Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[danno]

Well, I like many others have been
experiencing hangs of the controller, most
often within 24 hours.  Happens
consistently every single day.  Talked to
tech support and RMA'd the unit, got the
new one back and guess what?  Same
thing.

All I have to do is connect the unit via
the USB cable to my laptop and voila it
starts working again.  I don't even have to
run the AHP software or re-download the
programming--all I need to do is hook it up
to the USB port.  I disconnect it and it'll
run for another 24 hours or so.

Could it be that it holds onto log
information that it would normally send to
the computer on the USB port but with no
computer attached the buffer eventually
fills up and hangs the controller?  Is
there a way to disable the logging?

I suppose I could "solve" my problem by
keeping a computer connected and running
24/7 but that is not how I'd like to run
with this (and I shouldn't have to).

I've got a pretty busy X10 house with 3
housecodes worth of modules, a few motion
sensors, etc.  My programming is only
taking up about 20% of the controller so
far (I'd like to do more but need it to
stop hanging first).

Has anyone heard back anything from X10 on
this?  All I get from the phone support is
that maybe there is a noise problem but
I've tried about a dozen outlets and
monitored the line for noise using a
Leviton repeater device.  CM11As never had
any of these problems.

Anybody have a contact at X10 who might be
able to help me troubleshoot this (other
than generic tech support)

Danno

[Burdy]

You're not alone with this problem; I've
seen the same thing myself (and reported it,
and I assume X10 is working it). In my case,
at least, even when the CM15A 'starts
working' again after replugging the USB,
it's not reliable (sometimes macros will
trigger, sometimes they won't).  Something
in the software (or in the CM15A firmware,
which doesn't get updated with new releases
of AHP) has gone askew.

Whether or not its related to the activity
monitor buffer or not is an open question.
My activity monitor starts showing 'bogus'
entries (that contain text relating to REC,
PAUSE, TV-- items that in no way relate to
any kind of timer or macro that I've
defined.  I assume that this text is buried
somewhere in the AHP program and is being
dumped into the activity log by a pointer
thats gotten overwritten or in some other
way corrupted.  

[andyd]

I experienced several different CM15a
lockups, or failures to operate.  Timed
macros don't execute; RF triggered macros
don't execute; basic RF module controls
don't execute.  I have also seen progressive
failure where the first leads to the second
and then the third.  All these problems seem
to have gone away now I have installed a
phase coupler and a line filter on my Dell
laptop power supply.  I still suspect that
some of the problems were caused because the
CM15a did not get status reports from the 2
way lamp module due to line noise or weak
phase coupling, but I got no response from
X10 when I asked for that to be investigated
as a possible cause.

I bought the CM15a just a few weeks after I
started playing with X10 systems so I have
no previous experience.  It does seem that
the CM15a can hang up due to line noise and
that does not seem to be acceptable.  Sure,
any X10 controller can fail to control if
line noise is high but the CM15a program
shouldn't crash.  Hope someone at X10 will
look into this and perhaps improve the
software error handling.

Andy D

[Noam]

Does the CM15A keep track of an "activity
log" while it is disconnected from the PC?
perhaps this is what is filling up, and
locking up the unit. It might explain why
different people are seeing the lockup occur
at a different time interval after
disconnecting from the PC. It all depends on
how much X10 activity they have - and
therefore how quickly that log fills up.
Might be something for X10 to look into.

[andyd]

I only see activity log events that happened
while the computer was connected.
Connecting the computer and starting AHP
does not give me any log history of prior
activity except what was previously stored
in the activity log file on the host
computer. (3.173 Win xp home).

Based on this I don't think an overflowing
activity log is the cause of the CM15a
lockups.

Andy

[solareclipse]

I believe the RF Macro Death Syndrome is a
software bug, not an interference issue.
You can check out my multiple lengthy posts
of activity monitor logs in this thread:
http://www.x10.com/news/msgb/index.cgi?
board=ahp-
macros&action=read&postid=000012&topid=73&nu
mof=

AHP just starts freaking out after awhile
when receiving RF commands to run macros,
while when triggered directly from the PC
they work fine.

[solareclipse]

I believe the RF Macro Death Syndrome is a
software bug, not an interference issue.
You can check out my multiple lengthy posts
of activity monitor logs in this thread:
http://www.x10.com/news/msgb/index.cgi?
board=ahp-
macros&action=read&postid=000012&topid=73&nu
mof=

AHP just starts freaking out after awhile
when receiving RF commands to run macros,
while when triggered directly from the PC
they work fine.

[solareclipse]

I believe the RF Macro Death Syndrome is a
software bug, not an interference issue.
You can check out my multiple lengthy posts
of activity monitor logs in the
thread  "Macros won't start" in the macro
forum.

AHP just starts freaking out after awhile
when receiving RF commands to run macros,
while when triggered directly from the PC
they work fine.

[solareclipse]

I believe the RF Macro Death Syndrome is a
software bug, not an interference issue.
You can check out my multiple lengthy posts
of activity monitor logs in the
thread  "Macros won't start" in the macro
forum.

AHP just starts freaking out after awhile
when receiving RF commands to run macros,
while when triggered directly from the PC
they work fine.

[solareclipse]

Whoops. X10.com's el crapello forum
software kept giving me a 500 Internal
Server Error when trying to post that.  Get
some real software guys.  Here's a tip -
don't write it yourself.

[bob linca]

Noam: I asked the same question re. the
activity log in another thread. This was
X10s explanation:

"You won't get any Activity Log data for
events that happen when the CM15A isn't
connected to the PC -- it doesn't store a
historic log of commands. Instead, it
updates the bits used to track the status of
modules  on the Monitored House Code as
commands come in or are executed by the
CM15A."

[kenny]

Can anyone tell me how to get through to tech
support to get a unit replaced.  My
controller has now become completely useless
and it probably needs to be replaced and I
get put on terminal hold when trying to call
Tech support.

[kenny]

Can anyone tell me how to get through to tech
support to get a unit replaced.  My
controller has now become completely useless
and it probably needs to be replaced and I
get put on terminal hold when trying to call
Tech support.

[X10 Pro]

Kenny: E-mail ahpsupport@x10.com and I'll see
that you get a replacement.