[OSX & Android] CC only connects rarely

[kdsksg]

Hi all!

I have calibre on my OS X laptop, and CC on my Samsung tablet running Android. At times, CC connects with no issues, just like it's supposed to, but most of the time, it will not connect at all - simply attempt to, and then say that it could not connect. I've gone through the entire help file, and at the end of it, it told me to make a thread here. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd really appreciate it.

It connects rarely, and when it does, everything goes great - it stays connected as long as I want it to, no issues transferring files from the computer to the tablet, etc. But getting it connected seems to be luck of the draw - sometimes it works and most of the time, it doesn't. When it DOES work, I don't know if it's something I've done or just pure chance, but having gone through all of the recommendations in the help file with still no luck, I'm not sure what to try next.

The IP address that calibre displays is 192.168.1.102, which is the IP I've put into CC.
The IP of my device, as shown in CC, is 192.168.1.139
I've set the fixed port as 9090, which is the port number I've put into CC.

It has worked with these settings before, but rarely and sporadically. Changing them doesn't seem to help. The issue is not firewall or antivirus, as best I can tell.

Help, please?

[theducks]

Are you connecting via the AP or Router?
Or are you trying a 'Peer" to 'Peer" connection (if both use WiFi)

[kdsksg]

Both devices are connected to my home's Wi-Fi network, and I am connecting as a "wireless device", as described in the help page found here.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by kdsksg

Both devices are connected to my home's Wi-Fi network, and I am connecting as a "wireless device", as described in the help page found here.

That is good.

If you hadn't said it worked 'sometimes', I would be looking at the Routers security settings that prevent clients from reaching other clients (only allows WAN access)

Are you sure your devices always connect to YOUR network (and not some other, nearby unsecured or allowed network)

[chaley]

First, you should use the default settings in CC unless it never works. These settings help handle IP addresses that change and add information to the logs.

As for what is happening: my guess is a congested network or an antivirus that decides from time to time that CC is evil. Another possibility is that some device is connected by cable to the computer running calibre, perhaps only for charging, and that device is preventing calibre from processing CC's connection attempts. This can happen even if calibre fails to connect to the device. Something similar can happen if you use calibre's connect-to-folder option.

I might be able to tell more if you provide debug logs. See How do I get help? for instructions. We will need both a CC and a calibre debug log.

[kdsksg]

Yes, I am positive that both devices are connected to my home Wi-Fi, and only connecting to that network.

The default settings in CC have never successfully connected but the specific IP and Port have worked sometimes. However, I did test the default settings for thoroughness during troubleshooting, with no success.

No other devices are connected to my computer (not even a mouse!) via cable or USB.

I have sent a CC debug log to the provided email and acquired a calibre debug log, but would like to request an email address to send that to also.
(I ran the debugs with the settings that I normally use (IP and port specified), but you mentioned that the default settings add information to the logs. Should I get debug logs with the default settings?)

Some more information: Last night, I restarted my router to see if that would help matters, and after the restart it worked successfully for the rest of the evening (several times in a row), but as of this morning, is back to being nonfunctional. I have not attempted to restart the router again to see if that will fix it again. Hopefully that helps!

Thank you all, and let me know if you need any more information from my end or have more things to try.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by kdsksg

I have sent a CC debug log to the provided email and acquired a calibre debug log, but would like to request an email address to send that to also.

Please send the calibre debug log to the same email address used for the CC debug log: cc_debug_logs [at] haleys [dot] org

Looking at the CC debug log I see that on multiple times on 16 and 17 April CC tried using the default settings. CC asked the network if calibre was there. Calibre answered "Yes" and provided an IP address, the same one you mentioned. CC then attempted to connect to that IP address and failed. The usual reason for this kind of failure is security SW such as an antivirus or firewall on the calibre computer. The second-most reason is "guest mode" or other security settings on the home wifi router. The third-most reason (very rare) is wifi congestion: too many neighbors on the same wifi channel. The last reason is bugs on the device itself.

