Hub (?) Problems - Help with Troubleshooting appreciated! *SOLVED*

[lorajoslyn]

I'm struggling with outputs from 1 hub within my display.  Receives some signals, but generally not responsive.   Everything was working well until we had an ice storm come through.  No water in the boxes, and the smart string pipes were dry for the elements attached. 

My display:
   Hub 1 & 2 - Runs mega tree
   Hub 3 - runs windows and arches
   Hub 4 - runs dumb strings

Cat 5 runs   Etherdongle--> Hub 1 --> Hub 2 --> Hub 3 --> Hub 4
Hub 3 is the one giving me problems.  Note:  Hub 4 seems to run without problems

Checked the cat 5 from Hub 2 - Hub 3 - good connection, but ran a new cable just in case - no change.
Swapped Hub 3 with Hub 4 (thinking there was something wrong with the hub) - no change   
Swapped Hub 2 with Hub 4 (thinking that maybe the output connection might be bad) - no change
I'm running the same load as on Hub 1& 2, with the same power supplies (so shouldn't be overloaded)
I'm using the LSP scheduler to output lights.

I'm running out of ideas of what to check.  Any thoughts?

[jnealand]

What type of hubs are they?  Active, 16 port passive, 4 port passive?
Did hub 3 ever work ok?
Have you swapped hubs to see if the problem follows the physical hub?
Are all the lights pixelnet or do you have some DMX in the mix?

[lorajoslyn]

Hubs 1-3 are active, 4 is passive (all 16 port)
Using DMX off Hubs 1&2, without problems
I did swap around hubs (see description below).

[tbone321]

What universes are they working with?

[lorajoslyn]

I have each hub on its own universe, with the first 100 channels reserved for DMX.  Though don't have any dmx signals on Hub 3 or 4.

[tbone321]

The problem appears to be with either your cableing or perhaps the dongle.  It could also be with the nodes on that hub.  One trick would be to change hub 3 to another universe but leave it in place and run a sequence.  What you will be looking for is if the nodes respond.  Sure, things may look funny and that's ok and expected.  All we want to see is if the nodes are working.  If so, then the issue is reduced to the wiring or the dongle.  You could always reboot the dongle as that caught someone yesterday and rebooting the ETD cleared it up. 

[lorajoslyn]

Just figured out the problem.  No hub issues, no etherdongle issues...

Just contractor isssues, ha!  I have a contractor adding a gas line for a furnace in our garage.  They must have accidentally hit one of the in-line connections I had.  Unplugged and re-plugged the pass-through connector and VOILA!  Working arches!  Yay!