to_lighter Posted February 22, 2009 Posted February 22, 2009 Hi gang, I had to unplug my PLM. Since I plugged it back in, the ISY doesn't see any events (the event log remains empty when I hit switches, etc). I tried to restore the PLM, with no luck. I tried to restore the ISY and I got an error that the ISY refused the program. Any ideas? Cheers!
to_lighter Posted February 23, 2009 Author Posted February 23, 2009 Hi gang, I had to unplug my PLM. Since I plugged it back in, the ISY doesn't see any events (the event log remains empty when I hit switches, etc). I tried to restore the PLM, with no luck. I tried to restore the ISY and I got an error that the ISY refused the program. Any ideas? Cheers! I've had a lot of lows with this Insteon-ISY combo, but today is a new low. Simply unplugging my PLM has left my system in a total shut-down state. I've been able to restore my ISY, reset my PLM, restore all of my devices, and still the system is useless. The ISY doesn't register incoming signals from switches, but is happy to query devices and restore them. The link tables match up between the Device Links and the ISY, but nothing I do seems to be able to get the ISY to respond to key presses. What a total mess. If anyone has any ideas, let me know ...
to_lighter Posted February 23, 2009 Author Posted February 23, 2009 Hi gang, I had to unplug my PLM. Since I plugged it back in, the ISY doesn't see any events (the event log remains empty when I hit switches, etc). I tried to restore the PLM, with no luck. I tried to restore the ISY and I got an error that the ISY refused the program. Any ideas? Cheers! I've had a lot of lows with this Insteon-ISY combo, but today is a new low. Simply unplugging my PLM has left my system in a total shut-down state. I've been able to restore my ISY, reset my PLM, restore all of my devices, and still the system is useless. The ISY doesn't register incoming signals from switches, but is happy to query devices and restore them. The link tables match up between the Device Links and the ISY, but nothing I do seems to be able to get the ISY to respond to key presses. What a total mess. If anyone has any ideas, let me know ... I've now telneted into the ISY and run the factory reset command. Now I can't log into it any longer. Next steps? Cheers!
MikeB Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 Sounds like something has happened to your PLM, but we need to first find out why you now cannot access your ISY. - does your My Lighting icon show up in My Network Places? - can you access your ISY via http://www.universal-devices.com/99i ? - what firmware are you running on your ISY?
to_lighter Posted February 23, 2009 Author Posted February 23, 2009 Sounds like something has happened to your PLM, but we need to first find out why you now cannot access your ISY. - does your My Lighting icon show up in My Network Places? - can you access your ISY via http://www.universal-devices.com/99i ? - what firmware are you running on your ISY? Thanks Michael, Using the http://www.universal-devices.com/99i I get the usual blue screen, however, I don't get a username/password box. Instead I get the busy icon, and at the bottom of the window the status is "System Busy". I can't telnet into the ISY (although I'm not sure what the IP would be post-factory reset. I just upgraded to 2.7.0. I have a Mac, and so don't have a My Network Places. Cheers!
Sub-Routine Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 to_lighter, are any of the lights illuminated on the ISY? Do you have an ISY-26 or a 99i? Rand
to_lighter Posted February 23, 2009 Author Posted February 23, 2009 to_lighter, are any of the lights illuminated on the ISY? Do you have an ISY-26 or a 99i? Rand Good question, I'll check the lights when I get home. 99i. Cheers!
Michel Kohanim Posted February 23, 2009 Posted February 23, 2009 Hi to_lighter, Not receiving events is PLM related. If you had set up a static IP address, factory reset reverts back to DHCP. So, that could be one of the reasons you cannot telnet to ISY. After we figure out what's going on with your ISY, we will have to establish the fact that factory reset should almost never be done (unless you have a corrupt file system). It's surely our fault for not having documented when to factory reset; this we shall do shortly. With kind regards, Michel to_lighter, are any of the lights illuminated on the ISY? Do you have an ISY-26 or a 99i? Rand Good question, I'll check the lights when I get home. 99i. Cheers!
