Invalid Encryption Key

[devleigh]

Hi All

I have installed many HAI systems but this is a first for me. One of my clients has an Omnipro II board with 3x 5.7e touchscreens and firmware version 3.6b. Periodically the error "Invalid Encryption Key" appears and the system needs to be restarted for the error to disappear. I now the first question would be "Do you have the correct keys?" YES. I have checked and rechecked they are correct. I have reloaded firmware on controller and ontouchscreens with Automation Studio. There is no particular time this occurs.....

Any help would be much appreciated.
Leighton

 

[Desert_AIP]

Are you using static IP addresses for the controller and touchscreens?

 

[devleigh]

Yes static addresses on all touchscreens. Different port numbers on all screens as well

 

[HAI_fjh]

A couple of questions to help narrow down the problem.

First when you say "the system needs to be restarted for the error to disappear", I am assuming you are referring to the Omni?

If I understand the problem everything works fine for some time then a touch screen displays the "Invalid Encryption Key" error. Restarting the touch screen does not resolve the problem, but restarting the controller does.

If it works after a restart then you should not have to reload anything.

I am suspecting a network problem. The only time you would get the "Invalid Encryption Key" message is when the touch screen is connecting or reconnecting to the controller. This would only happen after a restart or lost connection. The "Invalid Encryption Key" error may be inaccurate as it is possible to get this error if all of the available sessions are used up even if the key is valid.

What I suspect is happening is that some network problem, like a switch or router crashing and rebooting, is causing the touch screens to loose their connections and to try to automatically reconnect. Since they did not disconnect gracefully the controller may not be aware that they are gone and not release those sessions for 3 to 5 minutes. When the touch screens try to reconnect there are no longer enough sessions available and you get the error. Rebooting the controller clears all sessions and everybody is able to reconnect. Since there are 20 sessions available and only 3 touch screens the loss of connectivity would have to happen fairly frequently to use up all 20 sessions.

Does it sound like this could be the problem? If so look at the network infrastructure. Make sure all devices have the latest firmware and get rid of the $30 special routers and switches. Most of these low end "home" class devices are designed for 1-4 PCs doing light Internet browsing and can't handle much more that that. If you have a few PCs and Omni with a few touch screens you should be using devices that are "workgroup" class or better. I am not pushing a particular vendor or model, just stay away from the really cheap stuff.

Also when you find the problem, please let us know what it was. I generally try to keep track of this stuff to update the HAI knowledge base.

 

[edselrt]

not to hijack this thread but I think I have a similar problem. Two touchsreens with latest firmware connecting to omnipro ii for unknown reason cannot connect to omnipro and touchscreen just displays "connecting" . Problem can be fixed by just cycling power to touchscreen via POE injector. but after a few days problem is back again

 

[devleigh]

Hi Fred

Thanks for the input. I hear what you are saying about cheap networking equipment and I agree completely. I do however have a HP Procurve 1GB PoE managed switch in place so i very much doubt it can be the hardware. I do see the latency on the network drop drastically to somewhere between 2000 ms to 3500 ms which is causing the connectivity to be affected between the touchscreens and the controller.

I am currently in the process of discting the network and running tests to determine where the problem might be. I will update you as I get results.

 

[devleigh]

not to hijack this thread but I think I have a similar problem. Two touchsreens with latest firmware connecting to omnipro ii for unknown reason cannot connect to omnipro and touchscreen just displays "connecting" . Problem can be fixed by just cycling power to touchscreen via POE injector. but after a few days problem is back again

Edsel,

Check your latency on your network especially at the time the connectivity fails. It would be interesting to see if there is someting common.

 

[HAI_fjh]

Hi Leighton,

Actually I have experience with HP Procurve switches and I like them. I have experienced some issues with 10Mb only devices like some print servers and the Omni. Some issues have been addressed by firmware improvements but you might want to reconfigure the port that the Omni is on to 10Mb/Full rather than leaving it at auto. Like I said depending on model and firmware version you may see an improvement.

 

[devleigh]

Hi Fred

I have already configured the port to full duplex already. Thought it would be better. It's a pitty that the port on Omni is only 10mb and not 100. Would there be a possible upgrade in the future?

 

[devleigh]

Well figured it out........ It turnned out to be a faulty irrigation valve. Never would have guessed that!. I have some programming to cycle the irrigation solonoid valves every day. There are also to buttons to either stop or start the irrigation cycle manually, and the "Irrigation Stop" was the problem.

Start looks like this...

