Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Latest HomeTroller Zee Acting Up, Warped 8GB SD Card

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Latest HomeTroller Zee Acting Up, Warped 8GB SD Card

    So I ordered a HomeTroller Zee, ACT TI103 X10 Controller and TrendNet USB to Serial Converter about 3 weeks ago to convert another customer from their old way of controlling their X10 devices to the new sleek way of doing it and having access to control it remotely. I did all the prep work in my office and tested it for 5 days to make sure everything was running smoothly. Yesterday I went to my customer's home to install and that's when all hell broke loose.

    First off I noticed that The Hometroller Zee was running VERY laggy!! Thought maybe it's due to the 40 X10 devices or perhaps the customer's computer tech still didn't open up the ports on the Business Class Cisco Router. Some of the devices would turn on, but wouldn't turn off. Nor would any other devices respond. The lag increased, so I shutdown and powered back up. Each time the problem got worse and worse. Then the HomeTroller Zee wouldn't respond. Main device page just sat there "Page Refreshing" So, after 4 pain staking hours, I called it quit! At least their IT guy got my requested ports opened.

    So after cursing the whole way back to my office, I powered up it back at my office. Got "Page Refreshing" and then nothing, page can't be displayed. Fed up with it, I brought it home to work on it. "Dedicated ain't I?" LOL..

    Spent 5 more hours researching and powered up my backup Hometroller Zee and configured it with the same ACT TI103 and USB Serial converter. Preformed the latest update and worked fine. No lag what so ever. So shutdown my test unit and disconnected it. I then remembered, I had a backup Transcend SD HC 4GB card from the last hiccup earlier this year with the same setup. Plug it in and the HomeTroller Zee started right up. Granted I need to call in the morning and have them release the old S/N so I can register the unit.

    Now, this is what gets interesting. After inspecting the old SD card which is a Transcend SD HC 8GB card, I noticed that card is warped/bent in the middle by the contacts. After researching this problem, I came across other Raspberry PI users complaining about this and how their PI's were acting. They were using Transcend cards.

    I'll take a pic and post the article with my phone.

    #2
    Latest HomeTroller Zee Acting Up, Warped 8GB SD Card

    Here are some pics and the article.



    http://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/vi...39843&p=327342


    Another article
    Last edited by computerjohn; August 14, 2014, 12:42 AM. Reason: forgot pic

    Comment


      #3
      Interesting. In guessing the heat made it warp?

      Sent from my SCH-R970X using Tapatalk
      HS4Pro on a Raspberry Pi4
      54 Z-Wave Nodes / 21 Zigbee Devices / 108 Events / 767 Devices
      Plugins: Z-Wave / Zigbee Plus / EasyTrigger / AK Weather / OMNI

      HSTouch Clients: 1 Android

      Comment


        #4
        Not too sure if it's the heat, the pins are pushing too hard, or the plastic on the cards are flimsy. I haven't seen this on any of the Transcend 4GB cards and I have inspected 3 of them. I need to get in touch with John in Tech support this morning.

        Comment


          #5
          Keep us posted if you dont mind.
          HS4Pro on a Raspberry Pi4
          54 Z-Wave Nodes / 21 Zigbee Devices / 108 Events / 767 Devices
          Plugins: Z-Wave / Zigbee Plus / EasyTrigger / AK Weather / OMNI

          HSTouch Clients: 1 Android

          Comment


            #6
            Here I have had the Zee off for a period of time (30 days). It was on 24/7 for months.

            Originally I imaged a copy of the original SD card to a 16Gb SD card.

            I booted it yesterday and noticed that it wasn't going into HS3. I could still SSH to it so I looked at the kernel log messages as it was booting. It appears now that the fat boot partition is corrupted and the OS partition is corrupt. I ran GParted on it and the OS partition appears to be OK but the boot fat partition is corrupt.

            It was hanging when booting HS3. Checked and mono is fine. Not sure why its hanging other that maybe the SD card is messed up some.

