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MVP-9000i Lock Up on xfer with VNC open.

viningvining Posts: 4,368
in AMX Control Products
Normally I'm smart enough to close a VNC connection with a panel prior to sending a TPD4 file to that panel but on occasion I forget since it's usually buried on my desktop and I can't see it. With the 5200i's I usually just loose the user pages and upond re-connecting through the VNC I'm greeted with the setup page. This is the main reason I try to remember to close the connection before xfers cuz I then have to send the file again with the VNC closed to get my pages back.

The 9000i's are the but 50/50 if I xfer with the VNC connected the panel will lock up and there's nothing I can do remotely to bring it back to life, the other 50% of the time I just loose my pages. This really sucks cuz I hate having to drive and waste a 1/2 a day just to force a reboot. If this could be fix it would make me very happy. Just force the VNC to close at the start of any xfer cuz if it's open when the xfer completes and then attemps to reboot the 9000i's get pissed off, more so than the 5200's.

Comments

  • ericmedleyericmedley Posts: 4,177
    I know what you mean. I wish there was some kind of DEFCON 6 button that operated outside the panel that would forcibly reboot it. We did a similar thing on our HCS units in that they have an IPmi NIC card on the with a separate OS and can run on the voltage coming from the CAT5 connection. Even if the box is dead locked up you can log into the IPMI card and power cycle the box. It's saved my bacon more than once.

    Losing a TP like this is the sickest kind of feeling. I also ran into this with panels with very old firmware and the newer TPD4. I bricked a few panels before figuring it out.
  • viningvining Posts: 4,368
    ericmedley wrote: »
    I know what you mean. I wish there was some kind of DEFCON 6 button that operated outside the panel that would forcibly reboot it. We did a similar thing on our HCS units in that they have an IPmi NIC card on the with a separate OS and can run on the voltage coming from the CAT5 connection. Even if the box is dead locked up you can log into the IPMI card and power cycle the box. It's saved my bacon more than once.

    Losing a TP like this is the sickest kind of feeling. I also ran into this with panels with very old firmware and the newer TPD4. I bricked a few panels before figuring it out.
    I'm running the latest and greatest firmware. How does this IPmi NIC allow you to reboot? Are these just POE panels and the IPmi NIC allows you to kill the pass through voltage so the NIC stays alive while the connected device is cycled?
  • ericmedleyericmedley Posts: 4,177
    vining wrote: »
    I'm running the latest and greatest firmware. How does this IPmi NIC allow you to reboot? Are these just POE panels and the IPmi NIC allows you to kill the pass through voltage so the NIC stays alive while the connected device is cycled?

    It has an embedded OS and is a device unto itself. It runs on power from either the network connection or the host CPU. It's on even if you unplug the CPU but have it still plugged into the network. It connects to the unit's power supply and has ultimate control over it even if the CPU is off or locked up.

    I wasn't implying you had old firmware. BTW.
    I was just relating something that happened to me. It was my questionable choice of firmware, not yours. :)
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    vining wrote: »
    The 9000i's are the but 50/50 if I xfer with the VNC connected the panel will lock up and there's nothing I can do remotely to bring it back to life, the other 50% of the time I just loose my pages. This really sucks cuz I hate having to drive and waste a 1/2 a day just to force a reboot. If this could be fix it would make me very happy. Just force the VNC to close at the start of any xfer cuz if it's open when the xfer completes and then attemps to reboot the 9000i's get pissed off, more so than the 5200's.

    vining,
    I tried to get a MVP-9000i fail with VNC open and I wasn't able to (15 transfers, no lockups or losing user pages). I'm assuming you are using v 2.53.24 of the firmware. Here is my setup, let's see if we can figure out what the trick is..

    v 2.53.24 of firmware, docked connected to master via wired. I'm transferring the same tpd project over to the panel (doing a normal transfer, all panel files). For my VNC client I'm using TighVNC on a Linux host and Win XP host.

    Thanks,
    Chris
  • jjamesjjames Posts: 2,908
    ericmedley wrote: »
    I wish there was some kind of DEFCON 6 button that operated outside the panel that would forcibly reboot it.
    If the panel is still connected via ICSP, you can always issue a reboot command that way.

    Vining - when you say it's locked - is it still online with the master?
  • viningvining Posts: 4,368
    I was at the site this morning and it was not bricked. Front panels buttons still worked and allowed me to get to setup to reboot. It was still "offline" with the master and I was never able to ping, telnet or VNC back into since the OP.

    Once rebooted it was fine so it's likely a network issue on the TP and the NIC no longer operates after it (NIC) locks up.

    For VNC I was uisng ULTRA VNC, on a MAC in bootcamp running XP, connected via the windows PPTP VPN client to a Cisco (Linksys) RV-082's PPTP VPN server. This is my go to panel (10001) for remote connections for programming and testing and I beleive this is the second times this has happened. The first time I was going back to the site the next day anyway so no big deal. This time wasn't that big of a dea either since the clients hadn't been there for weeks either.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    vining wrote: »
    I was at the site this morning and it was not bricked. Front panels buttons still worked and allowed me to get to setup to reboot. It was still "offline" with the master and I was never able to ping, telnet or VNC back into since the OP.

