S2 not connecting to controller!

[snyder.cms]

OK, brand new here. I will try and be as detailed as possible and hopefully one of you can help me out.

I am running a new installation of S2 on a Windows Vista machine. I have never worked with this software before.

While the LOR controllers were backordered, I purchased a D-light 16 channel controller (now have an LOR controller on the way).

So, got my D-light controller and plugged it in. All is well.
Ran tests with lights from the button on the controller. All is well.
Connected the controller to the D-light hardware utility. Connected fine, to comport 7 (3 is taken...)
Ran tests from within the hardware utility. All is well.

Opened LOR S2 hardware utility. On autoconfig, no device found...so I manually set the com port to 7 and then had it check the network. No device found. I assumed that was because I was using a D-light controller.

Went into S2 scheduler and loaded my sequence into the playlist and set it to start a show. Nothing starts.

Frustrated, I downloaded LightShow Pro. I imported my S2 sequence to LSP and tried to configure outputs. However, when I select Com7, it tells me that access is denied. So, it then disables playback.

I restarted the computer and tried everything with the same result.
I opened device manager and changed the controller to Com3 (kicking off whatever was on there) as that is what both the sequencing programs appeared to prefer.

Opened D-light hardware utility and found the controller again, now on Com3.
Test everything fine from the hardware utility.

Ran through both S2 and LSP as above. Still no results.

Now I am back to S2 (and would like to stick with it). What do I do to get me sequence sent to the controller?

Thanks!

- C

[Don]

Not having used the other two software packages, I can't offer any assistance on those.

One question, what kind of adapter are you using to connect your controller to the computer? It sounds as if the drivers might be be installed correctly.

Just in case you need them ....

-- USB Driver Instructions --
Make sure all LOR program are stopped and shows are disabled.
Unplug the USB adapter.
Use this link to get the USB driver installer. Download it and save it to your Desktop:
http://www.lightorama.com/downloads/CDM20600.exe

Once you have down loaded it and saved it to your desktop, double click the file which will run the driver installer. (make sure that the USB adapter is unplugged).

Once the installer has completed,
1. Run the LOR hardware Utility.
2. In the “Setup Comm Port” section (Top left of screen) click on the “Manual Select” dropdown.
3. Make note of which comm ports are present.
4. Stop(Exit) the Hardware Utility Program
5. Plug in the USB adapter (wait 15 seconds for it to be recognized)
6. Run the Hardware Utility Program. Check the Manual Select dropdown and a new com port should now be present. Select that new comm port as your show port.

[vipzach]

First, make sure the USB drivers are installed. (Assuming you are you using the LOR USB connector.)

I use a D-light board in my show and I also use the S2 software. For me to get everything working correctly, I had to download a firmware update for my d-light board. Once I did that, everything worked just fine.

May not be the case for you, but that is what I had to do.

[-klb-]

You are closing the D-light hardware utility, and it is exiting normally? I'd recommend trying the LOR hardware utility first thing after a reboot, and see how it goes. Remember, only one one software package at a time can use the COM port that is the control network.

[snyder.cms]

Thanks for the help. Here is where I am now.

One big problem was the whole having multiple software packages open thing. Once I got that cleared up Lightshow Pro started to work fine, recognized the controller, and ran my lights. The problem is that I still cant get S2 to work. I paid for an advanced license of S2, so am pretty committed to that being my software.

So, I have closed everything and restarted the computer. At startup I attempted to find my controller in the LOR hardware utility. No luck.

I updated the D-light firmware. Checked it again in the D-light hardware utility and everything is just fine. All tests were good. Ran a sequence through LSP, and everything went great.

I closed everything, and just for good measure, restarted the computer again.

After restart, I open LOR Hardware utility and autoconfig cant find the controller. I manually set to com3, and then "refresh" to select the unit to configure...says "Found 0 units". Try to run the tests, and no dice. Nothing is going to the controller.

Now, here is where it gets interesting...in LOR hardware utility, if I hit the "console" button and set the unit ID to 4 (the controller is currently assigned to 4 using the D-light utility). I can manually turn on all the lights and effects...so, signal is going through that way.

