PLM replaced and restored, but programs do not auto trigger.

[paws]

Well, this is distressing: New PLM arrived, neighbor replaced (powered down, plugged in PLM, waited 30 seconds, plugged in ISY) and I got the exact same results. I did run the diagnostic on the PLM before the ISY restore, though, and it returned its (presumably correct) address. After restoring all I get is the same 0.0.0 v.0 PLM Not Connected error message.

 

I also got the network settings mismatch warning as I did before. Last time I accepted the new identical settings, this time I chose not to.

 

Could a bad backup be the culprit at this point? As far as I can tell the only other backup I have is a year and a half old one, just before I upgraded from the ISY-99. I think I lost some when my of desktop's hard drive crashed.

 

On the brighter side I suspect I now have enough PLM's to get me through the next four or five years!

 

Jim

[larryllix]

Have you got your PLM and ISY plugged into two different circuits or sources like one on grid, and one on UPS?

[paws]

No, the PLM and the wall wart for the ISY are plugged into adjacent receptacles in the same box... or should be: I'll have my neighbor double check just to make sure since he has now done two PLM swaps in my absence.

[larryllix]

...and not in a kitchen split receptacle.

 

 

I would be looking ay my ISY or cable.

 

I would start with an ISY factory reset.

Then use admin/admin.

Replace the lat/long and time zone

That's about it.

 

Ohhhh...you are remote. ...

[paws]

Yeah, I'm on the other side of the Pacific. I think I'll just wait the couple of weeks until I get home if I have to go that route. I recall having a bugger of a time getting the thing connected to the Internet at first and don't want to put my neighbor through that. Fortunately as long as he is around the ISY is generally just a useful thing, allowing him (or me) to remotely run the wild critter feeders and bath, the heaters, etc.. Nothing he can't do in a quick trip over. The burglar alarm features would be nice, but it's not like I live in a high crime area.

 

I wonder what would happen if he just swapped in the old ISY-99. I wonder where the heck that is. Probably not a good idea.

[larryllix]

No PLM won't match anymore but good proof when you get home.

[paws]

Woohoo! It lives! I did a factory reset on the ISY and reloaded the July backup. Then I did a factory reset on the PLM and restored it. Everything seems to working, though I have a handful of modules showing the 1011 code. They work and report status, so other than the nagging feeling that something is not quite right, like maybe this is how Skynet became self-aware, they are non-issues. I haven't dealt with the handful of battery devices but don't expect any trouble there.

 

Probably pushing my luck here, but I'm thinking about trying to reload the backup I made after this trouble started just to see if I can get out of figuring out what I had done to the system since July and redoing it. What would be the proper sequence, just restore the backup, then restore the PLM? Or should I wipe both clean as I did this time?

[larryllix]

Woohoo! It lives! I did a factory reset on the ISY and reloaded the July backup. Then I did a factory reset on the PLM and restored it. Everything seems to working, though I have a handful of modules showing the 1011 code. They work and report status, so other than the nagging feeling that something is not quite right, like maybe this is how Skynet became self-aware, they are non-issues. I haven't dealt with the handful of battery devices but don't expect any trouble there.

 

Probably pushing my luck here, but I'm thinking about trying to reload the backup I made after this trouble started just to see if I can get out of figuring out what I had done to the system since July and redoing it. What would be the proper sequence, just restore the backup, then restore the PLM? Or should I wipe both clean as I did this time?

Well you seem pretty confident  that you can get out of almost anything, seeing how easy it is to factory reset the ISY994, so if it were me, I would try it, if there is much lost.in development since the now installed backup.

[Techman]

Woohoo! It lives! I did a factory reset on the ISY and reloaded the July backup. Then I did a factory reset on the PLM and restored it. Everything seems to working, though I have a handful of modules showing the 1011 code. They work and report status, so other than the nagging feeling that something is not quite right, like maybe this is how Skynet became self-aware, they are non-issues. I haven't dealt with the handful of battery devices but don't expect any trouble there.

 

Probably pushing my luck here, but I'm thinking about trying to reload the backup I made after this trouble started just to see if I can get out of figuring out what I had done to the system since July and redoing it. What would be the proper sequence, just restore the backup, then restore the PLM? Or should I wipe both clean as I did this time?

 

1011 means there are pending updates that need to be written to the device.

 

Right click on the modules with 1011 and then click on write updates. If they are battery operated modules then you'll need to first put them into the linking mode, only one at a time, then click on write updates.

[Teken]

Information Only: If you're running the latest ISY Series Controller firmware you can also use the *Write Device Update* option instead. This option is found in the programs section under the (THEN) section.

 

Please note using this option depends upon several factors being in place. 

 

- If a battery operated device has a heart beat feature as is present on the leak sensor, hidden door sensor, and some open-close sensors. You may write your program to detect the heart beat on/off in the (IF) section.

 

- For the motion sensor you need to walk by the MS to wake it up and if the correct wait time is in place it will also update those devices too with out climbing a ladder or access a restricted area. The wait interval can vary from 0-3 seconds and really based on the hardware firmware in place.

