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[arf1410]

There is another post (in the main 3.187
update post) regarding timers and macros
that stop working after a couple of days.
Scattered throughout these forums, there are
numerous people who have experienced this
same type of problem, including myself.  Can
anyone (X10 Pro in particular), come up with
a plausable explanation as to why the CM15A
would stop working after a period of time,
after successfully functioning for several
days - or longer

[arf1410]

X10 Pro - Any thoughts on this one?

[murphy]

If an external event causes the firmware in
the CM15A to go into a tight loop that
prevents it from processing it's normal
control loop, it would appear to have died.
A continuous stream of external events either
on the power line or via RF that arrive at a
rate that exceeds it's processing capability
would have the same effect.  I'm not familiar
with the microprocessor in the CM15A but if
it uses a push down stack and exceeds the
space alloted for the stack, due to a large
number of unprocessed events, it would
probably stop working until it was reset.
If you have a repeater I would turn it off to
see if it is involved in this failure mode.

[carmine pacifico]

ARF1410

Why are you surprised?
The internal clock of the CM15a is software
based, noise on the power line will cause
it to speed up; RF command  at close
interval will cause it loose the clock, any
macros not depending on clock will still
function. This was the main reason why I
jumped ship. I installed the competitor
controller, set it up in mid April, it
never lost time, or missed any macros , and
we had power failure, thunder storm etc..
it keeps on ticking.
X10 Pro claims the CM15a is a solid
product, I posted several times the
hardware flaws of this product, in my line
of work I would consider this product in
Alpha stage( not even Beta) and the
customers are the unwilling tester. Having
software (and firmware up upgrade: Diag
units) every few weeks it’s not a sign of a
good product, but a sign of a desperate
attempt to fix the product with a lot of
Lemon-Aid on a badly designed product.
So far the following X10 product that I own
has lock up problem and require power down
to reset: TM751, RR501 and CM15a, repeated
RF command will do the trick every time.

[arf1410]

Though I don't regulary use RF, I do have a
coupler/repeater, and almost all my light
switches are switchlinc 2-ways, so are you
guys saying that it is all this incoming
activity that is causing my unit (and that
of others) to stop after "x" days?  If it is
this incoming activity, suppose I turned off
(unchecked) all the monitored housecodes
boxes in AHP - would that stop the CM15A
from attempting to process all these
incoming signals?

[carmine pacifico]

ARF1410

Unless they improved the hardware, the
CM15a I had was crashing and loose the
clock when it got too busy, this has been a
major problem with RF transceiver TM751 and
RR501 else, when I press the DIM or Bright
button on my palm remote. X10 Pro has
stated that “The CM15a +AHP + Macros works
as advertised”. The way I see it many
people in this forum use this product as a
hobby, and do not mind wasting countless
hours trying to get it to work, and
probably get a rush every time there is an
upgrade; my hobby is photography and
electronics, X10 products is just a tool to
automate some lights, it’s not reliable
enough therefore to me is useless even for
free.

[arf1410]

PS - I'm not surprised, but considering this
problem has been reported by numerous people
over the month.

/1/  I'd like to see X1- Pro's
acknowledgement that they have many reports
of this problem
/2/ I'd like to see X10's ideas of the cause
or at least tell us what they are doing to
try to resolve this issue.

[carmine pacifico]

ARF1410

X10 Pro replied on your post:
”X10 Pro – Please comment on Post”.
The problems you are referring to are
related to the flaws I reported.

[SteveRF]

ARF,
I also find it interesting that some of us
run for months and months with many macros
and timers firing right on time very day.
Although I may not have as many devices as
othersw, I do have bathrooms, utility rooms,
entrance ways and pool deck covered with
motion detectors that activate macros.  I
have timers for early morning, mid
morning..early afternoon, early evening and
late evening that are constantly changing
lighting.  All fire right on schedule.  The
only trouble I have had lately is response if
two motion detectors fires at or about the
same moment and an errant macro loop about a
week ago that took a clear reset to fix.  I
run the unit disconnected 24/7, run
XP/SP2/ATI Vid.  I wonder if I had a houseful
of kids triggering constantly if it would be
the same.   The disparity of problems is
interesting.
Regards,
SteveRF

[arf1410]

I went back and reviewed that post, and i
don't think X10 Pro really did comment n
the question below...

[paul mayfield]

X-10 PRO: Is there going to be new hardware
released? I have been using the CM15A now
for 7 months with marginal success. I have
been late for work as the timers and macros
quit working (I usually get a week out of
them if I clear and download weekly). My
CM11 NEVER failed to get me up! I am now
getting a day to day and a hafl out of the
unit, timers and macros quit aqain last
night (good thing this is the weekend). I
can check the activity monitor and it shows
everything working as expected but the
lights are not responding. A manual
execution of a light on or off from the
program works ok, so the program is
responding. If I were to clear the interface
memory and leave the unit connected and PC
on (as I always do) would the system respond
and be more stable, or does it have to
reside in the interface? I have been very
patient but now I am getting annoyed with
this unit, I would think that by now some
major decisions would have been made. If the
unit becomes reliable I will be interested
in the I-Net plug in (I have smart macros),
if these MAJOR problems are not going to be
resolved I will give up and go to another
unit as some have. I will give it a few more
months, these problems have been identified
by many users over and over. What were the
results from the users with the diagnostic
units? Please post back! Thanks

[paul mayfield]

I answere my own question (see post below).
I cleared the interface memory and watched
to see if my macros would respond and they
don't! Would it be possible to allow users
to make a decision for the timers and macros
to operate from the software or reside in
the interface. Maybe this would increase the
reliability. Thanks

[paul mayfield]

See post below. With the interface memmory
cleared you can watch the program and see
the macros trigger so why do these not work
unless they have been downloaded to the
interface?

[murphy]

Did you click the radio button in the macro
designer for each macro that says "Run from
PC"?  

[paul mayfield]

No I didn't go back to the designer (I
didn't know that function existed), have
been running the same macros since Dec. Will
the timers still execute (maybe there is a
radio button for that too, I will look).
Thanks