INTERACT FORUM
Devices => Engen -- Home Automation with Z-Wave => Topic started by: stevemac on September 14, 2016, 08:15:40 am
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Hi,
Background - have been offline for about 6 weeks due to relocation. Telco is yet to install cabling to house so accessing internet via 4G device tethered to the PC (Win 10) via USB.
Attempted to resume using zwave and Engen today & ran into some problems. The issue is the ZTE 4G wifi hotspot (model MF91) connected to the same PC as the zwave stick. They don't appear to co-exist very well
Symptoms
- Unable to open webpage to Engen (localhost:52125)
- Engen client terminal window did not show any devices
- therefore unable to control devices via Engen / Panel
Investigation
- Found Engen logs and noticed entries along the lines of Cannot open COM4: could not open port 'COM4': WindowsError(2, 'The system cannot find the file specified.')
- Opened IMA tools and Zwave key is now on Com 6. It used to be on Com 4. Initially unsure why it changed
- Unable to determine how to make Engen use another Port
- Updated USB device settings so different Serial ports were allocated. Zwave stick changed to be Port 4. Moved ZTE device to other ports. Rebooted
- IMA tools confirmed Zwave device now on Port 4, but symptoms persist
- Reviewed Engen logs further and found the following
2016-09-14 13:07:13: main:The zdriver failed to initialize: '('Multiple devices found: %s', ['COM4', 'COM5'])'. Aborting...
2016-09-14 13:07:13: main:Leaving start_from_service
..
2016-09-14 22:38:07: main:The zdriver failed to initialize: '('Multiple devices found: %s', ['COM4', 'COM7', 'COM8'])'. Aborting...
2016-09-14 22:38:07: main:Leaving start_from_service
- The device using the other comm ports is the 4G device tethered via USB. This device was not connected to the PC when engen was working X weeks ago
Solution
- Disconnected 4G device. Restarted Engen. All working. Can control devices OK
Any thoughts on how to get the ZTE device and the zwave stick to coexist? Not going to have cable internet for another 6+ weeks
thx,
Steve
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The Z Stick needs a powered USB port and it's possible that the other device is affecting that. I don't know what else it could be.
Make sure it's plugged into a port on the computer, not into a hub.
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hi Jim,
Both the Zstick and the ZTE device are on powered ports. I'll move the ZTE device to another USB host & connect via powered hub to see if that makes a difference
With some further testing it appears
- Engen works OK if the ZTE device is disconnected at boot.
- If the ZTE device is reconnected after boot and after Engen has identified the Z stick, Engen continues to work
This provides a workaround for me.
Suggest Engen cannot identify which device / Com port is the Z stick & aborts or it thinks each device is a Z wave controller and aborts as there cannot be more than one
regards,
Steve
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Hi Jim,
I'm in the same boat as Steve. I just bought a Z-Stick and like Steve IMA tools shows it as COM12 yet the logs show
2016-09-22 14:03:00: main:The zdriver failed to initialize: '('Multiple devices found: %s', ['COM4', 'COM5', 'COM6', 'COM8', 'COM12'])'. Aborting...
2016-09-22 14:03:00: main:Leaving start_from_service
This then causes the web interface not to start and I get "localhost refused to connect."
Is there any way to set the COM port in a config file or registry key somewhere?
John
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Not that I know about. Is it plugged into a port on the computer (not a hub)? The port needs power. Not all USB ports have power.
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Yes it is plugged into a USB port directly on my desktop which has power.
When you say not all USB ports have power, that means the port is outwith the specifications. USB 1.1/2.0 ports must be able to provide 500mA whereas USB 3.0 provides 900mA for normal devices. Some USB 3.0 ports can also detect if a phone is connected and supply 1,500mA for charging.
I know that there are bus powered USB hubs out there that don't supply the min 500mA but in my case my Z-Stick is powered directly from my desktop using a USB 3.0 port.
I've just tried the latest .30 build and get the same error.
John
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The server software on Windows is currently failing if it finds more than one openable COM port above COM3. We need to fix this by possibly querying each device and use the first one that talks like a Z-Stick. We could also provide a last ditch work-around where the user could enter the correct Z-Stick COM port number using an option selection on the right-click menu. We'll try to get this fixed ASAP. Thanks!
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In the meantime, you might try removing any USB devices that you can.
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The problem is that we are having trouble guessing which of the available serial devices to use. It is done a little differently on Windows than on Mac and Linux. On Windows, we check all the serial devices from COM4 to COM30. If there is only one serial device in that range, we use that device. Otherwise we rely on a command parameter to tell us which device to use.
We are working on the problem, and plan to discover the correct device as follows:
(1) The user will be able to manually specify the correct device(s).
(2) If not specified, we will open all the candidate devices, one by one, looking for a UZB.
(3) When we find a UZB, we will store that information and try that device first, the next time Engen is started.
As a short term fix, we will release a new version that just uses the last device found. The build should be available later today.
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That change is now available:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,107242.0.html
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The final implementation is a little different that what I posted yesterday. Here is what it does:
- If only one serial device is present in the range COM4 to COM30, that device is used without first checking if it is a UZB.
- If two or more devices are present, all of them are opened, and a test is made to see which of them are UZBs.
- If precisely one of the devices is a UZB, that UZB is used.
- If two or more of the devices are UZBs, Engen exits with an error message.
- In any case, if no UZBs exist in the range COM4 to COM30, Engen exits with an error message.
Once Engen is started with a UZB, that same UZB can be removed and then replaced. It's strongly recommend you do not use this feature to replace one UZB with a different one. Changing the UZB will certainly mess up your database, and may have other ill effects as well.
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Hi,
I installed version 1.0.31 on my Surface 4 Pro tablet to do some testing and installed my Z-Stick. Initially it setup as COM1 UZB and Engen reported no serial device.
(http://pixienet.myzen.co.uk/jriver/UZB.PNG)
I then changed the COM port to COM4 after reading the latest notes, rebooted and still get the same error. No other COM ports are on my Surface.
Any ideas guy's.
John
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Did you try removing the device from the Device Manager and letting Windows find it again?
If it finds the Z Stick but doesn't work, try rebooting and restarting.
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Yes, and it still wont see the device.
John
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I ran into a similar problem at home at one point. For one thing, I think we should scan ALL ports including 1,2,3. But there still seems to be a problem with previously used UZB ports not getting cleared out it seems.
When you go into Device Manager / Port Settings / Advanced and expand the "COM Port Number" drop box, does it show any other ports above COM4 that have a "in use" status? This is what I saw on my system. I think I did a registry hack to clear the "in use" status and rebooted to fix the problem.
We'll do some checking today to see if we can come up with a solution. In the meantime, you might try using different USB ports, rebooting in between. If you have the white Gen5 Z-Stick, it should flash alternating colors (blue,yellow,red) while it's working. When I was having the problem, it was not doing this.