Bottom line: something on your network is preventing CC from connecting to calibre. A CC log extract is:

2017-04-17 18:39:01.539:  WDConnection: Starting connect process
2017-04-17 18:39:01.546:  WDConnection: Broadcasting ...
2017-04-17 18:39:02.771:  WDConnection: MDNS ServiceAdded. name=calibre smart device client (on xxxxx, address=192.168.1.102, port=9090
2017-04-17 18:39:04.270:  WDConnection: received broadcast response calibre wireless device client (on xxxxx);8080,9090, address 192.168.1.102
2017-04-17 18:39:04.330:  Networking: identical mdns & broadcast host 192.168.1.102 9090
2017-04-17 18:39:04.332:  WDConnection: using broadcast server address 192.168.1.102 port 9090
2017-04-17 18:39:04.364:  WDConnection: my ip address is: 192.168.1.139
2017-04-17 18:39:04.366:  WDConnection: trying server address 192.168.1.102 port 9090
2017-04-17 18:39:09.370:  Attempt to connect resulted in exception
java.net.SocketTimeoutException: failed to connect to /192.168.1.102 (port 9090) after 5000ms

MDNS is an alternate name for Bonjour and some implementations of universal-Plug-and-Play.

Note that it took calibre almost 3 seconds to answer the broadcast. This is an unusually long time, and might indicate that the computer running calibre is running very slowly, perhaps because of lack of memory or other processes running at the same time. If the calibre computer is very slow then perhaps CC's timeout of 5 seconds (5,000 milliseconds) isn't long enough.

The calibre log might provide more detail about what is happening.

[kdsksg]

I've emailed the calibre debug log to the provided email address.

That's correct, I tried multiple times yesterday in all sorts of configurations before going through the full help log to see if something would work.

The calibre computer, to the best of my knowledge, does not have any antivirus or firewall that would be blocking connections. Hopefully the calibre debug log can help us to narrow down this problem.

Thank you very much for all of your help!

[chaley]

That calibre debug log is strange. It does match the format of a standard calibre debug log. More important, it is missing the startup messages from the wireless device driver and it does not contain any wireless device log startup or connection messages. Finally, it says that the calibre you are running is some 50 versions (approximately 15 to 18 months) older than the current calibre release.

Is this the verbatim log or did you edit it?

Where did you get the calibre release? Is it a "real" calibre release, by that I mean one made by Kovid and downloaded from https://calibre-ebook.com/, or is it a "distro" calibre release made by some third party? If the latter then all bets are off. Third-party calibre releases commonly break fundamental things.

I also note that you have installed the iOS plugin. I have no idea whether it works with the calibre wireless device. The same question exists for the Marvin plugin

[kdsksg]

Yes, this is the verbatim log that popped up after I closed the debug version of calibre. All I did was save as and send it to you.

And yes, I'm running a much older version of calibre because I'm resistant to upgrading because it seems that every time I do update anything as I usually loose something vital or run into major glitches. However, if the solution is to upgrade, then that's what needs to be done.

Yes, it is a "real" calibre release, not one from a third party. I just haven't updated it.

Yes, I previously used Marvin on my iOS device before the Marvin/Apple iOS 8.3 incompatibility. I haven't revisited using Marvin on my iOS with my Calibre but that is an option on the table if I can't get the Samsung to cooperate.

Do I need to create another debug log, or is the fact that it's missing those bits of information symptomatic of a problem? I followed the instructions detailed in the FAQ that you linked me to. I opened calibre in debug mode, attempted to connect CC and calibre a total of twice (with my IP and port specified), which both failed, and then I closed calibre (debug), saved the log it generated, and emailed it to you.

Am I just a jinx (my hubby says so!)?

[chaley]

Originally Posted by kdsksg

Yes, this is the verbatim log that popped up after I closed the debug version of calibre. All I did was save as and send it to you.

