Troubleshooting
The most common stumbles, grouped by topic. If yours is not here, write to support@materis.io.
Scanning and discovery
The scan does not find a device I know is online
There are three frequent causes. Check them in this order:
- Its network is not registered, or its chip is off. The sweep only covers the enabled ranges in the scan panel.
- The device blocks ping. Some devices limit or drop ICMP; if you know its IP, register it by hand with Device (+) on the bottom rail.
- It sits behind a router. The scan will only see it if its IP falls inside a registered range, and it will arrive without a MAC ("MAC not reachable").
For the stations of an AP with a session there is a better shortcut: the radar in the Stations column asks the AP itself and does not depend on the scan.
The scan fails with "No network connection"
Your PC has no active network interface at that moment (cable unplugged, WiFi off, VPN down). Reconnect and scan again.
A device says "MAC not reachable"
It is in another segment, behind a router, and from there the scan only sees its IP. Nothing needs fixing: signing in identifies the device fully, MAC included.
A device's IP changed
The app looks for it on its own in its AP's station list, in the other APs' lists and via ARP on this PC's network. If it finds it, it reconnects at the new IP without losing name, baseline or credentials, because each device's identity is its MAC. A scan that sees it at another IP does the same. When the device that changed its IP is an AP, you also get the notice "An AP changed its IP": for an AP that is unusual, and it is worth checking whether its address should be fixed.
If there is no way to find it, the app pauses the session and asks you for the new IP: the Session chip turns violet and you type the address in the Connection tab of its session window. See When the app needs you to step in.
Sessions and monitoring
A radio's session shows amber with an open padlock
That radio only answered over unencrypted HTTP, so username, password and metrics travel readable inside your network. The app marks it instead of hiding it so that you can decide. The underlying fix is enabling HTTPS or SSH on the device.
I use a laptop over WiFi and sessions flicker or readings are irregular
Everything the app measures travels through your own PC's connection. If the laptop's WiFi drops packets or reassociates, sessions fall and watched devices show "No answer". Those are the same symptoms a problem in the monitored network would give, but the origin is your connection.
While you monitor, wire the laptop to the management network. The metrics the radios themselves report (signal, link latency) are not contaminated, although reaching them does depend on your connection.
A station shows "Absent" but answers ping
"Absent" means the session was lost, and the device may still be there. The app tells the two cases apart for you: absent devices get a periodic ping, and the chip's tooltip says which case it is. "That IP answers ping but refuses the session" is the signature of an exhausted radio, with no CPU or memory left to open the session even though it keeps answering pings. "That IP does not answer ping either" points to a device that is down or unreachable.
Reconnection is retried on its own with the stored credentials, and the Log tab of its session window records each attempt. The chip's other states are in When a device goes absent.
Several devices go absent at once and the chip says "No network on this PC"
The one that lost its network is your PC, and your devices are as they were. You get a single notice, "This PC lost its network", instead of one per device, and the app looks for nobody until the network is back. Then the devices reconnect on their own.
A device drops and comes back over and over
The chip marks it as Possible cut, and the tooltip explains it: it drops and comes back over and over. It is usually a PPPoE that redials and is rejected, as in a cutoff for non-payment. The problem is not in the link.
I swapped a radio and the app asks me whether it is a replacement
That happens when the new one carries the same name and answers at the old one's IP. The app does not assume it: it puts both side by side and you decide. See Possible replacement.
The Downlink/Uplink columns are empty on some devices
That is correct. airOS 6 devices do not compute that capacity estimate, and the app prefers an empty cell to a number that looks like capacity without being it. Thr. TX/RX behaves the same on each session's first reading, because there is nothing to compare against yet.
The app's latency does not match my ping
They measure different things. The column is measured by the radio over its wireless hop. Your ping also crosses your local network and everything in between, and it is answered by the radio's CPU, which serves ICMP at the end of its queue. Neither one is wrong, and they need not match.
To see both side by side, turn on "Ping from SignalScope" under Preferences → General → Network probe. The cell then shows both measurements, and the gap between them is already a diagnosis: the problem may be in the network or in the device's CPU, outside the wireless link.
I mistyped the password and the app stopped trying
The app does this to protect you. airOS 8.7.18 and later cut access for 30 seconds after several failed attempts, and a retry every few seconds would renew that lock before it expires: the radio would stay closed to you as well, even from your terminal. That is why the session does not insist after a rejection. The notice repeats what the radio said, in its own words, and names the possible causes: the user does not exist on that device, the password is not its password, or the account is read-only. Fix the detail and sign in again.
