Show had similar error to No USB RS485 install

[Tim Fischer]

(ed note: I have split these messages off from the original thread for clarity)

My show has basically been running well the past few days, BUT early tonight I noticed the show had stopped, and this error (or something very similar) was in the control panel. I unloaded the control panel, reloaded it, and restarted the shows, and the show ran to completion.

But I'm concerned, because I'm not always around to babysit the show. Any ideas what could cause this?

[bob_moody]

Tim,

What was the error? I dont see it in the post.

Bob

[Tim Fischer]

What was the error? I dont see it in the post.

I was so concerned about getting the show going again I didn't write it down or capture it. I should know better, I'm a software guy. But I looked outside and nothing was going - I wasn't even sure how long it had been down, but people were out there looking at "nothing". So my #1 goal was to get things going again, not troubleshoot.

It was a DMX listener error of some sort, if not the exact one above, very similar.

[LOR Staff]

Since you had E1.31 working, there would be a different reason for your error. IE, the 10061 error can occur on errors other than the one with the missing drivers.

A Winsock error of 10061 in your case means that the computer tried to establish a connection with something. It was able to reach something along the routing path, however that something explicitly said that your connection request is denied.

So the next step is to look along the routing path and find the logs for all the devices on the path. One of logs for those devices may have additional information to help you determine what went down and why. There could be a million different reasons why the connection request was rejected.

[Tim Fischer]

So the next step is to look along the routing path and find the logs for all the devices on the path. One of logs for those devices may have additional information to help you determine what went down and why. There could be a million different reasons why the connection request was rejected.

The E1.31 "network" is very simple - it's just a direct ethernet connection between the show computer, a small switch, and 2 Sandevices E681-6 units. There are no routers, etc. in the mix. Not sure if any of these devices keep logs either...

That said, the show ran good again last night. But I don't like errors that just appear and magically go away, as they usually magically come back too, and typically when I'm gone for the whole evening or something...

One thing I'd like to know - will the Show control panel crap out on the first comm error, or does it attempt to keep retrying? When I got to the computer, shows were disables (red light bulb). I'd like to suggest that the "show must go on" and even if it's just playing music, LOR must keep trying to reestablish the connection - perhaps by shutting itself down and restarting it somehow (which is what I did manually - just LOR, not the whole PC). Just some thoughts...

[jeffl]

I have been running E1.31 with a Lynx Etherdongle and have had great luck so far. I have had the normal status error message when loading the sequence editor noting that something else wanted to talk to the port. I have also had another message about reading a header but I'm not sure it's a problem as everything had been rock solid as far as running. Keeping my finger crossed.

As a side note. I keep the status window open and when I see something with a message I hit the "copy log" message before correcting the problem.

[Tim Fischer]

when I see something with a message I hit the "copy log" message before correcting the problem.

I will definitely do that in the future.

Well, I hope I *don't* do that in the future, meaning I have no further problems!

[jeffl]

This is the only other message I ever see out of it. I see this one periodically. It might be when I open the sequence editor or the other night it showed up when the show started. I have not seen any ill effects after it happens however.

2012-12-02 16:59:58 3:Listener [ERROR] Socket 400, connection closed while reading msg header

[LOR Staff]

Inexpensive switches are not going to have logs. Business class switches would. The Windows Event Viewer may also have logged something. I don't know about your bridge.

I'm not trying to brush you off, but anything on that path could have caused the problem. Just off the top of my head, the switch could have crashed and had to restart, the network adapter took a power hit, your DMX bridge crashed and restarted, etc.. etc... etc... All of those things run code that may have went south.

10061 is a fatal level error, so the whole thing is going to abort. if we continued to retry the connection we could quickly cause a broadcast storm of sorts. I do like the idea of some kind of recovery since (as all of us are aware), many times TCP errors are transitory (even the fatal ones). I'll bounce that around with Bob and Dan.

Maybe something like 'If a fatal error occurs, restart the listener after 30 seconds. If 5 consecutive fatal errors occur, die.

[jeffl]

Maybe something like 'If a fatal error occurs, restart the listener after 30 seconds. If 5 consecutive fatal errors occur, die.

This sounds like a really good idea.

[Tim Fischer]

Maybe something like 'If a fatal error occurs, restart the listener after 30 seconds. If 5 consecutive fatal errors occur, die.

I think that has potential - but make those parameters configurable by the user.

Also, it would be best that if the listener has to die, that the rest of the show goes on. I still have over 200 channels of LOR on a standard LOR network. It's my understanding that the Listener has nothing to do with these. It would be better to have SOME show go on than none...

Edited December 3, 2012 by Tim Fischer

[eldoradoboy]

I ran into a problem myself where I took a power surge so the Link went down briefly on the NIC (the show computer is on UPS).. and it caused a 10061 error which killed the show till I realized it.. it put LOR into a disabled state.. and MADRIX went into a "no DMX received" mode and blackened everything..

Id like to see it somehow attempt to come back online or at least have a way for it to notify me.. maybe it writes a text file that I can have an agent look for to either restart the LOR suite or text me or email me or something... Power surges in my past never affected my show.. it would just recover where it left off.. this is the first year ive had the issue.. as its the first year im running LOR on E1.31 and a completely DMX driven show..

in my case.. LOR is the master.. it plays the music and starts / stops the show..

several DMX channels control MADRIX which in turn controls the lights...

if no DMX is received, I have MADRIX set to black out all channels.. this is the behaviour that occurs at the end of the night..

MADRIX doesnt seem to care if the link goes down it just keeps on going.. its only LOR that dies...

-Christopher

[Greg]

Tim,

I know you were watching a post I have going on the similar issue. In my case I think it is the DMX causing the problem possibly a bad connection. I disabled one of the devices so far no errors tonight. Today while messing around with the connection I was able to force the errors to happen, not sure if it would help with your situation but do you have any corrosion on your connectors. The device that was having issues for me I found the CAT 5 connection was corroded.

Mike,

Since we are discussing Logs and possible features what about a way to turn on Log recording to catch a text file of what the status monitor is spitting out. That way we can turn it on if we are having issues to catch the log before the status gets closed and we lose it.