Backup/restore CQ

[DaveNJ]

Ok, so I just went through an issue where my CQ20-B wouldn’t bring up the network at all on startup and I could t get it to do a network reset (kept coming up blinking blue and I couldn’t set the network type on startup – would only let me select “red” which I ultimately had to do as I had people waiting…).

What I want to do is backup my scenes and I/O settings to an SD card so I can easily restore it in case this happens again.

[KeithJ A&H]

@DaveNJ

When the LED is flashing blue it means WiFi is active and in a default state, you can then press (not hold) the reset button to switch between WiFi and Ethernet connection modes.
The red is a full system reset which is only accessible by holding the reset button to get into the reset menu.
You can backup a Show to a USB drive as described in the user guide here – https://www.allen-heath.com/content/uploads/2023/09/CQ_User_Guide_V1_2_0_iss3.pdf#page=63&zoom=auto,-233,3 – the differences between Shows, Scenes and Libraries is explained here – https://www.allen-heath.com/content/uploads/2023/09/CQ_User_Guide_V1_2_0_iss3.pdf#page=28&zoom=auto,-233,574

Thanks,
Keith.

[DaveNJ]

Keith, yes – I saw all of that in the manual, but the WiFi network never showed up on any of our devices. I tried to plug in an external router as well and switch it over to yellow so we could connect, but the led wouldn’t go solid or let us connect.

[Shig]

I’m very interested in this also. 15 minutes before a rehearsal I lost wifi connectivity and ended up restoring back to orig config. Took about an hour to get all my settings and levels close to where we think they were. Really ate up a lot of time, and we all know that rehearsals are too important to waste time on.

Hope there is some good info that comes out of this thread! Thx for asking this @DaveNJ!

[DaveNJ]

Keith – with 1.2 on the CQ20, if the previously configured and working WiFi does not come up (can’t see the SSID from any systems), I should be able to switch it to Ethernet by pressing the reset button once quickly which should toggle it to Yellow – correct? For network connectivity backup, would I be able to connect an iPad or MacBook Pro via a usb-c to ether dongle and a cable, or would I need a small hub or switch, as well? (the mixer isn’t with me right now, so I just want to make sure I’m ready for my gig Thursday eve – thanks!).

[KeithJ A&H]

@DaveNJ

Correct – V1.2 included an update to the CQ-20B so you don’t need to go into the reset menu and reset the network settings if you don’t have access. Pressing the reset button momentarily at any time will switch between modes and the LED will briefly flash to let you know what you just switched to. And yes, as you say, it’s yellow for ethernet and blue for WiFi.
You can connect a computer or donglised-device (yes, I did just make that up) directly to the network port without a switch or router. If the CQ is set to use DHCP and does not receive an address (e.g. because there is no router on the network), it will self-assign an address. Other devices may also self assign an address and ‘just work’, or you may need to use static addresses on both the CQ and the device running the app. If it’s the latter, set the addresses in the same range/subnet with different IP addresses e.g. 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2
If you have any trouble with this, please contact us through support.allen-heath.com

Hope this helps!
Keith.

[Trickybit]

Did you ever try this? I did just now; no love. (ethernet adapter on ipad, direct to CQ).

It discovered the device but raised an error when Connecting. I don’t think a switch is what’s missing, I fear it needs a router or more specifically a DHCP server in there somewhere. I found this by searching the forum; if I don’t find the answer, I’ll be staring a new thread specifically for this.

[DaveNJ]

I didn’t, no – but I think I’m going to be moving to an ethernet connected wifi-router from now on.

[DaveNJ]

Another WiFi failure tonight at a gig with 1.2.1. I can’t even get the cq-20 to factory reset – I get to the solid red light and then when I press the button for 2 seconds, it just goes back to the blinking blue or blinking yellow light. This is awful.

[KeithJ A&H]

@DaveNJ

“I get to the solid red light and then when I press the button for 2 seconds, it just goes back to the blinking blue or blinking yellow light.”
So you are factory resetting the mixer, which includes resetting the network, then the flashing blue or yellow LED is telling you whether you’re in WiFi or Ethernet mode.
This sounds like the expected behaviour, but what was the failure beforehand?
What mode were you in?
Could you connect to the network but the mixer didn’t show up in the ‘choose unit’ list?
Is it possible that you’ve connected to the built-in WiFi, then set a password and reconnected, so that password has been stored to your device with the default SSID (network name), but then you’ve reset the device and cleared the network password from the unit while still having a stored password on the device for that network?
Are there any other networks in the vicinity which the device might be connecting to? (note that many devices will ‘prefer’ to connect to a network with WiFi, or one with a stronger signal)

Thanks,
Keith.