If the account of an already registered device stops working, the app looks for the device at other IPs before giving up, because another device may now be answering at its IP. If it finds it, it reconnects on its own. If not, it pauses the session and asks you as Account rejected: fix the account or the IP in the Connection tab, or press Try again once you fix it on the device.
After updating I see a duplicated device: one row with a session and another absent, with the same data
Its session was stored under a MAC different from the one the device reports. Each row is identified by its own radio's MAC, so the difference shows, with a notice on the MAC cell.
The fix takes two steps, in this order: remove the absent row and sign in again on the one that remains. You end up with a single row.
Alerts show in the panel but never arrive as Windows notifications
There are two known causes. On versions before 1.2.3 installed from the Microsoft Store, Windows silently discarded the notifications; check your version under What's new and update.
With a current version, open Preferences → Alerts and check that "Windows notifications" is on and that the event is ticked under What reaches the desktop. If Windows has SignalScope notifications blocked, that same screen says so: you enable them in Settings → System → Notifications. Also check that Windows is not in "Do not disturb".
Windows asks for firewall permission when using the speed test
That is normal. The speed test server opens a listening port on your PC so the radio can connect and measure. It only listens while you keep it on, and stops when you turn it off or close the app.
The app: tray, startup and updates
I closed the window and SignalScope is still running
With a project open, the X hides the window and leaves the app in the system tray, next to the clock, measuring and alerting. The first time it explains this with the "SignalScope in the background" notice. If you press "Got it, keep it watching", it does not show again. "Quit for good" closes the app without marking the notice as seen, so the next X explains it again. With no project open, the X closes the app.
To close SignalScope completely you have two ways: File → Quit SignalScope, or right-click its tray icon → Quit SignalScope. If you only want to stop watching without closing the app, use File → Close project.
The sentinel did not warn about an outage at dawn
Closing the window does not stop the watch (see the previous entry). What does stop it is quitting with Quit SignalScope, closing the project or switching the PC off.
If you want it watching from the moment you turn the machine on, enable "Start with Windows" under Preferences → General → Startup. It adds SignalScope to the Windows startup apps, and the app starts with the last project you left open. If you turned it off in Windows, only you can turn it back on, under Settings → Apps → Startup, and the checkbox tells you so.
Even so, SignalScope is a program running on your machine, with no 24/7 service on any server.
I don't know how to update the app
When a new version is out, an Update button appears at the foot of the Welcome screen and in the Monitor bar. If you do not see it, there is nothing to update. What happens when you press it depends on how you installed the app:
- Installer downloaded from the web. The button says "Update to v…" and opens a notice with Download v…: the installer downloads in your browser and, when you run it, reinstalls over the current version (it is normal for it to uninstall the previous one first). Your projects, license and data are kept. In the installer, leave "Remove application data" unchecked.
- Microsoft Store. The button says "Update SignalScope" and the update installs from inside the app with Update now. SignalScope closes completely in the meantime, so it stops monitoring and sending you notifications. Before starting it saves your project, and when you open the app again you pick up where you left off. If it fails, you can press Try again or finish it with Open in the Microsoft Store.
MikroTik devices (RouterOS)
A single MikroTik left two rows in the tables
That is correct. A box with two radios (the 2.4 GHz one and the 5 GHz one) takes one row per radio, even though it is a single device with a single session. The radios can be in different modes, so one row may land in Access points and the other in Stations.
The device's data (CPU, memory, model, firmware, ports) repeats identically in both rows because it is a single measurement. Switching off, muting or forgetting applies to the whole box.
My MikroTik connects, but several columns come out empty
Latency, Air, Distance, Sessions, the remote signal and Downlink/Uplink are not published by RouterOS 6, so they stay empty. It is not a read failure. The app prefers an empty cell to a number that looks like a measurement and is not one.
The full list, with what does arrive, is in Supported devices.
I can't find the HTTP button when connecting a MikroTik
It is disabled on purpose. RouterOS 6 has no REST API (it arrived in v7), and the www port you see open serves WebFig, a browser interface that cannot be queried. With RouterOS the transport is forced to SSH.
If you changed the SSH port on the device, say so in the form: a RouterOS device's services may sit on moved ports.
My MikroTik is not on the Map and I can't find where to set its coordinates
RouterOS does not allow writing them to the device, because its GPS package is read-only. That is why, and only for these devices, the app lets you annotate the position by hand from the map. See Annotating the position of a MikroTik.
On airMAX that button does not exist on purpose: there coordinates are registered on the radio itself, where they serve any tool.
