Topic: Problems Getting Computers to Connect to Vantage Vue w/USB Logger

[SlowModem]

The site only has mobile coverage - no landline, no internet of any kind. This sounds really interesting, but I need a lot more info: what does the associated hardware (modem?) cost and where can I buy it

If your laptop is a couple of years old, it probably has a modem built in.  All you would have to do is plug in a phone line.  Of course, if there is no phone service to the area, a phone and thus a modem is moot.

would I need to switch to a serial logger

The modem sends data from your computer to wherever.  You can set up the software to send the data to weather underground, cwop, pws weather, etc.  The setup from the station/console to the computer is not a factor in connecting a modem to the internet.

how can I set all of this up, etc. I'm guessing I could find out much of this on my own, though I'm just not sure where to start. And, also, in what way would I be able to access it remotely: would I be able to, for example, download the contents of the datalogger into WeatherLink remotely - say, to my laptop at home, while I'm at home?

I tried Logmeon (I think was the name of it) for remote control of a computer.  I could do any function on the remote computer just like I was sitting there.  So I suppose you could download the data from the datalogger to a file, then email that file to yourself at your main location.

Unless the modem setup is both really easy and really cheap, I'm not sure I can justify it for my specific purposes.

Getting a phone line installed at the house would be the biggest expense.  Like I said earlier, there's a good chance your laptop has a modem already built in.  However, you can get a usb modem for around $30 (maybe less).  Here's an example of one:  http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7041650&CatId=564

I'm not really concerned, at all, about monitoring the site remotely in real time. Any ability to do so would purely be a bonus, nothing more. The only thing that really matters to me with this station is that I have a constant record of data with no holes. Even without having the laptop on site right now, I still have constant records because I can just drive down there once every <53 days and download the contents of the datalogger into WeatherLink. In other words, if there isn't a fix to my connectivity problem with the old laptop, I may very well end up being satisfied with just driving down every <53 days, downloading the data onto WL on my main laptop and enjoying the data after I've collected it. It's only a ~125 mile drive to the site, and I actually look forward to doing it every month or so. So not having remote access to the station is no problem for me.

It was just a thought.  I hope you can get your problems corrected so that it functions to your satisfaction! 

[xykotik]

One of them had a yellow exclamation point through it, indicating some sort of problem. I uninstalled that one, and now there's only one N8VB vCOM Virtual Serial Port Driver listed under Multi-port serial adapters, sans yellow exclamation point. I'm really not sure what the implications of that were (and that's probably clear to anyone reading this description!), but maybe - just maybe - that had something to do with my problem.

The reason there were two instances of the virtual serial port driver is that there are probably two ports on your computer, although you may not be able to find them both physically.  Sometimes there are multiple USB root hubs that are all identical, and drive different clusters of USB connectors.  Each one gets its own instance of driver.

I probably should have mentioned that removing drivers in this manner is not for the faint of heart and should be done with guidance if unfamiliar.  But don't worry too much that you removed the one with the exclaimation mark.  If it was really in use and something seems broken, you can go to the control panel and "install new hardware" and it can search for existing hardware that does not have a driver.  If it is something that came with the conputer and you have not made major operating system changes, it should find the driver on your system.  But don't do this unless something seems broken SINCE removing that serial port driver.  No need to open a larger can of worms at this point.

[NorthNJwx]

It was just a thought.  I hope you can get your problems corrected so that it functions to your satisfaction! 

Thanks for all the information - I appreciate it. While I'll probably stick with the setup I have, it's very nice to know I have this as an option as well. If I do end up looking into using a modem, your post gives me the perfect starting point.

The reason there were two instances of the virtual serial port driver is that there are probably two ports on your computer, although you may not be able to find them both physically.  Sometimes there are multiple USB root hubs that are all identical, and drive different clusters of USB connectors.  Each one gets its own instance of driver.

I probably should have mentioned that removing drivers in this manner is not for the faint of heart and should be done with guidance if unfamiliar.  But don't worry too much that you removed the one with the exclaimation mark.  If it was really in use and something seems broken, you can go to the control panel and "install new hardware" and it can search for existing hardware that does not have a driver.  If it is something that came with the conputer and you have not made major operating system changes, it should find the driver on your system.  But don't do this unless something seems broken SINCE removing that serial port driver.  No need to open a larger can of worms at this point.