 

I offer this solution because if this isn't mission critical or access is limited all you need to do is craft the programs and wait for the updates to happen.

 

ie. heart beat / motion being detected.

 

Worst case you may find there are only 1-2 battery operated devices that need to be manually updated.

[paws]

I did the "Write Updates" When I saw the 1011 codes but it had no effect... yesterday. Today it cleared all but one device, an EZIO 2x4 module. As far as I can tell, though, it is working. I'll test it more tomorrow.

 

What isn't working seem to be all the various inputs. As far as I can tell none of the wired sensor inputs (3 EZIO8SA's, the 2x4 mentioned above, and an EZIO6a) are being heard when they trigger. I haven't had a chance to test them with the event viewer running but the regular log shows no activity whatsoever when they are triggered. There is inbound traffic reaching the ISY: Modules report their state after commands are sent and the X-10 motion sensors show on the log. The relays on the EZIO modules are operable and report their status.

 

Once things are up an running normally I may try a Write Device Update program. Certainly would make life easier. The hassle is why I tend to shy away from wireless devices. I'm in a good position as I can wire pretty much anywhere right now (I've been building my house for thirteen years... laziness now pays off) but eventually I may have my walls closed in and then I have to face the wireless monster!

[Teken]

If you decide to craft programs to auto update ensure you include both control states of on / off for those devices having a heartbeat feature.

 

As various production years sent out a off instead of the expected on signal.

 

Good luck!

 

 

=========================

 

The highest calling in life is to serve ones country faithfully - Teach others what can be. Do what is right and not what is popular.

[paws]

Everything is now working... I think. I wish I could be more helpful, but it took a series of events and I don't know which one or ones were required. I restarted the ISY, updated to 4.5.4 from 4.5.1, restarted, then restored the PLM. My guess is that it was the PLM restore that did it, but I have nothing to go on and cannot explain why it didn't do it the first time. The EZIO 2x4 still has the 1011 tags but I'm sure that that is unrelated: Maybe it got damaged by the power outage that brought on this calamity as well.

 

I've turned chicken and decided to just update the four month old backup instead of pushing luck by trying the newer, possibly corrupt one. I hadn't done a lot of changes in that period and in truth many of the programs could be tweaked or even completely rewritten - they date from when I was even less knowledgeable than i am now.

 

When I get the nerve I'll probably test the other two PLM's just to make sure they, particularly the one that was in when the power hit came, are actually operational. I'll then put the newest one back in just in case it can fail during the warranty period.

 

Again, thanks for all the suggestions!

[Teken]

I would suggest you find a long extension cord and plug the EZIO into it. Take the other end and plug it into the same electrical outlet as the 2413S PLM.

 

Once that is in place try to complete the *Write Updates* and report back success / failure. If doing several write updates fails to complete while plugged into the same 2413S PLM outlet.

 

You can perform a hard reset of the EZIO than select the *Restore Device* this will write the settings from the ISY Series Controller to the factory reset EZIO hardware.

 

If all of the above fail to complete you at least know the basic's are covered and might consider a new purchase. If you feel crafty you may decide upon opening up the unit and inspect for a blown fuse. If there isn't a obvious blown fuse my next step would be to replace all of the capacitors and see what happens.

 

You have a 70-30% chance replacing the components may revive the hardware . . .

[paws]

The hard reset / restore device did it. A nice, bracing walk up and down the driveways was detected recorded in the ISY log. Many thanks!

[Teken]

The hard reset / restore device did it. A nice, bracing walk up and down the driveways was detected recorded in the ISY log. Many thanks!

 

Hello Paws,

 

Good to know and happy there is a positive ending to this journey. Please ensure you complete a back up moving forward as you don't want to tempt fate.

[paws]

 

Well, it made it for over a year this time, but I have a trip coming up next week so tradition had it that it would fail again. Probably too late to order anything but I sort of hoped I wouldn't need to - see above that I ended up with a nice selection of new PLM's.

For a week or so things were slightly amiss: Sporadic "Cannot communicate with..." in the administrative console, lights on for no reason, etc., but things really went downhill yesterday. When I opened the console I had to kill at least twenty of those (there are about sixty modules total. Some of those, though, came back to life if I clicked on them. Not any more. To get in I have to fight through every one now and things run incredibly slowly: For the system to do whatever querying it does before telling me the bad news takes so long that the process takes half an hour. Makes troubleshooting positively glacial.

I've replaced the PLM and done the came procedure that I did on my first November 15th post above:

ISY factory reset

Reload backup file

PLM factory reset

Restore PLM

It is completely unresponsive with all the nodes sporting either the 1011's or the exclamation marks. If I "Write Updates to Device" on the latter they turn into the 1011's.

Restoring devices had no effect.

Looking at the PLM info shows the correct address, however its links are empty.

Just because I had it and nothing to do for the next thirty minutes I again replaced the PLM with the second replacement module from the last crisis. Re[placed, reopened console, killed seventy "Cannot Communicate" popups, restored PLM. No Change.

