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Roco Z21 - DCC not a clue

Moonraking Red

By Moonraking Red,
in DCC Help & Questions

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WIMorrison

WIMorrison

Posted
Posted

I assume that you have a white z21 and that you have a seperate TPLink router?

 

  • When you say it is invisible, can the phone, iPad, computer connect to the router i.e. the z21 wifi for phone/iPad and by wire/wifi from the computer?
  • Can the computer see the z21? ping 192.168.0.1 from a command prompt to confirm that it is connected.
  • if the computer can see the z21 have you entered the correct addresses for the z21 into the Roco Z21 Maintenance program? (default is 192.168.0.111) Have you entered it into the phone/ipad?
  • Have you reset the z21? if not hold down the blue button for 10-15secs and it will flash purple. Release the button and try again.
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ianb3174

ianb3174

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Yes. Router is operating perfectly. The phone/ipad app cannot see the z21. 192.168.0.111 comes up unreachable. 192.168.0.1 is another router on my network. Tried resetting several times. New installs of app/updater on both devices, neither can see z21 when on the correct network. 

The only difference since the first install is a new phone, all settings carried over. 

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ianb3174

ianb3174

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I'm lost now. 192.168.0.1 is my main home hub. When on the tp network that address times out with no results. Is 192.168.0.1 supposed to be router or z21? 

Should tp router be connected to internet now? 

Currently only connected to z21

Neither app can see it in either updater or main app. 

I am supposed to be using the black z21, rather than the old one with train logo? This was specified on some roco vid I watched.

 

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WIMorrison

WIMorrison

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TBH, I haven't a clue how you have wired up your house, but it sounds totally confused to me and the IP Packets will not have a clue where they are meant to be going.

 

This is why Roco supply a router for you to set it up separately from your home Wi-Fi and I would recommend that this is what you do because I don't think you are understanding what ping means or how to use it. I cannot resolve network issues without knowing how the network is configured and at the moment, I haven't got the foggiest idea.

 

Remove the Roco router from the house network, set it back to defaults, and connect the phone/iPad/computer to it and use it for controlling your layout.

 

 

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WIMorrison

WIMorrison

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As I said, reset everything to defaults, disconnect from the house network and use it as shown by Roco - I can't fix anything when you keep giving conflicting information that is being changed with every post you make.

 

And you claim that nothing has been changed, yet it is very clear to me that a whole lot has changed.

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ianb3174

ianb3174

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It was setup separately and ran normally. Just hasn't worked on restart.

I have one virgin hub and everything is on wifi apart from my two desktops. All worked fine for 18+ years.

The Roco router was only plugged in to this hub during setup as instructed, then unplugged. 

The two networks are separate and I connect my devices manually (or did when it worked). 

 

 

 

 

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WIMorrison

WIMorrison

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Sorry, I have told you how to make it work, yet you don't want to do it. You haven't done any of the things I asked you to do. You say nothing has changed, in which case it would work now - it doesn't, ergo you have changed something. Furthermore, you have supplied IP Addresses which are always different each time you post.

 

It is impossible to help you until you do what is asked and revert with the answers to the questions asked.

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ianb3174

ianb3174

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I was only looking for solutions and trying to answer your questions as best as I can. It was set up as per Roco instructions, it worked. Then I unplugged it. I plugged in back in some weeks later and it now doesn't work.

As I said, I haven't changed anything knowingly and am trying to fault find. 

 

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ianb3174

ianb3174

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A: It was never an argument, so validity is irrelevant 

B: I have reset router, z21, OS apps on several occassions

C: I have followed the ROCO setup steps (again)

D: the outcome is still the same. 

Not to worry, I'll find an expert who can help rather than take issue with my inexperience. 

 

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jaym481

jaym481

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Posted (edited)

The IP address of the z21 router is most likely the problem, as the default Roco address is 192.168.1.1, and the z21 itself would have to be reconfigured in order to use a different IP address. Roco strongly discourages anyone to change the IP default because it requires some knowledge of how those things work to do that without creating a brick.

