Topic: Installed CumulusMX in PC running VWS, can not boot to safe mode

[dbolt]

I installed CumulusMX on a PC that has been successfully running VWS for many years.  I answered the initial pages of Cumulus setup questions and restarted the PC, as instructed on the initial DOS-like Cumulus popup. As the PC reboots, I see a popup indicating no signal, followed by a blinking cursor.  I've soft-booted several times and cold-booted with F8 key depressed to boot into safe mode, with plans to edit MSConfig or taskmgr to prevent VWS from loading.  But, I am unsuccessful in getting the PC to boot into safe mode.  I also tried holding F8 and F2 down.  Same affect.

Advice would be most appreciated.

doug

[mcrossley]

When you say "installed" Cumulus MX, what exactly do you mean?

Installing CMX is just copying the files to somewhere on your system, then running the CumulusMX.exe from a command line.
Once you are happy everything is working OK, you can then install it as a System Service - have you done that?

After the initial configuration Cumulus tells you to restart the Cumulus MX program, not your PC.

Cumulus does not alter any system files, it is a standalone executable so it's hard to see how it is preventing you PC from booting.

[dbolt]

To install, I downloaded the program and extracted the .zip into C:\CumulusMX\.  Then, as directed by the Cumulus popup, I entered localhost:8998 and answered several pages of questions about my preferred settings and my weather station (Davis VP1).  I then, as you point out, I messed up by restarting the PC rather than restarting CumulusMX after reading the restart instruction in the popup.

Now, when I try a soft boot (Ctrl-Alt-Delete), I see a popup on the lower right of the screen indicating no signal detected.  I don't know what that means, but I assumed it meant that no data was on Com6 (the USB port where the USB to Serial adapter provided date to VWS).  After the no signal popup closes, I see a blinking cursor towards the upper left of the screen.  F8 after either a soft boot or after unplugging does not cause the PC to safe boot, just the blinking cursor.

Any suggestion would be most appreciated.

[box]

To install, I downloaded the program and extracted the .zip into C:\CumulusMX\.  Then, as directed by the Cumulus popup, I entered localhost:8998 and answered several pages of questions about my preferred settings and my weather station (Davis VP1).  I then, as you point out, I messed up by restarting the PC rather than restarting CumulusMX after reading the restart instruction in the popup.

Now, when I try a soft boot (Ctrl-Alt-Delete), I see a popup on the lower right of the screen indicating no signal detected.  I don't know what that means, but I assumed it meant that no data was on Com6 (the USB port where the USB to Serial adapter provided date to VWS).  After the no signal popup closes, I see a blinking cursor towards the upper left of the screen.  F8 after either a soft boot or after unplugging does not cause the PC to safe boot, just the blinking cursor.

Any suggestion would be most appreciated.

sounds to me that 'no signal detected'is a report from your monitor that it isn't receiving information from the pc

This has happened to me on occasion, and in most cases something had gone wrong with the boot order, and the pc was waiting to boot from a nonexistent source like a USB device or was unable to locate a Windows installation (boot order changed to a data only disc rather than the one with an OS on it)

To check you will need to restart the pc and get into the bios (depends on manufacturer but it's usually press delete or f12 key) there is usually a message as it starts

Check the boot order and that it correctly goes to the disc with windows on it
If you don't change anything you won't make it worse, but if the order is wrong you can correct it, save and restart

Hope that helps

If it doesn't you will need a recovery disc/USB to boot from (and you'll need to change the boot order in bios to boot from it)

[box]

A further thing to check is that the pc power supply hasn't failed ..

[dbolt]

Box,
The no signal detected popup looks like the popup that also popups in the same general area of the screen saying DVI, which is the cable used to connect to my monitor.  There are three computers connected to the monitor via HDMI and Display Port. 

I have tried rebooting with the Davis logger unplugged with no help.  I've also tried booting with a System Restore DVD, but I don't see any light blinking to indicate the disk was accessed.  I don't recall how the boot sequence was configured on this machine.

F12 does not bring up the BIOS windows. 

I had not tried the Delete key until you reminded me to give it a try.  Did so just now.  BIOS screen was displayed properly.  I checked Boot order, but it looked like the DVD should have booted up the System Recovery disk, but it didn't.  I didn't explore that issue further.  The other change I made to the BIOS was to disable Quick Boot.

I rebooted and VWS loaded.  I didn't let it upload to the website, but it seemed ready to do that.
I removed VWS from the auto startup menu and rebooted.  CumulusMX is now loading archival data as I'm typing this message.

The CumulusMZ popup window says all archival data were downloaded and the app is running normally.  I'll see if I can find the CumulusMX data on my PC.  I'll report back soon.  Hopefully with good news.

Thanks for your help.

[box]

Fingers crossed!

Data should all be in a data subdirectory in the CumulusMX folder, where you copied the cumulus files

[dbolt]

I see the gauges with current data downloaded from the attached VP station.  I also viewed these data from a different PC on the same network.  I'd say that is enough success for one day.  I'll read up on adding some local info to the displays and see if I can put the data on my website.

