I've been having loss of connection issues for the past few months (since April when running a production gig for a national act). I am using the RM32AI connected to my MacBook Pro via direct FireWire. I am also using an Airport Extreme to connect iPad's (UC Surface) and iPhones (QMix-AI). At some point during our shows (usually about 2 - 3 hours into it), all wireless connections are lost. Our backup plan (direct FireWire connected MacBook Pro) also loses connection making the RM32AI impossible to control.

The front panel of the RM32AI indicates all channels are muted (which they are not), and the blue power light over the dongle is lit. The AirPort Extreme router wifi connection is strong. I tried restarting UC Surface on the MacBook Pro. It recognizes the RM32AI on the UC Surface start screen, but it fails to connect. I've tried independently rebooting the computer and rebooting the iPads and nothing seems to work except rebooting the RM32AI.

At this point, I had not updated to the newest firmware update for the RM32AI as I read the PreSonus forums indicating the Firmware update did not correct this issue.
Then I figured, since I was having issues already, what would it hurt to update firmware (RM32_TC20_9244) and UC Surface software (1.5.1.38092). I followed the instruction page on the Presonus site to update firmware, but I kept getting the Firmware Update Screen indicating I was still using the old firmware version and giving me "Network update failed. Power Cycle the Mixer". Well, I power cycled the mixer and still came up with the same thing.

The I decided to do the firmware recovery method and removed the option card and not use the computer to update (instructions are at: https://answers.presonus.com/1080/studi ... 1080#q1080 ). That seemed to work. Now my firmware on my RM32AI is up to date and my software on my MacBook Pro is up to date.

I've been connected flawlessly for the past 11 hours without interruption.

I hope this helps.

I feel sorry to hear about you problems. I sincerely hope this will be past tence from now on.

May I point out that the UC Surface that you mentioned in your post is outdated compared to the latest CS firmware.
The newest is 1.8, to avoid Firmware / UC Surface mismatches.

Hi,
I cannot offer any solutions other than to say that this happened to me a a very large outdoor show as well.
I was running a Mac book via FireWire & an IPad Pro wireless. I had brought my CS18 but just had it standing by.
Sure enough, 3 songs into the set we lost all control.
I'm also the guitarist in the band so this a a problem.
The Mac would not reconnect even when I forced the shut-down, and the RM would not recognize the wireless connect.
I had to stop the show & reboot the RM32 which worked, but was just not OK.
I filed a ticket and had numerous conversations with PreSonus but no answers as to why.
One step I have taken is to remove the WiFi dongle from the CS18 and change the connection status so it is wired via Ethernet only.
I'm still running the IPad wireless.
We have had a number of rehearsals since with no issues, but I have to say I am nervous.
I've updated all the firmware and the IOS.
If anyone comes up with an answer I would love to hear!
Thanks,
John

I lost connection to my pad yesterday. Twice!

I'm in a small bar doing an all day benefit, not more than 24 ft away, both times. The faders were showing the signals coming into each of the channels, but the sliders had lost all control. I had to reboot the pad to restore control. Fortunately, the RM keeps rolling, so I didn't have to stop the show to reboot.

The one difference in my setup was that although the antenna was outside of the rack, it was pointing horizontal, and I had another rack (I use SKB plastic racks boxes) on top of the rack with the wireless router.

I'll try next weekend to put the rack that has the router on top, and see what happens.....

To minimize the lost (wireless) connection problem it is best to put the WiFi router as high as possible, at all times in a clear line of sight. A wooden panel or curtain do not matter of course.To put this into practice, this can easily be accomplished by putting the router on a mic stand, with the help of some work to make something on the router or installed in a plastic casing with a mic stand connection or Manfrotto Super Clamp or something alike.
Make proper connections that last, a lot depends on well functioning of the router.

Despite when you do all that, you can still experience dropout. I do. Not when I soundcheck and the venue is almost empty, but when all the folks are there with all their smartphones in their pockets.
My theory is that the WiFi get to busy and UC Surface cannot maintain a continuous connection at some point.

It dazzles me why PreSonus did not think of generating crash logs.

I am going to try something by turning off the router broadcast SSID setting. Then, I am assuming if other people's cellphones don't see the SSID, then they won't try connecting to automatically, and hopefully stop any of the router's resources from being drained.

Have tried that already, did not make a difference with me regarding the dropoutt frequency.

Aslo mind that the RM cannot connect wirelessly to the router when the SSID is hidden. Perhaps this is changed but in previous firmware this did not work.

In case you would opt to do this, which is definitely not my preference.

Any updates on this issue? It's starting to happen to me every couple of gigs.

