Latest Firmware - Issues -

[Monk]

Thought I would take this post out of the "Firmware thread" and give it its own where it might get better vendor attention - - or better attention in general - I know a lot of you have to be running multiple zone expanders and can possibly chime in with the first part of this anyway.

The situation involves updating the M1G from firmware version 5.1.20 to 5.1.24 - I have reverted back to .20 for the time being.

1.) First I want to describe what I have been considering "Normal" behavior and see if you agree that this is indeed normal.
Powering up the Elk and watching a keypad during "boot" I will see the message something like "13 Zones Not Ready" for 15-20 seconds and then maybe "7 Zones Not Ready" and finally after maybe 45 seconds total just "Ready". The zones it is referring to are split (not evenly) between 2 zone expanders. I have always figured it was a normal part of startup bus communications. Is it?

2.) The bad behavior with .24 involves a change in the (above described) startup. Right off, I get beep beep beep - Zone trouble. It begins with (shown on keypad) the first zone on the first expander. It calls out to Next Alarm to report the trouble and ElkRP's status shows Day Zone trouble. I can stop the beeping by hitting the * key but need to enter the arming code to actually "clear" the error. After which, everything is normal and all appears to function fine. (approx. same period of time passes as in my "normal" startup) Re-downloading does not change anything.

What does anyone think about this?

 

[rfdesq]

How is the zone that gives you the trouble configured?

 

[Steve]

Yes, the first part is normal. You can see that referenced in this thread. Have you changed the configuration of any of the zones or anything? I can't explain why you are seeing the new behavior unless something has changed either in your zone configuration or the fw update.

 

[Monk]

How is the zone that gives you the trouble configured?

The zone is configured as:
03 - Burglar Perimiter instant, 03 EOL Supervised on Short, Bypassable, Chime Enabled.

most of my window zones are this way

 

[Monk]

Yes, the first part is normal. You can see that referenced in this thread. Have you changed the configuration of any of the zones or anything? I can't explain why you are seeing the new behavior unless something has changed either in your zone configuration or the fw update.

Thanks for the info Steve.
No, the only thing that changed is the firmware. Problem goes away when I revert back to older firmware.

 

[Monk]

Just a quick addition - it is not the alarm panel itself that has a problem.

1.) I swapped in a different M1G which had firmware 5.1.4 installed.

2.) Downloaded my current configuration to it - now stable.

3.) Upgraded firmware to 5.1.20 all is well.

4.) Upgraded firmware to 5.1.24 problem returns.

I am going to leave it @ .24 this time & see if other anomalies exist. (instead of reverting to .20)

To recap / update - Upon powerup, the M1G reports "SECURITY (DAY) ALERT" on zone expander zones instead of holding them "Not Ready". It calls out to the alarm company and reports trouble. The zones eventually report in good. I have to enter my arming code to clear the error (on any keypad).

I am the only one on 5.1.24 firmware having this issue?

 

[WayneW]

I am the only one on 5.1.24 firmware having this issue?

I don't know. But you may be the only one that turned your M1 off

When I upgraded my panel to 4.5.24 and then 4.5.25, I didn't get any false alarms or any un-expected notifications from NextAlarm.

 

[Monk]

I am the only one on 5.1.24 firmware having this issue?

I don't know. But you may be the only one that turned your M1 off

When I upgraded my panel to 4.5.24 and then 4.5.25, I didn't get any false alarms or any un-expected notifications from NextAlarm.

Thanks Wayne - I didn't know there was a .25 release and the Elk site is down right now.... Maybe that's the fix.

 

[WayneW]

Thanks Wayne - I didn't know there was a .25 release and the Elk site is down right now.... Maybe that's the fix.

There isn't a .25 release yet Odd numbers are betas and I am beta testing. I am testing .25 for other reasons, so I have no idea if they are aware of your issue. I suggest notifying Brad or somebody on the support team on Monday.

 

[Monk]

What course of troubleshooting would you recommend next, Spanky? Move all zones off of one expander to the other, removing the unused expander & retest - then the opposite, to test the other expander?

 

[Spanky]

What course of troubleshooting would you recommend next, Spanky? Move all zones off of one expander to the other, removing the unused expander & retest - then the opposite, to test the other expander?

We have noted the issue with a Supervised on short defined zone on a zone expander causing a zone trouble on powerup. Immediately this issue can be resolved by redefining the zone as a non supervisory zone. There were changes to the way supervisory zones worked in recent releases which resulted in the trouble being generated.

Upon power up, the M1 auto shunts all expander zones until they checkin. The automatic checkin time can be up to 1 minute. If a zone state changes, the expander checks in immediately. During the time from power up until the zone expander checks in, the keypad will show the zone as not ready. This is normal operation.

 

[Monk]

What course of troubleshooting would you recommend next, Spanky? Move all zones off of one expander to the other, removing the unused expander & retest - then the opposite, to test the other expander?

We have noted the issue with a Supervised on short defined zone on a zone expander causing a zone trouble on powerup. Immediately this issue can be resolved by redefining the zone as a non supervisory zone. There were changes to the way supervisory zones worked in recent releases which resulted in the trouble being generated.

Thanks for the reply Spanky, I thought it was just me getting zone trouble on powerup. I do not intend to redefine my zones so I'll just revert to the earlier firmware. Is this an issue that will be corrected at some point?

 

[Monk]

What course of troubleshooting would you recommend next, Spanky? Move all zones off of one expander to the other, removing the unused expander & retest - then the opposite, to test the other expander?

We have noted the issue with a Supervised on short defined zone on a zone expander causing a zone trouble on powerup. Immediately this issue can be resolved by redefining the zone as a non supervisory zone. There were changes to the way supervisory zones worked in recent releases which resulted in the trouble being generated.

Thanks for the reply Spanky, I thought it was just me getting zone trouble on powerup. I do not intend to redefine my zones so I'll just revert to the earlier firmware. Is this an issue that will be corrected at some point?

*Bump*
Spanky - This is getting a "fix", correct?

 

[rfdesq]

Hopefully Spanky is enjoying a nice weekend. This issue was fixed several versions ago. The latest version on the ELK website has the fix in it.

 

[Monk]

Hopefully Spanky is enjoying a nice weekend. This issue was fixed several versions ago. The latest version on the ELK website has the fix in it.

You are really in the know! Much thanks. Would you happen to be able to addres my other outstanding issue?
Elk Phone answering