to_lighter Posted February 23, 2009 Author Posted February 23, 2009 Hi to_lighter, Not receiving events is PLM related. If you had set up a static IP address, factory reset reverts back to DHCP. So, that could be one of the reasons you cannot telnet to ISY. After we figure out what's going on with your ISY, we will have to establish the fact that factory reset should almost never be done (unless you have a corrupt file system). It's surely our fault for not having documented when to factory reset; this we shall do shortly. With kind regards, Michel to_lighter, are any of the lights illuminated on the ISY? Do you have an ISY-26 or a 99i? Rand Good question, I'll check the lights when I get home. 99i. Cheers! Thanks Michel, I was able to restore the PLM, and restore switches prior to the factory reset, which makes it strange that the ISY wasn't seeing any of the switch activity. Cheers!
to_lighter Posted February 24, 2009 Author Posted February 24, 2009 All right. Making some progress. Managed to run a Restore ISY after several failed attempts (refused program). Next I restored the PLM. Some switches work fine, others not (Event Viewer shows paddle or button presses on some but not all switches). This is for switches in the same general location (in some cases in the same gang box). I am in the process of checking links, restoring devices, etc. Cheers!
to_lighter Posted February 24, 2009 Author Posted February 24, 2009 All right. Making some progress. Managed to run a Restore ISY after several failed attempts (refused program). Next I restored the PLM. Some switches work fine, others not (Event Viewer shows paddle or button presses on some but not all switches). This is for switches in the same general location (in some cases in the same gang box). I am in the process of checking links, restoring devices, etc. Cheers! I should also mention some more detail about the weird behavior I am seeing. I have an 8 button KPL where clicking the buttons does not trigger an event in the event viewer, but holding down the button does. Cheers!
to_lighter Posted February 24, 2009 Author Posted February 24, 2009 Even more detail. I have restored the ISY, restored the PLM. When I click on switches, the PLM light turns very bright, which I believe is what it is supposed to do when it receives a message. Most of these clicks are not registered in the ISY Event log. There doesn't seem to be a pattern for which devices are picked up by the ISY and which are not. For the switches that the ISY is not picking up, I have tried multiple restores, with/without air gapping/factory resetting the switch/etc. I've tried a new ethernet cable between the ISY and the PLM. I tried a link count on the PLM and got 24 on my first try. On the second try I got 137. On the third try I got 120. This is running the counts back to back. Definitely something fishy in the communication between the ISY and the PLM. Any ideas? Cheers!
to_lighter Posted February 24, 2009 Author Posted February 24, 2009 Now my PLM link count is 364. Cheers!
MikeB Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 Sounding like a bad PLM. I'm assuming you don't have a spare to try? Have you tried factory restting your PLM then trying a restore?
to_lighter Posted February 24, 2009 Author Posted February 24, 2009 Sounding like a bad PLM. I'm assuming you don't have a spare to try? Have you tried factory restting your PLM then trying a restore? I have done a factory reset. Still getting funny PLM link counts. The switches that don't show up in the ISY event log when I press the paddle will show up in the event log when I hold down the switch to fade up or fade down. Doesn't show up otherwise Any ideas?
to_lighter Posted February 24, 2009 Author Posted February 24, 2009 Sounding like a bad PLM. I'm assuming you don't have a spare to try? Have you tried factory restting your PLM then trying a restore? What about Remove PLM? What does that do? Cheers!
Michel Kohanim Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 Hello to_lighter, Whatever you do, please DO NOT do Remove PLM; this basically removes all the PLM links from all your devices and therefore you will never ever get any status feedback from any of your devices (unless you Restore ISY + Restore Devices). In short, this is a very bad idea. From what I read, I am very positive that the problem is either the PLM OR one your Access Points (possibly unplugged)? You had mentioned that you had unplugged the PLM and then after you plugged it back in, then everything started acting up. My question: 1. Why did you have to unplug the PLM? 2. And, did you change the configuration of the PLM location after you plugged it back in? i.e. did you plug it into a different outlet? Did you add another device to the same strip? etc. With kind regards, Michel Sounding like a bad PLM. I'm assuming you don't have a spare to try? Have you tried factory restting your PLM then trying a restore? What about Remove PLM? What does that do? Cheers!