Thanks again for getting me off a dark place.  I don't have many ideas why the PC would not boot before I disabled Quick Boot in BIOS - I suppose that is involved because I don't think I made any other changes.

 Sometimes it is best to think past success.

[dbolt]

OOps! The last sentence should read.

Sometimes it is best to NOT think past success.

[box]

I see the gauges with current data downloaded from the attached VP station.  I also viewed these data from a different PC on the same network.  I'd say that is enough success for one day.  I'll read up on adding some local info to the displays and see if I can put the data on my website.

Thanks again for getting me off a dark place.  I don't have many ideas why the PC would not boot before I disabled Quick Boot in BIOS - I suppose that is involved because I don't think I made any other changes.

 Sometimes it is best to think past success.

Windows is a strange beast at times.....

I think it throws the occasional spanner just to relieve the monotony!

[dbolt]

Maybe that's why I don't have much hair...

Anyway, thanks again for your help.

I have fond memories of a visit with friends in Cornwall.  Actually, Falmouth.

[box]

Maybe that's why I don't have much hair...

Anyway, thanks again for your help.

I have fond memories of a visit with friends in Cornwall.  Actually, Falmouth.

Small world, I'm from Falmouth originally!

[dbolt]

We were visiting Lillian Carr.  She was an elderly women 20 yr ago.  I think she moved to London, but we lost track of her.  I assume she has passed.  We first met her and her husband Bill Carr in Edinburgh in the 80s.

Yes, small world.  I am amazed at the number of times I run into or learn about someone I know around the world.

[box]

We were visiting Lillian Carr.  She was an elderly women 20 yr ago.  I think she moved to London, but we lost track of her.  I assume she has passed.  We first met her and her husband Bill Carr in Edinburgh in the 80s.

Yes, small world.  I am amazed at the number of times I run into or learn about someone I know around the world.

Yes

I am in the RN and once in the  Caribbean I met a couple whose daughter is my sister's best friend!

All the best

[dbolt]

Update:
The Davis Vantage Vue is sending data to the console of the PC, but Cumulusmx.exe says "cannot connect to station"
localhost:8998/ brings up the setup options, but 192.168.4.35 (IP of PC) gives me Time out page. 
Type is set to TCPIP, which agrees with datalogger 6150USB.  Is this correct?  Ip in cumulus.ini file is 192.168.4.35.
Do I need to give my public IP address?

That aside, the Vantage Vue screen looks good and presents more info than my old console that is still collecting data from the Davis Vantage1 on a differenc PC.

Help!

[mcrossley]

Sorry, I don't really understand what you are doing.

You have a Davis IP logger in your Vue, correct?

In Cumulus you are setting the station TCP IP address to that of your IP logger, which is what?

The IP address of you PC is 192.168.4.35.

You can connect to the Cumulus program using http://localhost:8998 - Good.
But when you use http://192.168.4.35:8998 you cannot connect? Is that from another PC, or the same PC that localhost works from?

Nothing needs your public IP address.

The Davis Vantage Vue is sending data to the console of the PC, but Cumulusmx.exe says "cannot connect to station"

What is the "the console of the PC"?
The Davis IP logger can only connect to one piece of software at a time. So if it is already connected to something else, then Cumulus will not be able to connect as well - hence the "cannot connect to station" message.

[dbolt]

The  VV Is on .35 the old VP1 connected on a different pPC using .63. The new VV has a USB LOGGER and the ole VP1 uses a serial logger. I’m only concerned about getting the VV working so I can retire the VP.

[dbolt]

More info below that was displayed in Settings/Station after loading CumulusMX and then http://localhost:8998/ or http://192.168.4.35.

Station Type=Davis VP2/vue
Connection=TCP/IP
IP  192.168.4.35
CTP port=22222

PC is running CumulusMX v 3.2.4 (build3060)
ipconfig /all shows PC with IP = 192.168.4.35

I don't understand why CumulusMX doesn't see the USB datalogger. 
Davis supplied cable is plugged into the USB datalogger and a USB port on the PC.
I added "Comport=text" to Cumulus.ini as suggested in WiKi.

[PaulMy]

If you have a USB logger you need to select Serial in the Davis Connection and Com port, not TCP/IP.
Enjoy,
Paul

[dbolt]

I'm still having problems.  Here is an error message I receive:

C:\CumulusMX>cumulusmx > nul

Unhandled Exception: System.ArgumentException: The PortName cannot be empty.
Parameter name: PortName
   at System.IO.Ports.SerialPort.set_PortName(String value)
   at System.IO.Ports.SerialPort..ctor(String portName, Int32 baudRate, Parity parity, Int32 dataBits, StopBits stopBits)
   at CumulusMX.DavisStation..ctor(Cumulus cumulus)
   at CumulusMX.Cumulus..ctor(Int32 HTTPport)
   at CumulusMX.Program.Main(String[] args)

I changed the station setup to be serial instead of TCP/IP

What is the systax for PortName?  I assume that goes in the cumulusmx.ini file??

