Help - suddenly unable to connect SkyTrak

[sirish19]

I have recently been having some trouble connecting to my SkyTrak. It was working perfectly until a week or so ago and it was suddenly not connecting through the SkyTrak TGC interface. It just kept showing "Box Not Connected". When I try to open the SkyTrak application, I am getting the same thing where it gets stuck in "Discovering - Looking for Connection..."

I have tried resetting my ST unit several times and then connected to the SkyTrak in Direct Mode through Wi-Fi, but I can't get my SkyTrak recognized with either my iPad or laptop. I seemed to have read somewhere that it may have something to do with antivirus software and that uninstalling Macafee might help. When I read that, I proceeded to uninstall Macafee (I didn't know that it was even installed on my computer) and disabling my BitDefender protection.

When I did that a few days ago, that seemed to have worked and I was able to connect to the SkyTrak via Direct Mode and then connect to Direct mode. I haven't been able to play in a week or so though but now when I tried to go back and reconnect, it is doing the same thing. I have tried disabling BitDefender (and Macafee is already uninstalled) but that doesn't seem to fix the issue this time.

Does anyone know if anything has happened with this recently or any ideas on how to fix this issue?

[3on3putt]

Have you tried a USB connection?

[sirish19]

Have you tried a USB connection?

Hi, yes, I was able to connect to the SkyTrak App via USB (it is raining today so I can't set my unit up to hit shots but it does appear to be working fine via USB). That being said, I still could not connect to TGC2019 through the USB interface. I kept clicking the "connect box" and then it would almost immediately change to "box not connected".

[sirish19]

Hi, yes, I was able to connect to the SkyTrak App via USB (it is raining today so I can't set my unit up to hit shots but it does appear to be working fine via USB). That being said, I still could not connect to TGC2019 through the USB interface. I kept clicking the "connect box" and then it would almost immediately change to "box not connected".

I may have actually spoken too soon, now I can't even seem to get it connected in USB mode.

[sirish19]

I did a little troubleshooting today as I felt there may be two potential conflicts, BitDefender and ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN recently had an update to its software. I first tried disabling all of the features in BitDefender and it didn't seem to have any effect so I tried uninstalling it altogether. That also didn't seem to have any effect. Next, I tried tinkering with the settings for Express VPN, again, with no effect. As soon as I uninstalled ExpressVPN, SkyTrak connected right away. I then re-installed BitDefender and it all still worked fine. Then reinstalled ExpressVPN and I could no longer connect. Uninstalled ExpressVPN and then I could reconnect again. I think it is fairly safe to say the issue is Express VPN but I am really not sure why.

Does anyone have any thoughts? I got on the chat with EVPN customer support and they tried to have me go through a variety of things to no avail. Everything was working fine with EVPN before the update but now it seems to be somehow blocking the connection to SkyTrak.

[bbb287]

You are correct in that having a VPN installed (and not even started), does impact the WIFI connection (network mode) between the laptop and SkyTrak. I experienced this with a different VPN (SPEEDIFY) that I had installed for testing on the laptop I utilize for SkyTrak. I needed to completely uninstall the VPN package in order to connect (in network mode). It would seem that the drivers installed with a VPN (at least the two mentioned) impact the method that SkyTrak is using to communicate.

[bulldogbrad]

Were you ever able to get it to work with ExpressVPN? I'm having troubles connecting in Network mode on my laptop with ExpressVPN. I got a new laptop that I haven't loaded ExpressVPN to yet and I can connect to the Skytrak in network mode without issue on that one. Hesitant to install ExpressVPN on the new one now.

[scotch607]

I was having a similar issue after updating to v4.02. It was stuck “looking for connection” and wouldn’t connect in direct mode either. The usb mode did work however. Seems to have been my bitdefender VPN interfering. It’s been working again since I uninstalled that.

[Shipwreck34]

sirish19 Thank you for your post and follow up on the fix!

I always play in USB mode because I pretty much always play alone. I actually went to use Network Mode last night showing it to a friend and it wouldn't work. I had a feeling it was Bitdefender as I'd recently installed it, and Net Mode worked fine before.

You just saved me several hours of troubleshooting my man! Thanks again!