In that case we know the problem. The wireless device driver did not start. You should see lines like the following near the top of the log

Starting up...
Started up in 4.32 seconds with 77 books
SMART_DEV (   0.00:  0.003) _attach_to_port try ip address "" on port 9090
SMART_DEV (   0.94:  0.802) startup_on_demand listening on port 9090
SMART_DEV (   0.95:  0.001) _attach_to_port try ip address "" on port 54982
SMART_DEV (   0.96:  0.000) startup_on_demand broadcast socket listening on port 54982
SMART_DEV (   1.98:  1.019) run All IP addresses {'{4AFD7AF6-F037-4FA9-B866-8B2334C445C9}': [{'broadcast': '192.168.120.255', 'netmask':'255.255.255.0', 'addr': '192.168.120.6'}], '{B237AF4A-8A56-4AF7-B64F-C236001A871E}': [{'addr': '169.254.156.167'}], '{4278D57E-9ADF-11E6-9A9E-806E6F6E6963}': [{'broadcast': '127.255.255.255', 'netmask': '255.0.0.0', 'addr': '127.0.0.1'}], '{97D48348-3352-41E0-8698-71FA9D292B0A}': [{'addr': '169.254.194.204'}], '{1F6BE112-2686-491E-AA9E-98FE9F816D3E}': [{'addr': '169.254.212.152'}], '{9B0F7C9C-D29B-4518-B8CF-3C16072273F9}': [{'addr': '169.254.101.42'}], '{B9045235-697D-4857-AF18-EBB356CBBD47}': [{'addr': '169.254.175.222'}]}

What I don't know is whether the WD driver isn't set to start, is attempting to start but failing, or is very very slow to start.

I think the middle one is not likely because something would be in the log.

You can check the first one in calibre by pressing the Connect/Share button. If the WD driver is running then you will see something like the following image. The important bit is the green dot and the existence of IP addresses.



As for the last one, you can sort-of check this by waiting after you start calibre to see if the SMART_DEV log lines eventually show up in the log.

And yes, I'm running a much older version of calibre because I'm resistant to upgrading because it seems that every time I do update anything as I usually loose something vital or run into major glitches. However, if the solution is to upgrade, then that's what needs to be done.

I don't know if upgrading will fix it. It lust might. There have been many intervening changes to the wireless device driver, including to device detection.

If the upgrade doesn't fix it but does break something else then you can downgrade back to where you are. This isn't the optimal outcome so I hope you don't end up there.

Yes, I previously used Marvin on my iOS device before the Marvin/Apple iOS 8.3 incompatibility. I haven't revisited using Marvin on my iOS with my Calibre but that is an option on the table if I can't get the Samsung to cooperate.

If you aren't using the plugins then try uninstalling them. It is very possible that they interfere with the WD driver, especially on that older calibre version. Do this before trying an upgrade.

Do I need to create another debug log, or is the fact that it's missing those bits of information symptomatic of a problem? I followed the instructions detailed in the FAQ that you linked me to. I opened calibre in debug mode, attempted to connect CC and calibre a total of twice (with my IP and port specified), which both failed, and then I closed calibre (debug), saved the log it generated, and emailed it to you.

Yes, I need to see a calibre debug log that contains the lines shown above. If those lines aren't there then CC will not work.

Am I just a jinx (my hubby says so!)?

My wife has a similar problem. Computers don't like her. Frequently she does something and it doesn't work for inexplicable reasons. She asks to come up and mansplain things to her computer (not her), then she tries again with me standing there. It works. Neither of us knows why. She has given up trying to understand, as have I.

[kdsksg]

All of the times that I have tried to connect CC and calibre, that green light has been on, with the IP address and port listed, so I don't think that that is the issue.

Would that explain why the connection only succeeds rarely, or why it worked consistently (at least for the remainder of the evening) when I restarted my router?

I opened calibre in debug mode again, started wireless device connection, attempted to connect twice (with no success), stopped wireless device connection, started it again, and let it sit for a little bit (just in case the wireless driver is slow to start, as you mentioned) before trying to connect again (still no success), before stopping wireless device connection and closing the debug version of calibre. The debug log didn't seem to contain those SMART_DEV lines that are supposed to be there.
I waited for approximately 8 minutes before attempting to connect, should I give it more time for the WD driver to start? Should I reset my router again (which should hopefully give another successful connection) and provide a debug log of that?