71. TIMED 7:30 MTWTFSS
AND IF Irrigation System ON
THEN Irrigation Cycle FLG ON
THEN Irrigation Pump ON
THEN Irrigation Zone 01 ON FOR 15 MINUTES

72. TIMED 16:30 MTWTFSS
AND IF Summer Time ON
AND IF Irrigation System ON
THEN Irrigation Cycle FLG ON
THEN Irrigation Pump ON
THEN Irrigation Zone 01 ON FOR 15 MINUTES

73. WHEN Irrigation Zone 01 OFF
AND IF Irrigation Cycle FLG ON
THEN Irrigation Zone 02 ON FOR 15 MINUTES

74. WHEN Irrigation Zone 02 OFF
AND IF Irrigation Cycle FLG ON
THEN Irrigation Zone 03 ON FOR 15 MINUTES
etc. etc. up zone 23

95. WHEN Irrigation Zone 23 OFF
THEN Irrigation Cycle FLG OFF
THEN Irrigation Pump OFF

If you want to stop the cycle at any time you would run the "Irrigation Stop" button and the following would be executed...

132. WHEN Irrigation Stop
THEN Irrig Pump OFF
THEN Irr Zone 01 OFF
THEN Irr Zone 02 OFF
THEN Irr Zone 03 OFF
etc... etc ...

THEN Irr Zone 22 OFF
THEN Irr Zone 23 OFF

Problem was with the solonoid valve on zone 18. The program would freeze and the network latency would increase to over 3500 ms. The 5.7e touchscreens would not be able to communicate with the controller and the message "Invalid Encryption Key" would appear.

Well the valve was disconnected (and will be replaced) and everything is working perfectly.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[edselrt]

Well figured it out........ It turnned out to be a faulty irrigation valve.
The program would freeze and the network latency would increase to over 3500 ms. The 5.7e touchscreens would not be able to communicate with the controller and the message "Invalid Encryption Key" would appear.

Well the valve was disconnected (and will be replaced) and everything is working perfectly.

Thanks for the feedback.

Hi,
Why would the irrigation valve affect the touchscreens? What program froze? Can you explain further what happened?

thanks

 

[HAI_fjh]

Yes a tight program loop can cause loss of network connectivity.

Basically the security and automation tasks have the highest priority so that no matter what else happens the controller can call the fire department (or whatever). So when the system gets extremely busy in a tight loop, the network task being at a lower priority gets starved. If that loop also generates a lot of event notifications that need to go out the network it exacerbate the problem so that you get network timeouts. The more network devices and the more notifications generated the worse it gets.

You should check your programs to make sure that tight loops can not happen.

One thing that jumps out at me is that I think the first "THEN" of the "Irrigation Stop" block should be "THEN Irrigation Cycle FLG OFF". You probably don't notice the problem because the pump is off, but it looks to me like the stop would actually turn all of the zones, except 23, on ON for 15 minutes...

 

[edselrt]

is this a tight loop program?

33. WHEN ALL LIGHTS OFF
THEN CONTROL 1 OFF
THEN CONTROL 2 OFF
THEN CONTROL 3 OFF
THEN CONTROL4 OFF
THEN MAIN BIG FOYER OFF
THEN LOFT OUTSIDE LIGHT OFF
THEN FRONT PORCH OFF
THEN BACK PORCH OFF
THEN MASTER OUTSIDE LIGHTS OFF
THEN CONTROL 6 OFF
THEN CONTROL 7 OFF
THEN CONTROL 8 OFF
THEN CONTROL 9 OFF
THEN CONTROL 10 OFF

Is it better to program it like this?

33. WHEN ALL LIGHTS OFF
THEN CONTROL 1 OFF

34. WHEN ALL LIGHTS OFF
THEN CONTROL 2 OFF

35. WHEN ALL LIGHTS OFF
THEN CONTROL 3 OFF
etc

This is using button to turn off all lights in the house

 

[devleigh]

Yes a tight program loop can cause loss of network connectivity.

Basically the security and automation tasks have the highest priority so that no matter what else happens the controller can call the fire department (or whatever). So when the system gets extremely busy in a tight loop, the network task being at a lower priority gets starved. If that loop also generates a lot of event notifications that need to go out the network it exacerbate the problem so that you get network timeouts. The more network devices and the more notifications generated the worse it gets.

You should check your programs to make sure that tight loops can not happen.

One thing that jumps out at me is that I think the first "THEN" of the "Irrigation Stop" block should be "THEN Irrigation Cycle FLG OFF". You probably don't notice the problem because the pump is off, but it looks to me like the stop would actually turn all of the zones, except 23, on ON for 15 minutes...

Hi Fred

Oops a typo. I did turn the flag off at the beginning of the stop block and then the rest, What i have acually done now is just turn the cycle flag and the pump off. I noticed that although everything was working, when the program ran the stop block the network latency still increased somewhat (not as much as before). What happens now is irrigation turns off and the current zone times out the remainder of the watering period oviously with no water as the pump is turned off.

 

[devleigh]

Hi,
Why would the irrigation valve affect the touchscreens? What program froze? Can you explain further what happened?

thanks

Hi Homeboy

Fred has pretty much summed up the senario. If you have any further questions please feel free to ask.

Regards