Erratic Play

[BDD]

I'm running 32 channels on 1.61 software. Last year (my first) I had problems with the show being out of sync and some lights coming on or not. Dan said to reset the 2 controllers by switching them to 0 , powering them on for 5 seconds, turning then off and then reset to 1 and 2, and turning them back on. I did that and everthing seem to run fine. This year, I've changed nothing. I still have Easy Light linker, USB 485B, running XP. I started having problems from the beginning setup. The show runs fine for awhile, then out of sync, sometimes lights don't come on at all for a song or two. I think, no problem, I'll just reset them like last year. I reset and watched for a couple of songs or so, and they appeared fine. I left home for a couple of hours and they returned to playing from erratic to no lights coming on at all for a couple of songs. Any suggestions?

[Richard Hamilton]

Maybe something else changed within your operating environment !

See my other post about this...

http://lightorama.mywowbb.com/forum76/15452.html

[BDD]

I read through your link. Thanks. I have a wireless phone nearby, but it was there last year also. The wireless is in the same position, on my computer and the controllers. I'll check for programs running in the background that may not have been there last year. Not too much new, just updates of programs that changed since last year.

[Richard Hamilton]

Barry Davidson wrote:

I read through your link. Thanks. I have a wireless phone nearby, but it was there last year also. The wireless is in the same position, on my computer and the controllers. I'll check for programs running in the background that may not have been there last year. Not too much new, just updates of programs that changed since last year.

Whenever I find the solution to a problem like this, I often see that it was something that changed and I forgot about it.

Just in case it is your software or operating system that is slowing things down... close everything in your system tray, and you might even want to look at the Windows resource monitor while you are doing your test so that you can see if Windows is peaking out on processing time.

Again, there are many holes to fall into. This is just one place to look.

[BDD]

I read where Mp3 music sometimes leads to timimg problems. I have 5 sequences that I bought from LOR last year. The other sequences I have, I've ripped from cds using Media Monkey. So, I reripped the non-LOR bought music using the wav format. The show worked fine last night. I watched a couple of sequences tonight and all was well. We went out to eat and came back. The same problems came back. I thank Richard for his help but can anyone else chime in. I emailed LOR tech support last week but have not heard back.

[LightORamaDan]

Barry Davidson wrote:

I read where Mp3 music sometimes leads to timimg problems. I have 5 sequences that I bought from LOR last year. The other sequences I have, I've ripped from cds using Media Monkey. So, I reripped the non-LOR bought music using the wav format. The show worked fine last night. I watched a couple of sequences tonight and all was well. We went out to eat and came back. The same problems came back. I thank Richard for his help but can anyone else chime in. I emailed LOR tech support last week but have not heard back.

If you email LOR support and do not hear back within 24 hours then most likely your email has been missed (marked as spam) and you should try sending it directly to me.

When the show gets into this "funny" state, if you disable shows and then enable shows does it straighten out?

[LightORamaDan]

Barry Davidson wrote:

I read where Mp3 music sometimes leads to timimg problems. I have 5 sequences that I bought from LOR last year. The other sequences I have, I've ripped from cds using Media Monkey. So, I reripped the non-LOR bought music using the wav format. The show worked fine last night. I watched a couple of sequences tonight and all was well. We went out to eat and came back. The same problems came back. I thank Richard for his help but can anyone else chime in. I emailed LOR tech support last week but have not heard back.

If you email LOR support and do not hear back within 24 hours then most likely your email has been missed (marked as spam) and you should try sending it directly to me.

When the show gets into this "funny" state, if you disable shows and then enable shows does it straighten out?

[BDD]

Well, I've been doing this and that, restarting the computer, reworking shows, redoing sequences etc. etc. I can't answer your question with certainty. I'll check the staus after disabling etc. and get back to you after doing this test. Thanks, BD

[Richard Hamilton]

Barry Davidson wrote:

I read where Mp3 music sometimes leads to timimg problems. I have 5 sequences that I bought from LOR last year. The other sequences I have, I've ripped from cds using Media Monkey. So, I reripped the non-LOR bought music using the wav format. The show worked fine last night. I watched a couple of sequences tonight and all was well. We went out to eat and came back. The same problems came back. I thank Richard for his help but can anyone else chime in. I emailed LOR tech support last week but have not heard back.

If I am not mistakened, the issue with MP3 getting out of sequence is something that occurs in the sequence during design time, but it might also be related to shows. I don't use MP3 for this purpose and I have never seen a problem.