    Once rebooted it was fine so it's likely a network issue on the TP and the NIC no longer operates after it (NIC) locks up.

    For VNC I was uisng ULTRA VNC, on a MAC in bootcamp running XP, connected via the windows PPTP VPN client to a Cisco (Linksys) RV-082's PPTP VPN server. This is my go to panel (10001) for remote connections for programming and testing and I beleive this is the second times this has happened. The first time I was going back to the site the next day anyway so no big deal. This time wasn't that big of a dea either since the clients hadn't been there for weeks either.

    Firmware version? Wired or wireless?
  • viningvining Posts: 4,368
    amxcjc wrote: »
    Firmware version? Wired or wireless?
    The firmware is v 2.53.15 not v 2.53.24. I swear I checked when this first happened and I was current but my eyes must have stopped at v 2.53.... I also thought the release date was older too which would have coincided to when I installed .15. I must be loosing my freaking mind.

    I'll update to the latest but I won't tempt fate and try to re-create the fault until I have the ability to return to the job and reboot if required.

    So it appears I'm not running the latest firmware and the TP in question is wireless only.
  • viningvining Posts: 4,368
    I just sent a TP file to the same 9000i that I normally work with remotely and again I forgot to close the VNC connection. When I clicked on my VNC icon to bring it to focus it was the same as before and I was on the "SETUP" page. I am definitely on the most recent firmware this time and as I just recalled that last time this happened, since I was on the Setup page I clicked the reboot button to see what would happen. I could not connect to it again until a few days later when I was back onsite accessed the setup page from the front buttons and rebooted.

    The VNC connection was maintained and I was still connected after the xfer completed so I guess it doesn't reboot afterwards?

    I'm don't dare hit the reboot this time so I'm just re-sending the file with out the VNC connected.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    I'm having a hard time getting this to happen here. Can you give me some more info..

    -TPDesign4 version
    -UltraVNC version
    -Wireless security settings (security mode, security type, etc)
    -Do you have a panel you can test this with in your office? Using the same pages, but on a different panel?
    -Can you get this to happen on your remote site with different pages? Maybe a trivial page with a button -- something simple you could share with me but still causes the problem.

    Thanks,
    Chris
  • viningvining Posts: 4,368
    TPD4 3.0.0.0 Build 634

    UltrVNC file version 1.1.0.4 (probably old since I haven't updated it in yearssssss)

    WEP encryption

    I have no 9000i's on hand, only a few 8400's /i's and various wired types. I think I have had this issue wiht 5200's too but I don't recall them locking up or should I say the NIC bricked(?). I'd just loose my pages and have to resend.

    So, as I stated in my previous post I did it again but the VNC connection never dropped after the file transfer completed. The connection was still open and on my desk top but now on the SETUP page and I couldn't exit as usually cuz my pages went up in smoke (?).

    So I closed the VNC and resent my TPD4 file. After a few minutes I re-established the VNC and connected fine but my main page "online" indicators show me offline. I also noticed the VNC window displayed I was connected to device 0. So, I telneted into the TP , sent SETUP and indeed my DEV was now 0 so I set it back to 10001 and rebooted. Waited a bit and then VNC'd back in but I was still offline. Telnet>SETUP>Master Connections and the master mode was "none" master port was "0", so I reset those, then shortly there after I was online again.

    The file size is 43.5 MB.

    I'll probably stop by the job in the morning to test how the module I've been writing works or should I say see how the device works so I can make sure my module works accordingly. Maybe I'll try to break it while I'm there and then if I succeed I'll break another one for good measure. I'll even try a 5200 or two.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    It would be good to test the same panel with a very simple TPD project..to see if it's correlated to your TPD file at all. Also, when you are onsite, you might want to try a Factory Firmware installation (from setup pages or at bootup), then reload the latest firmware onto the panel and then test for the failure again.
  • viningvining Posts: 4,368
    amxcjc wrote: »
    It would be good to test the same panel with a very simple TPD project..to see if it's correlated to your TPD file at all. Also, when you are onsite, you might want to try a Factory Firmware installation (from setup pages or at bootup), then reload the latest firmware onto the panel and then test for the failure again.
    When I was onsite, I connected the VNC and then performed a TPD4 (same 44 meg) file xfer and it worked fine. The VNC connection dropped afte after the xfer completed and the panel rebooted. After the boot up my pages were still there. Other than being a local connection this time I was obviouslly using my laptop (MAC Book PRO, bootcamp, XP) and possibly a different version of UltraVNC. I'll have to check the version when I get a chance.

    I don't have a cell wi-fi account to try the VPN connection while onsite but I can obviously try my laptop remotely and see if I can repeat the problem with it but that means I might need to take a road trip to reboot. I could just switch and use my laptop for a while in the office and I'm sure I would eventually un-intentionally make this mistake again but I think I'd rather take the road trip than work on a single 17" screen for any duration of time.
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