So FRUSTRATED! Don't know which board or what to ask anymore

[hope4ia]

A week ago I updated our license to pro and downloaded S5.  I sequenced a few things and found that I couldn't get them to work in the show.  So, I downgraded to S4 and had no problems Saturday playing the show.  I woke up early Sunday morning to all the lights on in the yard.  I immediately unplugged it from inside the house but the lights continue to randomly blink off and on.  Once I plugged it back in HU was detecting anywhere from 222 Units to 2 units...I have 10(8 CTB16Cg3 and 2 CMB24D DMX.)

  Things I have done:

1. Individually checked each box with HU to determine if I can control it- and yes I can

2. Updated all the firmware

3.  Contacted HelpDesk more times than I can count

4. Unloaded and uninstalled S4 6-7 times and did Registry Wipe

5. Checked all drivers were correct

6.  Made sure that no CAT5's were parallel to electrical cords(not so easy to do when you have hundreds of them)

7.Changed network configuration to slower to see if there was too much noise on the network

8. Got a CAT5 tester and tested every CAT5- they are all fine- but while testing found that 4 of my 8 CTB16's the LED1 light is flashing.  So, I did a reset on one of the units and it responded but once I plugged in the whole network it started flashing again and I couldn't find it in HU, so I gave up and didn't do the other 3 units.

9. One thing I haven't done that was suggested by LOR was move a couple boxes to a different network.  Not sure how this after 3 years suddenly is the issue now.

Last night I was able to turn most of the lights on and HU detected 22 units.  I ran a sequence and most of the lights turned on but not how I sequenced them

Any other suggestions would be appreciated. 

 

If it doesn't work after tomorrow, we'll have some units and Christmas lights for sale, if they don't end up crushed in the street first.

Edited December 8, 2018 by hope4ia

[dibblejr]

How are you running the show?

JR

[hope4ia]

Show Editor and then setting it to run in the Schedule Editor

[Don]

What comes to mind is how you have everything connected. One network? Two networks? Highspeed connector? Regular connectors?

[TheDucks]

You may have a Ground loop?

Does your show computer have a 3 prong plug?  Is it plugged into a Good 3 prong outlet (Good means the round pin is grounded,and the wide pin is Neutral) One of those test plugs with 3 lights is a quick check.

Same question about the controllers. Are the all plugged into tested cords (All outdoor outlets should have been tested for safe use)

Are any lights in the house doing strange stuff (flickers, dim or brite).  If yes: DANGER. PULL THE MAIN and get an electrician immediately. You have a floating neutral and continued use can damage many things.

[hope4ia]

7 minutes ago, Don said:

What comes to mind is how you have everything connected. One network? Two networks? Highspeed connector? Regular connectors?

One network and inside connects to LOR USB485

[hope4ia]

4 minutes ago, TheDucks said:

You may have a Ground loop?

Does your show computer have a 3 prong plug?  Is it plugged into a Good 3 prong outlet (Good means the round pin is grounded,and the wide pin is Neutral) One of those test plugs with 3 lights is a quick check.

Same question about the controllers. Are the all plugged into tested cords (All outdoor outlets should have been tested for safe use)

Are any lights in the house doing strange stuff (flickers, dim or brite).  If yes: DANGER. PULL THE MAIN and get an electrician immediately. You have a floating neutral and continued use can damage many things.

Computer is 3 pronged and plugged into good outlet.  Can't answer if he tested all the outlets outside but I would assume yes.  No strange flickering inside the house.

[Don]

Okay. Looking at your help desk ticket, (yes, I help out there) I have to ask, Did you get all of the cables tested, etc.

Are the controllers close together, or are they farther apart? If you take some of the controllers out of the network, do the other controllers run okay?

[hope4ia]

HU- Port Comm 3 and running 57.6 on the network.  

[hope4ia]

27 minutes ago, Don said:

Okay. Looking at your help desk ticket, (yes, I help out there) I have to ask, Did you get all of the cables tested, etc.

Are the controllers close together, or are they farther apart? If you take some of the controllers out of the network, do the other controllers run okay?

I have tested all the cables and they are good.  The only thing I haven't done from all of my emails with help desk is move some of the controllers to AUX network.  Furthest controller away from the house is 20-30 yds and any that are closer together are probably 5 yds apart(just estimating). They really are spread pretty evenly throughout the yard.  Originally, I was unable to reach a few controllers and had to connect 3 together and they were fine, but otherwise have tested them all individually.  Every time I run HU, even if it identifies 22 controllers, it will always detect 1,2(CTB16's) and 8,9(CMB24's) with the correct firmware version.  All of the other controllers detected either have the wrong controller or firmware has ???.   Ready through all of the support information and the only thing that I have noticed different is the port I have is Comm 3, instead of Com 3 and when I run HU there is a little icon that flashes now at the bottom between firmware and lights off that has ELL on it- not sure if this even makes a difference

[dibblejr]

29 minutes ago, hope4ia said:

HU- Port Comm 3 and running 57.6 on the network.  

