Com Port Error !#@#@%#%#%#@

[Made2Rock]

I was going to be asking for help but instead I think I have help for others to pass on.

To start with this year has not even come close to going as planned. I had 3-4 weeks set aside to do setup and testing. Day 1 of setup I got the megatree frame up and some of the lights. Then came the call, they found a tennis ball size tumor in our granddaughters head. After 2 operations on her brain she is doing pretty good all things considered.

So here I was setup time gone, short on equipment to complete what was planned, cash was spending running off to florida. If it wasn't for having the megatree half setup I think we would have thrown in the towel but we didn't. We reworked the plan with the LEs I did have and we threw together some lights. Then it came

COM PORT ACCESS DENIED !@#$#%$%&&%*&*)&*()_((_

I was almost at the point of debugging the problem with a 9mm when as a last resort I changed for Vixen version 2.1.1 to 2.5.0.3. Now it has only been one 5 hour day it ran without problems but here is what I have learned and done.

1) Even with Vixen 2.5 DO NOT set the "second(s) of cross-fade between sequences" greater then 0 in the Program Management window. My last thing I did was to drop this time from 5 seconds down to 0 and it ran without an error

2)  Also in the Program Management window when you are setting up a program select the "Use program's plugin setup" option. I can not verify this is a must but have setting but everything I found indicates it is the right option to use IF YOU HAVE MORE THEN ONE SEQUENCE RUNNING. My test program has ran day after day with a single sequence repeating itself.

The error is fustrating to deal with and hopefully this will help someone else dealing with the problem.

Joe

[wbuehler]

I was going to be asking for help but instead I think I have help for others to pass on.

To start with this year has not even come close to going as planned. I had 3-4 weeks set aside to do setup and testing. Day 1 of setup I got the megatree frame up and some of the lights. Then came the call, they found a tennis ball size tumor in our granddaughters head. After 2 operations on her brain she is doing pretty good all things considered.

So here I was setup time gone, short on equipment to complete what was planned, cash was spending running off to florida. If it wasn't for having the megatree half setup I think we would have thrown in the towel but we didn't. We reworked the plan with the LEs I did have and we threw together some lights. Then it came

COM PORT ACCESS DENIED !@#$#%$%&&%*&*)&*()_((_

I was almost at the point of debugging the problem with a 9mm when as a last resort I changed for Vixen version 2.1.1 to 2.5.0.3. Now it has only been one 5 hour day it ran without problems but here is what I have learned and done.

1) Even with Vixen 2.5 DO NOT set the "second(s) of cross-fade between sequences" greater then 0 in the Program Management window. My last thing I did was to drop this time from 5 seconds down to 0 and it ran without an error

2)  Also in the Program Management window when you are setting up a program select the "Use program's plugin setup" option. I can not verify this is a must but have setting but everything I found indicates it is the right option to use IF YOU HAVE MORE THEN ONE SEQUENCE RUNNING. My test program has ran day after day with a single sequence repeating itself.

The error is fustrating to deal with and hopefully this will help someone else dealing with the problem.

Joe

I am happy to read that your granddaughter is doing OK.
Your solutions are 100% correct, these are the steps many have taken including myself to get the scheduler to run.  I still get the com port error but only have had it 3 times since thanksgiving.

Bill

[theavguy99]

I was pulling my hair out (what little I have now) several weeks ago on this issue as well.   What I have found is that the com error usually occurs if I have programs schedule to run back to back- that is if I have the show set to end at 10PM and the overnight program to start at 10PM as well.  It seems that the program scheduler can not gracefully handle transitioning from one running program to another.  What I found was that if I set the next program to start at the next 30 minute time slot, that all is fine, this just means that there's 30 min. of nothing happening.   Leaving a gap between programs has worked flawlessly for me now for several weeks.  I just can't think of a way to trick the scheduler into running programs closer than 30 min apart.

[knguyen916]

fyi - This is something you probably don't know, but you don't have to follow what is listed on the schedule for time. Just edit it to 10:01 and that way your second program will run starting at 10:01 instead of the given 30 minute interval. Ofcourse remember you need to account for BGS if your using fades between and BG music and fade betweens and the length of your first program.

To edit. Highlight, delete and retype in your time using the same format.

I was pulling my hair out (what little I have now) several weeks ago on this issue as well.   What I have found is that the com error usually occurs if I have programs schedule to run back to back- that is if I have the show set to end at 10PM and the overnight program to start at 10PM as well.  It seems that the program scheduler can not gracefully handle transitioning from one running program to another.  What I found was that if I set the next program to start at the next 30 minute time slot, that all is fine, this just means that there's 30 min. of nothing happening.   Leaving a gap between programs has worked flawlessly for me now for several weeks.  I just can't think of a way to trick the scheduler into running programs closer than 30 min apart.

[rcouto]

theavguy,

I believe I may have a solution to your problem.  Let's say your program runs for 15 minutes and you currently have it running till 9PM.
Note that it does not run till 9PM.  What Vixen does is that it actually runs your program for the last time at 9PM.  Therefore you should start your other program at about 9:16PM.  This will free up the the com port and will have your show properly continue.   (I have found that it is better to have 1-2 mins of downtime versus having the whole thing crashed due to this Com Port error.

I am no expert however this has been working for me.

Ricardo

[knguyen916]

This is actually no so true. It depends on how you setup your sequence. Let's say all your sequences are not in a profile and doesn't have any attached plugins to the sequence. Well in this scenario you can use the "User Program's plugin setup"

Now in another scenario, all the sequences in your program is not connected to a profile and each sequence does have an attached plugin. In this scenario you can then use "Use each sequence's plugin setup"

It just all depends how the user sets up their sequences. In profiles or not. The other scenario is the one you mentioned.

2)  Also in the Program Management window when you are setting up a program select the "Use program's plugin setup" option. I can not verify this is a must but have setting but everything I found indicates it is the right option to use IF YOU HAVE MORE THEN ONE SEQUENCE RUNNING. My test program has ran day after day with a single sequence repeating itself.

The error is fustrating to deal with and hopefully this will help someone else dealing with the problem.

Joe

[aERonAUtical96]

2)  Also in the Program Management window when you are setting up a program select the "Use program's plugin setup" option. I can not verify this is a must but have setting but everything I found indicates it is the right option to use IF YOU HAVE MORE THEN ONE SEQUENCE RUNNING. My test program has ran day after day with a single sequence repeating itself.

The error is fustrating to deal with and hopefully this will help someone else dealing with the problem.

Joe

I'm running my program using the sequences plug-ins, which in turn, are connected to a profile's plugin.  I ended up switchin from the profile's plugin to the sequence's plugin in the program due to the dreaded com port error when switching from a BGS to the start of the program.  On a suggestion from either a post here on doityourselfchristmas.com, I added a blank sequence of 5 sec to the start of my program with no attached plugins.  That appears to provide enough time for the BGS to release the com port and the start of the 2nd sequence (first sequence using the com port).  Since I've done that, no issues... knock on wood