Never Ending "Please wait for thermostat to begin intializing..." message

[nwbigdog]

I have 2 RCS TXB 16 thermostats that have been working fine for years, until this week that is. After a lockup and restart of the computer both thermostats disappeared from my device list. Repeated attempts to recreate them has resulted in a "Please wait for thermostat to begin initializing ..." message that never clears. When look at the log file I show the following entries, but nothing else:

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="100%"> <tbody><tr><td colspan="1" class="LOGDateTime0" align="left" nowrap="nowrap">5/2/2011 8:56:07 AM </td><td colspan="3" class="LOGType0" align="left"> RCSX10 Debug ] </td><td colspan="8" class="LOGEntry0" align="left">Added Upstairs Hallway Thermostat as a TXB16 thermostat using HouseCode P</td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="1" class="LOGDateTime1" align="left" nowrap="nowrap">5/2/2011 8:56:06 AM </td><td colspan="3" class="LOGType1" align="left"> RCSX10 Debug P </td><td colspan="8" class="LOGEntry1" align="left"></td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="1" class="LOGDateTime0" align="left" nowrap="nowrap">5/2/2011 8:56:06 AM </td><td colspan="3" class="LOGType0" align="left"> RCSX10 Debug P </td><td colspan="8" class="LOGEntry0" align="left"></td></tr></tbody> </table>
If Homeseer is attempting to initialize the thermostat I'd expect to see log entries to that effect after it is added. Plugin debug mode is set to advanced.

Nothing else in my configuration has changed and everything except the thermostats works fine. I've spent hours fooling with this and have yet to make any progress. I've found a mention of an issue with similar symptoms that is due to an interface incompatibility, but that's obviously not the case here.

Have any of you folks run into this type of things before?

[Rupp]

Have you determined what caused the lockup? Could it be a lightning strike or something similar?

[langenet]

May be a dumb question, but do other X-10 devices respond when sending commands?

Rob

[nwbigdog]

Never Ending&quot; Please wait for thermostat to begin initializing&quot;

May be a dumb question, but do other X-10 devices respond when sending commands?

Rob

Everything else works just fine. The Homeseer software is logging X10 commands being sent from other sources. It is also receiving X10 and logging messages from the thermostats, but it won't initialize them and I can't control them.

The problem seems to only involve the RCS plugin. Is there a way to completely delete and reload all files related to it?

[nwbigdog]

Have you determined what caused the lockup? Could it be a lightning strike or something similar?

No lightning strike or power surge. It was a simple Windows XP lockup that was related to the display adapter. The system was actually still running, but the display was out and I was forced to hit the power button to reset it.

This is the first time a lockup or hard reset has caused any major problems.

[BoBeeve]

RCS X-10 TX16B continually initializing

I am also experiencing this issue. I've been without HS thermostat connectivity for months

[langenet]

Do you guys see the led on the pc05 flash as the plugin tries to poll the stat?

[BoBeeve]

With no thermostats set up in HomeSeer the status light is blinking every 2 sec with NO other blink patern occurring.

When I add a thermostat on Housecode H, I get the message to set up the additional parameters which opens a window with the min max temp, message mode, etc... As soon as I enter the min and max and ACK, ECHO and Autosend, then click OK, I notice the status LED is still blinking at the 2 every sec but now on the sixth blink, it stays on longer then does a bunch of flickering like it's sending/receiving data. That soon stops then repeats this 6 blinks with the last flickering again and continues in this pattern for a while.

[langenet]

Are you using a CM11a or TI-103? If the later, open up the TI and make sure it is not set to 50 hz.

Rob

[BoBeeve]

Are you using a CM11a or TI-103? If the later, open up the TI and make sure it is not set to 50 hz.

Rob

I am using the Insteon PLM and have enabled the X10 interface on it. Before that I was using the CM11A I have the CM11A set up on a separate machin with a fresh install of Win 7 with the latest downloadable HS and RCS plugin. My production HS is Vista with the Insteon PLM sending X10. Neither work now but I had them both working months ago.

[Rupp]

Using the Insteon hardware is likely one issue as this hardware sends the weakest X10 signal of all devices. Add to this the fact that the X10 stats require pristine X10 signals to initialize and communicate and you will have issues. One test from the old days that still holds true is if you can run an extension cord from the plugin that the RCS stat is plugged into back to your X10 interface to see if it receives a clean enough signal to initialize. If so you have enough noise on your lines to prevent the stat in it's original plugins to communicate cleanly. You should at least have a coupler/repeater installed in the circuit panel and use a TI-103 for a more powerful signal but even these many times do not over come the ability to send a clean enough signal to initialize these stats.

[langenet]

Sorry - I'm not in front of Updater... are you using doostat or the open source version? I can't say for sure that the open source version works as I've never used it. I've been running all along with Jim's plugin without issue.
Also... can't remember if it is in the documentation, but if I remember correctly, there are a series of X-10 commands you can run standalone to read data and/or set the decode table. I know the folks at RCS have been very friendly and may be able to help. There is good information in the the T-stat's documentation.

Like Rupp, I'd suggest going back to the CM11a with the extenstion cord test - bring things to the simplest configuration.

Robert

[BoBeeve]

Using the Insteon hardware is likely one issue as this hardware sends the weakest X10 signal of all devices. Add to this the fact that the X10 stats require pristine X10 signals to initialize and communicate and you will have issues. One test from the old days that still holds true is if you can run an extension cord from the plugin that the RCS stat is plugged into back to your X10 interface to see if it receives a clean enough signal to initialize. If so you have enough noise on your lines to prevent the stat in it's original plugins to communicate cleanly. You should at least have a coupler/repeater installed in the circuit panel and use a TI-103 for a more powerful signal but even these many times do not over come the ability to send a clean enough signal to initialize these stats.

Thanks Rupp. As I stated in my previous post, I am having the exact same issue on both my production Windows Vista using the latest HS2 and the latest RCS X-10 plugin with the Insteon PLM & my fresh built test Win7, latest HS2 and RCS X-10 plugin with my CM11A.

What I didn't mention before is this has been working solid for over 7 years combined on both controllers until a few months ago.

[langenet]

Just for grinns, have you tried a different pc05?

[Rupp]

Thanks Rupp. As I stated in my previous post, I am having the exact same issue on both my production Windows Vista using the latest HS2 and the latest RCS X-10 plugin with the Insteon PLM & my fresh built test Win7, latest HS2 and RCS X-10 plugin with my CM11A.

What I didn't mention before is this has been working solid for over 7 years combined on both controllers until a few months ago.

Yep, this is the problem with X10 in general. Something has most likely changed and is introducing noise on the powerline and it could even be the new PC. The extension cord test may reveal this.