This document applies to the following consoles: All WheatNet-IP consoles, including IP-12, IP-16, IP Series, DMX, L-8, L-12, L-16, L Series, GSX, LXE, E series, G series. It also applies to all WheatNet IP (WNIP) talent stations: TS-4, TS-22, Sideboard.

Problem: There is static or distortion in the headphones and/or cue speaker of a WheatNet-IP audio console or talent station. Other symptoms could include no headphone/cue audio on the console, lagging meters, the console disconnecting, or intermittent button pushes/fader movements being accepted.

Cause: If the Ethernet switch is not an approved switch for WheatNet-IP, or if the Ethernet switch has not been properly configured, the port feeding the console or talent station can flood. In this situation, every multicast stream from every audio source is being sent to every port on the switch, whether that port is using that audio or not. While WheatNet-IP Blades can handle this situation to a certain extent because they have gigabit Ethernet ports, consoles and talent stations only have 10/100 mbps ports and will become overrun with data that it has not requested.

Approved WheatNet-IP switches have an IGMP Querier and IGMP Snooping, which identifies and keeps track of multicast audio and only sends the audio to a port that it has asked for, which prevents flooding. Note that these features are normally not enabled by default out of the box, so you must configure the switch to turn these features on while building the system.

If IGMP is not turned on or if the commands are not properly entered for each switch port, flooding may occur.

Solution: Configure an approved switch for WheatNet-IP according to the instructions in this knowledgebase.