Then I tried uninstalling the Marvin and iOS plugins, but only the iOS one could be disabled - it said that disabling the Marvin XD plugin was not allowed. When I opened calibre, it said that Marvin XD plugin requires the iOS plugin, so they might have both been disabled...?
I started wireless device connection and gave it another ~7 minutes to start up before attempting to connect (another failure), stopping wireless device connection, and closing the debug calibre. This debug log seems to be even less complete than the previous ones, not even getting past "Starting up...."

I've emailed both of these debug logs, for completeness.

If I do upgrade my calibre version, as it seems like the next step may be, how would I go about downgrading back to this one? I'd like to make sure I know how to do that, if it comes to it.

[PeterT]

Why not download the current portable version, shutdown your old build of Calibre, install portable and any plugins you want, even add some books to the new portable library and see what happens with cc etc?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[chaley]

Unfortunately there are no attachments on the email you sent me.

More comments inline

Originally Posted by kdsksg

All of the times that I have tried to connect CC and calibre, that green light has been on, with the IP address and port listed, so I don't think that that is the issue.

Would that explain why the connection only succeeds rarely, or why it worked consistently (at least for the remainder of the evening) when I restarted my router?

I am at a loss. What I know is that the WD driver writes log information when it starts. If that log info isn't there then almost certainly the driver isn't running correctly.

I opened calibre in debug mode again, started wireless device connection, attempted to connect twice (with no success), stopped wireless device connection, started it again, and let it sit for a little bit (just in case the wireless driver is slow to start, as you mentioned) before trying to connect again (still no success), before stopping wireless device connection and closing the debug version of calibre. The debug log didn't seem to contain those SMART_DEV lines that are supposed to be there.
I waited for approximately 8 minutes before attempting to connect, should I give it more time for the WD driver to start?

No. If it doesn't start in 8 minutes then it won't ever start.

Should I reset my router again (which should hopefully give another successful connection) and provide a debug log of that?

It might be that I am focusing on a non-problem. I don't have a Mac and therefore cannot see what a "normal" Mac log looks like. That said, I also cannot see any reason why the SD driver log messages would be thrown away.

Putting aside the log problem, it is possible that the problem is in the router. In particular, if the router supports "guest mode" or "wireless isolation" then it will block connections between devices on the local network. That blockage would explain why the CC default settings don't work and why connections fail. In this case the mystery becomes "why does it ever work?" The router shouldn't turn these features on and off by itself.

One thing you can do is try using the content server. That lets us remove CC from the scenario. You would turn on calibre's content server (you might have already have done so) then attempt to connect from your device using its web browser instead of CC. The URL would look something like http://192.168.1.102/. If this doesn't connect then we know that the problem is not CC but is instead somewhere on your network. If it does connect then try doing a content server connect from CC (you might need to enter the IP address). If this fails then we know that the problem has something to do with CC. If it works but wireless device connections do not work then we know that the problem is in calibre or on the calibre computer.

Then I tried uninstalling the Marvin and iOS plugins, but only the iOS one could be disabled - it said that disabling the Marvin XD plugin was not allowed. When I opened calibre, it said that Marvin XD plugin requires the iOS plugin, so they might have both been disabled...?

I don't use either so I can't give definitive answers. It is possible that you might need to uninstall the plugins one at a time, restarting between the uninstalls.

If I do upgrade my calibre version, as it seems like the next step may be, how would I go about downgrading back to this one? I'd like to make sure I know how to do that, if it comes to it.

You get the install file for the version you have from the calibre-ebooks site. If you need to downgrade you uninstall the current version then install the previous version. Again, as I don't have a Mac I can't be more precise.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Why not download the current portable version, shutdown your old build of Calibre, install portable and any plugins you want, even add some books to the new portable library and see what happens with cc etc?

This is an excellent idea, but unfortunately there is no calibre portable version for Macs, at least that I know of.