Can't figure out why my tags are dropping

[thymer]

Dedicated server? What speed is it and how much RAM?

[Msekelsky]

Do you run backups early in the morning by chance?

I was about to say no as I had checked all of my timed based events an nothing executes around that time. But I looked specifically at backup and since I have some conditions, it does not show under time based. I am in fact backing up at 1:30. Now that would not explain why the tags only occasionally drop, or why the drops happen at other times on occasion, but at 1:30 ish is far and away the most common this certainly is suspect. I'll play with this a bit and see what happens.

And now that I think about it, the other common drop time is around the time that HSTV is downloading (I think).................

[Msekelsky]

What happens say if you reboot your server just before you go to bed...do you still loose the tags in the middle of the night?

I would say no, from two standpoints. First, the tags do not drop every night, just now and then (maybe once a week on average). Second, it does not seem to ever happen the first few nights after a reboot, but since it is infrequent that could be a coincidence.

[thymer]

Do you run backups early in the morning by chance?

[darren-mc]

What happens say if you reboot your server just before you go to bed...do you still loose the tags in the middle of the night?

[Msekelsky]

Is it just one tag....or all of them?

All of them

[darren-mc]

Is it just one tag....or all of them?

[Msekelsky]

Well, for the future benefit of anybody looking at this thread, changing gain to low and changing the RSSI values to 0 did not work. I had another drop last night at 1:33. It is very odd that this timeframe is so frequent. There just isn't anything in the log at all that would indicate that HS (and this is a dedicated HS machine) is doing anything. I still need to find a way to log CPU usage as I can't rule that out.

[darren-mc]

You might try lowering the RSSI value to 0. This will prevent the program from filtering out tags based on RSSI values being received.

I didn't know about that setting...interesting..

[tmcgowan]

You might try lowering the RSSI value to 0. This will prevent the program from filtering out tags based on RSSI values being received.

[Msekelsky]

I noticed that you have the Gain set to High. I know in the past, Peter recommended against that if your using the standard antenna that came with the receiver.

Heck, I don't even remember what gain is anymore. I did find an old post where Peter says this can cause problems with nearby tags and since my problem is all tags I tend to think this is not the answer. That said, I'll switch it to low as I've not tried this and I'll give anything a shot. Thanks.

[Msekelsky]

Look at your CPU utilisation...my tags drop out when the processor is maxed out for the timeout period...I would start there.

I did try this a bit with Jon00's script, but it was not detailed enough inthe history to see if I could line up the CPU with the times of the drops. Any good logging program you could recommend?

[tmcgowan]

I noticed that you have the Gain set to High. I know in the past, Peter recommended against that if your using the standard antenna that came with the receiver.

[darren-mc]

Look at your CPU utilisation...my tags drop out when the processor is maxed out for the timeout period...I would start there.

[Msekelsky]

I know that Peter is MIA, but hopefully somebody here has some ideas as to what is going on. I'll try include everything I've done/checked (this has been going on for a long time), but I am sure I will forget something.

All of my tags will drop at the same time and then come right back. Here is what I know/have done:

• It is almost always between 1:00 AM and 4:30 AM, but sometimes, although this is quite unusual, happen during the day.
• The most common occurrence is 1:30 AM , give or take a few minutes
• I have checked the wall wart and it seems fine
• I have moved the wall wart from my UPS to an open outlet (although the same circuit)
• Changed from an edge port for the serial to the hard port on the PC
• I see nothing in the logs that indicate any issue, nor does nothing run (scripts) at the times of the drops.
• I have disabled McAffee (actually unistalled) firewall and AV, just running the Win XP firewall.
• Settings in the image below
• I have had the RFID installed for nearly three years so I am pretty confident that this is not a cabling issue (i.e. ferrite choke, punched down correctly, etc.).
• I don't recall this ever happening during the first few days after a restart of HS.
• It is not real common. I can go a week or more with no issues, then have issues for a day or two, then nothing again.
• Usually only happens once in a 24 hours period, but I have had nights with numerous drops.
• Outside temp does not seem to be the issue. Reader is inside as are a few of the tags.

Like I said, I am sure I forget something, but right now I am out of ideas.