HomeWorks Interactive Upload Issue (RF)

I have a client that has a 2 RF processor system installed around 2002 and has been running flawlessly (house is about 6,000 sq feet). I provided some minor programming changes in the 10/2013 time frame and they were fine. System is maintained using HomeWorks 5.4903

On Friday I went over to do a few minor programming changes and during the upload, "proc2.dat" failed to transfer to the processor. I had to power cycle the processors to get the system back online (luckily nothing transferred so it still had the original upload).

I "know" the processor(s) are OK since all of the loads/programming function properly and the during the upload, the OS rev check passed for both processors. I powered cycled the processors, rebooted my laptop, restarted HomeWorks, changed upload ports, tried different baud rates, etc...no luck.

I called into Tech Support and after going through the list of stuff I tried, the tech support guy noticed that the latest version of HomeWorks is 5.4905 and the release notes have an entry about a change that went in to 5.4904 about an issue concerning uploads via rs232 and suggested that I retry the upload using 5.4905.

While that does make sense, I am worried that if the upload failure is "something else", I could get a failure uploading the new firmware and/or the new project would fail to load, rendering the processor(s) unusable to the point that I would have to replace them with a P5 processor (Illumination) which is a conversation I really don't want to have with my client.

Anyone have any words of wisdom here?

thanks

anyone have any insights on this? thanks!

We would recommend connecting to the second processor in the job and attempt to upload from it. If you are still having issues with an upload, you would need to ugrade the system to the latest 5.4905.

We would recommend you create a new project file with 1 processor and save it to your desktop. Use this project file to connect to each processor separately (removing pin 2) and upgrading them. After this is done, connect them together and re-upload the project file.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Armando B.

We would recommend connecting to the second processor in the job and attempt to upload from it. If you are still having issues with an upload, you would need to ugrade the system to the latest 5.4905.

We would recommend you create a new project file with 1 processor and save it to your desktop. Use this project file to connect to each processor separately (removing pin 2) and upgrading them. After this is done, connect them together and re-upload the project file.

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thank you!

upgraded to 5.4905 and still can not upload the project. I am able to download the currently running project so I know my comms are fine. "osrev" and "devinfo" is able to grab data from both processors. I sent the project in to the Mother Ship and they came and said it was OK.

What about forcing an OS upload? I'm just worried that I'll be stuck with a lighting system that won't work.

At this time we would recommend calling our technical support at 1-800-523-9466 while on site to work with you to further troubleshoot the issues with uploading to this system.

problem solved...here's the deal...

for years I have been supporting my clients using a MacBook Pro using VMWare's Fusion product. To go from USB to serial, I have a KeySpan USA-19HS and have both Windows XP and Windows 7 running under their own virtual machine and not once have I had any problems; my MacBook Pro has gone from Snow Leopard to Lion and Fusion from 4.x to 5.x.


A few months ago, I upgraded my MacBook to Mavericks and also to Fusion 6.x which was after the last time I updated this client. I dug up an old laptop which has a "real" serial port and runs Windows XP and the upload from that machine succeeded.


looking at the support forums for Fusion, it looks like there are some open issues with USB devices so my guess that is what bit me..so until that gets fixed, I'll just use my old laptop for now


thanks for the help, sorry about the false alarm