DMX listener Error - but the show still runs?

[charlottedad]

Was wondering if anyone out there has run across this error and knew how to resolve it. 

 

"DMX listener error 4.  Connect called while socket not closed / 0"

 

My show still ran successfully even with this error and if I shut down and rebooted the computer it would go away for about 3 days and then return again. 

 

Any input would be appreciated.

 

 

[bob]

Hmmm... I see you're using version 3.1.2.  There was a bug fix in 3.2.0 which may or may not be related.  There was an issue where sometimes (and only on some computers) the LOR Comm Listener would get in a weird state where it would be shutting down and restarting over and over.  Is it possible that there is more than one LOR Comm Listener running, with one of them staying up all the time (allowing your show to run properly) and the other shutting down and restarting over and over, possibly causing these weird error messages?

 

You should be able to see how many there are by looking at your computer's task bar, or failing that your computer's Task Manager.

[charlottedad]

There did appear to be multiple Listener windows and it did cycle back and forth and I could not close them the normal way.  Had to re-boot to resolve.  I updated my license and will see if that helps.

 

I am new to the DMX side of things.  Do you know what that Error message is trying to convey?  I thought maybe it had to do with a buildup that was robbing the memory over time but I am not a computer hardware expert and am just guessing.

 

Thanks for your input.

[bob]

Well, I can't say for sure, but my guess is that your first Listener (which should be your only Listener) is up and running just fine, which is why your show works.  And it (correctly) has a certain resource open.  The second Listener (which shouldn't exist, but does) starts up, and tries to open that same resource.  It fails to do so, because the first Listener already has the resource open, and only one can have it open at a time.  So the second Listener puts out that error message, and then it shuts itself down (because it needs that resource in order to do its job).  Then the LOR Control Panel notices that a Listener has shut down, and it therefore tries to start it up again (not realizing that there's already another Listener out there that's working just fine).  The cycle then repeats itself, over and over.

 

So it seems to me that the question is why does the second Listener get started up in the first place.  That's the bug that I think was fixed in 3.2.0.  At this point I don't remember the details of it, but it was definitely something along those lines.

 

My suggestion would be that as long as it's not affecting your show, I wouldn't worry about it too much for now - I personally wouldn't take the chance of upgrading or reinstalling or whatever without sufficient reason, this close to the season (presuming you're doing this for the Christmas season).  As long as it works, I'd just leave it be.

 

Then after the season is over, and the risk of something going wrong during upgrade is not as important, I'd consider upgrading to a newer version.  I think this issue will be resolved by doing that, and even if not, there have been a lot of neat things added since 3.1.2 anyway!