Harmony Remotes

[Snoman69]

When I update the drivers as stated, it shows as not connected....

[NJRonbo]

Well, nobody from Logitech has gotten in touch with me.

Which brings me to this point....

Generally, I am extremely happy with Logitech.  I own a half dozen high-end products such as the Logitech Revue, DiNovo Keyboard, MX Mouse, Harmony One and now Harmony 1100.

For this Mac related problem to be continuing for what looks like well more than a year now is very discouraging.  Logitech has not updated their installation software online for these remotes which tells me that they have not even attempted to initiate a fix for these connection problems.

This is inexcusable.  

[tnop]

You must be kiddin!  I can't get the Harmony to update the remote!  I've tried everything listed so far in this thread and nothing!  Such poor support for Mac users.

[FineWine]

I hope logitech are working on fixing all these problems (though I have none with SL using H1) with the next release of the OS - Lion. A Mac App API would be the way to go.

[SquishyTia]

Just an update for those that may have a Mac Pro and use Snow Leopard:

If you have en2 (the second Gigabit Ethernet port) disabled, the 7.7.0 version of the remote software will fail to communicate with your remote. The workaround is to go to System Preferences -> Network and create a dummy en2 and set it to connect via DHCP. Don't change any other settings for it, just set it to do that.

This is caused, for some unknown reason, by the remote making OS X think it's an additional ethernet interface device, even though it's connecting via USB.

Suggestion for Logitech developers: Try using the real HID standard instead of some proprietary interface protocol. I can virtually guarantee you won't need USB drivers for either Windows or Mac OS X if you actually conform to the USB HID standard (OHCI or EHCI).

[remoteguy1]

**bleep** this remote!!! I have spend about 4 hours trying to make it communicate. **bleep** you logitech and **bleep** your remote.

[SquishyTia]

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remoteguy1 wrote:

**bleep** this remote!!! I have spend about 4 hours trying to make it communicate. **bleep** you logitech and **bleep** your remote.

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What are your system specs from the System Profiler?

Post the Hardware Profile, minus the serial # and Hardware UUID #s. Also post the software version (OS) from the Software tab. It'll be the first two lines.

[jagalactic]

This thread started in January 2011.  I have a 2-year-old Harmony 880, and yesterday (July 2, 2011) I tried to plug it in and update it. I may have been more than a year since I last updated it.  It has been working perfectly (as a remote), but I made some changes to my home entertainment center setup.

Although the update worked fine last time I tried it (with older logitech software, and possibly osx 10.5.x), it FAILS TO CONNECT TO THE REMOTE NOW.  Here is what I have done so far.

* Harmony software v7.7.0.0 (forced auto-update from 7.6.0.8) on my Mac Pro (OSX 10.6.8) did not recognize the remote, although the remote screen indicated that it was connected via USB.  Clicking "Update Remote" led to the popular "Plug the USB cable into the remote..." message - forever and ever.

* I did some searching and found that the Harmony remote was not listed in the USB device list in the System Profiler screen.

   - I tried more than one USB cable

   - I tried more than one USB port on the computer

* I downloaded the Harmony remote software on a windows 7 (32 bit OS) laptop, hoping that would be a quick fix.  I logged in and it found my updated configuration.  Clicking "Update Remote" resulted in the exact same behavior, though.  The Win 7 computer could not see the remote.

   - I tried more than one USB cable

   - I tried more than one USB port

* I installed the Harmony remote software on my 2007 Macbook (core 2 duo, 32 bit).  Same problem all the way through.

* I found this article: http://logitech-en-amr.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/15518/related/1 earlier in this thread, and followed the instructions (although 1: my remote is not listed as one of the ones addressed, and 2: **bleep** is up with configuring a USB remote as an Ethernet interface...).  Anyway, here were the results:

   - On the mac pro, the "light" never went green for the Harmony "ethernet" interface, and the software still failed to connect.

   - On the macbook, the "light" DID GO GREEN, but the Harmony software still failed to connect to the remote.

I must say that I feel like Logitech has WASTED A LOT OF MY TIME - but I would still like a solution.  There seems to be a lot of people with similar problems, but none of what I've found so far solves the problem.  One would think that Logitech would try to make solutions to this common problem easy to find, and easy to deploy.  #FAIL.

Of course it's a holiday weekend, so I'm probably SOL for several days.  Any suggestions?  Logitech?

John

(a very unhappy, likely to soon be FORMER logitech customer)

[SquishyTia]

Mac Pros have a second (ethernet 2) connection built in. If it is disabled the Harmony will not be recognized in Snow Leopard. The remedy for this is listed a few posts above this, by me. Create a second "dummy" en2 interface in the Network prefpane, even if a regular Ethernet 2 Connection is there already. Set it to use DHCP as the connection method. Do not change any other settings pertaining to this "device". Leave it as is.

Now start up the Harmony Remote software after you've made the above change. It should connect virtually instantly when you click "Update Remote".

[jagalactic]

Thanks for the reply, SquishyTia.

Given that I did the "create en2" procedure on the Macbook and the "light went green", do you think it's necessary to reconfigure my Mac Pro further?  The macbook still didn't recognize the Harmony 880 - and remember, I also tried a Win7 system and it did not recognize my 880 remote either.

I'm actually using the Ethernet 2 connection on the Mac Pro, and currently not using Ethernet 1. So this would be an otherwise unnecessary reconfiguration of cabling and separate router/DHCP server.

Some further questions:

• Do I need to point out to Logitech that being hard coded to EN2 is idiotic, and guaranteed to fail in some properly configured systems?!
• Clarification needed: having done this ethernet configuration hack, do I still expect the Harmony 880 to appear in the USB device list of the System Profiler, or is this an orthogonal hack?
• Does the Ethernet hack even apply to my remote - a Harmony 880?  The source article does not reference it specifically.

Thanks,

John