            I did a regular shut down of the device when I took it off line over a month ago.

            Physically the SD card looks fine (it was originally brand new). Best guess right now is that the constant RW's trashed the SD card.

            I cannot really put the finger on any specifics other than it doesn't start HS3. Testing it some more I killed the mono process and attempted to start HS3 manually (mono hs3) and it hangs or doesn't do anything in the terminal window for some 15 minutes.

            Guessing its really just the physical media.

            I did and didn't pay attention relating to this may be cropping up issue (well I have though had the same issues with the Seagate Dockstar stuff); that said I am a pragmatist and really wanted to see it myself.

            To test this I will copy over the Zee HS3 directory to a working Linux box and test running it again. My guess is that it will run fine.

            Well; copying the HS3 directory quits working erroring out reading some of the files. I may use a backup of the HS3 directory instead.

            I also have backups of the backups that I can try. Here is the log of just an attempt to copy an older directory.

            Error listing directory '/usr/local/HomeSeer-V80-04292013/html/Z-Wave/Help/images'.
            Error calculating size of directory '/usr/local/HomeSeer-V80-04292013/html/Z-Wave/Help/images/'.
            Error calculating size of directory '/usr/local/HomeSeer-V80-04292013/html/Z-Wave/Help/'.
            Error calculating size of directory '/usr/local/HomeSeer-V80-04292013/html/Z-Wave/'.
            Error calculating size of directory '/usr/local/HomeSeer-V80-04292013/html/'.
            Error calculating size of directory '/usr/local/HomeSeer-V80-04292013/'.
            Last edited by Pete; August 14, 2014, 09:24 AM.
            - Pete

            Auto mator
            Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
            Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
            HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

            HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
            HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

            X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

            Comment


              #7
              All,

              Somewhat off topic, but relevant to others wanting to look at their SD card.

              I wanted to make a copy of my SD card (didn't realize it was in there on the Zee). I plan to use DD or similar. To access the card, do I just need to take the 4(?) screws out and open the case?

              If not, what is the best way to get access to the card, so I can make an image of the Zee as it is right now (working quite well...{knock on wood}).

              Thanks!

              --Dan
              Tasker, to a person who does Homeautomation...is like walking up to a Crack Treatment facility with a truck full of 3lb bags of crack. Then for each person that walks in and out smack them in the face with an open bag.

              Comment


                #8
                There is just a little plastic cover on it.

                Take apart the case and remove the cover to leave the SD card exposed.

                Yup; here when I went to the 16Gb card just made copies of the HS3 directories. I still have the original 4Gb card (not touched).

                With my Joggler playing / Ubuntu; I am using 16GB SSD ZIF cards and have lost one out of about 20 these days; and I think I messed up the one that got corrupted.

                @Dan BTW; when you image the card (well before you do it); run GParted check disk on it; curious what you see.
                - Pete

                Auto mator
                Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
                Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
                HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

                HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
                HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

                X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

                Comment


                  #9
                  Definitely remove the card and image it. I actually purchased a couple of extra cards to have on hand. I keep an original zee image on hand and make regular backups of the HS filesystem.

                  Sent from my SCH-R970X using Tapatalk
                  HS4Pro on a Raspberry Pi4
                  54 Z-Wave Nodes / 21 Zigbee Devices / 108 Events / 767 Devices
                  Plugins: Z-Wave / Zigbee Plus / EasyTrigger / AK Weather / OMNI

                  HSTouch Clients: 1 Android

                  Comment


                    #10
                    thanks both!

                    The next thing I am going to do, is setup a script on my HS server to run something like this:
                    https://www.linode.com/docs/migrate-...image-over-ssh

                    Where over SSH, I can just dump the entire "machine" every night. Do a weekly rotating thing like what HS does with the DB files.

                    Any thoughts +- on something like that?

