ISY994i Issues

[Valveman]

I have the subject controller (firmware 5.0.16C and UI 5.0.16) that is having issues:

1.  When I first start the administrative console, the ISY can never be found.  I enter the URL in the pop-up window, and then the ISY can be found until I restart the computer.  Then, the ISY cannot be found again.  The ISY finder writes a file, which I save to the starting folder specified in the desktop shortcut for the administrative console.  There are several of these files in that folder, but that doesn't seem to make any difference.

2. When the administrative console starts, I get error messages that the ISY cannot communicate with most or all of the devices on the system.  However, I can turn the devices ON/OFF using the administrative console.

3. If I try to "Heal the Zwave network", most of the operations fail.

4.  The programs work most, but not all, of the time.  Frequently, lights will not turn ON, but if I turn them ON manually, the ISY will turn them OFF later in the evening at the prescribed time.

I have tried clearing the java cache, but that does not appear to help.

I would appreciate any suggestions to make this system work better.  I have been considering an upgrade, but am reluctant because this system is working so poorly.

 

[DennisC]

1 hour ago, Valveman said:

I have the subject controller (firmware 5.0.16C and UI 5.0.16) that is having issues:

1.  When I first start the administrative console, the ISY can never be found.  I enter the URL in the pop-up window, and then the ISY can be found until I restart the computer.  Then, the ISY cannot be found again.  The ISY finder writes a file, which I save to the starting folder specified in the desktop shortcut for the administrative console.  There are several of these files in that folder, but that doesn't seem to make any difference.

2. When the administrative console starts, I get error messages that the ISY cannot communicate with most or all of the devices on the system.  However, I can turn the devices ON/OFF using the administrative console.

3. If I try to "Heal the Zwave network", most of the operations fail.

4.  The programs work most, but not all, of the time.  Frequently, lights will not turn ON, but if I turn them ON manually, the ISY will turn them OFF later in the evening at the prescribed time.

I have tried clearing the java cache, but that does not appear to help.

I would appreciate any suggestions to make this system work better.  I have been considering an upgrade, but am reluctant because this system is working so poorly.

 

Are you using Insteon or are you all ZWave? Please explain your setup and the type of devices you have. Is your ZWave using the series 300 dongle? If so, you are on the highest firmware version your system supports.

Open the event viewer, set to level 3 and operate some devices that give you trouble, what is in the event viewer?

Sounds like you might have a communication interference, but there is not enough information provided.

Let's make sure you are attempting to access your ISY using the Launcher. Please follow these directions:

https://wiki.universal-devices.com/index.php?title=Main_Page#Installing_the_Admin_Console_Icon_on_Your_Desktop

 

[Geddy]

23 hours ago, Valveman said:

firmware 5.0.16C and UI 5.0.16

You need to fix this.  FW/UI must match.  Clear Java cache the download new start.jnlp (IoX Launcher).  Matching should clear up issues 2 & 4 
 

23 hours ago, Valveman said:

When I first start the administrative console, the ISY can never be found.

What OS computer are you using? Win, mac, other? You might need to delete ud*.state files. There is a portion of the wiki about deleting those. Might fix issue 1.

 

 

[Valveman]

Thank you for the responses.  I am running Linux (kernel 6.2.14).  My ISY setup is all Zwave, all lighting with the exception of 2 shade controllers.  Not sure about the model number of the Zwave dongle.  When I got the ISY, the dongle was already installed, so never looked at it to determine the model number.

When I first got the ISY, everything worked very well.  When I first got the ISY, javaws was included as part of the Linux distribution.  Since then, javaws is no longer open source, so is no longer included in the distribution.  I use icedtea-web instead because this is available open source.  Best that I can tell, icedtea-web is set up properly.  Not sure if this could be part of the problem.

I will follow the suggestions above to see if they help.  Thank you for the input.

[Valveman]

I downloaded and ran start.jnlp.  The IoX finder launched and I had to enter the URL for my ISY.  I entered the URL and the ISY was found.  When I then selected the ISY, I got 2 choices (Admin Console (LAN) and Admin Console (Cloud)).  I selected the first as the ISY is connected to the router via Ethernet  but is not on the internet.  Then, nothing happened.  Following this, the ISY would not operate any of my devices programmatically.

I switched back and ran the original admin.jnlp.  Nothing there was changed.  I still have to enter the URL into the ISY finder, and I can operate all of the devices manually in the Administrative Console, but I get error messages saying that the ISY cannot communicate with any of them.

I also did as DennisC suggested, and turned on the event viewer, set to Level 3, then lowered one of my shades (node 19).  The results in the event viewer are attached.  According to the event viewer, the operation failed, but the shade in actuality was lowered.

Your comments will be appreciated.

Errors.txt

[MrBill]

1 hour ago, Valveman said:

I switched back and ran the original admin.jnlp

With the IoX launcher downloads the correct version of the admin console each times its run.  Choosing LAN should download it from the ISY itself, however security/firewall/etc may get in your way.  Choosing Cloud gets it from a UD server (hosted at aws), generally choosing cloud is faster, especially when using a 994 because the 994 must encrypt to file before it's sent to the browser and the 994 doesn't have a fast processor.

admin.jnlp can be downloaded directly from the ISY at http://IP.OF.THE.ISY/admin.jnlp Keep in mind there is no version control with this method.  In other words anytime the firmware version is changed, you must remember to delete the old admin.jnlp and download a new admin.jnlp    Use Help > About to determine if you have matched versions or not.

