X10 Community Forum
🖥️ActiveHome Pro => ActiveHome Pro General => Help & Troubleshooting => Topic started by: tom j on May 24, 2008, 10:56:57 PM
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Just noticed that the activity Monitor is not recording my timers incorrectly. For example I have a timer that turns the front porch light on 1/2 hour before dust at 70%. Well it's sometimes reported as 100 bright. This is just one example I have had other timers that are also being reported inaccurately anyone else notice this problem and is there a fix for it. Thanks
Tom j.
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Greetings,
I was told some years ago that the activity monitor had issues. I was also told (and now can't find the thread) that there is a SW program somewhere in the AHP installation that can be used in lieu of the activity monitor. Can anyone identify said SW? I am also now having some very curious AHP macro behavior and I'm prone to not trust the info provided by the activity monitor.
thanks,
bb
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AHCVIEW.EXE included in the SDK will show activity!
Also some of the thirdparty software can do this PC Companion can as can X10dispatcher and I believe BVC !
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AHCVIEW.EXE included in the SDK will show activity!
Here is a link for AHCVIEW, if anyone is interested...
http://www.activehomepro.com/sdk/ahcview.html#download
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Thanks Walt2 the link had slipped my mind! :'
>!
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Greetings,
Well, I spent some time AHCVIEW and got the same results as the Activity Monitor. I'm struggling to figure out what has gone wrong. I did recently update AHP to 3.228 but (I think) all was working for a few days subsequent to that update.
I have been using AHP with the full compliment of Plugins for a few years. I have a CM15A which I modified with a Radio Shack antenna wired in my attic to achieve acceptable RF reception. I also have DX7000 based security system which continues to work fine.
I'll attempt to characterize the AHP situation. I had another break-in attempt about a month ago. Short story is the DX7000 based system must have scared them off (I have several sirens and most of the house lighting wired) once they reached the basement stairs where a motion sensor resides the alarm went off. I was out of town and discovered the break-in when I returned. Nothing was taken and nothing else disturbed besides the basement well window glass. To improve my security I replaced some outdoor lighting with PR511s and added several exterior MS16As. I started adding more macros to AHP and somewhere along the way of creating/testing/modifying these macros all macros stopped working. My diagnostic adventure quickly isolated that most (but not all) RF traffic is now not being captured by the CM15A/AHP.
I have cleared the interface memory and reprogrammed probably a dozen times. I also replaced the batteries in the CM15A. My RF reception is still good, i.e., what RF reception that does show up in the ActMon is from the garage which has been historically a problem area for RF.
I am also seeing some ghost RF traffic. I have one unit of house code E. This is a MS16A (a new addition set to E1). I am now occasionally seeing bogus RF traffic on E3 for both ON and OFF at arbitrary times.
I suspect that I should uninstall and start over with whatever version I had prior to 3.228. I don’t recall (since it has been a few years) how the plug-in registration will go. I am also wondering if I have AHX file corruption but then again that wouldn’t cause the RF problem. Logic(?) suggests that since all was working before I started adding x10 modules and making macro changes that this is not a HW failure. Beyond that I can’t seem to decipher what I’m seeing and resolve it.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Billaban
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Billaban
It is not uncommon for an update to corrupt you AHX file! :(
some times it takes weeks for one to notice other times it is very obvious! :'
This is like >*<
Some times just over wrighting your AHX file with the Back Up one cures the problem! (You do have one I hope! :' )
Other times you need a complete reinstall of AHP and all plug-ins (this is rare thank goodness) :)%
Best of luck!
>!
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Greetings,
I have uninstalled and reinstalled AHP a couple of times now and have concluded that the 3228 update is at least part of the evil. Basically nothing works when I install this update. If I avoid the update and reinstall everything (well, almost everything ... I'll get back to that) I see the expected traffic in the Activity Monitor (AM). I'm not back to 100% yet for a few reasons. I am running AHP version 3204.
I have reinstalled all the plug-ins except for OnAlert. During installation I get an error message box indicating “A newer version of this installation is on the server. Please re-download this installation”. I have no idea how to proceed to “re-download this installation” since it was emailed to me in the first place. Suggestions?
I am rebuilding my AHP configuration from scratch. Although for the moment without OnAlert I cannot incorporate my DX7000 system components.
I have only partially rebuilt and am testing as I proceed. I am currently seeing the desired traffic in the AM (which I lost with the 3228 update) but some very basic functionality appears to have problems, e.g., direct command of lamp modules doesn’t work. I see the appropriate commands in the AM but the lights don’t come on. I’ll work this more since direct command of other modules does appear to work.