                    --Dan
                    Tasker, to a person who does Homeautomation...is like walking up to a Crack Treatment facility with a truck full of 3lb bags of crack. Then for each person that walks in and out smack them in the face with an open bag.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Well you can image but you cannot image a partition that is live in Linux. You can though just copy the HS3 directory and do a whole multiple partition image separately. Looks the the above creates a sort of boot sans mount backup. Never paid attention but I think the Zee boots via the FAT partition, then goes to the Linux partition to run the OS.

                      I decided this morning to just restore a new image from a download rather than copying my original SD. I do have copies of the HS3 Zee directory on the NAS if I need them.
                      - Pete

                      Auto mator
                      Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
                      Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
                      HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

                      HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
                      HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

                      X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

                      Comment


                        #12
                        What Pete said is true - that will only give you a pseudo-image that wont be bootable. You would need to remove the card and image it with something that uses a sector-by-sector type image.

                        For daily HS folder backups, I wrote my own shell script to backup HS, compressed with a year. month, day filename:

                        Code:
                        #!/bin/bash
                        BACKUP_FILE=HS3_`date +%Y%m%d`.tar.gz
                        tar -zcvf $BACKUP_FILE /usr/local/HomeSeer
                        HS4Pro on a Raspberry Pi4
                        54 Z-Wave Nodes / 21 Zigbee Devices / 108 Events / 767 Devices
                        Plugins: Z-Wave / Zigbee Plus / EasyTrigger / AK Weather / OMNI

                        HSTouch Clients: 1 Android

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Rob,

                          I see, then you only need to map a network share to the Zee to do an "off Zee" backup?

                          --Dan
                          Tasker, to a person who does Homeautomation...is like walking up to a Crack Treatment facility with a truck full of 3lb bags of crack. Then for each person that walks in and out smack them in the face with an open bag.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Note too that the original Zee (well mine) came with a 4Gb SD card.

                            I personally went to a 16Gb SD card. The Zee image posted above is an 8 Gb image.

                            Note too that you can install xrdp to the original Zee such that you can utilize Wintel RDP to log into your Zee.

                            I took the original copy of the 4 Gb Zee SD and copied it over to a 16 Gb and expanded the OS volume to the rest of the 16Gb SD using GParted.

                            This time took the 8Gb posted Zee image and wrote it to the 16 GB SD and then expanded the 8 Gb partition to 16 Gb using GParted.

                            I then check same said partition with GParted.

                            Got an error checking the FAT16 partition with GParted; then loaded up Gnome diskmanager and checked FAT16 partition and it was fine.
                            Attached Files
                            Last edited by Pete; August 14, 2014, 12:16 PM.
                            - Pete

                            Auto mator
                            Homeseer 3 Pro - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e 64 bit Intel Haswell CPU 16Gb
                            Homeseer Zee2 (Lite) - 3.0.0.548 (Linux) - Ubuntu 18.04/W7e - CherryTrail x5-Z8350 BeeLink 4Gb BT3 Pro
                            HS4 Lite - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenovo Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram

                            HS4 Pro - V4.1.18.1 - Ubuntu 22.04 / Lenova Tiny M900 / 32Gb Ram
                            HSTouch on Intel tabletop tablets (Jogglers) - Asus AIO - Windows 11

                            X10, UPB, Zigbee, ZWave and Wifi MQTT automation-Tasmota-Espurna. OmniPro 2, Russound zoned audio, Alexa, Cheaper RFID, W800 and Home Assistant

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by drozwood90 View Post
                              Rob,

                              I see, then you only need to map a network share to the Zee to do an "off Zee" backup?

                              --Dan
                              I use winscp to either edit files on the zee, or copy them off.

                              Sent from my SCH-R970X using Tapatalk
                              HS4Pro on a Raspberry Pi4
                              54 Z-Wave Nodes / 21 Zigbee Devices / 108 Events / 767 Devices
                              Plugins: Z-Wave / Zigbee Plus / EasyTrigger / AK Weather / OMNI

                              HSTouch Clients: 1 Android

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X