to_lighter Posted February 24, 2009 Author Posted February 24, 2009 Hello to_lighter, Whatever you do, please DO NOT do Remove PLM; this basically removes all the PLM links from all your devices and therefore you will never ever get any status feedback from any of your devices (unless you Restore ISY + Restore Devices). In short, this is a very bad idea. From what I read, I am very positive that the problem is either the PLM OR one your Access Points (possibly unplugged)? You had mentioned that you had unplugged the PLM and then after you plugged it back in, then everything started acting up. My question: 1. Why did you have to unplug the PLM? 2. And, did you change the configuration of the PLM location after you plugged it back in? i.e. did you plug it into a different outlet? Did you add another device to the same strip? etc. With kind regards, Michel Sounding like a bad PLM. I'm assuming you don't have a spare to try? Have you tried factory restting your PLM then trying a restore? What about Remove PLM? What does that do? Cheers! Thanks Michel, Hehe ... good thing I didn't experiment with the Remove PLM option ... The ISY and the PLM are in a closet along with a server, a RAID array, my cable modem and a network switch. All of these were plugged into the same outlet via an 8 outlet adaptor that plugged directly into the outlet. This set up was working well after I upgraded to 2.7.0. However, I decided to buy a new power bar to protect the other equipment. This is what prompted the unplugging of the PLM. Ultimately, I removed the new power bar, and went back to my old setup (in fact, the server and the RAID are not currently plugged in, just the network switch and the cable modem, which are plugged into the same outlet as the PLM). I have an access point plugged into the back of the PLM. I have three other access points plugged in at various spots around the house. I'll check them tonight. Do access points have to be reset? I plugged the access point into the back of the PLM recently. I can't remember when I made that change relative to these problems. I'm pretty sure that the other access points aren't all on the same phase, but I will definitely check that. This has the feel of some of the weird communications issues that I had when I first bought the equipment and you guys were working on i2 support, etc. The PLM lights up as it receives signals from the switches, but this doesn't seem to be passed on to the ISY (or at least the ISY isn't registering these signals). Some switches work fine. Some are seen by the ISY only if you press and hold the switch (dimmer up or down). Why would the PLM pass along some types of switch presses, but not others? Cheers!
to_lighter Posted February 25, 2009 Author Posted February 25, 2009 I read the message not to reset the PLM. As mentioned above, I did factory reset the ISY. What are the symptoms of a bad reset? Is this the cause of my problems? Cheers!
Michel Kohanim Posted February 25, 2009 Posted February 25, 2009 Hi again, First of all, I know how frustrating this can be especially after having gotten it to work properly and then back to square one. Now, based on what I read from your post, I think you may need some FilterLincs. This is what I would do: I would put all other devices (computer, UPS, monitor, etc) on a power strip and then I would connect the power strip to the AC outlet via a FilterLinc. This way, all sources of noise (if any) are attenuated. I would put the PLM and Access Points on their dedicated power strip (WITHOUT a FilterLinc). Then, if you have any Plasma TVs, I would filter them out using FilterLincs as well. After you are done with adding Filters, then I do recommend doing some tests (Tools->Diagnostics->Scene Test) just to make sure the signals are coming back from your devices. For those that do not respond, compare the tables. I suspect that after going through this experiment, you will have a much better status reporting from all your devices. And, finally, if your PLM has link count of around 400, I do recommend getting a replacement PLM (followed up by File->Restore Modem ). With kind regards, Michel
to_lighter Posted February 25, 2009 Author Posted February 25, 2009 Hi again, First of all, I know how frustrating this can be especially after having gotten it to work properly and then back to square one. Now, based on what I read from your post, I think you may need some FilterLincs. This is what I would do: I would put all other devices (computer, UPS, monitor, etc) on a power strip and then I would connect the power strip to the AC outlet via a FilterLinc. This way, all sources of noise (if any) are attenuated. I would put the PLM and Access Points on their dedicated power strip (WITHOUT a FilterLinc). Then, if you have any Plasma TVs, I would filter them out using FilterLincs as well. After you are done with adding Filters, then I do recommend doing some tests (Tools->Diagnostics->Scene Test) just to make sure the signals are coming back from your devices. For those that do not respond, compare the tables. I suspect that after going through this experiment, you will have a much better status reporting from all your devices. And, finally, if your PLM has link count of around 400, I do recommend getting a replacement PLM (followed up by File->Restore Modem ). With kind regards, Michel Hi Michel, I tested my Access Points. 4 clicks on the one piggybacked to the PLM. One other Access Point had a steady bright glow, one was blinking, one was steady but it didn't look as bright. If I interpret this correctly, at least one AP is on a different phase than the AP attached to the PLM. I tried unplugging everything except the PLM with its AP in the server room. No difference. I'll try the scenes test, but I don't have much confidence that it will identify the problem. Cheers!