Helping others in the past few weeks I found the CMBs really like 115K have you tried that?

JR

[Don]

2 minutes ago, hope4ia said:

little icon that flashes now at the bottom between firmware and lights off that has ELL on it- not sure if this even makes a difference

Do you have a ELL?

Also, remember what the ticket said, just because the problem appears to be after #2 (as an example) doesn't mean that the link between 2 and 3 is the problem. It could be anywhere. I would wait until you see it having problems again, and disconnect the network cable (starting at the END of the chain) and see when/if the problem stops.

[dibblejr]

2 minutes ago, Don said:

Do you have a ELL?

Also, remember what the ticket said, just because the problem appears to be after #2 (as an example) doesn't mean that the link between 2 and 3 is the problem. It could be anywhere. I would wait until you see it having problems again, and disconnect the network cable (starting at the END of the chain) and see when/if the problem stops.

You beat me to it, no where did he mention the ELL until. 

JR

[hope4ia]

2 minutes ago, Don said:

Do you have a ELL?

Also, remember what the ticket said, just because the problem appears to be after #2 (as an example) doesn't mean that the link between 2 and 3 is the problem. It could be anywhere. I would wait until you see it having problems again, and disconnect the network cable (starting at the END of the chain) and see when/if the problem stops.

I don't even know what an ELL is.  I just realized that after I updated the software it appeared.  The plan is to retest all the cords tomorrow and start at the end and work my way towards the house.

[hope4ia]

1 minute ago, dibblejr said:

You beat me to it, no where did he mention the ELL until. 

JR

Didn't think the ELL being new until I posted it here

[Don]

ELL = Wireless Linker.

If you don't have one, and you are seeing it pop up, then I would think that something somewhere is cause interference, and the software is seeing the data coming back from the networks and is getting confused.

[dibblejr]

6 minutes ago, hope4ia said:

Didn't think the ELL being new until I posted it here

No prob.

As Don said and you said you are going to do.

Take the controllers off the network from the end. If you don't find the problem what I would do is connect one at a time, check that HU is finding them and you can test the lights to ensure they work with the controller you are testing. If found , use a test sequence and try that before moving on to the next controller. Repeat as you add. If you find one isn't playing well set it aside until you are done. 

I would try the cmbs on 115K speed though. As I mentioned above I have had several people recently that I assisted and their cmbs liked the 115.

Happy Lighting

JR

[hope4ia]

1 hour ago, Don said:

ELL = Wireless Linker.

If you don't have one, and you are seeing it pop up, then I would think that something somewhere is cause interference, and the software is seeing the data coming back from the networks and is getting confused.

Right by my desktop, I have Netgear wireless USB adapter in order to have internet where the desktop is located.  I unplugged the adapter and reran HU and no ELL was noted.  I was able to detect a couple more controllers and only ones that were named and had the correct firmware, so I guess that is a step in the right direction.  Plan is to go out and check all the controllers tomorrow.  Is there somewhere that I can turn on ELL, so that my wireless adapter doesn't cause interference?  If not, I can just unplug it if I don't need it.

 

Thank you all for your help, I really appreciate it!! It makes a HUGE difference when I can troubleshoot at the same time.  Hoping that we get it all figured out tomorrow.

 

Hope

[dibblejr]

1 minute ago, hope4ia said:

Right by my desktop, I have Netgear wireless USB adapter in order to have internet where the desktop is located.  I unplugged the adapter and reran HU and no ELL was noted.  I was able to detect a couple more controllers and only ones that were named and had the correct firmware, so I guess that is a step in the right direction.  Plan is to go out and check all the controllers tomorrow.  Is there somewhere that I can turn on ELL, so that my wireless adapter doesn't cause interference?  If not, I can just unplug it if I don't need it.

 

Thank you all for your help, I really appreciate it!! It makes a HUGE difference when I can troubleshoot at the same time.  Hoping that we get it all figured out tomorrow.

 

Hope

ELL is a Light Linker. Used to remotely send data to lights that are not connected via data cable. http://store.lightorama.com/ealili.html

JR

[hope4ia]

Well Hallelujah!!!  We have it figured out!  All is well with the world again and working.  2 chewed up cables and 2 CMB24's set on the same unit ID.  Thanks again for all your help

Edited December 8, 2018 by hope4ia