Ah, I see. I definitely won't mess with anything else unless I do indeed find that I added to the problem! Thanks for this clarification. With regards to the N8VB vCOM Virtual Serial Port Driver, I have the exe on the laptop and can always re-install it if I did screw something up, so it should be okay.

[Weather Display]

just a note that N8VB vCOM Virtual Serial Port Driver is only used/needed for Virtual VP (if the other programs are to be using com port mode (its easier to instead use the TCP/IP sharing mode in VVP)

[NorthNJwx]

just a note that N8VB vCOM Virtual Serial Port Driver is only used/needed for Virtual VP (if the other programs are to be using com port mode (its easier to instead use the TCP/IP sharing mode in VVP)

I know that driver only applies to Virtual VP, but I'm curious about the TCP/IP mode: how does that work/what are the advantages to using it over com port mode?

[SLOweather]

I know that driver only applies to Virtual VP, but I'm curious about the TCP/IP mode: how does that work/what are the advantages to using it over com port mode?

Programs using virtual COM ports must be running on that computer.
So, on my weather computer at home, VWS and WD and sometimes WeatherLink all access the data from the VP2 over VVP virtual COM ports.

Depending on your computer/network/firewall TCP/IP mode can be accessed by programs on computers on the network, or even the Internet.

I have a hardware serial over Ethernet device at home that accesses the VP2 data over the network from a VVP TCP/IP port and looks, hardware, like a VP2 with a serial WeatherLink. I use it for testing and development.

And, from work, through a port forwarded through the home firewall, I can use VPLive to see the data from my weather station.
 

[Weather Display]

yes, the TCP/IP option allows more flexibility
and as long as no problems with the router, you have less problems with driver lock ups, USB ports, etc

[NorthNJwx]

Programs using virtual COM ports must be running on that computer.
So, on my weather computer at home, VWS and WD and sometimes WeatherLink all access the data from the VP2 over VVP virtual COM ports.

Depending on your computer/network/firewall TCP/IP mode can be accessed by programs on computers on the network, or even the Internet.

I have a hardware serial over Ethernet device at home that accesses the VP2 data over the network from a VVP TCP/IP port and looks, hardware, like a VP2 with a serial WeatherLink. I use it for testing and development.

And, from work, through a port forwarded through the home firewall, I can use VPLive to see the data from my weather station.
 

Now that's impressive. Thanks for the info, even if it can't be applied to my setup (no router/wireless internet on site). Cool to hear what can be done and how data can be dispersed.

yes, the TCP/IP option allows more flexibility
and as long as no problems with the router, you have less problems with driver lock ups, USB ports, etc

Seems it would certainly be a good option if I did have a router and wireless access on-site. It's amazing how many workarounds have been developed by members of this site for USB logger problems - really quite great.

[NorthNJwx]

I managed to get back on-site today. Here's what happened:

The first thing I did was make sure I could connect the logger to my main laptop to download its contents (only the past 6 days' worth, since I was there last Saturday). This was a success.

I then tried the old laptop, in hopes that I could get it to connect and restore 24/7 service.

It did not work, but I now know what the problem is. It's a driver problem - not a USB logger problem. Using the advice of someone who posted in this thread, I checked the device manager with the logger plugged in. Indeed, the computer certainly does recognize that the logger is connected. And, adding to that point, the fact that the logger is able to communicate with my main laptop is more evidence that my USB logger is actually fine. I should also mention again that the USB logger never had one dropout in 30 days of 24/7 usage on the old laptop; communication was not an issue before the old laptop's battery died on 10/30. That seems to be the issue: the laptop battery died, and now the laptop refuses to communicate.

I'll explain here the specific driver error I found when I checked the device manager:

Under "Ports (COM & LPT)," I saw “Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge (COM7)” listed, so the laptop was indeed aware of the USB logger being plugged in and even gave me a virtual COM port it was associated with. But it had a yellow exclamation point attached to it. I right-clicked the driver and went to "properties," hoping to get some info as to what was wrong with it.

Under properties, the following error message was revealed: “This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device. (Code 31).” I also checked for the version of the driver, which did turn out to be the most updated one that I had downloaded - Version 6.5.0.0, 9/28/11.

