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Author Topic: Active Home kills itself and won't work  (Read 18606 times)

pentium

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Active Home kills itself and won't work
« on: December 15, 2007, 10:07:39 PM »

I really want to get to run on my server (running a fully updated version of Windows 2000 Server) but every time I install and run it the following happens:

-AH will not communicate with the controller (yes, it is connected and assigned to COM 2) and the controller will constantly spew data back (if you want me to post it I will on request)
-Testing communications will just hang and any commands sent to the controller are ignored (EG: you can't control the modules)
-Clearing the controller log will result in the log screwing up (it WILL clear the log but continue to keep it clear from then on)
-The controller bridge will eventually crash
-After you first Run Active Home but then restart the system for ANY reason, trying to start AH will cause it to error out and close

I tried downloading several times (even tried the floppy version) and It will always fail to work right with the exception of one or two times when the controller DID do what it was suppost to do but after a short while, return to crashing and not working.
I do however know that the controller works. I ran it under 95 and 98 and it worked like a charm. In fact, the controller not only worked with Active Home but also with IBM Home Director (which I might add does the same thing as Active Home if you try to run it on my server: crash)

Is there any fix to this? It would be nice for me to be able to control my christmas lights this year.
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Dan Lawrence

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Re: Active Home kills itself and won't work
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2007, 10:34:38 PM »

Does AH see the CM11A?  if it can't or if it plays the vanish/reappear game, it's a motherboard problem addressing COM ports.  That popped up under WindowsXP on some machines that ran 9x with no problems.

If so, you will have to upgrade to Active Home Pro and the CM15A interface, which is USB, or you may have some luck with a USB to COM cable.  AHP will import the .x10 files from AH, so you won't lose your modules, timers and any macros.
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pentium

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Re: Active Home kills itself and won't work
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2007, 12:29:11 AM »

AH being able to see the module really depends on how nice it wants to be.

I just reinstalled it by the way and it's acting completely different now.
When I first posted, the module was constantly sending AH garbage. This time round I am able to send data to it and it's sending data back.
Problem now is that it keeps failing it's communications test (after which the communications bridge crashes and AH must be restarted) and if I manage to keep the bridge from not crashing (it usually crashes after a communications test) it will not control any modules.

Here is what it does when AH starts:
Code: [Select]
Open COM2 port

Input Thread: Enter WAIT State....ZZZZ

Register window (wParam)=290

Register: 22 01 00 00

Register window (wParam)=296

Register: 28 01 00 00

Output Thread: Entering Primary Wait State...zzzzz

Output Thread: Size of Queue = 1

 

Output Thread: awakened due to Command RTS event

Output Thread: have data to write

Output Thread: IsPending, entering async wait state...zzzz

Output Thread: output data = 8B

Output Thread: Entering Primary Wait State...zzzzz

Output Thread: Size of Queue = 1

 

Output Thread: awakened due to Command RTS event

Receive message timeout

Output Thread: Entering Primary Wait State...zzzzz

Output Thread: Size of Queue = 0

Here is a single test:
Code: [Select]
Communications Test

Output Thread: awakened due to Command RTS event

Output Thread: have data to write

Output Thread: IsPending, entering async wait state...zzzz

Output Thread: output data = 9B

Output Thread: have data to write

Output Thread: IsPending, entering async wait state...zzzz

Output Thread: output data = 08

Output Thread: have data to write

Output Thread: IsPending, entering async wait state...zzzz

Output Thread: output data = 47

Output Thread: have data to write

Output Thread: IsPending, entering async wait state...zzzz

Output Thread: output data = 0A

Output Thread: have data to write

Output Thread: IsPending, entering async wait state...zzzz

Output Thread: output data = 5C

Output Thread: have data to write

Output Thread: IsPending, entering async wait state...zzzz

Output Thread: output data = C0

First Byte Omitted for Checksum...

9B 08 47 0A 5C C0 60

 

Output Thread: have data to write

Output Thread: IsPending, entering async wait state...zzzz

Output Thread: output data = 60

Output Thread: Entering Primary Wait State...zzzzz

Output Thread: Size of Queue = 1

 

Input Thread: Rev CD

Checksum received: CD

Checksum expected: D5

During each test there is quite a bit of activity between the module and the computer and to double check that the module was not bad I tried again on my older 98 system. It ran no problem.

 ??? ??? I don't get it.
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Dan Lawrence

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Re: Active Home kills itself and won't work
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2007, 10:21:41 PM »

Might be something in Win2000. Since 2000 was built on the NT platform, I have no idea if anyone got AH to run on NT.

I still think your smartest move would be to move to Active Home Professional and the USB CM15A interface.
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pentium

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Re: Active Home kills itself and won't work
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2007, 10:31:05 PM »

Okay then.
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