My primary question here is regarding the OnAlert installation problem described above.
Suggest anyone considering the 3228 update to archive EVERYTHING before proceeding. I corrupted my archives after doing the update and have yet to fully recover for assorted reasons……
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I have reinstalled all the plug-ins except for OnAlert. During installation I get an error message box indicating “A newer version of this installation is on the server. Please re-download this installation”. I have no idea how to proceed to “re-download this installation” since it was emailed to me in the first place. Suggestions?
I experienced the same thing this week. The emailed loader file no longer worked for me either. What I had to do was dig out the original purchase email that I received with the link to the download site for my order. That link originally gave the same error but it now worked for me.
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Ouch. I bought my OnAlert SW on EBay. All I have is a zip file attached to an email. I thought I was doing good when I found the 2+ yr old email in my archives....
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My overall activity monitor seems OK, but the per-module monitors (the little History icon) are not functioning properly. Prior to the recent upgrade, they showed the activity specific to that module. Now each of these shows the entire log. As I have a motion sensor in my office (tied to a light), I get many hits on that when I move around...sometimes enough to fill the regular monitor. With this new problem, I can't look at per-module activity as it shows the full list.
Anyone else seeing this?
Cheers.
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Greetings,
Well, after some experimenting I can deduce the following:
1. When I run AHP I have problems, i.e., 90% of the RF traffic is not being captured by the AM or the CView app. I do get some which is strange but I'll move on.
2. I do not have a RF reception problem. My system with a CM15a modified to accept a Radio Shack antenna in my attic has been working for years. Just to be sure I walked down the street again with a remote and was able to control exterior lights from several houses down my street.
3. When I shutdown AHP and just run CView with all my macros loaded into the CM15A all the expected motion sensor RF traffic is seen and my macros are triggered etc.....
4. When I run AHP I am back to item 1 above.
5. This all started when I downloaded and installed the AHP update.
6. I have uninstalled and reinstalled several times but I suspect the uninstall is not complete since this did not resolve the problem. A weak uninstall is not all that uncommon. I have spent many years as a SW engineer and maintained ghost images of boot disks for all my lab assets specifically because of these types of problems.
Has anybody seen anything like this? Has anyone figured out what the uninstall issues are? I really don't want to rebuild my PC from scratch to resolve this since it is my primary home PC, i.e., internet access, email, etc. I have a ghost image but unfortunately it has not been updated for quite awhile and I'll drop stuff I'm not prepared to lose if I revert to this old ghost image. My mistake.
Unless I get some suggestions otherwise I expect that my next step will be to uninstall again and do some registry surgery to complete the purge and look for other residual files to delete. Unfortunately this is a painful process. I think the real solution is to dedicate a separate PC and maintain ghost images of the HD so restoring system integrity can be done in minutes instead of days. This stinks.
Regards,
Billaban
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I think more RF is hitting - and being recognized/accepted by the CM15a than is being reported by AHP - and I think the problem started (or got worse) with the new software. Just a feeling so far, I'll try some checking...
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I'm inclined to agree. One thing I have seen but not really scrutinized is I believe I can get the RF traffic to appear in the AM by shutting down AHP. Provoking the RF traffic and the running AHP/AM and looking at the log. The expected traffic is logged. If I do the same thing while AHP is running no RF traffic is captured, macros don't work etc....
The first time I noticed this I just thought I was dreaming. Second time around I knew something was amiss with AHP. For the time being I have all macros loaded into the interface and AHP is not running. Unfortunately that is not a permanent solution since I need to run some macros from the PC.
I'll run a couple more tests and provide an update.
FWIW - I am running XP and am about to install SP3.
**** UPDATE **** After some further testing the aforementioned is confirmed. If I shutdown AHP traffiic gets logged. If AHP is running the traffic is lost. XP SP3 has been installed and has not affected behavior.
Regards,
Billaban
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Greetings,
Still no joy. I completely uninstalled AHP. Made a backup my registry and purged all the x10 entries I could find. There were many. Then I deleted all the residual files and eventually managed to kill and remove the X10nets system service that is also left behind after an uninstall. <Insert your own comment here>
After starting to reinstall it seemed clear that I had achieved a clean sweep of AHP since I had to re-register and fetch my configuration file to restore my operation. None of the aforementioned was required after a standard uninstall.