I am afraid not. I still have to cope with this problem, once every 3 gigs I would say. Potential places for issues are outdoor gigs or places with a low ceiling. In theatres, even in big 1600 seaters, the wireless connection is usually finel. I am not sure why this is, in outdoor situations there is a clear line of sight as well...
I am a FOH engineer and nowadays I only take an iPad Pro and a CS18AI to control wtih me. I never let musicians control with extra instances of UC surface on their iPads or iPhones, there is not need and I prefer to be in control only to carry the full responsibility over the sound. I usually deal with places of 300+ pair of ears and people are in the end looking at me if something would wrong. I get paid a professional wage and want to keep it that way. So that is the end of the drift-off.

It can be quite tricky, when you are in that moment when your are just loosing control from the iPad. You are changing something and ther is no response from the mixer. There is no message on the iPad either that there is no control any more, with in a bad case can result in very audible volume changes when control suddenly kicks in again.

I have the feeling that this is all being said and reported over and over again, we have to wait for software improvements. Even if it would be a hardware cause. the software needs to be in control and it is not at the moment.

I just had to buy a a new tablet last week and I had the same issue loosing control being a small distance away (50ft), so I know its not the tablet.

But, on the same note, I have been able to maintain control from as far away as 250ft, and not lose control.

So, I am going to replace my router, to see if that changes anything.....

I just replaced my router with a link sys wrt1900acs. I don't think I'm having a router issue because when it freezes I loose the hardwired macbook as well. The board just looses contact with any controller. It keeps doing what is was doing last, which has been a blessing, but I have to reboot to get it back. I'm due to upgrade all the software but it doesn't sound like that'll fix the problem either. I'm also looking into a better power regulator. Perhaps it's the venues that I'm in. Sometimes not trouble at all, sometimes loose control twice in a night.

I also just changed from one laptop to another and the newer laptop is running Sierra I think but no notes from presonus about that being an issue.

There has been some discussion about capture. I'm running capture and universal control on the same machine. If the system fails, I stop running capture but I have no proof that's really doing anything except it usually doesn't fail again that night. Anyway, guess I'll just try doing what I can and hope that it somehow magically goes away.

-----------------------------------------
presonus rm32ai: 1.5.0.7784
apple macbook pro: sierra (firewire connection)
universal control ai: 1.2.1
capture 2: 2.2.0.36497
uc surface for iOS: 1.5
iPad v3 9.2.1
about 9 - 14 iPod touch devices running qmix ai
linksys wrt1900acs

I'm due to upgrade all the software but it doesn't sound like that'll fix the problem either.

If the information in your sig is accurate, your software versions are all over the place. It very well could be causing the problem.

I've never lost control with my laptop when the tablet did.

I always use the laptop and RM hardwired (LAN) to my AVB router, which connects to the wireless router. And I've never had to reboot the laptop.....I suppose I can try just using the laptop wirelessly as an experiment to see if it drops the comm.

robertbrady wroteI've never lost control with my laptop when the tablet did.

I always use the laptop and RM hardwired (LAN) to my AVB router, which connects to the wireless router. And I've never had to reboot the laptop.....I suppose I can try just using the laptop wirelessly as an experiment to see if it drops the comm.

Are you also connected via firewire? I normally leave the laptop with the mixer and connected via firewire only during a show. If the network flakes out I always have that as a backup.

rockhan wroteI just replaced my router with a link sys wrt1900acs. I don't think I'm having a router issue because when it freezes I loose the hardwired macbook as well. The board just looses contact with any controller. It keeps doing what is was doing last, which has been a blessing, but I have to reboot to get it back. I'm due to upgrade all the software but it doesn't sound like that'll fix the problem either. I'm also looking into a better power regulator. Perhaps it's the venues that I'm in. Sometimes not trouble at all, sometimes loose control twice in a night.

I was having spotty communication issues with my RM where all communication (WiFi, wired and even Firewire) would freeze, but the mixer would usually keep doing the very last thing it was set to. last spring I added a 1U sine wave quality UPS to my rack case. That nearly double the fricking weight, but I haven't had one communication lockup since! It feels to me like the RM was very sensitive to AC line noise which my UPS cleans up.

I got Furman M-8Dx's behind all that low wattage processing equipment (mixer, routers, Driverack, wireless IEM's and mics, etc)

That's a power condition; kills spikes, surges, etc. It is NOT a UPS. It won't help if the power drops out for a couple of cycles. Now the UPS part gets tricky as you need a SINEWAVE output UPS. I selected a CyberPower PR500LCDRT1U unit. It's rack mounted with my RM32 and the Mac Mini I keep in the case to be the firewire connected computer. Since installing this product I have had ZERO glitches with the RM loosing any connectivity or flaking out, all of which were recurring problems at one venue.

@dougwatson - that makes total sense!

Earlier this year I was doing a festival, and the power was from a 100K diesel generator, and I kept having drop out issues, and I was standing less than 30ft away from the router with my tablet!

The gen died the next day, and they had to bring in a new one. One of the band's bass amps literally smoked right after the sound check, and we weren't even playing yet.

Without noticing, I think I didn't have anymore problems after that.