Tim Fischer Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 Hi all,I'm in a bit of a panic. After 6 seasons with my trusty old Win98 show computer and SC485 serial dongle, I have 'upgraded' to a newer, but still old, Windows XP laptop and a USB485, so I can take advantage of the dual-monitor capability for video. I tested this configuration with a few sequences, but evidently not enough...Tonight I was running a show to test out my video screen and projector. After about 2-3 sequences, the sequence in progress would stop abruptly, then the show would hang. On one occasion it skipped forward about 5 songs in the show, played it, then aborted another sequence and hung. In the control panel log, I'm getting an infinite number of errors of the following form:11:17:23 PM: ERROR WITH SEQUENCE (Open of serial port has failedError: (8005) Open of serial port has failedError: (8005) Port already openWhile: Open COM10 params baud=57600 parity=n data=8 stop=1 xon=off odsr=off dtr=off rts=off idsr=offWhile: Open COM10 params baud=57600 parity=n data=8 stop=1 xon=off odsr=off dtr=off rts=off idsr=offTrace: BlockStartTrace: HandleIO) Musical: C:LORDataSequencesBumper_Santa Claus is Coming.lmsFor what it's worth, I had the LOR network unplugged during this test (I didn't want lights running) but the USB485 was connected (COM10). I've controlled lights with this computer/configuration so it does work...I'm at a total loss. And I'm supposed to "soft open" tomorrow night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmoore60 Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 Tim,I think the problem may very well be that you did not have controllers hooked up. I have not tried not having the lor network plugged in the USB adapter, but I am taking a guess here on that being the issue. Even though the usb adapters are powered from the computer, versus the LOR network, there still needs to be communicaiton going on to the controllers.Keep us posted.Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted November 29, 2009 Author Share Posted November 29, 2009 I used to do this all the time with the SC485 (the serial dongle). I can try it tomorrow with the controllers attached, but is it unusual to have it work for awhile and then stop?Thanks,-Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted November 30, 2009 Author Share Posted November 30, 2009 I connected up the controllers and ran about 1/2 the show this morning - no issues. If that's the problem, then I'm happy it's fixed, but I was under the impression that the serial just pushed out data to the network and didn't really care if it was received or not. The SC485 didn't even need to be present to run shows without controlling lights... is the USB485 that much more picky? (I understand it has to be present so the phantom com port will show up, but does it really care that controllers are connected?)Thanks,-Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmoore60 Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Tim,Because of the triggers, there is also reading going on. Input triggers were release approximately this time last year in S2.Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted November 30, 2009 Author Share Posted November 30, 2009 cmoore60 wrote:Tim,Because of the triggers, there is also reading going on. Input triggers were release approximately this time last year in S2.ChuckCan someone with a USB485 do a little test for me, and unplug your network and attempt to run a show? I'll feel much better if you end up with similar errors. Otherwise, I'm going to worry all season that this was an intermittent problem that isn't really solved...Thanks!-Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Running now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted November 30, 2009 Author Share Posted November 30, 2009 Thanks Don.I just got the following reply from Dan, which confirms my fears: Not having the network plugged into the USB485 should make it more stable not less. The reason we have those large ferrite filters on the USB cable was that noise from the controllers was making it all the way back to the USB port on the PC and that noise caused glitches which could hang the USB Drivers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 Cool. So, then you figured out I didn't get any error messages when I ran my test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted November 30, 2009 Author Share Posted November 30, 2009 This doesn't make me feel any better though Not sure what I should do next, short of trying to find another dual-monitor PC... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share Posted December 1, 2009 Running the lights for the first time tonight. I'm getting further, but the show has already stalled twice in 50 minutes. I'll be babysitting it all night I guess Tomorrow I'll try another machine -- I now have a backup machine with two video ports and a serial port (for X10) I can use... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share Posted December 1, 2009 For what it's worth, if I disable, then reenable shows, the show will start over at the beginning (obviously) and work again, for awhile.I'm on restart #3 in just over an hour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwertz Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Have you tried disconnecting the USB adapter when it locks up and reconnecting it? I believe someone said that unlocked their show and it continued on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavBro Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Yes, for me, simply unplugging and reconnecting the USB cable would fix it. (it would skip ahead one song though) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share Posted December 1, 2009 rwertz wrote:Have you tried disconnecting the USB adapter when it locks up and reconnecting it? I believe someone said that unlocked their show and it continued on.I did. It didn't help. Disabling/re-enabling helped most times, but one time I had to re-boot.BUT, get this. I should probably have noted I have a VGA->Composite converter attached to this machine to drive my ultra-crappy video projector that only has a composite input. This is not a USB device, but gets it's power from the USB port. By coincidence, I had removed it, preparing to start running from my desktop -- and the show worked just fine. So for another test, I hooked it back up, but powered it from a USB hub off of my desktop. So far the show has been running like that for over an hour (It had crashed 5 times in an hour and a half before that...)I think I might have been seeing a USB brownout, or maybe interference coming through that line to the USB port. I'm going to try to find a wall-wart to power the converter and see what happens.I still don't trust this crappy laptop though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavBro Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 How 'bout a powered USB hub? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share Posted December 1, 2009 DavBro wrote:How 'bout a powered USB hub? That's what it's in now -- connected to another computer! I figure the wall-wart would be most convenient, since it isn't stealing power from any machine at all (it literally is a normal round power jack-- they supplied a cable that is USB on one end and "round power barrel" on the other) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bisquit476 Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Problem corrected? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share Posted December 1, 2009 bisquit476 wrote:Problem corrected?The show ran fine for the duration of the evening, so I'm hoping so. Lets wait another day or two before we declare complete victory Thanks all for your support... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted December 5, 2009 Author Share Posted December 5, 2009 Just some follow-up/closure on this thread: The next night I had to be gone for part of the evening, and came home to a stalled show, but with different symptoms: There was a large HP logo on the video screen and the machine was completely hung as if it had started booting and froze... Needless to say I have lost all trust in that machine (I did restart it to finish the evening).I switched over to my desktop for the next evening, and as luck would have it, Dan sent me a new USB485 to try as well. Between the 'new' PC and the new dongle, the show ran just fine for the past 2 evenings, and am hoping for a 3rd...Thanks to Dan for the over-the-top customer service in offering to send a replacement dongle without even knowing if his product was to blame or not (I suspect it isn't) and thanks all for offering tips/moral support... Dan, if you're reading this I'll get the original adapter back to you, I suspect you can test it and reuse it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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