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    Odd Audrey behavior...

    Ok, so, within the last couple weeks, two of the seven Audreys have started to act strange. At right around 4AM, the two of them wake up (meaning turn on the LCD display), and then they get stuck that way. The LCD display is blank, and at 4AM, it's kinda bright (the motion detected at 4:03:22AM was me trying to push buttons on the one audrey to make it go back to sleep). I can't imagine why it's just these two, and why at 4AM. Here's an excerpt from the log (Q27 and Q28 are virtual device placeholders that I added recently):

    Code:
     
    6/23/2009 4:00:58 AM ~!~Info~!~Web Server authorized local login successful from: 192.168.0.44 User: default
    6/23/2009 4:01:01 AM ~!~Info~!~Event Trigger "HomeBase Watch Dog Check"
    6/23/2009 4:01:01 AM ~!~Info~!~Running script in background: HomeBase.txt("HomeBaseWatchDog","")
    6/23/2009 4:01:01 AM ~!~Info~!~Event Trigger "Check Audreys"
    6/23/2009 4:01:01 AM ~!~Info~!~Running script in background: MyScripts.txt("CheckAudreys","")
    6/23/2009 4:01:01 AM ~!~Info~!~Device: Flags Flag -- HomeBase Watch Dog (U16) OFF
    6/23/2009 4:01:01 AM ~!~Info~!~Device: audshop AudShop Power (Q28) OFF
    6/23/2009 4:01:01 AM ~!~Info~!~Device: audsoap AudSoap Power (Q27) OFF
    6/23/2009 4:01:39 AM ~!~INFO~!~HomeBase:InputReceived: HBWD
    6/23/2009 4:01:39 AM ~!~Info~!~Device: Flags Flag -- HomeBase Watch Dog (U16) ON
    6/23/2009 4:01:59 AM ~!~Info~!~Web Server authorized local login successful from: 192.168.0.47 User: default
    6/23/2009 4:02:01 AM ~!~APCUPSD~!~UPS Input Voltage changed to 122.0V
    6/23/2009 4:02:14 AM ~!~Info~!~Web Server authorized local login successful from: 192.168.0.44 User: default
    6/23/2009 4:03:01 AM ~!~APCUPSD~!~UPS Input Voltage changed to 121.0V
    6/23/2009 4:03:14 AM ~!~Info~!~Web Server authorized local login successful from: 192.168.0.47 User: default
    6/23/2009 4:03:22 AM ~!~X10 Received~!~G1 (Washitsu Washitsu Motion Sensor)  G On
    6/23/2009 4:03:22 AM ~!~LogMotionMain~!~Washitsu Washitsu Motion Sensor, Type:0, IsOn
    6/23/2009 4:03:32 AM ~!~Info~!~Web Server authorized local login successful from: 192.168.0.44 User: default
    6/23/2009 4:03:40 AM ~!~INFO~!~HomeBase:InputReceived: HBWD
    6/23/2009 4:03:40 AM ~!~Info~!~Device: Flags Flag -- HomeBase Watch Dog (U16) ON
    6/23/2009 4:04:31 AM ~!~Info~!~Web Server authorized local login successful from: 192.168.0.47 User: default
    This "login successful" activity occurs for just about a half-hour, and then they both quit. They're both stuck in this woken up state until they're power-cycled. They both respond to pings (which is one of the ways I can tell if an audrey needs a kick in the head -- if it's powered on but doesn't respond to pings, then I power-cycle it), but they're both catatonic.

    I'll probably cross-post this to one of the other boards, to ask how to set up an event based on "Web Server authorized local login". I'm guessing that if an Audrey logs in 20 times in a half hour it's probably not a good sign. Of course, the audrey next to me on my bedside table has already woken me up, but if I can have homeseer come to the conclusion that the audrey is stuck, then at least the audrey wouldn't be on all night.

    Thanks,
    Chris
    Last edited by The Keeper; June 23, 2009, 11:04 AM.

    #2
    I think it might be the Audrey image, or something in a setting.

    I have 5 Audreys. 2 of mine do that as well. For the last few months, the one by the bedside was unplugged due to this. That is, until I found where the packers put the Audrey that was IN the bedroom at the last house.

    Now it seems ok.

    What I do, which seems to work well...I reboot them. No matter what. Wed. and Sat.

    The rest of the house is reset near 2AM, the bedrooms are done noonish (depends on the room).

    I HAD been working on a reboot script...which would reset them...then check the log for the IP address to show that it pulled the welcome webpage from the server...never did finish it.

    My idea was, if I set off a reset, then waited ~1 min, if the Audrey did not pull for the welcome page, then cut the power and re-apply power (after waiting 10 seconds). Wait for ~1 min. If I still did not see it...wait 1 min, pull the power for 30 seconds, then re-apply power. Then, if that fails, just set a fault to be checked later.

    So far, I've only encountered that last one that was in the bedroom, that experienced exactly what you are seeing. So, I was going to take an image from my "good" working Audrey, dump it on the "bad" Audrey...see if there was some setting I messed with and screwed up.

    --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


      #3
      It's very possible that something internally got goofed up with the image. I have a 32MB CF card that I use to update/reflash Audreys to the same image, although I normally only have to reflash Audreys when they've gotten so bad that they won't even boot up anymore. And even with seven Audreys, that only happens like once a year. It's not a big deal to reflash the Audreys, though (just need to change the audrey name and IP address after reflashing), so I should give that a shot. Most of the other audreys aren't powered on at 4AM, though, so I'm not sure if they behave. Well, guess there's one way to find out.