I signed in to a MikroTik and it told me it has no radio
A RouterOS router or switch with no wireless module produces no radio row, because there is no signal to measure. Move it to References, where you can watch whether it is still answering and get the sentinel's alert if it stops.
License
Activation says the device quota is full
The license is already active on its maximum number of machines. Free the slot from the old PC (License view → "Release this machine's license") and activate on the new one. If that PC no longer exists (formatted, dead disk), write to support@materis.io to release it.
Activation is rejected because of the email
Activation requires the license holder's email, the same one used at purchase. Check which one you bought with. If you need to change the holder's email, write to us.
What if I have no internet for a while?
Day-to-day use needs no internet, and the app keeps working on its last stored validation. If more than a week goes by without reaching the license server, it asks you to reconnect soon to keep this PC's activation. And if the server cannot be reached, the app does not lock you out: "could not check" is never treated as "license rejected".
I reinstalled the app and the trial button is gone
The trial is one per machine, and its countdown runs from the first launch after the first install. Reinstalling or deleting data does not reset it. If you tried it and it worked for you, the next step is the Full license.
Projects and Snapshots
I opened my project on another PC and it asks for a code
That is the transfer code. The project's credentials are anchored to the PC where it was created. Read the code on the original PC (Share project) and enter it once on the new one; that machine stays linked.
I protected a Snapshot and want the trimmed data back
That is not possible. The trim is permanent and lives in the file itself, which is exactly what the protection guarantees. That is why the confirmation modal offers to create an unprotected copy first, kept in your history. If you created it, the full data is there.
I want to recover a device I sent to References by mistake
In the References table, open its actions by clicking the Monitoring chip and press Remove from the project. Then scan again: the device reappears in Detected as if new, ready to sign in.
Does the map need a key?
The streets do not. They come from OpenFreeMap, which serves without a key, without registration and without a quota.
Only the satellite view asks you for something: your own Google API key in Preferences → Map. See Base map.
Frequently asked questions
Can SignalScope change my radios' configuration? No. It is read-only by design, and the app has no way to modify a device.
Does it work with radios other than Ubiquiti airMAX? Yes. The app also manages MikroTik devices running RouterOS, in beta: it is tested on fewer models, but it is not unstable. The details are in Supported devices. The rest of your network's devices (ONUs, switches, customer routers) can be registered under References, with a name and an availability watch.
Do you support TP-Link? Not yet; it is on the roadmap. In the meantime, those devices can live under References, with their own name, an availability watch and a sentinel alert if they stop answering.
What about RouterOS 7? Yes, in the same beta. It was verified on two hAPs running RouterOS 7.23, and the app reads them the same way as on v6, over SSH. The exception is devices with ax chips: they use the new wifi package and the app doesn't see their radios. If you use another model, tell us how it went.
Does it support Ubiquiti LTU? Not yet. LTU runs a firmware different from airOS, and compatibility is under evaluation.
Do I need to install Npcap or any other driver? No. Discovery uses ping and the system's ARP table, and the app installs nothing extra.
Does my data go to any cloud? No. Everything lives on your machine; the details are in Security and privacy.
Is the trial feature-limited? No. It gives full access for 30 days, and the only difference is the duration.
Can I use my license on more than one PC? Up to your license's device quota, shown in the License view. To move machines, release the slot on the old one and activate on the new one.
What happens to my projects if my license expires? Nothing is deleted. The app returns to the license screen and, once you renew or activate, everything is right where it was.
Does it send WhatsApp or email notifications?WhatsApp and Telegram, yes. The sentinel's alerts can reach your phone, and you choose which events and with what urgency (how to enable it). The limit is that it watches while the app runs on your machine: closing the window does not stop it, but switching the PC off or quitting with Quit SignalScope does. A continuous, independent watch will come with the future server edition (Linux). It does not send email.
Is there a web version? Not planned for the desktop app. The future server edition will be a web application, managed from the browser.
Is it available for Mac? Not yet. Today SignalScope is a Windows 10/11 app. macOS compatibility is on the roadmap, with no committed date.
I am going to format my PC. Do I lose access to my projects? No, as long as you do two things before formatting:
- Write down each project's transfer code (Share project). When you format, the key protecting your credentials is lost with Windows, and your own PC becomes "a new PC" for the project: opening it will ask for that code once, and with it you recover everything. Without the code, the file does not open. That is the protection that keeps it safe if it falls into the wrong hands.
- Release the license (License view → "Release this machine's license") so the slot is not left taken by the old install.
Also, the .sscope is a file: back it up to another drive before formatting, as you would with any important document.