Comms problem with Envoy/WLIP (and a crash)

[SteveA]

Hi, my first visit.

I downloded Cumulus lat night and it set up and started operating OK. I must say the graphics are a welcome improvement over the Weatherlink stuff.

However, late last night I found that it had stopped and was showing a message about the 32701 eror. I restarted it and left it running again till this morning by which time the error was back.

I have my machine set up to never stop but it does have a screen saver and the screens get turned off after 20 minutes. The Envoy/WLIP is wired to a combination modem/router and my computer has a wireless link to the router. I have had the Envoy, WLIP and Weatherlink software running about a week without any issues. The WLIP was purchased because I do not have a web site and have no need for one (it seemed rather OTT to set one up just so I could see my home weather from work).

The chain of events this morning went like this:
- Shut Cumulus down again
- Found that the Weatherlink software could not communicate with station/logger either.
- Shut down and restarted the Envoy.
- Weatherlink then came back up OK.
- Checked and wrote down logger IP address
- Shut down Weatherlink
- Restarted Cumulus
- Seemed to come up but it did nothing other that say it was about to download something then sit there.
- Tried to go into configuration to check IP address
- Error message came up telling me to look at a bug report (bug report text appended below).
- Shut down Cumulus
- Found that the Weatherlink software could not communicate with station/logger.
- Shut down Envoy (removed batteries and cable)
- Rebooted PC (just in case)
- Rebooted modem/router
- Restarted Envoy (OK)
- Restarted Weatherlink and all OK except for some missing overnight rain in the bulletin, but not in the charts.
- Checked both Weatherlink and Weather Underground sites and both showed missing rain and WU had large gaps in its charts. http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstat ... IWELLING57
- Now, several hours later everything seems to be running again, including Cumulus which is happily updating away on the next screen.

Gut feeling tells me the problem might be Cumulus and the router not getting on but, whatever the problem was, it seems to tie up the comms between the logger and everything else. I have the discon Period set to 5 seconds but one of the failures occured with it set to 10 seconds.

While I like the user interface of Cumulus I am now rather reluctant to leave it going unatended.

I hope the bug report below sheds some light on things as I would like to be able to leave Cumulus running.

Steve

Bug report:
date/time : 2011-11-19, 08:41:38, 15ms
computer name : CPTR02
user name : Steve Atkins <admin>
registered owner : LAN Administrator / My Company
operating system : Windows XP Service Pack 3 build 2600
system language : English
system up time : 6 minutes 27 seconds
program up time : 11 seconds
processors : 2x Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
physical memory : 1440/2047 MB (free/total)
free disk space : (C:) 21.57 GB
display mode : 1600x1200, 32 bit
process id : $604
allocated memory : 19.36 MB
executable : cumulus.exe
exec. date/time : 2011-11-01 15:36
version : 1.9.2.1020
compiled with : Delphi XE
madExcept version : 3.0n
callstack crc : $568c8178, $ff2ef261, $c455a7d1
exception number : 1
exception class : EAccessViolation
exception message : Access violation at address 00AEC64B in module 'cumulus.exe'. Read of address 00000059.

main thread ($6e0):
00aec64b +007 cumulus.exe MainUnit 11475 +0 TMainForm.StationClick
004bb113 +0a7 cumulus.exe Menus TMenuItem.Click
004bc60f +013 cumulus.exe Menus TMenu.DispatchCommand
005169b3 +01f cumulus.exe Forms TCustomForm.WMCommand
0049bee0 +2d4 cumulus.exe Controls TControl.WndProc
004a07a4 +568 cumulus.exe Controls TWinControl.WndProc
005138c4 +594 cumulus.exe Forms TCustomForm.WndProc
0049fe44 +02c cumulus.exe Controls TWinControl.MainWndProc
0045b558 +014 cumulus.exe Classes StdWndProc
7e42a034 +016 USER32.dll CallWindowProcW
00595b34 +0e0 cumulus.exe CoolTrayIcon 1046 +69 TCoolTrayIcon.HookFormProc
0045b558 +014 cumulus.exe Classes StdWndProc
7e42a034 +016 USER32.dll CallWindowProcW
0089d01e +1d2 cumulus.exe FormSize 453 +62 TFormSize.HookWndProc
0045b558 +014 cumulus.exe Classes StdWndProc
7e418a0b +00a USER32.dll DispatchMessageW
0051c893 +0f3 cumulus.exe Forms TApplication.ProcessMessage
0051c8be +00a cumulus.exe Forms TApplication.ProcessMessages
00aecf67 +007 cumulus.exe MainUnit 11706 +0 ProcessPaintrequests
0073f203 +33b cumulus.exe VP2Unit 622 +61 VP2_Open_ComPort
006f19a5 +4b1 cumulus.exe GraphsUnit 479 +115 TGraphs.FormCreate
00406bb1 +01d cumulus.exe System 564 +0 @AfterConstruction
005122d5 +1a1 cumulus.exe Forms TCustomForm.Create
0051ca5e +076 cumulus.exe Forms TApplication.CreateForm
00b07247 +17b cumulus.exe Cumulus 82 +21 initialization