So I uninstalled the driver (fully) and reinstall it (using the version Davis included in WeatherLink this time), doing the necessary computer restarts, etc. The same thing happened - the driver had the same error message listed in the device manager and refused to work. I then uninstalled this version of the driver and then reinstalled the 6.5.0.0 version, did the necessary restarts, etc. - and, same error again. It is clear that this error with the driver - and not the USB datalogger - is causing my problem.

I brought the laptop back home again. I'm thankful I can still download the contents of the logger onto my main laptop on WeatherLink - and this is the most important thing for me, as I've mentioned. I'm wondering if, as a last attempt to get the old laptop to be able to connect to the logger again (if nobody has any ideas about this error), I should completely wipe the computer clean and reinstall XP (yeah, it's pretty old), then just install the relevant software and try again.

If anyone has any idea about what that driver error is and how to fix it, please let me know!

[xykotik]

Thanks for sharing your troubleshooting process.  That will help the next person immensely.

Does your 24/7 laptop have a second bank of USB ports, in another physical location on the laptop (ie, on the back rather than side)?  Often times these have their own root-hub hardware and driver.  If the driver problem (which you reloaded) is actually a hardware problem with the port, this may rule it out before you throw it out.  Remove the flagged driver first before you plug in to the new port, so it doesn't use existing tanked drivers.

[NorthNJwx]

Thanks for sharing your troubleshooting process.  That will help the next person immensely.

Does your 24/7 laptop have a second bank of USB ports, in another physical location on the laptop (ie, on the back rather than side)?  Often times these have their own root-hub hardware and driver.  If the driver problem (which you reloaded) is actually a hardware problem with the port, this may rule it out before you throw it out.  Remove the flagged driver first before you plug in to the new port, so it doesn't use existing tanked drivers.

It just has the three USB ports in the one cluster (all of which I tried); no others, unfortunately.

Do you think this is a hardware issue with the USB ports, or a software issue with the SiLabs drivers? It just seems odd to me that the computer will no longer work with this specific driver and this specific USB cord - no matter how many times I uninstall/reinstall the software - while the USB ports still work for all other USB uses, and while the same driver/USB cord works on my main laptop. If the problem simply is that, for some reason, SiLabs drivers will no longer work on this computer, are there any non-SiLabs drivers that could also work with the USB logger?

[skinnysqueaky]

  Lets go back to the beginning.  As I read this posting the problem started when the power went down, when the power went off, PC don't like that.  It could have been doing some disk housekeeping and corrupted some data connected with drivers or data.  I would run system restore, make a current restore point and then go back and see if you can find a restore point just before the crash date and go back to that point.  If it doesn't work go back to the  latter restore point you made. Have you removed the programs that use that port and reinstalled them, just reinstalling the program over the old doesn't always work.  

  A laptop of that age is sure to start having problems with hard drive reads and writes.   That happened to one of my computers, it ended up so slow that it wouldn't start all the time would just hang until I did several restarts. To fix it I had to do a unconditional format, then ran Spinrite (a hard drive repair utility) to repair the drive and reloaded XP back on, took 3 days.  All is well now.

[NorthNJwx]

 Lets go back to the beginning.  As I read this posting the problem started when the power went down, when the power went off, PC don't like that.  It could have been doing some disk housekeeping and corrupted some data connected with drivers or data.  I would run system restore, make a current restore point and then go back and see if you can find a restore point just before the crash date and go back to that point.  If it doesn't work go back to the  latter restore point you made. Have you removed the programs that use that port and reinstalled them, just reinstalling the program over the old doesn't always work.  

  A laptop of that age is sure to start having problems with hard drive reads and writes.   That happened to one of my computers, it ended up so slow that it wouldn't start all the time would just hang until I did several restarts. To fix it I had to do a unconditional format, then ran Spinrite (a hard drive repair utility) to repair the drive and reloaded XP back on, took 3 days.  All is well now.

I think running a system restore makes sense, and I'll do it when I get the chance.

[NorthNJwx]

I got back on-site again today and finally fixed my problem! Well, not completely - but I certainly fixed it to my satisfaction. The details:

I ran a system restore (going back to a point made on 10/29, as the problem started on 10/30) yesterday in preparation for going on-site today. When I got to the house and plugged in the datalogger, I found that the system restore did no good. The device manager continued to show the same error with the Silicon Labs driver, and I wasn't able to connect to the station using WeatherLink.

