1132CU not responding

Hi,

I've had my 1132CU for about 5 months and in that time it has worked well. But in the last few days it has not been reacting to Indigo requests. The LED stays on when I try to send a command to it. It is not switching on/off any devices.

I have the most recent version of OS X (10.3.6) and I just downloaded the most recent version of Indigo.

In the last few days I have been adding some software to my system and possibly that has had an adverse effect. I've been experiencing some kernel panics for 4 days, whereas before that I had not problems.

Where should I start looking to solve this problem? I doubt that the 1132CU is at fault.

[matt (support)]

Have you tried resetting the 1132CU? You can by unplugging it from the computer and wall, press and hold reset button for a few seconds, plug back into wall, continue pressing reset button for a few seconds, release button, plug back into computer.

If that doesn't work, given the kernel panics you have, I'd say it is time to run Disk Utility to repair your drive and permissions and then reinstall the OS. Not fun, but every time I've had kernel panics I always end up reinstalling the OS eventually and I normally waste a lot of time trying to fix the problem by not reinstalling the OS.

Good luck and let us know if this helps with the 1132CU problem.

Regards,
Matt

Matt,

I've reset it several times although not unplugged from computer. It was unplugged from the power though. I'll try to do it the way you suggest and report back.

As for the kernel panics, I've run memory test (Ok), disk utility (Ok), repair permissions (changed some) but so far no difference.

I'd really hate to reinstall the OS because I do have a number of applications that would need to be reinstalled (shudder.)

Thanks,
Patricia

Matt,

I removed all extra equipment from my G4 and then my kernel panics stopped. I was adding equipment back one at a time. Just before I started to compose this email, I had reconnected the 1132CU. I was about to write that I was able to see it and the info about the firmware version was showing in Indigo's event log when I had another kernel panic followed immediately by another one. So I am beginning to think that there is some failure of the 1132CU that was causing the kernel panics.

I'm going to attach some more USB devices, but right now the finger of suspicion is pointing to the 1132CU.

Have you heard of similar problems? Is this likely to be hardware (1132CU) or software (Indigo?)

Patricia

[matt (support)]

Have you heard of similar problems? Is this likely to be hardware (1132CU) or software (Indigo?)

Nope, never heard of crashes or kernel panics caused by any of the PowerLincs or Indigo. The PowerLinc uses the same USB driver that your keyboard and mouse use, so you don't have the normal driver bugginess as with some USB devices. The odds of this being an Indigo problem are very remote -- Indigo shouldn't be able to cause a kernel panic by using the HID USB calls it making *unless* your system is corrupt or there is a hardware problem. If there was an Indigo bug, it could crash Indigo but kernel panics are normally a hint of a corrupt (or buggy) system or system level service, like a driver.

Even if the crash does happen only when the PowerLinc is connected, that doesn't rule out a system reinstall as possibly fixing the problem. Note there are 3 levels of doing a system reinstall, the first of which should *not* require you to have to reinstall any of your software. It is also the least likely to fix any problems, but it is relatively painless to do.

Regards,
Matt

Before you start reinstalling, check file system thingy

Reboot your mac, when the Apple appears on the grey screen press Command-S. This should drop you into the command line.

When you get to the prompt type /sbin/fsck -yf

Keep running that till it says it found no problems. Then do a permissions repair.

Hmmm ...
I installed the Windows software (I know it isn't yours) and it didn't work either. I then borrowed another Mac and tried it there ... it didn't appear to work.

Then I decided to try it with an X10 Device plugged into the 1132CU and that works from my Mac ... although I sometimes have to click "On" 2 or 3 times before it responds. But still the other devices do not appear to be acknowledging the signals.

So far I haven't had any more kernel panics ... for whatever that is worth.

Is there any way I can test the signals being transmitted over the house wiring?

Is there any reason for doing this Rebooting rather than just invoking the Terminal program?

You will see (in a separate reply) that I can get Indigo to control a device that is plugged into the 1132CU, but I cannot get it to control the other devices in the same area.

Thanks ... I'll run the check and see what it says to me.

Before you start reinstalling, check file system thingy

Reboot your mac, when the Apple appears on the grey screen press Command-S. This should drop you into the command line.

When you get to the prompt type /sbin/fsck -yf

Keep running that till it says it found no problems. Then do a permissions repair.

Continuing the saga ... now I'm puzzled but the picture is becoming clearer.

I plugged my x10 mini-timer into the 1132CU controller and tried to turn on/off devices that it could control in its original location and it can't do so from this location.

So I'm definitely thinking it is some form of interference. The thing I did recently was rearrange the equipment in my office which is where everything is. Somehow that must have upset the delicate balance between my 1132CU and my devices.

(I don't think it is a phase issue because I have tried the 1132CU in its original outlet as well as a new one. I did purchase one of those gizmos that supposedly bridge the phases using a 240V outlet, but it never worked as far as I could determine.)

Back to the drawing board I think.

If anyone has ideas about how to identify the cause of the interference I'll be interested.

Ok ... I think everything is working again. Beside my desk I have 3 double outlets. When I moved things around I foolishly moved the 1132CU from one outlet to another, and then forgot I had done it. I only realized things weren't working properly a few days ago and then I was thrown off track by all the kernel panics.

I won't say the panics are over for a few more days, but I haven't had one in over 4 hours, so that is a good thing. And it seems to be a separate issue.

I've tried the 1132CU in the third outlet and now it is controlling the devices correctly.

Thanks for the help,
Patricia

[quote="pwarwick"]Is there any reason for doing this Rebooting rather than just invoking the Terminal program?

Yeah because MacOS can't repair it's start up volume while it's mounted and the OS is running from it. So you have to do it just at the beginning of start up, before everything loads (though I guess a few things load).

Also this was just a step to help with the kernel panics.

Just to close this off with the solution ... often threads just trail off with no resolution.

I ran the fsck 4 times before it was Ok although errors were not major (AFAIK.) I also got some more machine checks etc. after this. I decided to run Apple Hardware Test in a loop ... nothing detected. So after all of this, it was drawn to my attention that the problem might be a cache access speed that was too fast. I did in fact have a utility (CPU Director) which was supposed to have set this, but somehow it had reset itself. I have now set it to a slower speed ... which hopefully will resolve that problem.

As for the problem with 1132CU that brought me to this forum ... as I mentioned it was resolved by using an outlet on the same phase as the units being controlled.

If it hasn't already been documented as a way of troubleshooting this configuration, I would recommend mentioning that attaching an X10 device (e.g. a light) directly to the passthrough outlet on the 1132CU would at least demonstrate whether the unit is working and handling the instructions from Indigo. Then it is a matter of finding out why it is unable to send instructions to the other devices.

Thanks to Matt and Greg for their help,

Patricia