      I do have a rebooting script set up, which I found covers quite a number of the typical failure cases. Every 5 minutes I ping all of the Audreys that are believed to have been powered on for more than 10 minutes, based on the X10 module state. If the Audrey doesn't respond, it's turned off. Audreys that are supposed to be on are turned back on again when activity (motion, doors, etc.) is detected in the vicinity.

      In fact, for critical notices, I announce the speech twice, turn off the audreys, turn them back on again, wait a minute, and then announce the speech twice again, just to be sure.

      I'd consider simply power-cycling all of the audreys at whatever in the AM, but between the fact that I sleep lightly, and the 32MB CF card in the daughter's room is loaded with an MP3 file that plays "dolphin dreams" before she goes to bed, I sort of need to get to the bottom of this without having to add more rebooting, if I can help it.

      I'll try reflashing those two and see if the problem goes away.

      Chris

      Comment


        #4
        Come to find out it looks like most of the Audreys that are powered on at 4AM hit the server for 30-60 minutes, at ~30-60 second intervals. It's just that one or more audrey goes catatonic only on occasion.

        Looks like maybe the Audreys are maybe trying to update themselves at 4AM, either with software updates or channel updates. It makes sense that they'd all do this, because they are all loaded with the same image.

        Looks like my kcrontab might have a hint:
        #app; min; hour; day; dweek; month -MemDefrag;*;4;*;*;* setitime;35;21;*;*;* #maild;/5;*;*;*;* #update;36;21;*;*;* #upload;37;21;*;*;* maild;38;21;*;*;* #UpdateChannels;39;21;*;*;* #upload;17;4;*;*;* maild;18;4;*;*;* #UpdateChannels;19;4;*;*;* #upload;17;13;*;*;* maild;18;13;*;*;* #UpdateChannels;19;13;*;*;* #upload;17;15;*;*;* maild;18;15;*;*;* #UpdateChannels;19;15;*;*;* #upload;17;19;*;*;* maild;18;19;*;*;* #UpdateChannels;19;19;*;*;*

        Maybe the memory defrag doesn't work sometimes, and causes the audrey to puke? Does the 4 mean every four hours, or does it mean that it does it at 4 AM? Looks like the readme file has a reference to "-MemDefrag;*;1;*;*;*" in the context of defragging once an hour... Nah, that can't be it, it can't possibly take an hour to defrag memory...

        Audreys that are sleeping at 4AM don't seem to do anything out of the ordinary when they do wake up.

        Any thoughts on this? Dan, could you check your log files for me, and see if your audreys try to contact the mothership at 4AM?

        Chris

        Comment


          #5
          sure can, where are they located? It's been a while since I poked around in the Audrey guts.
          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


            #6
            The references to web server logins would be in your standard homeseer.log file. If you see references to your audreys logging in at 4AM every day, then that corroborates what I'm seeing.

            Thanks,
            Chris

            Comment


              #7
              Ok, I'll look when I get home!

              --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
                Sorry Chris, I forgot to look...

                Reminder: Check logs!

                --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


                  #9
                  I don't see any references in the logs...

                  but then again, I don't see any references to anything before 8:00 in the morning...so, I'll try to run something at say 4...just to see if I can't catch something in the log.

                  This is odd, as I reset the Audreys at about 4:25ish.

                  --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


                    #10
                    Of the eight audreys I have deployed:
                    -- Two of them are off most of the time, as they're in the barn, and only turned on when there's occupancy.
                    -- Three of them are turned off at night, as they're in the kitchen/living room/basement, so there's no need to have them on at 4AM.
                    -- Three of them are on overnight, one in each of the bedrooms.

                    The ones in the bedrooms are turned off when "the alarm is set by keychain" (which just means that lights and such are turned off because everyone is leaving the house), which is what happened yesterday evening when we went to dinner. The one in the master bedroom was turned off for a period of time, and wasn't turned back on again until about 9PM.

                    Last night, the one in the master bedroom went catatonic at about 4AM again (~7 hours later). That means that it doesn't matter how long the audrey was powered on; it's not like there's a resource leak causing the 4AM catatonic state.

                    I just occurred to me today that I should put that audrey on an ethernet hub (not a switch) and take a wireshark trace to see what the heck the audrey is trying to do at 4AM that's causing it to go berzerk.

                    Chris

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Chris, good idea about the sniffing...

                      I've been trying to track down why my issue of..."update channels" going on every once in a while. I've just got to figure out where that's being set, as I've got some that NEVER do this...others that do. I'm thinking I'll take the image from the "good' Audrey and put it on the other Audreys...

                      Fun isn't it?

                      --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


                        #12
                        I don't know why I didn't look at the manpage for kcrontab until just now.

                        The "-MemDefrag;*;4;*;*;*" does mean that it's going to defrag every day at 04:00. I don't know what that has to do with the audreys attempting to access the server, but I guess I could sort of see why it might, while it's defragging memory.

                        Suffice it to say, this is why the

                        I'm going to take the memory defragmentation line out of the kcrontab, and will add some logic to my existing sensor diagnostics script to make sure that every audrey in the house is on for less than 24 hours at a time.

                        (Shouldn't be hard; the ones in the barn are off most of the time, the one in the basement is turned off after 30 minutes of inactivity, the ones in the second floor are turned off after 2 hours of inactivity, the ones in the kitchen and living room are turned off when the night alarm is set. The only one that's left is the master bedroom, which I guess I should also turn off after 2 hours of inactivity.)

                        Chris

                        Comment

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