If you are experiencing difficulties connecting to a ZX Lidar and standard connection methods (such as Waltz, a web browser, WIFI, or known IP configuration) do not work, the issue may be related to an unknown or misconfigured IP address. This can occur if the unit is operating on a different subnet, or if network settings cannot be recovered or the unit accessed through normal means.

As a troubleshooting step, the Lidar’s IP address can be identified by observing its network traffic during startup. When powered on, the unit will broadcast network announcements that include its IP address. By using a packet capture tool such as Wireshark, these announcements can be captured and reviewed allowing the IP address to be determined even if the laptop is on a different network range.

The following steps describe how to use Wireshark to identify the Lidar’s IP address when other connection methods are unsuccessful.

What you will need

• A windows laptop with an Ethernet port (or USB–Ethernet adapter) 

• A LAN / Ethernet cable

• Wireshark installed

• Physical access to the LiDAR, It's Ethernet connection while connected directly to the LiDAR, to avoid capturing unrelated traffic.

1) Install Wireshark

Download and install Wireshark from the official website:

1. https://www.wireshark.org/download.html 
   
2. Select appropriate install for your Operating system/Hardware 
   

2) Connect your laptop to the LiDAR

1. Ensure the LiDAR is powered OFF.

2. Connect a LAN cable between your laptops ethernet port and the LiDAR port.

3. If your laptop has Wi-Fi enabled, it will significantly help to temporarily disable Wi-Fi to avoid confusion over other traffic.
   

3) Start a capture 

1. Open Wireshark

2. On the home screen, under the interface list, double-click your Ethernet adapter (e.g., “Ethernet”, “USB Ethernet”, etc.) to start capturing by double clicking on your Ethernet adapter at the bottom of Wireshark .

3. Wrong Ethernet interface selected:
   

   Wireshark may display multiple Ethernet adapters. Make sure the capture is started on the adapter that is directly connected to the LiDAR. If no relevant traffic is visible after step 4, stop the capture and repeat the process using another Ethernet interface.
   

4. 

4) Power on the LiDAR and wait for it to boot

1. Power ON the LiDAR.

2. Wait about 5 minutes for a full boot.

3. Back in Wireshark, click the red square Stop button to stop capturing (this keeps the capture file small).
   

You can now stop the capture and sort by protocol ARP. you can filter by this In the display filter bar, type "arp" 

The Lidar should make an ARP Announcement which includes its IP address (note that in this example below, the Lidar was on 10.10.21.21 while my laptop was on 192.168.0.10 AKA completely different networks)

Look for a line that indicates an ARP Announcement / Gratuitous ARP containing an IP address (often shown as something like “ARP Announcement for x.x.x.x”). 

Keep in mind your own laptops IP address to avoid its own announcements.

If this doesn’t work, you can also sort by Source below. You will probably see some random traffic from the Lidar’s IP. In the example below, it was using NBNS protocol. You can see there is a zx lidars model and a UNIT number in the info 

Use the “Endpoints” view (quick way to list talkers to help you find out all the IP's that have been listed)

• Go to Statistics → Endpoints → IPv4

• Look for an IP that appears during the capture and has frames/bytes attributed to it.