Topic: WeatherLink v6.0.3 w/ Windows 7

[colonieweather]

Hi,

I just recently installed Windows 7, 32-bit, with 2GB RAM (I previously has Windows XP).  I am currently running WeatherLink v6.0.3 with a serial to USB converter.  I've installed the Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port driver.  For some odd reason, WL occasionally freezes up after uploading data to my personal web site's server.  Then I can't kill the process by going to the task manager.  I have to restart the PC.

I have WL set up to go through the firewall (which not sure is even necessary, but tried it) and have the bit rate on the USB driver's bps set to match the baud rate on my Davis VP2, which is 19,200.  I also tried fooling with the passive FTP mode.  I checked the log file in WeatherLink and there's no errors.  It shows the last time data was uploaded.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  I can provide more info, if needed.

Thanks,
Chris

[dalecoy]

Nice website at http://www.colonieweatheronline.com/

[Although I am wondering how you are automatically posting snowfall]

Do you also have WeatherLink upload data to Weather Underground or CWOP or ?????

Are you running (simultaneously) any other weather software, other than WeatherLink?

[colonieweather]

Hi Dalecoy,

Thanks for compliments regarding my site.  The snowfall I update manually  Someday a tool will be invented to that automatically and be integrated into the VP2 or 3 or 4 in the future.

Yes, I do upload to Weather Underground and CWOP...  but at different times, just so WL doesn't go crazy with all that data going up at once.  The only software I have up with WL is my email client Thunderbird, Dreamweaver and Chrome or IE.

For some reason, I have a feeling it might be this prolific USB to Serial driver that I installed.  I've been reading that it has some issues with Windows 7. It worked flawlessly with XP though.

[dalecoy]

The reason I asked about WU and CWOP was - to then ask, when WL stops uploading to your personal site, does it also stop uploading to WU and CWOP?   

Of course, that would show up in the log file, and you said you checked that.

I'm afraid that I can't think of a reason that WeatherLink would freeze and also not be able to be killed.

Have you looked in Windows Task Manager (when that happens) to see if WL is using CPU and/or varying amounts of memory? 

[colonieweather]

Yep, it freezes up so nothing uploads until I reboot of PC.  There's no errors in the log file. It just shows the last successful upload time.

When it happened again this morning, I checked and overall CPU usage was 8% and physical memory was 48%, before and after trying to kill it.

[Bushman]

Nice website at http://www.colonieweatheronline.com/

[Although I am wondering how you are automatically posting snowfall]

Do you also have WeatherLink upload data to Weather Underground or CWOP or ?????

Are you running (simultaneously) any other weather software, other than WeatherLink?

Yes, that is one great site.

[dalecoy]

When it happened again this morning, I checked and overall CPU usage was 8% and physical memory was 48%, before and after trying to kill it.

Is that usage for the WeatherLink process?  Or total?  (I was asking about WeatherLink)

Have you checked to make sure you have the latest Prolific driver? 

How is WeatherLink started?  [Try running it as Administrator?]

Is this a new PC?  Any problems with behavior of other software?

[colonieweather]

That was total...  the process of WeatherLink showed 0 for CPU and memory was around 3,000-4,000K . 

Yup, I have the latest version of Prolific driver.. after installed it auto checked for update and I retried and no other ones have been released.  Shows 10/17/2013.

I have it started automatically..  I put it in the start up folder, so when PC get rebooted, via power outage or what ever, it'll start right up.

It's the same PC that I had windows XP on.  No other issues with other software.

[dalecoy]

OK, I'm pretty much out of "good" ideas.

Am I correct in assuming that - when WeatherLink is "frozen", it will not do anything locally (like bringing up the bulletin, or the browse window, or whatever)?  With that assumption, is the timestamp on the 2014-01.wlk file consistent with the time that it froze?  [And not changing]. 

Also, after it freezes and is restarted, can you quickly access the Browse Window and see what the most recent data is?  Then (when you click "download" or whatever) observe how many records it is downloading.  And finally, after the download, that it has all of the "missing" records from the past (no gaps)?

In other words, I'm about to agree that the problem is with the serial/USB adapter (hardware or driver).  It would not hurt a bit to purchase a new adapter with accompanying CD of drivers for W7, and try that.  (You could always return it to the store...).

Footnote: my XP system won't properly continue uploads to my site unless I turn the firewall completely off - but it does log the errors in the log file, and continue WU and CWOP uploads.  So that's not like your problem.

HTH

[Beaudog]

It appears that you are running the data logger in the USB mode.   If so, as nothing else seems to have worked.  I would use the Davis converter to place the logger in the serial mode and run WL in the serial mode also and see if this might fix the problem.

I have WL on two computers and run them both in serial mode with no problems.

The converter is in the support>utilities folder of WL.

[colonieweather]

You are correct dalecoy, when WL freezes up I can't access anything.  When I restart it, it downloads the data correctly with no gaps. The data that's in there before I download is the time right before it froze.   Next time it happens, I will check the .wlk file.  I've been looking around for another adapter with new drivers and am about to purchase one made by FDTI Chip from Amazon.  Its got excellent reviews from Win7 users.

Beaudog, I'm running WL in serial mode.

Thanks so much for all of your help.  I'll keep you posted on my findings and if this new driver helps.

[colonieweather]

Quick update..  I uninstalled driver and purchased new driver.  I installed it last Friday.  Happy to report a "so far, so good" (knock on wood).  Below is what I purchased:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003N9TYW0/ref=pe_385040_30332190_TE_M3T1_ST1_dp_1

Thanks you all again for help!!

[Weatherdata]

Hi Dalecoy,

Thanks for compliments regarding my site.  The snowfall I update manually   Someday a tool will be invented to that automatically and be integrated into the VP2 or 3 or 4 in the future.

There is a snow depth sensor (distance sensor) that is compatible with VP2:
http://www.darrera.com/en/detalle-producto.php?d=1&id=226

Not helpful if you have no spare sensor ports on your ISS though.

[pfletch101]

Hi,

I just recently installed Windows 7, 32-bit, with 2GB RAM (I previously has Windows XP).  I am currently running WeatherLink v6.0.3 with a serial to USB converter.  I've installed the Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port driver.  For some odd reason, WL occasionally freezes up after uploading data to my personal web site's server.  Then I can't kill the process by going to the task manager.  I have to restart the PC.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  I can provide more info, if needed.

Thanks,
Chris

I am glad that this seems to have been a driver problem. However, wearing my IT consultant hat, I would note that (notwithstanding what Microsoft says!) 2GB of memory, while fine for XP under almost all circumstances, is a bit marginal for Windows 7 if you want to run substantial applications under it, especially if more than one is going to be loaded at a time. I would recommend at least 3 GB for the 32 bit version and a 4 GB minimum for the 64-bit version.