I'm currently experiencing a recurring issue where after the table gets to the end of a track, it will stop and then just hang to the point that I can't access it from my iOS app or a desktop browser, even though I can still ping it and hit it via SFTP when it's in this state. Power cycling the table fixes it for a few hours, but a) the problem returns a few hours later, and b) given prior experiences of how the table behaves after power is cut, I don't really like power cycling it.
This is unfortunately just the latest aggravation of several in the 5 months that I've had my coffee table. First I ended up having to perform multiple factory resets, each of which restored the table to a slightly different state -- and each of which caused me to lose my downloaded tracks and custom playlists. Then I had a firmware update brick my table, and even after multiple hours with Sisyphus Support trying to resurrect it since SFTP remained available, I had to resort to reimaging the SD card. Then after each of a few power outages related to adverse local weather, the table's WiFi configuration was lost -- except after one outage where the table came back up with its entire configuration folder gone from its file system, which required ANOTHER reimage to get the table working again and thus ANOTHER loss of all of my downloaded tracks and playlists.
I understand that a firmware update is being developed that should make future updates and recovery from sudden power outages more reliable, but that obviously didn't help me back then. And honestly, given that there's no "graceful shutdown" function for this table even within the app -- which I suspect not everyone even uses -- the fact that the table can't reliably recover after power is cut is....disappointing, to put it mildly. What is the "safe" way to power down this table, anyway?
After the most recent loss of all of my downloaded tracks and playlists, I have at least kept a backup of my table's configuration folder in case it happens again. So I suppose I can attempt to resolve this latest issue by just reimaging the SD card for the third time in 5 months. Is that what would be recommended here?
And more broadly, are others having issues and overall experiences like this, or am I just incredibly lucky? I'm not doing anything special, to my knowledge. I have about 6 playlists and maybe 95 tracks, and yet this product that's supposed to be relaxing is becoming incredibly aggravating, even before considering what it cost. At the moment this seems to be a brilliant idea and a beautiful piece of art that's let down by poor implementation of the underpinning technology.
Hey John,
I'm very sorry to hear of the issues you're experiencing with your table and I'm committed to helping you find a reasonable solution.
The specific issue of the table stopping after running for a few hours and requiring a restart is pretty isolated as far as I know. This could possibly be related to the occasional power losses you've mentioned. If power outages are a frequent occurrence, I would suggest plugging the table into a UPS. The tables do not use much power, 5-50 watts max, so it wouldn't take a very large one to keep it running for a while. To debug the cause of the table becoming inoperable after a few hours, I'd like to check the logs on your table. If you want to dive further into this please restart your table, enable log sharing and send a message through out support portal letting me know logs are available.
As you're aware and stated there isn't an easily accessible way to run a clean shutdown on the table (this will be available in the next update). However, if it's available on your network you can shut down via SSH: sudo shutdown now. Obviously, this is not convenient but is currently the only available way.
The way you're operating your table does not sound abnormal to me and I don't have an answer to why you've experienced ongoing issues. Even with frequent power losses, I don't expect this frequency of issues. Regardless, what you're experiencing is not satisfactory and I have every intention of solving it. The ultimate and long lasting solution is not here yet, but I'm confident we can find an interim solution till I can provide you with a robust and bulletproof software solution.
Micah
Hi Micah,
Thanks for the response and commitment to working towards a resolution. One thing that occurred to me after I made that post is that the only change I made to how I used the table shortly before observing this issue is that in addition to having the "Pause between tracks" option enabled, as I often do, I enabled the "Restart after 15 minutes" option as well, which I had never done. The table seemed to work fine with that for a few days, if memory serves, and then I started having these issues. Thinking that might be the culprit, I disabled that option, but the issues persisted once or twice per day. So then I also disabled "Pause between tracks", which is how I'm running now. And for the moment, things seem to be ok, although since the issue only seemed to happen at the end of tracks and many of the tracks I run tend to take 4-10 hours to play, my sample size isn't very large yet.
But if the issue reappears, I'll report back with logs. If on the other hand the table continues to behave, I may try enabling those pause and restart options again in an attempt to reproduce the issue and write a solid problem report. But in the immediate term, I think I'm going to spend some time just enjoying the table working normally rather than debugging it.
Looking forward to an upcoming firmware update that will offer a graceful shutdown and apparently offer more built-in resilience to unexpected outages. On that subject, adding a UPS isn't really in the cards for me. It wouldn't work well in the space where my table is located, and frankly it's just not something I'd consider for a non-critical item in my home as a workaround to an issue that really shouldn't exist anyway. Electronic devices I have that are far more complex manage to have a very high probability of recovering properly after an unexpected outage, so I don't see why that shouldn't be possible for this table.
Anyhow, thanks again for the reply. I'll be in touch if I can provide any additional information to help chase this down.
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