thread $120:
7c90df48 +a ntdll.dll NtWaitForMultipleObjects

thread $648:
7c90d218 +00a ntdll.dll NtDelayExecution
7c8023eb +04b kernel32.dll SleepEx
7c802450 +00a kernel32.dll Sleep
00459c4d +001 cumulus.exe Classes TThread.Sleep
007fdaed +31d cumulus.exe HotLog 1820 +93 THotLogParser.Execute
00458ee2 +042 cumulus.exe Classes ThreadProc
00408060 +028 cumulus.exe System 564 +0 ThreadWrapper

thread $100:
7c90d218 +00a ntdll.dll NtDelayExecution
7c8023eb +04b kernel32.dll SleepEx
7c802450 +00a kernel32.dll Sleep
00459c4d +001 cumulus.exe Classes TThread.Sleep
00806691 +3b5 cumulus.exe HotLog 3517 +100 THotLogWriter.Execute
00458ee2 +042 cumulus.exe Classes ThreadProc
00408060 +028 cumulus.exe System 564 +0 ThreadWrapper

thread $c20: <priority:1>
7c90da48 +0a ntdll.dll NtRemoveIoCompletion
0087f871 +0d cumulus.exe madExcept CallThreadProcSafe
0087f8db +37 cumulus.exe madExcept ThreadExceptFrame
>> created by main thread ($6e0) at:
71a5d926 +00 mswsock.dll

cpu registers:
eax = 00000000
ebx = 01806840
ecx = 0013f388
edx = 01806840
esi = 00000000
edi = 0013f60c
eip = 00aec64b
esp = 0013f398
ebp = 0013f4e4

stack dump:
0013f398 19 b1 4b 00 94 f5 13 00 - 00 00 00 00 12 c6 4b 00 ..K...........K.
0013f3a8 90 86 77 01 b8 69 51 00 - 90 86 77 01 94 f5 13 00 ..w..iQ...w.....
0013f3b8 e3 be 49 00 0c f6 13 00 - 94 0f 92 01 94 f5 13 00 ..I.............
0013f3c8 fc f3 13 00 08 d1 3d 77 - 8c 03 03 00 e4 f3 13 00 ......=w........
0013f3d8 00 00 00 00 c8 7a 17 00 - a6 88 41 7e 00 00 00 00 .....z....A~....
0013f3e8 02 00 00 00 c8 00 00 00 - 13 00 00 00 60 7b 17 00 ............`{..
0013f3f8 d8 03 00 00 80 f4 13 00 - 06 ed 3d 77 00 00 00 00 ..........=w....
0013f408 00 00 00 00 58 f9 13 00 - e8 f4 13 00 26 e5 3d 77 ....X.......&.=w
0013f418 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 53 00 00 00 ............S...
0013f428 74 f6 13 00 ec f6 13 00 - 19 00 00 00 88 b5 02 10 t...............
0013f438 ff ff ff ff 14 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0013f448 1f 0f 92 01 98 f4 13 00 - a9 07 4a 00 94 0f 92 01 ..........J.....
0013f458 fc f4 13 00 c4 f4 13 00 - 26 e5 3d 77 00 e0 fd 7f ........&.=w....
0013f468 c4 f4 13 00 5a 88 41 7e - c6 0c 01 28 2a 88 41 7e ....Z.A~...(*.A~
0013f478 b0 f7 13 00 70 a5 73 01 - ac f4 13 00 34 87 41 7e ....p.s.....4.A~
0013f488 8c 03 03 00 0b 72 40 00 - a0 9c 81 01 09 6e 40 00 .....r@......n@.
0013f498 01 f4 13 00 dd 6c 40 00 - 60 0d 82 01 b3 6f 40 00 .....l@.`....o@.
0013f4a8 94 0f 92 01 60 0d 82 01 - ec 6f 40 00 90 86 77 01 ....`....o@...w.
0013f4b8 68 27 48 00 70 27 48 00 - 90 86 77 01 b8 9c 81 01 h'H.p'H...w.....
0013f4c8 47 fe 49 00 f4 f4 13 00 - 5e fe 49 00 66 fe 49 00 G.I.....^.I.f.I.