to_lighter Posted February 25, 2009 Author Posted February 25, 2009 Hi again, First of all, I know how frustrating this can be especially after having gotten it to work properly and then back to square one. Now, based on what I read from your post, I think you may need some FilterLincs. This is what I would do: I would put all other devices (computer, UPS, monitor, etc) on a power strip and then I would connect the power strip to the AC outlet via a FilterLinc. This way, all sources of noise (if any) are attenuated. I would put the PLM and Access Points on their dedicated power strip (WITHOUT a FilterLinc). Then, if you have any Plasma TVs, I would filter them out using FilterLincs as well. After you are done with adding Filters, then I do recommend doing some tests (Tools->Diagnostics->Scene Test) just to make sure the signals are coming back from your devices. For those that do not respond, compare the tables. I suspect that after going through this experiment, you will have a much better status reporting from all your devices. And, finally, if your PLM has link count of around 400, I do recommend getting a replacement PLM (followed up by File->Restore Modem ). With kind regards, Michel Interesting. I tried a scene test in one of the areas of the house that is having problems. One light that was not responding to the scene did turn off when I ran the scene test (all the lights in the room turned off, which I assume is what is supposed to happen with the scene test). That particular light, however, generated a communication error in the scene test log, and is now highlighted in my device list with an explanation mark. However, the "Compare" feature of the "Show Device Links" test has no errors. Any ideas? Cheers!
to_lighter Posted February 25, 2009 Author Posted February 25, 2009 Hi again, First of all, I know how frustrating this can be especially after having gotten it to work properly and then back to square one. Now, based on what I read from your post, I think you may need some FilterLincs. This is what I would do: I would put all other devices (computer, UPS, monitor, etc) on a power strip and then I would connect the power strip to the AC outlet via a FilterLinc. This way, all sources of noise (if any) are attenuated. I would put the PLM and Access Points on their dedicated power strip (WITHOUT a FilterLinc). Then, if you have any Plasma TVs, I would filter them out using FilterLincs as well. After you are done with adding Filters, then I do recommend doing some tests (Tools->Diagnostics->Scene Test) just to make sure the signals are coming back from your devices. For those that do not respond, compare the tables. I suspect that after going through this experiment, you will have a much better status reporting from all your devices. And, finally, if your PLM has link count of around 400, I do recommend getting a replacement PLM (followed up by File->Restore Modem ). With kind regards, Michel Interesting. I tried a scene test in one of the areas of the house that is having problems. One light that was not responding to the scene did turn off when I ran the scene test (all the lights in the room turned off, which I assume is what is supposed to happen with the scene test). That particular light, however, generated a communication error in the scene test log, and is now highlighted in my device list with an explanation mark. However, the "Compare" feature of the "Show Device Links" test has no errors. Any ideas? Cheers! I should mention that this problematic switch is only one of many, and happens to be the first that I tested. It responds to commands generated from within the web interface (ex. Fast On, Fast Off), and turns off with the Scene Test. However, clicking the button does not generate any events in the Event Log. Cheers!
Michel Kohanim Posted February 25, 2009 Posted February 25, 2009 Hi to_lighter, Your assumption is correct. It basically means that you are not bridging all the phases. Going back to FilterLincs, would you be amenable to trying some? With kind regards, Michel
to_lighter Posted February 25, 2009 Author Posted February 25, 2009 Hi Michel, I am a bit surprised by your answer. The AP on the main floor had a bright steady glow on testing with the AP on the PLM. Does that not mean that the PLM's AP and the main floor AP are on different phases? Cheers! Hi to_lighter, Your assumption is correct. It basically means that you are not bridging all the phases. Going back to FilterLincs, would you be amenable to trying some? With kind regards, Michel
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