HAI 3.0 Firmware and PC Access Out

[ano]

I'm going to install my Ver. 3 chip this weekend. Fingers crossed.

I'm probably not a good 'slow load' candidate anymore as I've upgraded my server from a simple Network Attached Storage (NAS) to a full Windows Home Server, so I'm guessing my loads will be quick now. Unfortunately I removed the NAS so I can't test it against the new software update. I don't anticipate a problem using the Home Server.

Now, the most pressing issue I have is getting the new Ver. FW to work with the TCP driver for Charmed Quark (CQC). I haven't tested it yet, but there have been a few reports of problems. I don't want to imply these problems are even on the HAI end, since Dean from CQC built the interface from scratch, there have been limited systems to test it on, but he has committed to upgrading his system when he has a chance and doing some testing. My sense is that CQC connected to HAI using UDP polling really loads down the panel. With Homeseer to HAI using UDP, it REALLY loaded the panel down. It will be real nice to get TCP working.

 

[kb5ynf]

I know this thread is a month old but i just upgraded to PC Access 3.0.0.452 and it crashes every few minutes. I'm running it on a Vista Business laptop; PC Access 2.15 runs on the same machine flawlessly. So far I haven't noticed any pattern to the crashes, they seem to occur no matter what I'm doing. I'm not sure just yet but it may only crash when I'm connected to the controller. They're happening so frequently I can't get anything done with 3.0. A window pops up with the executable name and simply says it has caused a problem; windows doesn't indicate what sort of problem though.

Also, like another user mentioned, my Update Firmware feature is greyed out as well; I have downloaded the latest firmware but PC Access doesn't seem to recognize it; or something else is going on. I'm fairly new to the OmniPro II but I've had mine for about a year and a half. I do remember reading about the new flashable models when I bought mine and I think I got one of the new ones but I'm not 100% sure. I'll have to check on it. I bought it while I was building my new home and only just now started setting it up. I've had it up for several days and I've been adding to it every night after work; mainly just lighting automation for now and security of course. So far, I really like it.

I'm at work right now and accessing the controller over the internet. I'll play with it more tonight while I'm at the house and see if it works any better. Hopefully I can figure out what's going on with this soon because I really like the updated PC Access version, especially the new programming features. Plus, the app is more user friendly and aesthetically improved as well which is good but the old layout didn't really bother me either; it's a utility package and most such software is designed for functionality and not necessarily user friendliness. Still, the improvements are very welcome.

Regards,

Jack

 

[AutomatedOutlet]

We haven't experienced those issues here running on Vista Ultimate. Hopefully HAI will respond to this thread. If not, we'll research it for you.

 

[kb5ynf]

Well, tried PC Access 3.0 from home after church and it wouldn't run at all. As soon as I tried to start the app it would crash. Makes me wonder if it's maybe a network issues since that's the only difference in my setup between work and home (I carry my laptop home with me and work from home). I tried shutting down my network while at home to see if that made a difference but it didn't. I'm back at work this morning and the program loads fine now but does still error out. The problem does only seem to occur whenever I'm connected to the controller (except when I tried to run it from home of course). To test this, I opened my account file and played around in the settings for several minutes with no issues. Then I connected to the controller and started modifying user codes; I got through two before it crashed on me.

The error reads:

The program ["C:\Program Files\HAI\PC Access\PCA3D_EN.exe"] caused a problem and is going to close. Do you want to create a dump file...

If I have time, I may see if I can get this info to HAI today and see if they have any ideas. If not, I guess I'll have to wait and see if it is fixed in the future or just keep using the 2.15 version. Weird...

 

[HAI_fjh]

First let's address the Update Firmware issue. This will only be enabled if you are on line and the controller has a possibility of being upgradeable. The on-line part is obvious in that you can't update the firmware on a board you are not connected to. The "possibility of being upgradeable" is not quite as obvious. The flash equipped boards were first released with firmware 2.16, so if PCA3 sees that you have a 2.14 board, then it knows it can't possibly have flash. If you have 2.16 or higher it could be a flash equipped board. For reasons of backwards compatibility with our third party vendors, from a software perspective, the flash equipped boards are identical to the ROM equipped boards. So if you have a board with a 2.16a ROM PCA3 will enable the upgrade firmware option, but it will fail if you attempt to update the firmware. This is a benign error and is a compromise for compatibility.

An easy way to determine which board you have is to look at the board. For a Pro II, or IIe: starting in the upper left corner if you have 3 serial ports, a large ~2" space then the Ethernet port and X-10 port then you have a ROM based board. If you have 5 serial ports a small ~0.5" space then the Ethernet port and X-10 port then you have a flash equipped board.

