http://sixback.local/ issue

[bharj]

SixBack firmware version

dont know

ESP32 hardware variant

ESP32-C6

Bose speaker(s) involved

cannot access http://sixback.local/

What happened?

cannot access http://sixback.local/

What did you expect to happen?

config

Steps to reproduce

No response

Logs / screenshots / diagnostic snapshot

No response

[tostmann]

Thanks for the report — let's narrow this down, because the same firmware build reaches sixback.local fine for other users on the C6, so this is almost certainly a name-resolution or network issue rather than the device being broken.

A few things to check, easiest first:

1. Reach it by IP instead of the .local name. sixback.local relies on mDNS (Bonjour/Avahi). It resolves on macOS, iOS, Windows 10+ and Linux with Avahi — but Android browsers generally do not resolve .local names, and some routers block the multicast it needs. Find the device's IP in your router's DHCP / connected-clients list (look for an esp/espressif entry) and open http://<that-ip>/ directly. If that loads, the device is fine and it's purely an mDNS issue — use the IP, or set a DHCP reservation so it stays stable.

2. Make sure WiFi provisioning actually completed. If the C6 hasn't joined your network yet, it's still in setup mode and there is no sixback.local on the LAN. In that state it puts up its own WiFi access point — connect your phone/laptop to the SixBack access point first and finish the WiFi setup, then it appears on your normal network.

3. Same network, no client isolation. The phone/computer and the ESP must be on the same WiFi/network. Guest networks and "AP isolation"/"client isolation" settings block devices from seeing each other and will break both mDNS and direct-IP access.

To help me pin it down, could you tell me:

• which device + OS + browser you're trying to access it from (Android, iPhone, Windows, Mac…)?
• did the flashing finish and did you complete the WiFi setup, or are you stuck before that?

With those answers I can tell you exactly where it's going wrong.

[HetIsIkRalph]

@bharj if the wifi setup is the problem, I found that the easiest way to set it up is to keep your esp attached to your pc, then go to https://www.improv-wifi.com/ and click on connect "improv via serial" (on google chrome webbrowser). Follow the steps to connect to wifi and badabing badaboom it works.

[tostmann]

Thanks @HetIsIkRalph — that improv-via-serial route works great. 👍

One thing to add: you don't need a separate site for it. Our own web flasher at https://sixback.io does the same thing — after flashing, or via the Connect button, it walks you through Wi-Fi setup over the same USB connection (it speaks Improv), so you can flash and join Wi-Fi in one go from a single page in Chrome or Edge.

Worth knowing, though: the provisioning window has "opening hours" 🙂. It's time-limited and resets on every boot:

• freshly flashed / no Wi-Fi saved yet: ~120 s window after power-on
• a board that already has Wi-Fi credentials stored: only ~30 s

The window stays open as long as the flasher is actively talking to the board, but once it has been idle past that timeout it closes. So if the flasher can't find or connect to the device, just power-cycle the board (unplug/replug, or hit reset) and click Connect right away — you have to catch it inside that window. On a board that's already been set up once, be quick (~30 s).

@bharj — once it's on Wi-Fi this way, the simplest way around the sixback.local problem on a phone is to grab the IP the router handed the board (from your router's DHCP/client list) and open http://<that-ip>/ directly. The .local name relies on mDNS, which a lot of Android browsers don't resolve.