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[MrBlackCat]

Hey guys... I have been reading here for years and registered years back.  I have been using X-10 since the late 80's.  My CP290 and HomeMinders are sitting here with me and works great still.  Of the dozens of modules and such I have bought over the years I have had very few failures... a couple of the early 90's in-wall light switches fail, one lamp module fail one maxi-controller fail, and one transceiver fail.

I know X-10's products pretty well, with around 100 components between alarm and general home automation...
For the price, X-10 has no competition... but I have the attitude that nothing to do with X-10 should be mission critical as it simply isn't reliable for a number of reasons.  I noticed the long term users of X-10 and this system don't deny this, and anyone who has used X-10 extensively understands.  But I am not here to sort all of that out.  Just rambling with the purpose of establishing that I am not a noob with X-10 Hardware...

With Active Home however... I am still in diapers, if not the womb.  
So, I would like to ask for some help with an issue I have with AHP.  Yes, I used the forum search function, but I  have a three hour limit for search and read, then I just make another thread on forums.

The story so far...
I downloaded Active Home Pro, Smart Macro, IWatchOut, myHouse Online, and Security Solution.  I use a FireCracker with a CM19A on this computer already by the way.

I downloaded 5 files one at a time that are the loaders I suppose... and I installed each of them starting with Active Home Pro Software.  After installation, I double clicked the New Icon and my Firewall popped up with a program (X10nets.exe) was trying to allow for incoming connections to the internet, so I blocked it this time as I am not finished with my network here yet. I have a HotBrick and an HP ProCurve4000 and then a Symantec device doing Content Filtering which I will have to modify anyway before I can worry about external access.

Within a few seconds of the opening screen of AHP, I get this...

here is the contained report...


Ok... maybe a reboot will fix it.  I reboot and load up Firecracker just to make sure there is not a hardware issue and Firecracker works fine.

So I try to load up AHP again and get this...


Additional information.
I am running Windows XP on this Aspire One the software is installed on and as much I don't like Windows (as a PC Network Engineer for 20 years now) this is the first piece of software I have had fail on this computer in 3 years.  I reboot about once every two weeks usually for no reason other than "its been a while" and the system is the most stable installation of Windows I have ever used or even seen. (Of hundreds I support)

I am guessing this is a simple issue as I could not find anyone else with the same issue, at least recently... but notice that activehm.exe is the executable running and the dll referenced is msvcr100.dll.  I saw others with issues relative to this, but none with the same crash.

Also there was no issue during the registering of the modules... took a few seconds each going down the list with no problems.

One more thing... the AHP program does "work" behind the report and close windows for a few seconds, then freezes... which sounds like communications in my experience, but I have never used AHP before and have not researched it in the last few years.  For the first year or so it was out, I read every thread.  I remember posting years ago about developing software for X-10 as it was of interest to me.  I used to write my own for the CP290 on a Commodore... but after the HomeMinder came out (still got two of those working) I didn't use my 290 much.

I do hope the rambling was of value to get us on he same page.

My first reaction is... blocking x10nets.exe is crashing the software.  So am I going to have to allow x10nets.exe access to stop this problem?  Is there a link here to explains the function of the X10 files?  If not, can someone into software operation briefly explain the function of this file?

Any links to previous posts with this issue that are non-generic would be appreciated...

"I have checked, and it is plugged in."

MrBlackCat

[Dan Lawrence]

X10nets.exe is needed for AHP to operate.  If it doesn't run AHP can run, but no module history appears (all modules look like they are off.  Tell McAfee to allow X10 nets.exe.

[MrBlackCat]

X10nets.exe is needed for AHP to operate.  If it doesn't run AHP can run, but no module history appears (all modules look like they are off.  Tell McAfee to allow X10 nets.exe.

Thank you for the reply.
I am a bit more of a "why" person however.

In order to capture and route what this file is wanting to do relative to the net, I will need to know what it does and why though.  Maybe it is just TCP/IP request and McAfee sees as Internet access?

I will kill my network connection and then try it maybe.

***edit***
McAfee set to allow both in and out... no change.  I swear that error message appears before there is even time for it to crash.

Uninstalled all, then Re-installed just AHP and it works.  I will install one module at a time to see which is causing it.

MrBlackCat

[Dan Lawrence]

I have McAfee and never had any problem both on XP and Windows 7 with not a single problem.  Who is your internet provider?   Do you have any add-on's to AHP?  Mine is Comcast. 

[MrBlackCat]

I have McAfee and never had any problem both on XP and Windows 7 with not a single problem.  Who is your internet provider?   Do you have any add-on's to AHP?  Mine is Comcast. 

I have never had a problem with McAfee either... nor with Windows XP on this computer... which is why X-10 is most likely the element with the issue.  Current status points toward one of the add-ons, but remains untested at this time.

Who is your internet provider?

Why would an internet provider matter?  Does the AHP software need internet access after registration for any reason?

Do you have any add-on's to AHP?

In my original installation I installed AHP and all add-ons listed above.
This morning I uninstalled AHP completely and then installed only AHP and none of the add-ons and it functions as expected.

If I do install the add-ons I will do it one at a time and see if the problem occurs again.  I might do it just to see if the error condition is repeatable for support purposes, but I won't likely be using this software anyway.  After looking at it and realizing what it is I will just write my own I think... it is kind of primitive considering the length of time it has been around.

At least I only spent $50 for the whole package... and it isn't a total loss as I learned a bit about how it works and that will help me avoid the same traps.

I like X-10 home automation hardware... is it what it is.  It will be a sad day when X-10 shuts down.  As I remodel my whole house I automate with X-10 as I go.
This is a room with approximately 60 lights and more than a dozen lamp modules.  The room is completely X-10 operated... heat included.  There are quite a few Lamp Modules in here and I don't know of any other way to have done this without X-10... and it really didn't cost much in the scope of the room.  I use one or two codes for a room like this and it is extremely reliable when manually operated or when using the HomeMinder.
My X-10 controlled Chinese New Year Room...


I think I will skip the Active Home Pro software for now as it now requires the PC to be on... my order came with a CM19A I didn't need.  One reason I bought Active Home Pro because it said it came with a CM15A (even on my invoice) but quick research shows that was false on X-10's part.  I am experienced enough with X-10's business practices to expect this however.
After I finish a couple more rooms I will just write some software that fits my usage of X-10.

I hope someone has this site mirrored somewhere in case X-10 shuts it down soon... there is many years of information here and some of it is even useful! 

See you around...
MrBlackCat

[dave w]

That's some room. Made me want an egg roll.