Next, I would like to know more about the crashing problem. You don't specifically state what you were doing, but were you on line, what protocol were you using, what page were you on, what were you trying to do... Just some general information so I know where to start looking. Also if you are having problems tech support is a good resource. Just make sure you give as much info as you can. Dump reports are useful and in some cases an export of your account file may help shed some light on the problem.

We are dedicated to resolving these problems and improving our product.

 

[kb5ynf]

Hi Fred:

Thanks for the response. On the flashable/non-flashable question, I kind of figured that was what was going on there. I'll have to check the control board to be certain but from the info you provided, I think mine is non-flashable.

As for the app crashing, it crashes no matter what I'm doing but only when I'm connected to the controller (except for some reason last night at home, it wouldn't even load; here at work it loads fine). It crashes when I'm doing nothing at all or anything. I can load the software, connect to my controller and leave it idle; two minutes later, it will crash. I've timed it, every time it's two minutes; my guess is that something is refreshing/polling or something like that after two minutes and causing this. The controller is Omni Pro II and the firmware version reported by PC Access is 2.15A. I'm connecting over the internet via TCP/IP using UDP. I've uninstalled/reinstalled and upgraded to 3.0.0.454 earlier today but it does the same thing.

Like I said, I just loaded 3.0 yesterday for the first time so I haven't had a lot of time to try to figure out what is causing the crashes. I'll try to open a case with tech support and see if they can figure it out.

Thanks,

 

[HAI_fjh]

Sounds like a problem with the watchdog timer. The Omni will drop the connection if it is idle for 3 minutes, so in PCA3 there is a watchdog timer that keeps the connection alive.

If you are on a status page where messages are constantly going back and forth, the watchdog will never fire...

Try this: Connect to the controller, go to he system status page and confirm that the system time is incrementing. This is a live time display from the controller. Wait 2 or 3 minutes and see if you get the error.

If you do not get the error, then the watch dog timer may need to be a little faster for your network. If this is the case you can help me figure out what you need, but first let's see if this is the problem. I am not seeing this on my network here or at home. Actually this is the first report of this problem...

 

[kb5ynf]

Ha! I think you're on to something. I did as you said and it's now been on the status screen for over four minutes without crashing. The clock is ticking away like you'd expect.

 

[kb5ynf]

Okay, I watched the clock for several minutes without the app crashing. Then I switched back to the setup page and it crashed two minutes later. Does that help?

 

[HAI_fjh]

I changed the watchdog timer in 3.0.0.455, I will try to release it tonight, but I have a couple of other things to stabilize. Once once you get 3.0.0.455 let me know if it helps or hurts the situation.

 

[kb5ynf]

Well, so far this morning, it looks like 3.0.0.455 has fixed my issues. I've been connected to the controller for going on an hour now with no problems. I first let it sit idle on the setup page for several minutes and it didn't crash. Then I began making some changes to the setup, codes and such, no problems. I've uploaded and downloaded from the controller with no issues. I think you have fixed it. I will take my laptop home and try again from there and report back to you afterward just to be sure.

Thanks for your help!

 

[ano]

Maybe this is related a bit. I use Snaplink at work to monitor my system, and you have to leave it running to get mail alerts to work. With 2.X firmware it worked fine, but with 3.0 and the latest Snaplink software, I noticed that the connection breaks if it sits for very long. Of course, then you don't get your notification, and Snaplink sends no notification to tell you it's disconnected. If it disconnects occasionally fine, but it should at least alert you to that on the Snaplink side.

 

[kb5ynf]

I checked PC Access 3 at home this morning; I'm adding some new sensors and needed to program them. Well, for some reason it still crashes immediately whenever I try to run it from home. Again, this is the same PC as I use at work and the only difference is that I connect to a wireless network at home and wired at work; and of course the networks are different. I tried disabling the network to see if it would run then but it still does the same thing. I'm busy right now but if I have time later, I'll try plugging in to see if that makes a difference. Anyway, I'm not sure what is happening but this is certainly a strange one. For now, I still have 2.15 loaded and it works fine so I'm using it for programming today. Fred, thanks again for all you've done so far; hopefully you can help with this odd situation too.

Regards,

 

[kb5ynf]

Okay, I finally found time to really work on the reason that PC Access 3 wouldn't load at home. When it installs, it creates a folder in My Documents, which for me is located on a network drive. I have offline files turned on but sometimes folders don't sync for whatever reason; the HAI folder was one of those. I could have fixed it where it was but to be safe, I moved the folder to a local folder on my C drive. I then had to find the registry entry which pointed to the documents folder and change it to the new location. Now it works. Most people probably won't have this issue because I use a corporate laptop with a corporate network; but it might be a good idea to have the application create a new folder whenever it can't find the default one, or at least die gracefully with a meaningful error message to indicate the problem.

Regards,