To be on the safe side, how about just converting those songs to WAV and then reattaching them to the sequences.

[BDD]

Well, uh, that's what I said that I did. See the boxed area of one of my previous comments, in your response window.

[LightORamaDan]

Barry Davidson wrote:

Well, uh, that's what I said that I did. See the boxed area of one of my previous comments, in your response window.

People sometimes miss a detail when they read a post but it is nice of them to take the time to post and try and help out.

This runs good for a whie then starts a hickup is not common. That is why I want to see if it starts out working then all of the sudden starts messing up. That could indicate a resource issue. If it clears up with an disable/enable shows and then runs good again for a while it certianly sounds like resource to me.

[BDD]

Dan,
I tried to run the show earlier today after I got your post but it was just too bright outside. I really couldn't see the lights. I'll try again when it starts getting darker.
What exactly do you mean it sounds like a " resource issue " if it playes well after disabling and then enabling? Thanks

[LightORamaDan]

Barry Davidson wrote:

What exactly do you mean it sounds like a " resource issue " if it playes well after disabling and then enabling? Thanks

In your show, the show player plays the same seqeunces over and over again. If it works okay the first few times it plays the same sequence but later it starts to act differently then something must have changed... The software doesn't change, the sequences do not change BUT if the PC starts running out of memory or something like that then the same code and sequence will start to act differently

Memory is the most common resource to be lost on a computer but the CPU can get busy or any number of things can change that cause things to stop working.

[Richard Hamilton]

LightORamaDan wrote:

Barry Davidson wrote:

Well, uh, that's what I said that I did. See the boxed area of one of my previous comments, in your response window.

People sometimes miss a detail when they read a post but it is nice of them to take the time to post and try and help out.

This runs good for a whie then starts a hickup is not common. That is why I want to see if it starts out working then all of the sudden starts messing up. That could indicate a resource issue. If it clears up with an disable/enable shows and then runs good again for a while it certianly sounds like resource to me.

Ok, so I overlooked it. Sounds kind of like a snappy response. It's a sure way to not get any future suggestions. I'm not a paid support line.

[LightORamaDan]

Richard Hamilton wrote:

LightORamaDan wrote:

Barry Davidson wrote:

Well, uh, that's what I said that I did. See the boxed area of one of my previous comments, in your response window.

People sometimes miss a detail when they read a post but it is nice of them to take the time to post and try and help out.

This runs good for a whie then starts a hickup is not common. That is why I want to see if it starts out working then all of the sudden starts messing up. That could indicate a resource issue. If it clears up with an disable/enable shows and then runs good again for a while it certianly sounds like resource to me.

Ok, so I overlooked it. Sounds kind of like a snappy response. It's a sure way to not get any future suggestions. I'm not a paid support line.

We don't always see every side of a person here. Many people are frustrated when the get here. I think that forums are a great way to get help and the people who take the time to help are great.

NOW GOING OFF TOPIC but was on my mind and not a reflection on this topic......

When using the forums we want to do two things... One, when you have a problem we should not just put a big HELP as the description or NOT WORKING. Rather you should try your best to give it an informative descriptoin and give as many details a possible.

When replying to a topic only respond if you have good information to share.

Is it okay to go off topic? well yes, especially if the problem has been solved but when we go off topic it can reduce the chances that the original post will be addressed properly.

Overall things go pretty well here. Not perfect, but what is.

[BDD]

Dan,
Everything seems to be working out for some reason. Last night the show ran perfectly. Tonight, without me changing a thing the songd are out of sync or no lights at all. I disabled and reabled the show. No change. I restarted the computer and tried rescheduling the show. Still problems. I ran the hardware utility and it said LOR was on Comm 4. I hit the refresh button and my controllers couldn't be found. I refreshed a couple of more times with no luck. I hit the auto find button for the comm again and this time it said it couldn'rt be located. I tried a couple of more times with no luck. I plugged the USB45B adapter into another computer usb slot. This time it found the port and my 2 controllers were found. I thought great. I rescheduled and went outside but the show was erratic like before. Any suggestions?
BD

[LightORamaDan]

Well this does not sound good. The stuff works then the next night it doesn't... It could be a marginal componet such as the USB485B or the ELLs. I cannot remember if you attempted to bypass the ELLs. I think the best thing to do will be to send out another USB485 and an ELL to see if that clears things up. Send an email to support@lightorama.com

Dan