disassembling:
00aec644 public MainUnit.TMainForm.StationClick: ; function entry point
00aec644 11475 mov eax, [$b3c8e4]
00aec649 mov eax, [eax]
00aec64b > cmp byte ptr [eax+$59], 0
00aec64f jnz loc_aec660
00aec651 11476 mov eax, [$b3c8e4]
00aec656 mov eax, [eax]
00aec658 mov edx, [eax]
00aec65a call dword ptr [edx+$114]
00aec660 11477 ret

[steve]

I'm afraid I can't offer much help. I don't think the bug report is related to the communication problem, the crash was as a result of selecting the station settings from the menu, but I can't tell what the reason was.

As for the comms problem, I know that you are supposed to be able to connect more than one program to an IP logger, or so I am told, but I have my doubts about whether the logger actually copes with that very well. And if you read elsewhere in the forum, it seems that Weatherlink is prone to causing communication problems. But even if this is a problem with Cumulus, I'm afraid I have no idea what I could do to fix it, sorry. Cumulus doesn't actually handle the communication with the station, the Davis DLL handles everything.

[gemini06720]

Steve (Atkins) I have found both the WeatherLink IP adaptor (interface/data logger) and the WeatherLink software to be quite unreliable.

You must remember that the WeatherLink IP adaptor was specially designed to upload the weather station data to the Davis WeatherLink website - and that is what it does, and quite well. As the WeatherLink IP adaptor is continually communicating with the website, it does not have much free time for other software or devices to communicate with it. For some reasons, the WeatherLink software can manage some communication with the WeatherLink IP adaptor (but not for a very long time).

But then, when another software tries to communicate with the WeatherLink IP adaptor while the WeatherLink software is already communicating with the WeatherLink IP adaptor then communications start to deteriorate... Eventually, either one or both software are refused communications with the WeatherLink IP adaptor - remember, its priority is to upload to the Davis WeatherLink website at all costs!

Frustrated with the situation, I simply decided to deactivate the automatic uploads of the WeatherLink IP adaptor (to the Davis WeatherLink website) and making it available full time to other software, such as Cumulus.

[SteveA]

I did try running both Cumulus and Weatherlink local software together to see what happened. Nothing crashed but neither were getting good data.

I have been running a trial version of Weather Display for a few days now and it has managed to stay up 24/7 without interfering with, or being interfered with by, the upload to the Weatherlink Network. Of course I don't know if it uses the same Davis .dll as Cumulus. On the other hand, although it appears very capable, I find its user interface to be considerably less than friendly.

After my first post, and before I tried out WD, I settled for running Cumulus only when I was around the house and not asleep and it did not miss a beat. Having rebooted everything (PC, Router, Envoy/Logger) the logger is now on a different local IP address. No idea if this will change things but I am planning to leave Cumulus running overnight again.

Here's hoping,

Steve

[SteveA]

Cumulus has run successfully all night. It did not manage to acheive that previously.

I will now watch it (indirectly) from work.

Steve

[SteveA]

Still seems to be going well.

I am hoping it will keep on keeping on since of those I have tested it best meets my simple needs - Well arranged and presented user interface, provides the basic information and feeds Weather Underground Rapidfire.

Steve