I then go back and try again on the "test" screen and again, no luck. It tells me that it cant find a controller and to check the cable and power.

Do I need to use LOR hardware to get S2 configured to send signal to my controller or is that something I do in S2? Can LOR hardware even work with the D-light controller?

I am sure there is some simple newbie mistake that I am making. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
-C

[TJ Hvasta]

First, stop using anything but the LOR Hardware utility.

Secondly, how are you connecting the controller to the computer? USB or serial? Did you install the correct drivers for the -485 interface? Did you get a working Com channel.. LOWER than Com.. 5? HU doesn't like high number com ports.

With just one controller connected, do you have both power cables plugged in? Do you get a slow or fast blinking power LED? Set your Max Units to a number 1-2 more than what you have. Is it a NEW, NEVER ASSIGNED unit? If it is, plug it in by itself, then using the HU to manually assign a unit number. Refresh and see what comes up.

Did you try plugging in the Cat5 cable in the other socket? The one youre using may be bad.. it's happened before..

These are the standard troubleshooting steps. Go thru each one.

LSP has not been good to a lot of people.. I've tried it, didn't like it when it worked, which wasn't that often.. YMMV..

[snyder.cms]

I am connecting to the controller via USB. I have updated the driver and tried again and still no dice with LOR Hardware. I checked the LED on the card and it is solid as long as LOR hardware is open. I close everything up, and I get a slowish blinking light. Also, I have confirmed power to both plugs going into the unit. It is a brand new controller...just hooked it up for the first time today.

However, I have loaded my sequences into the LOR scheduler and they are running on the lights outside. So, we have success there...I think (only animation now... need to load music sequences tomorrow).

So, with S2 working, should I be concerned about LOR Hardware not talking to my controller (except in the console screen)?

Despite the fact that S2 is clearly talking to the controller, LOR Hardware still claims no controllers are found when I refresh. It also says that it cannot connect when I attempt to set a different unit ID. Could it just be refusing to recognize or legitimate a D-light controller?

I am a bit concerned because I have an LOR controller on the way right now. So, in a couple of weeks I am going to connect 2 firefli, 1 CCR and an LOR controller (added to the D-light I have now). Hoping it is seamless, though I am thinking all hell may break loose.

Thanks for all of your help. I really appreciate it.

- C

[JBullard]

Are you using a d-light or LOR USB-RS45 adapter?

The d-light boards have to be configured in hardware utility using a d-light adapter, only.

The LOR USB-RS485 adapters will run the d-light boards for a show, but not in the LOR hardware utility.

This is a common problem when mixing hardware and software from different vendors, even for us old farts that have been around for a while.

[-klb-]

The status light and channel response are indicating that the controller is seeing LOR hardware utility just fine. And playing from show player shows that you have made the correct registry entry for which com port LOR is to use. So that is good. To me, all I think is happening is that autoconfigure is failing to find a valid response from a LOR controller when it scans all the installed com ports. And since you have it manually configured, and working, I don't think there is anything left to worry about.

With one possible exception. I have heard that for firefly, you may want to set up a second USB adapter and second network, or the firefly may miss some commands. With the second network, you can use hardware to send test commands on either network, but you use sequence editor, edit network preferences to set which network is on what com port.

[TJ Hvasta]

Reading comprehension was never my strongest suite.. I totally missed you're using a non-LOR board with S2 and LOR HU..i first read a LOR board with DLight HU..mixing hard/software mfrs usually incurs some compatibility issues..best to use the DLight interface with the DLight board..

[snyder.cms]

Well, got it all worked out thanks to you guys. I think I just need to get some of you on retainer...new issue with phantom signals (will have a channel set to do something...and it does it. Then I change the sequence and save it yet the channel still does what it used to do and not what it is currently programmed to do). I just cant figure it out, but will start a new topic once I am convinced I cannot find the info elsewhere here.

Thanks again!

[robandwend]

Klb is correct that a 2nd USB adaptor for fireflies does help. I had a lot of glitches start appearing once the ff's had been added to network with 13 lor controllers, lots of missed lights and extra lights coming on.