the router would assign a different IP to each Pi.  Maybe the Pi3 was assigned an IP that is needed for things to work.  Can you login into the router and see if it is assigning an IP to the Pi4?

Until you post more information about your configuration I don't have any more suggestions... sorry!

Good Luck!