[PaulMy]

I haven't run CumulusMX with USB logger for several years but for my Cumulus1 with USB logger, in Cumulus.ini it is Port=4 to be the same COM4 as in the Weatherlink Communication Port settings  You would need to know your Com port number and use that.  I am presuming it is the same in CumulusMX but it would be best to do the settings from localhost:8998 and do the Station settings there, and you will then need to stop and restart CumulusMX for any station settings to be activated, which you will be prompted.


Enjoy,
Paul

[dbolt]

I started witn com1 and found com4 allowed the app run.  I'm still not seeing the data on the dashboard.  FTP did upload the Moon image to my website.  I'll keep trying.  And, thanks for your continuing help.

[PaulMy]

You're quite welcome, glad to share experiences.

I presume the DOS like start screen says Normal running?


Check the latest MXDiags file for any issues, or zip and attach it in a reply post.


Enjoy,
Paul

[dbolt]

Yes, it does.  Here is a copy:

Cumulus MX v.3.12.1 build 3143
Working Dir: C:\CumulusMX\

Cumulus running at: http://localhost:8998/
                    http://192.168.4.35:8998/

  Open the admin interface by entering one of the above URLs into a web browser.

Today.ini = data\today.ini
Last update=2021-08-13T15:44:17
Connected to station
8/13/2021 5:28:03 PM
Type Ctrl-C to terminate
Downloading Archive Data
Downloading Archive Data
Connecting real time FTP
Normal running

[dbolt]

And, here is the CumulusMX.ini file

[Program]
EnableAccessibility=1
StartupPingHost=
StartupPingEscapeTime=999
StartupDelaySecs=10
StartupDelayMaxUptime=300

[Station]
AirQualityDecimals=1
Altitude=310
AltitudeInFeet=1
AvgBearingMinutes=10
AvgSpeedMinutes=10
CalculatedDP=1
CalculatedWC=1
ChillHourSeasonStart=10
ChillHourThreshold=45
ClockSettingHour=4
CloudBaseInFeet=1
ComportName=COM4
DataLogging=1
DataLogInterval=2
DavisBaudRate=19200
DavisInitWaitTime=2000
DavisIPResponseTime=500
DavisReadReceptionStats=1
DavisSetLoggerInterval=1
ErrorLogSpikeRemoval=1
EWFile=
EWgustdiff=999
EWhumiditydiff=999
EWInterval=1
EWmaxHourlyRain=999
EWmaxpressureMB=1200
EWmaxRainRate=999
EWMaxRainTipDiff=30
EWminpressureMB=900
EWpressurediff=999
EWpressureoffset=9999
EWtempdiff=999
EWwinddiff=999
FChighpress=1050
FClowpress=950
FCpressinMB=0
FineOffsetReadTime=150
FineOffsetSetLoggerInterval=0
ForceVPBarUpdate=0
FOReadAvoidPeriod=3
HourlyForecast=1
Humidity98Fix=1
ImetBaudRate=19200
ImetReadDelay=500
ImetUpdateLogPointer=1
ImetWaitTime=500
Latitude=39.046944444444442
LatTxt=N 39° 02' 49"
LCMaxWind=9999
ListWebTags=0
LocDesc=Davis Vantage Vue
LocName=Riderwood Weather
LogExtraSensors=1
Logging=1
Longitude=-76.950277777777785
LonTxt=W 76° 57' 01"
Model=Vantage Vue
NoSensorCheck=0
PeakGustMinutes=10
PressDecimals=2
PressureUnit=2
PrimaryAqSensor=-1
ProductID=-1
RainDayThreshold=-1
RainDecimals=2
RainSeasonStart=1
RainUnit=1
RecordSetTimeoutHrs=24
RG11DTRmode2=1
RG11DTRmode=1
RG11Enabled2=0
RG11Enabled=0
RG11IgnoreFirst2=0
RG11IgnoreFirst=0
RG11portName2=COM1
RG11portName=COM1
RG11TBRmode2=0
RG11TBRmode=0
RG11tipsize2=0
RG11tipsize=0
RolloverHour=0
RoundWindSpeed=1
SnowDepthHour=0
StartDate=Friday, August 13, 2021
SunshineHrsDecimals=1
SyncDavisClock=1
SyncFOReads=1
TempDecimals=1
TempUnit=1
Type=1
Use10amInSummer=1
UseCumulusForecast=1
UseCumulusPresstrendstr=1
UseDataLogger=1
UseDavisLoop2=1
UseSpeedForAvgCalc=1
UseZeroBearing=1
UVDecimals=1
VendorID=-1
VP2ConnectionType=0
VP2IPAddr=0.0.0.0
VP2PeriodicDisconnectInterval=0
VP2TCPPort=22222
VPrainGaugeType=-1
WarnMultiple=1
Wind10MinAverage=1
WindRunDecimals=1
WindSpeedAvgDecimals=0
WindSpeedDecimals=0
WindUnit=1
WS2300IgnoreStationClock=0
YTDrain=20.879999999999999
YTDrainyear=2021