Unfortunately it appears that the AHP update to 3228 is embedded in the updated OnAlert installation that I got when my old install would not work anymore, i.e., I am back to where I started. Something in AHP V3228 is inhibiting the proper processing of RF and PLC codes. When I close AHP and simply run from the interface all is well. When I subsequently run AHP and the AM, the expected AM log entries are present. If AHP is running the traffic is not captured and macros are not triggered, etc....
I suspect this info is only of use to anyone who maybe seeing the same problem and is looking for confirmation. Based on what I have read on this forum it may be years before another update comes out that may or may not fix this problem. I suspect it is time to find an alternative to AHP if I want to run Macros that cannot reside on the CM15A.
Regards,
Billaban
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Billiban -
I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe that AHP needs to be running in order to run macros from the PC. The x10nets process does that. I have several macros written for OnAlert security modules, which as you know must run from the PC, and these work (as reliably as anything else in X10) when AHP is shut down.
After many frustrating hours running between sensors, switches, and the AHP activity monitor, I've also seen that things don't always work in real-time like I think they should. Then I start tinkering -- which inevitably leads to more frustration when the "tinkers" don't behave... ;) I've completely given up trying to diagnose in real time with AHP running. Your thorough examination of the issues with AHP running confirms my position, so thanks for that! #:)
Now, if I happen to notice something not working like I think it should, I'll fire up AHP and check the activity monitor for past events. (I still have one light coming on mysteriously...)
I have upgraded to 3228 and things seem to be working properly -- at least if I don't watch too closely...
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Greetings,
I will test you suggestion and report what I find. I had always presumed that "Run on PC" meant AHP running. Not sure where I made that connection. Hopefully you are correct.
**** UPDATE **** Yep, that works. :)% I changed all my macros, cleared and reloaded the interface, rebooted and tested several sensors. The only lingering problem with this is that I have a DX7000 security system and I have in the past integrated door sensors and some of the MS10A's into macros. The only way I know of registering said sensors involves running AHP. :( I just tried registering security sensors again. No joy.
I presume that I am alone in this situation, otherwise many others would be echoing the same frustration that I have. I suspect it is time for a complete system rebuild in hopes that my configuration problem will be resolved.
Regards,
Billaban
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You're not alone... I've also had problems registering DS10A security sensors in AHP -- I chalked it up to an RF range issue. The same sensor in the same location sometimes registers, sometimes doesn't. Tried regenerating codes and/or installing new batteries in the sensors -- that helps sometimes. I've also replaced several DS10A sensors that are well over 6 years old, and the newer ones seem to work more reliably. (Don't know what the lifespan of these things is supposed to be, but at about $5 each on eBay, it's not too painful to replace them.)
I gave up trying to use the MS10A a while ago...
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Greetings,
I had CM15A RF range issues until I took the brute force approach and modified the antenna to a coax F connector and put a Radio Shack antenna in my attic. My RF range is now at least several houses down the street. Since that modification (a couple years ago) I have had no issues with RF range even with my problematic old brick house that has metal lathe in the plaster walls.
Nope. The problems started when I was adding some new x10 flood lights and was modifying macros. I saw the notice on the AHP banner that there was an update to AHP available (V3228) and allowed it to install. Since then AHP doesn't work (as described in this thread). Just to be sure (and it was probably due anyway) I replaced the batteries in all my sensors. No improvement.
FWIW - Yesterday I volunteered for the beta testing that x10 had advertised here in the forum. Much to my surprise within a few hours I got a call. Apparently I am on the short list for being a tester. While I had the ear of someone at x10 I described my misfortune and I believe he took some decent notes and will pass it on to some one in tech support or the like. We shall see.
I am considering a PC upgrade. This 2.8GHz P4 is getting a little long in the tooth for some of processing that I do. Once I migrate everything I could rebuild this PC old timer from zero and hopefully clear the issue. I am going to give x10 a few days to come up with some suggestions before I smoke my credit card.
Regards,
Billaban
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Just call me baffled.
Not sure what has happend and/or changed, but now everything started working again. All I did was the same thing I have been doing, i.e., make a AHP change, save, clear interface, download, exit AHP, and restart AHP. Somewhere in the various iterations the AM traffic capture started working again.... and I was able to register various security motion sensors and get the macros triggered by those sensors working again. Bizarre. Two weeks of head scratching and some swearing and it just starts working for no apparent reason. Go figure.
Regards,
Billaban