Still having issues

[oilmoney]

I'm still having either network or computer problems.

3 networks @ 500k

REG ( Com 4 ) , aux a ( Com 6 ), aux b ( Com 3 ), when I run the diagnostic tool I see this:

Networks
    Comm Listener Port = 8837
    Dasher Port = 0
    List Networks = False
    Uses DMX = False
    X10 Port = 0

    Regular = COM 4, Speed 500K
    Aux A = COM 6, Speed 500K
    Aux B = COM 3, Speed 500K

newest S4 software

I go into the port utility on windows and can see the ports show up as I plug them in, I have set them as so in the network preferences vs using the HU to identify which ports are for what.

I think I've got S4 looking in the right place for my files:

Registry: Shared
    AppPath = C:\Program Files (x86)\Light-O-Rama\
    UserDataPath = F:\Lightorama\
    AudioPath = F:\Lightorama\Audio\
    NonAudioPath = F:\Lightorama\Sequences\
    PostInstall = True
    PostInstallVer = 41
    Reset = False

Anyone see anything obvious? I am using 3 red 485 adapters, do I need to add drivers or firmware for them? LOR's site has firmware but It gives the impression that it's for only the USB-RS485 and SC485-RJ45 converters. I'm stumped and ready to cancel the show for this year. I'm now defragmenting my pc, not that i think it'll make a difference but running out of ideas to try. On the bright side I'm learning alot about this program and how stuff ties together.

oil

[Dennis Laff]

Well you don't really say what your problem is .

[B.Y.R.G.]

I read in another thread he had fixed his problems, must be back?

 

[oilmoney]

Sorry guys, flustered. HU sees every network and controller, I set the ports and coms accordingly, sometimes some lights come on, sometimes not. Make network changes and open the sequence again and changes haven't taken hold after rebooting the pc. Try show on demand and get port open failure messages, recheck network settings and some networks not showing assigned ports at all.  i've given up on having a full display this year, removing my CCR tree as my laptop can't handle running it and just trying to throw some type of product out there for the people. Sorry for not being descriptive, ready to set my display on fire.....that'd be cool for one show anyways....

[dibblejr]

11 minutes ago, oilmoney said:

Sorry guys, flustered. HU sees every network and controller, I set the ports and coms accordingly, sometimes some lights come on, sometimes not. Make network changes and open the sequence again and changes haven't taken hold after rebooting the pc. Try show on demand and get port open failure messages, recheck network settings and some networks not showing assigned ports at all.  i've given up on having a full display this year, removing my CCR tree as my laptop can't handle running it and just trying to throw some type of product out there for the people. Sorry for not being descriptive, ready to set my display on fire.....that'd be cool for one show anyways....

Oh the old days of typing a message and when I hit "enter" it disappeared.

I do not recall you answering what type of controllers. Some have dip switches and if they are all not in the "off" position the units revert back to Unit 1 as soon as you exit HU.

And yes, you should have followed the install proceedures for the new computer. I made the mistake on computer #1 and spent time chasing my tail. Ended up uninstalling LOR and reinstalling after a reboot. The procedure on the LOR site made it sound so difficult to fix the driver.

My previous reply had a story concerning that but its lost.

JR

 

Edited December 6, 2017 by dibblejr

[oilmoney]

14 hours ago, dibblejr said:

Oh the old days of typing a message and when I hit "enter" it disappeared.

I do not recall you answering what type of controllers. Some have dip switches and if they are all not in the "off" position the units revert back to Unit 1 as soon as you exit HU.

And yes, you should have followed the install proceedures for the new computer. I made the mistake on computer #1 and spent time chasing my tail. Ended up uninstalling LOR and reinstalling after a reboot. The procedure on the LOR site made it sound so difficult to fix the driver.

My previous reply had a story concerning that but its lost.

JR

 

Hi JR, I've got 12 CCR's, roughly 20 CTB16PCs, 6 CMB24D's , a couple CCP's. Everything is gen 3 or newer. I kept the install the same way I did because it has worked flawlessly like that since I got into this hobby so why mess with a good thing right?

[dibblejr]

I just had a similar problem a few days ago while adding more controllers in networks and ended up asking the HD.

It sounds like you are chasing your networks just as I was, here is what they told me.

When you set up your regular LOR network port, mine is comm 3. Then you search for comm 3 and it finds your unit IDs. All is great.

Now when you try to find units on an aux network you use the drop down box in HU to select the network. The next message you see will say something about "will this be the comm port used for shows" select NO and then check the box that says "never ask this again" or whatever it says. That will stop the NP from putting "None" in your other networks.

I chased my tail for 2 days on this one. Every time I added a network and then tested with a sequence only the new network worked. Check NP and seen none next to the other 7.

Now I no longer have the network problem.

Hopefully that helps.

JR

[B.Y.R.G.]

Yeah I hope it helps also as nothing more frustrating than random network issues.

[dibblejr]

2 minutes ago, B.Y.R.G. said:

Yeah I hope it helps also as nothing more frustrating than random network issues.