I looked at the event viewer and it showed many

....Replacing PLM links (locally and in PLM)

....Replacing PLM links Successful

But at the end two entries were

....Reset PLM

....Cannot reset the PLM

 

During the restore, about halfway through an error message pop-up appears

Could not open file

[/CONF/CACERTS.CFG]

---------------------------------

Failed resetting the PLM

[-200000/-30]

 

Okay, it's 3:30 AM and I'm throwing in the towel for now. I'll try to attache the events from the last PLM replace / restore.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Replace-Restore Events.txt

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi paws,

Unfortunately it seems that ISY could not reset the PLM so the restore was not successful. I don't think there are any links in your PLM and thus the reason for your programs not triggering.

With kind regards,
Michel

[paws]

I get the same result ("Cannot reset PLM" and an empty links table) with both new PLM's. Just to make absolutely sure I didn't get two consecutive DOA modules I am now going to reinstall the original one that I of course assumed was the root of all evil since its one year lifespan was about up. If that returns the same error do I start to suspect the ISY itself? A heck of a lot more expensive than swapping out PLM's as an experiment, but how fast do those things ship?

[paws]

Things are a little creepy: It is returning to life on its own! I've seen enough zombie movies to know this is generally not a good thing. Still a whole bunch of quirks but I'd say it is about 80% back right now. I have to go to sleep because I go in for surgery in the morning but I'll update when I get home and am reasonably coherent. If the post features bits about Elvis riding a unicorn through my kitchen just give me a few more hours for the stuff to wear off.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi paws,

How about the RJ45 cable between ISY and the PLM? In some cases, the PLM jack might not make connections with the RJ45 jack. You might want to try pushing up the pins inside the PLM jack just so that they make good connections.

With kind regards,
Michel

[paws]

The cable seems okay - with all the PLM changes it got a lot of action but just in case I tweaked the pins a bit.

Things are about 90% operational now as the system continues to repair itself somehow. One of the weirder items, an OutletLinc whose upper outlet could not communicate but lower could has been healed. This is how religions start.

This morning I went through the tree manually writing updates to each device and the 1011's on the wired devices turned into their appropriate icons. I'm getting almost no "Cannot communicate..." boxes now, but see below about the secondary scene switches. Haven't dealt with the wireless yet.

The one biggest issue left is the scenes and their secondary controllers. The console cannot trigger the scenes but they do trigger locally and are reflected on the console when that is done.

Most of my scenes are multi-way light switches and they all respond the same way now:

The primary switches all work both locally and from the console, but if triggered from the console do not synchronize the secondary switches.

The secondary switches work locally, synchronizing their brethren, however if switched from the console do nothing but set their brightness LED's to the requested level, BUT the console shows the desired status change. It is like the ISY gave up on telling me it could not communicate. When switched locally they flash red LED's a few seconds afterwards which I suspect also means a comm problem.

Sorry to post on this thread - I just assumed it was the usual PLM issue. Perhaps it is - this is just still recovering from some weird failure there - but it seems to have gone in a completely unexpected direction.

 

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi paws,

Most probably communication problems. Do you have any of the following?

KPL V2A or V2D

SwitchLinc V35

INSTEON thermostat

With kind regards,

Michel

[paws]

According to the ISY Console none of the SwitchLincs or KPL's are those versions but I do have a 2441ZTH Thermostat v.0E.

In the very early stages it seemed like a comm issue - the occasional non-response - but then it escalated so far that I was back at my usual suspect, the PLM, apparently in error. Now that everything is more or less working there are still occasional lags which would seem to indicate comm problems. For example I just switched on a secondary in a multi-switch scene and it took a couple of seconds to activate the lights. Subsequent activations, though, were instant. The event viewer didn't seem to show anything unusual.

I began a rather disorganized search for offending devices, shutting off breakers and testing, but when the system started healing itself that was no longer possible because things were working already so disconnecting a noisy or signal sucking device would have no visible effect. Looking back I have a very weak suspect: The most recent change I had made to the system was installing an old EZSnsRF as a work-around for a failed EZIO8SA (the Dakota receiver's relays fed the inputs on the 8SA). That was before the trouble started, but not immediately before, so it may be a bit of a red herring: I unplugged it and the problems continued.

The only constant artifact of the failure now is the issue with the scenes: It is like the ISY has completely forgotten them though the modules still remember each other. I've deleted and recreated several and the replacements work fine. This was a bit of a dumb move since now if I can restore the old links the revised macros will not work. I may just go through and replace all of the scenes now.

Actually, this would be a good opportunity to start from scratch: Over the years things have gotten pretty cobbled together. A lot of work, but it could produce a more thought-out system.

Thanks!

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi paws,

Please unplug (or take the faceplate out) your thermostat and retry.

With regards to ISY having forgotten all the scenes, if you have a good backup (from before any of this), restore it and then Restore Devices.

With kind regards,
Michel