Starting Over With the VCS

[stirrell]

What ISPs are you both using (Tinman and SoCalAttorney)? It would be interesting if it was the same provider.

[Tinman]

1 hour ago, stirrell said:

What ISPs are you both using (Tinman and SoCalAttorney)? It would be interesting if it was the same provider.

I'm using Spectrum.  And it's not just that the VCS store won't connect via Spectrum; my entire WiFi network goes crazt, knocking my other devices offline, when I try to use the network with the VCS.

[Mockduck]

1 minute ago, Tinman said:

I'm using Spectrum.  And it's not just that the VCS store won't connect via Spectrum; my entire WiFi network goes crazt, knocking my other devices offline, when I try to use the network with the VCS.

Just in case it happens to be the issue: I had something very similar once happen after buying two Nook eBook readers (one for me, one for the partner). The issue ended up being a MAC address conflict, and I resolved it by manually setting the MAC address on one of the Nook readers. 

[SoCalAttorney]

10 hours ago, stirrell said:

What ISPs are you both using (Tinman and SoCalAttorney)? It would be interesting if it was the same provider.

Cox Communications is my ISP. I just tested my connection speed and got 85 MBps over wi-fi for the download speed and 10 for the upload speed.

[SoCalAttorney]

9 hours ago, Mockduck said:

Just in case it happens to be the issue: I had something very similar once happen after buying two Nook eBook readers (one for me, one for the partner). The issue ended up being a MAC address conflict, and I resolved it by manually setting the MAC address on one of the Nook readers. 

I suppose that is a BIOS setting that can be changed, but I'll let tech support do their thing and see if they have any solutions for me. 

[stirrell]

20 hours ago, Tinman said:

I'm using Spectrum.  And it's not just that the VCS store won't connect via Spectrum; my entire WiFi network goes crazt, knocking my other devices offline, when I try to use the network with the VCS.

I also have Spectrum and have had no issues. I think Mockduck's example brings up a good place to investigate. I would be curious if the SoCalAttorney's VCS would connect to the store via a smartphone hotspot. I suspect it would. It now working, but intermittently, is curious. The only similar experience I have had is when too many devices were on my eero network. I think it was re-assinging the same IP address to multiple devices causing the connection to drop on particular devices. I set up static IPs for the devices I knew that I needed to work consistently.

But since SoCalAttorney is logging in okay, I assume it is connected fine at that point... and that the issue is with accessing the Atari Store servers.

[SoCalAttorney]

On 3/25/2022 at 6:18 AM, stirrell said:

I also have Spectrum and have had no issues. I think Mockduck's example brings up a good place to investigate. I would be curious if the SoCalAttorney's VCS would connect to the store via a smartphone hotspot. I suspect it would. It now working, but intermittently, is curious. The only similar experience I have had is when too many devices were on my eero network. I think it was re-assinging the same IP address to multiple devices causing the connection to drop on particular devices. I set up static IPs for the devices I knew that I needed to work consistently.

But since SoCalAttorney is logging in okay, I assume it is connected fine at that point... and that the issue is with accessing the Atari Store servers.

There seems to be no patterns of my issues. Right now, everything but the app store works fine when using my ISP. I can sometimes get the app store to work when I used my iPhone as a hotspot, but not always.

 

Another weird issue is that the time is wrong when I boot up. It is 7 hours ahead and changing in the BIOS doesn't work. It jumps ahead 7 hours every time I boot up. If I use Chrome in the Atari OS, to corrects the time. I have to manually correct the time in Windows.

[_The Doctor__]

Something is clearly changing the time and zone, so make sure you have everything set correctly in all of and anything you run on the VCS... make sure your information for your account is correct as well. Make sure anything that changes your location doesn't. You may have incorrect time server in you set up as well. The stores and other secure systems also look at time stamps and if incorrect will have issues. Make sure all you routers and devices on the network are correctly set up as well, so that they don't interfere with time as well. I have a laptop who's internal battery back up for time and settings is dead... it's a pain in the *ss until I can get it to sync up.. windows b*tches and won't adjust the time because it says the difference is too great etc... so set it by hand and then auto sync and it's good again... all of these devices and computers talk to each other these days... I wish they didn't

Edited March 26, 2022 by _The Doctor__

[joeatari1]

Sounds like a location issue with your ISP.  Seven hours ahead puts you in West Africa, Portugal and England (If you are in SoCal).  Set up a VPN for east coast USA and see if you are only 3 hours ahead.  You can modify it after that it you wish.  There may be regional restrictions on the store loading because of ISP location.  See my previous post about that.  Good luck.

[Atari Nut]

On 3/26/2022 at 12:34 PM, SoCalAttorney said:

There seems to be no patterns of my issues. Right now, everything but the app store works fine when using my ISP. I can sometimes get the app store to work when I used my iPhone as a hotspot, but not always.

 

Another weird issue is that the time is wrong when I boot up. It is 7 hours ahead and changing in the BIOS doesn't work. It jumps ahead 7 hours every time I boot up. If I use Chrome in the Atari OS, to corrects the time. I have to manually correct the time in Windows.

Are you talking about this? ...

How to Fix Windows and Linux Showing Different Times When Dual Booting (howtogeek.com)

This can be fixed for in the registry.

[Deteacher]

So, I just got my Onyx All-In bundle less than a week ago.  I upgragded the RAM to 16Gb 3200Mhz and installed a 256Gb M.2 SSD drive, and put Win10 Pro on it.  I removed the thermal pad and replaced it with some Arctic Silver 5 paste.  I have not messed with the BIOS yet, but I plan to ramp up the RAM speed to 3200, allocate more RAM for the GPU and boost the wattage on the CPU to max out performance.

 

Since applying the thermal paste, the fan has run quieter (it doesn't seem to have the need to run at full speed, I guess.)  Now, once I bump up the CPU wattage, that might change, but for right now, it's handling everything I'm throwing at it.  I've installed some Steam games (nothing too graphic-intensive) and the Dolphin emulator.  I'm happy with this device. 

[Deteacher]

I got around to playing with the BIOS this weekend.  had to downgrade the BIOS in order to use the Celebrate password.  After getting in and making the changes, I booted into Windows to verify the changes took effect (which they did.)

 

After booting into the AtariOS, it auto-updated, as expected.  But the funny thing is that after the update, Windows reported the original settings for RAM speed and VRAM allocation (2400MHz and 2GB.)  After digging around this forum some more, I found that after it updates, you have to go back into the BIOS, load defaults and save.  Then go back in and make your adjustments a 2nd time, in order for Windows to get and hold the boosted changes.  Forums did not disappoint. 

 

Before I got my VCS, I read that this requires a lot of tinkering...they were certainly right.  But I can say that everything is now running just fine with the boosted adjustments.  I'm liking it, so far!