The issue was me and answering that question "yes" since at that moment that was what I was adding to the "show". Would run out check the props and smh, when the only thing blinking was the last one added. Check the sequence, all there, check config- no changes, check cables- yep all good, check NP- netwoks = none. Reset the networks all worked. Add next network and unit ID's same results. Next step was HD since I couldn't find the answer here. Great thing about the HD, they are on top of things and within minutes I had my resolution.

JR

[oilmoney]

I went through each controller today, found a dead CMB24D ( these seem to die way too often ) and one controller at the end of my aux A network. It showed power, seen the network but wouldn't turn on lights. I disconnected the cat5 to this controller and tried my show again and voila! Everything ran great, I still have my CCR's out of the show, going to add them tomorrow to see if I get any lag. The other thing I discovered was that my newest CTB16PCs ( the new bigger enclosure ones ) arrived with Gen 2 firmware on them. I had ordered 6 of them and currently had 4 in my display. I didn't recall flashing them with new firmware so I grabbed an unused new controller and checked it out, yeppers, CTB16PCG2-V1.06 was on each new controller, I updated to CTB16PCG3-V1.09. I'm surprised they arrived like this, you'd think a PCG-3 board would have firmware that is made for the board. I've never had to update firmware right out of the box before, lesson learned! Thanks for all your help and suggestions guys, fingers crossed I think I might finally have this thing beat!

[B.Y.R.G.]

Wow....multiple problems you had to deal with.  Weird about the new controllers and the firmware.  Sounds like you're back in the ball game! 

[oilmoney]

2 hours ago, B.Y.R.G. said:

Wow....multiple problems you had to deal with.  Weird about the new controllers and the firmware.  Sounds like you're back in the ball game! 

Ya, I stopped everything to figure out what was wrong,  I felt that there was no use in putting up more of the display until I knew it would work. I'll be trying to get as much done as i can today to go live tonight! Yesterday was my first chance to really see how the 28 10w floods pointed at the street look with the rest of my display. I love the floods, favorite part of my display!

[dibblejr]

On 12/8/2017 at 9:44 AM, oilmoney said:

Ya, I stopped everything to figure out what was wrong,  I felt that there was no use in putting up more of the display until I knew it would work. I'll be trying to get as much done as i can today to go live tonight! Yesterday was my first chance to really see how the 28 10w floods pointed at the street look with the rest of my display. I love the floods, favorite part of my display!

That is why I painstakingly set one prop up and network up at a time. What worked last year may not work this year for whatever reason.

It takes me a while but in the end it pays off. I am still adding props to my show. A major computer problem set me back 2 weeks since I needed to test the new computer prior to tearing down Halloween.

Got 50% of my props up and my mega tree hook head decided it had enough and broke last week sending 6400 lights to the ground. That took 4 days to untangle and I reverted to the wife’s frying pan for hook head. Guarantee that won’t break.

Mother nature cane in a few days ago and dumped over 6” of snow in us. Now in reality being from upstate NY where snow is often measured in feet that’s not a lot. However up there I would have never placed my mt under a huge pine tree just for that reason. But down here we never until a few days ago got snow at this time of year and never that accumulation.

My poor star kept taking a beating and yesterday a huge chunk of frozen snow fell off the tree and smashed the star.

So instead of adding more props I had to at least do something with the star.

Slowly but surely my entire show will be running before Christmas and as Bon Jovi sings “if not by Christmas, by New Years Eve”

Hope you got it all sorted out.

JR

[oilmoney]

On 12/10/2017 at 7:13 AM, dibblejr said:

That is why I painstakingly set one prop up and network up at a time. What worked last year may not work this year for whatever reason.

It takes me a while but in the end it pays off. I am still adding props to my show. A major computer problem set me back 2 weeks since I needed to test the new computer prior to tearing down Halloween.

Got 50% of my props up and my mega tree hook head decided it had enough and broke last week sending 6400 lights to the ground. That took 4 days to untangle and I reverted to the wife’s frying pan for hook head. Guarantee that won’t break.

Mother nature cane in a few days ago and dumped over 6” of snow in us. Now in reality being from upstate NY where snow is often measured in feet that’s not a lot. However up there I would have never placed my mt under a huge pine tree just for that reason. But down here we never until a few days ago got snow at this time of year and never that accumulation.

My poor star kept taking a beating and yesterday a huge chunk of frozen snow fell off the tree and smashed the star.

So instead of adding more props I had to at least do something with the star.

Slowly but surely my entire show will be running before Christmas and as Bon Jovi sings “if not by Christmas, by New Years Eve”

Hope you got it all sorted out.

JR

It seems like we're having roughly the same year, we got rain here yesterday which is pretty rare for December. I seem to be fine but another guy who does a large static display lost power for some of his display last night. Today I'll be back at it. My neighbor who has 5 small props in the show came up to me and said " we need more lights, Monday we're putting up more lights." After today I'll have lights flashing to some extent on 5 different properties in the hood. The neighbors are liking being part of it, sadly though there's always that one guy that doesn't like being near a display.............