After "Restore Device" Old PLM Link Still There

[MuchHat]

Hello,

 

I have just replaced my PLM and I cannot get rid of the old PLM links in most of the devices.

 

I tried multiple times "restore device" followed by "write links to devices" however when looking at the links list and comparing with the ISY list I can still see the ID of the old PLM.

 

I have 31 devices and factory resetting each of them is not going to be a practical option.

 

Is there any other method to have ISY delete all old links?

 

Also I noticed when I do a "Query All" (that is left click on "My Lighting") only a subset of those 31 get queried.

With the previous PLM I used to see on the eventlog all devices being queries.

The "Show PLM Links" on the other end shows a correct list.

 

Thank you,

 

MuchHat

I

[Brian H]

After you changed the PLM. Did you do a restore PLM?

At boot up the ISY controller should have detected the new PLMs ID and then the restore PLM should have fixed the Link Database IDs

 

If you changed the PLM and did not restart your ISY controller. It may still think it is using the old PLMs ID numbers in the devices it is linked to.

[MuchHat]

Hello,

 

Thank you for chiming in.

 

Yes I did a delete PLM followed by a restore PLM and I did a reboot. I did not unplug it from the wall, but I did reboot from the admin interface.

 

Some of devices have just the link of the new PLM while some others have both the link of the old PLM and the link to new PLM.

The "restore device" on those does not seem to clear the old PLM link. I'm wondering what causes it to hang onto those old links and how I force them out.

 

MuchHat

[Brian H]

You should not have done the delete PLM.

That removes all the references to the PLM in every device linked to it and also the scenes if memory serves me.

 

The restore PLM after the ISY controller detects the new PLM. Would go to each device and charge their link records for the new PLM and also change the PLM references in your programs and scenes.

 

Do you have a recent back up of your system?

[LeeG]

The only recovery after deleting the PLM is to restore a current ISY backup which was taken before the PLM was deleted. Then run a Restore Modem (PLM) with the new PLM installed and the ISY rebooted so it knows the new PLM Insteon address.

 

A PLM should NEVER be deleted as it deactivates all link records that have a PLM reference (as Brian has already covered). The Delete PLM is used by professional installers who are going to physically remove the PLM from the installation.

[MuchHat]

You folks are right - the mistake was deleting the PLM. I notice if I create a new scene and add the device to it will recreated a link to the new PLM and clean the old one. I suppose I can create a bunch of new scenes that way then delete them.

 

I have plenty of backups - including one taken right before the "delete PLM". Unfortunately none of them want to restore. I get an "Upgrade Failed.Null Java Pointer Exception" or such.

 

Any suggestions of what might cause now the restore error? The firmware's they match (3.3.9).

Or other options to restore the PLM?

 

MuchHat

[LeeG]

If the old PLM link records are being overlaid with new Scene links they are inactive and make no difference. I would expect them to start with 02, 22, or 62. Those are inactive (deleted) link records and need no corrective action. The problem is ISY adds links to every device it adds to the ISY which are not user Scenes. These are needed so the ISY is aware of device state changes. These can only be restored with a Restore Device using an ISY backup taken before the old PLM was deleted or Delete the device and add it back from scratch.

 

What ISY function are you using when the null pointer exception occurs?

 

Were these backups taken on 3.3.9 or some earlier image before the upgrade to 3.3.9?

[MuchHat]

The backups were taken with 3.3.9.

 

The failure happens at the very end at 100% restore. I tried with 5 different backups taken before the "delete plm"

For some reasons all backups are failing now. I just did a test backup 2 minutes ago and tried to restore right away and that one failed with the same error.

 

The more exact error is java.lang.nullpointerexception.

 

This is how the records show:

 

In the ISY links table:

3: 0FE0 : A2 1D 21.31.AD FF 1F 01

4: 0FD8 : 00 00 00.00.00 00 00 00

 

In the device links table

3: 0FE0 : A2 1D 21.31.AD FF 1F 01

4: 0FD8 : 00 01 19.71.C3 FF 1F 01

 

The one highlighted in yellow is the new PLM address. The one in green is the old PLM.

The last record in there shows as "record mismatch" when comparing.

The device works and communicates with ISY but there is the old link in there.

 

Does that extra link in there matters? This is happening only for some of the devices.

I assume a factory reset of the ISY might help, followed by pre-delete PLM restore?

 

MuchHat

[LeeG]

The record in Green is fine. It starts with a 00 which is the End Of List record. The information beyond the 00 in the Flag byte marking the End of List of active/inactive records is not used. When the device encounters the 00 End of List record it stops searching for matching link records.

 

The End of List record is tagged as a mismatch because the ISY does not store an actual End Of List record in the ISY database. It would be a waste of 8 bytes. Instead the ISY generates a dummy End of List record in the ISY Links Table display of all 00's. The all 00's does not physically match the device End of List record in the last 7 non-functional bytes. Normally the ISY will also tag that link record as ignored.

 

Click Help | About and verify the Firmware and UI lines match 3.3.9 if that is what you have installed.

 

What OS are you using and what level Java?

 

DO NOT factory reset the ISY. It will not correct any of this.

[MuchHat]

Hello,

 

Thank you again for helping with this.

The version information is the following:

 

Firmware -- Insteon_UD994 v.3.3.9 (2013_01-13-19.29.06)

UI -- Insteon_UD994 v.3.3.9 (2013_01-13-19.29.06)

Product -- ISY 994i/IR PRO (1110)

Internet Access -- Disabled

 

Java -- Version 7 Update 10 (build 1.7.0_10-b18)

 

I'm running Windows 8. I did not get a chance yesterday but I'll try the same from the Mac to see if that makes a difference.

The backups were taken with 3.3.9 (they all have 3.3.9 in the file name).

I just tried a reset (not factory, just power cycling) and tried another restore with the same error.

Also I just took a backup right now and tried a restore with the same error.

 

That error comes up at the very end of the restore. It seems to be the files get copied over OK to the ISY and when it starts parsing thru the text probably it runs across some content (ID etc) it did not like (or expects) and throws the nullpointer exception and abandons the whole thing.

Is there an option to to edit the backup file or restore only parts of it at the time to potentially find what might upset the restore procedure?

 

MuchHat

[LeeG]

No option that I am aware of to dissect the backup file. There is a Java 7 11 update. Do not know if that is related but Java 7 10 has security holes that should be corrected immediately.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi MuchHat,

 

Time to call our tech support again!

 

LeeG, thanks SO very much.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[MuchHat]

This is fixed now. I kept trying the restore and it went thru successfully eventually. I'm not sure what caused it to fail previously.

 

Once I was able to restore the backup (taken before I did the delete PLM) I just did a restore PLM and the links are now all fixed. I went a did a "diff" on all devices and they look good.

 

The learning is : do not ever use "delete PLM" just use "restore PLM"

 

Thank you all again for the help.

 

MuchHat