[DaveNJ]

—

[DaveNJ]

Hi, @KeithJ_A&H – the issue presented itself as follows:

1. Power up the CQ-20B at the gig – solid green light on network, but no SSID could be found by any device.
2. Rebooted, same
3. Rebooted, let it sit – same
4. Tapped the reset button once to switch to ethernet – connected a wifi router via ethernet – was able to connect to router, but not able to detect the CQ-20B. LED just blinked.
5. Reset router, came up with blinking blue led – never saw the SSID (mine or the default one).
6. As I had made a backup that morning to flash drive, I tried to reset the CQ-20B (factory) – held reset button in till red led was steady, Held reset button for two seconds, but ti wouldn’t reset – would just go back to blinking light with no network SSID being broadcast.
7. Played two sets without the mixer, tried again – I was able to get the default CQ-20B SSID to show up once, connected and reset password – network went unavailable. Could not connect again – gig was over after 3rd set.

It seems that either the network stack or the network hardware is failing. If it were just WiFi congestion, I should have been able to roll over to ethernet, but that wouldn’t work either. Hardware maybe?

[KeithJ A&H]

Hi @DaveNJ

Sorry this has been frustrating you (understandably so).
To go through this bit by bit:

1. Power up the CQ-20B at the gig – solid green light on network, but no SSID could be found by any device.
– Solid green is default LED when network connection has been set up, but it could still have been in ethernet mode at this point
2. Rebooted, same
– Still in Ethernet mode
3. Rebooted, let it sit – same
– Still in Ethernet mode
4. Tapped the reset button once to switch to ethernet – connected a wifi router via ethernet – was able to connect to router, but not able to detect the CQ-20B. LED just blinked.
– You might have just switched to WiFi mode? What colour did it flash? If you did switch to WiFi mode, is the network visible for first connection?
5. Reset router, came up with blinking blue led – never saw the SSID (mine or the default one).
6. As I had made a backup that morning to flash drive, I tried to reset the CQ-20B (factory) – held reset button in till red led was steady, Held reset button for two seconds, but ti wouldn’t reset – would just go back to blinking light with no network SSID being broadcast.
– How long did you wait? it could take up to 30 secs for the network to be available and found by your device. By default (so after a reset) it should be visible however, with no password.
7. Played two sets without the mixer, tried again – I was able to get the default CQ-20B SSID to show up once, connected and reset password – network went unavailable. Could not connect again – gig was over after 3rd set.
– When you set up the network and set the password, you would be kicked off (and then you’ll need to reconnect using the password), did you definitely have the network SSID set to visible at this point when you pressed apply?

I’m not saying there absolutely isn’t a hardware issue, but before you get in touch with your distributor to have it looked at, it’s worth ruling out as much as possible.
If you do believe there is an issue though – please contact your local distributor (https://www.allen-heath.com/community/distributors/) who will be able to test it and carry out any servicing or repair as necessary.

I hope you manage to get it sorted soon whatever the issue, so you can get back to mixing and playing without distraction.
Keith.

[DaveNJ]

The device has always been in WiFI mode – wouldn’t that be green, too? I might have misspoken on the color, but we always run it in WiFi mode.

We waited minutes for the SSID to show up – even after a set, the same thing.

I’ll check with the distributor today

[DaveNJ]

I just powered it up and the led was blinking blue. I check on my Mac and th default CQ20B wireless was there. I went through and reset all network settings (including changing the SSID) – hit apply and the connection was lost (expected).

I’m back in now over built-in WiFi, and was able to restore my settings.

One thing I notice now which wasn’t the case at the gig was on the Ethernet Jack – only the yellow light was on, not the green (this is without the rj45 being connected). Now, the green light is on on CM (WiFi mode) and the green light is on the Ethernet Jack (photo). When I connect the rj45, both lights come on. This may explain why I couldn’t switch to Ethernet yesterday if there was a problem with the network system.

I just tested switching it over to Ethernet , and it worked. So, it seems this unit can come up in a state where I’m not able to easily switch.

Also, you may have said it earlier, but is network activity on the Ethernet jack the only way to visually tell it’s using Ethernet (the CM is still green)?

[Author]

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