 

Now, I can say that my home router is also accessed by typing http://192.168.1.1 into a browser of a connected computer, and my Z21 (black) has never been set to anything other than defaults. The router address itself shouldn't create routing issues if they are two separate networks, as the router address is not what normal wifi devides are looking for (they look for the address provided by the DNS server). The Z21 is different, and uses the fixed defaults in order to make the system function for people who have no desire to become experts on how wifi works. 

 

I'm afraid I'm no expert on how these things work, but I know a little about how to set up a wifi router - enough to know that I should never change the Roco-set defaults. Is your z21 router a Roco sourced one, or did you get a third party one and set it up yourself? 

 

edit to add: the 192.168.1.100 of your z21 router must have been set by you at some point, as it's not the default.

Edited by jaym481
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WIMorrison

WIMorrison

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Just now, jaym481 said:

The IP address of the z21 router is most likely the problem, as the default Roco address is 192.168.1.1, and the z21 itself would have to be reconfigured in order to use a different IP address. Roco strongly discourages anyone to change the IP default because it requires some knowledge of how those things work to do that without creating a brick.

 

Now, I can say that my home router is also accessed by typing http://192.168.1.1 into a browser of a connected computer, and my Z21 (black) has never been set to anything other than defaults. The router address itself shouldn't create routing issues if they are two separate networks, as the router address is not what normal wifi devides are looking for (they look for the address provided by the DNS server). The Z21 is different, and uses the fixed defaults in order to make the system function for people who have no desire to become experts on how wifi works. 

 

I'm afraid I'm no expert on how these things work, but I know a little about how to set up a wifi router - enough to know that I should never change the Roco-set defaults. Is your z21 router a Roco sourced one, or did you get a third party one and set it up yourself? 

 

The default address for the Roco router is NOT 192.168.1.1

 

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WIMorrison

WIMorrison

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Just now, jaym481 said:

Sorry, I had the wrong number. Its 192.168.0.111. Which, of course, is still not what the OP's is set to.

 

That is also not the default address for the Roco router, that is the default address for a z/Z21 and cannot be reached from the posters network which is why he needs to reset everything to default and connect as a standalone network and use it as Roco detail in their instructions as I have advised him several times. 

 

This problem of an inexperienced user connecting to a home network, and it not working is precisely why Roco will not provide support for network issues when used on equipment other than their supplied router in its default configuration.

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jpendle

jpendle

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Hi @ianb3174

 

3 hours ago, ianb3174 said:

The Roco router was only plugged in to this hub during setup as instructed, then unplugged. 

 

I don't know where you got this information but you should not have plugged the Roco router into your Virgin Hub. Roco DO provide some guidance on how to connect their hub to an existing home network BUT they only recommend this for users who have some networking experience.

 

So you'll need to reconfigure the TP Link router to have an IP address of 192.168.0.1, the ZERO is important, that determines the subnet that the router is using. The Z21 is configured to use an IP address of 192.168.0.111. Based on you earlier posts it looks like your router has an address of 192.168.1.1 and that's why you can't connect to the Z21 proper.

 

So you have two options.

 

First make sure that the Roco TP Link router is NOT connected to your Virgin hub.

 

1) It sounds like you know how to login to the TP Link router, if you can then reset it's IP address to 192.168.0.1

2) Alternatively reset it using the reset button on the back and then go to this web page: https://www.z21.eu/en/downloads/manuals

then scroll down and under Technical Downloads, download the Z21 router configuration manual and follow the instructions to change the router's Wifi Network Name.

Note you'll need a PC connected directly to one of the Ethernet ports on the router to do this.

 

Then, as long as you keep the Roco router physically separate, both your home router and the Roco router can have the same ip address because they are not on the same network.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards,

 

John P

 

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