[DennisC]

Reboot ISY and try again, clearing Java cache and downloading a new start.jnlp.

[MrBill]

I just re-read from the top of the thread and wonder what java you are using?  The admin console is written/optimized for use with Java 8 from https://www.java.com there is a linux version available.  You don't need anything fancy like the SDK or other specialized versions.

Other flavors of Java will likely work, however you will likely have to mess with the environment etc to get things to work perfectly.... unless you're an elite java junkie or have other reasons I'd stick with Java 8.

[Valveman]

Mr. Bill -- When I enter:

java --version

I get:

java 15.0.2 2021-01-19
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 15.0.2+7-27)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 15.0.2+7-27, mixed mode, sharing)

 

[MrBill]

1 hour ago, Valveman said:

Mr. Bill -- When I enter:

java --version

I get:

java 15.0.2 2021-01-19
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 15.0.2+7-27)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 15.0.2+7-27, mixed mode, sharing)

 

That doesn't look like Java 8 to me.  might be a way to make it work, but you need a java magician. 

[Valveman]

Mr. Bill

I don't know anything about Java.  According to the information on java.com, the current version is Java 20.  Java 8 is no longer available to me, as far as I know.

[kzboray]

@Valveman Here is the link to the Java you should use with IoX.

https://www.java.com/download/ie_manual.jsp

 

You will need to first remove the existing Java 20 version for this to work properly.

[MrBill]

12 hours ago, Valveman said:

According to the information on java.com, the current version is Java 20.

I see no information about java 20 on https://www.java.com are you certain you're on the correct site?

this link has the manual installs which include the linux version (scroll down) https://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

As @kzboray point out you need to remove your existing java first.

12 hours ago, Valveman said:

I don't know anything about Java

the prerequisite here is knowing enough about whatever flavor of linux you're running to uninstall the incorrect version of java and install the correct version.

[Valveman]

Thank you for the responses Mr. Bill and kzboray.  I will attempt to install the Java Version 8.  Thanks again.

[Valveman]

I uninstalled the JAVA in the Linux OS that I use, then installed the JAVA in the link from kzboray and corrected the JAVA_HOME environment variable.

When I run the IoX launcher, the software now finds the ISY, which it would not do previously.  However, I still get error messages from the ISY saying that the ISY cannot communicate with most of the devices on the system, even though the controller turns most of them on and off programmatically.

Your comments will be appreciated.

[Geddy]

@Valveman when next in Admin Console please confirm UI and Firmware match. That can be found in the menu option Help -> About 

In your first post you did not match. Need to confirm you do now that you've fixed your Java issue.

Do you have access to any Windows computer to attempt to connect to the ISY with IoX Launcher? 

 

[Valveman]

Thank you for the response, Geddy.  Since running IoX, the Firmware Version and UI match (see attached screenshot).  I tried running a Zwave Heal operation, but as before the operations mostly fail.

No Windows computers here.

Oddly, this system worked perfectly when first installed (4 or 5 years ago).  Over the years, performance has slowly degraded.  I have resisted doing a factory reset of the ISY and starting over, but I;m afraid that is my only option.

[Valveman]

I performed a factory reset of the ISY.  Then I added 4 devices (wall switches) to the Zwave network.  I was not getting any "cannot communicate with device xx" errors, and I was able to turn the lights on and off manually using the Administrative Console.  I recreated programs for the lights, saved everything and shut down the computer.  The programs subsequently ran correctly.  Problem solved, I thought.  However, when I restarted the computer and opened the Administrative Console, I got the "cannot communicate with device" errors again, but I could turn the lights on and off.  Same problem as before.  I cleared the java cache and restarted the computer, but running the Administrative Console again produced the "cannot communicate..." errors.  I have deleted all of the ud*.state files, but that did not help either.

Your comments will be appreciated.

[DennisC]

I wonder if the ZWave board is starting to fail.

At this point, I would normally say open a support ticket with UD and they will get to the bottom of it. However, free support for the ISY994 has ended. All that is available now is paid support and that is for a limited time period. If a new ZWave board is necessary, new parts are not available, you would be forced to source a used one.

It might be time to start thinking about upgrading to eisy.

[Valveman]

Thank you for the comments DennisC.  I have been wondering if the electronics might be failing, but hoped that was not the case.

I have been considering the upgrade to eisy.  I read on the web site somewhere that the eisy still requires java web start for the administrative console.  This is a real problem for Linux users, because javaws is no longer included in most Linux distributions due to licensing issues.  I was hoping to get away from the java issues by upgrading, but that is apparently not possible.

Thanks again for your comments, DennisC.  I really like the ISY because of the ease of programming, but javaws is a never ending problem for me.  Looks like I have a decision to make.

[DennisC]

If it helps any, UD Mobile can handle most of the day to day needs with eisy. It can also let you do most of the programing and more functionality is added regularly.

[Valveman]

OK.  Thank you.  I will keep that in mind as I figure out what to do.