I took the previous poster's advice and fully uninstalled all weather-related programs (WL, WxSolution, Cumulus, VirtualVP, N8VBvCOM, and the Silicon Labs driver) and restarted the computer. As an aside, I wonder why I didn't do this earlier - I guess I just expected the problem was something totally different. When I reinstalled WeatherLink, I found - to my delight - that it was able to communicate with the station! I checked the device manager, and, sure enough, there was no error shown with the Silicon Labs driver.

I next installed N8VBvCOM and VirtualVP. But when I tried connecting in VirtualVP (using the same COM port that WeatherLink had found the station on earlier), it didn't work. I checked the device manager, and the N8VBvCOM driver was flagged. I then tried to connect to the station again in WeatherLink, and it didn't work this time. I uninstalled N8VBvCOM and VirtualVP, then tried to connect to WeatherLink again. To my relief, I was able to connect to WeatherLink again, on the same COM port as before. The device manager showed no error.

So it appeared to me that the problem was with having N8VBvCOM and/or VirtualVP installed on the computer, since I was only able to communicate with the station in WeatherLink after they were uninstalled. I don't see how just having VirtualVP installed, not running, could cause a problem, so I suspected something was wrong with N8VBvCOM (considering the flagged driver in the device manager) or my configuration of it. But...

I had more software to test.

WxSolution was next. After uninstalling N8VBvCOM/VirtualVP and successfully testing the connection again in WL, I tried to connect in WxSolution - but it didn't work; WxSolution couldn't find the station on any of the given ports. I went ahead and installed a different version of WxSolution - one that uses a different method of communication with the logger (I don't know the details, only that the software designer changed the way it communicates in that updated version). With that version, I was able to detect the station in WxSolution - but was not, for some reason, able to connect to it live.

After failing to communicate properly in WxSolution, I tried Cumulus. I was thrilled to find that Cumulus was, indeed, able to communicate with the station! There were no problems - I simply selected the same COM port WeatherLink had found the station on and Cumulus connected to the station immediately.

So, I now have the laptop back on-site, running Cumulus 24/7. My previous configuration (9/30 - 10/30, before it went down) had VirtualVP, Cumulus, and WxSolution. WxSolution is the only loss in all of this. WeatherLink is on both laptops, but I only use the version on my main laptop and will continue to go down to the site every <53 days to download the contents of the datalogger onto it. That way, in case of a a power failure, laptop issue, or Cumulus issue that could prevent Cumulus from communicating directly with the station 24/7, I'll always have the 30-min WeatherLink data available. It's also nice to have the data on both laptops, in case I have an issue with either of them.

I'm very happy with the results of today, even if WxSolution and VirtualVP mysteriously don't want to communicate with my station. The combination of my 30-min WeatherLink logger data and more detailed 10-min Cumulus archive is perfect for my purposes.

If the remaining problem seems obvious to anyone, I'd appreciate hearing your feedback. If not, I hope those who contributed to this thread will see this post and know that the problem has largely been fixed. Thanks to all who have contributed!

[SlowModem]

If the remaining problem seems obvious to anyone, I'd appreciate hearing your feedback. If not, I hope those who contributed to this thread will see this post and know that the problem has largely been fixed. Thanks to all who have contributed!

If you're happy, then we're happy!   

Now you can enjoy the holidays!

[SlowModem]

(I) will continue to go down to the site every <53 days to download the contents of the datalogger onto it. That way, in case of a a power failure, laptop issue, or Cumulus issue that could prevent Cumulus from communicating directly with the station 24/7, I'll always have the 30-min WeatherLink data available. It's also nice to have the data on both laptops, in case I have an issue with either of them.

Reading your post today that referenced this thread got me curious and I went back and read this thread.  Reading the quote above made me think of something I've started doing and others might be interested in it.

Once/month (I'm sure others do it at different intervals) I run WL just to do a backup.  I copy the file to an external hard drive for posterity.  But, a couple of months ago, the external hard drive was in another room, so I just emailed the file from the old weather computer to the laptop where the external hard drive was.  This wasn't much trouble for the dialup, because the file is really small.  Then it hit me.  I'll just send the file to my yahoo mail account, too, and make a folder there for it.  So now I am doing a monthly backup to "the cloud" in case the weather computer and/or the external hard drive goes kaput.