Crestron stability issues

[rich]

Hi,

Firstly sorry in advance for the long post, I wanted to make sure I didn't bother anyone before checking through things thoroughly.

I have a Crestron job that we have taken over that needs to have two TPMC-10's replaced with iPads. Over the past couple of weeks we have upgraded the local networking infrastructure and recreated the touchscreens for the iPad. We were having some disconnect problems along the way but I thought it was likely something I was doing so I didn't pay a great deal of attention to them at the time.

The started reporting some stability issues so we have been working through the system trying to determine where the problem lies. I set up the same equipment here at the office and initially it ran here without a hiccup but last night it crashed here too.  I think that may have been due to the debugger though because that seemed to happen again today. I have tested with the TCP module and the CIP module. 

At this point what I am looking for is tips in diagnosing this problem. 

So this is what I have and what I've tried so far.

The setup

PRO2

2 x iPad's both at iOS 4.3.2

iViewer 4 (4.0.5) and iViewer Next Installed

Draytek AP-800 access points

Draytek  2110 router

The Fault

The client report the touchscreen "freezing" every 5-25 minutes.

Normal operation is restored by starting and stopping the app.

The process

I created the project using the TCP module and although it had worked perfectly for me in the office I read up on the issues posted here and decided I should switch to the CIP module instead to see if that fixed the problem. The first test of this on site made things worse so I switched back to the TCP module.

As it was working in the office the second thing I looked at was a networking issue at the site. Running wireshark showed nothing out of the ordinary, no broadcast storms at least. In use the iPad and PC's all had good connectivity to the outside world and whether or not the app would freeze safari worked consistently. I removed the router (which also has a wireless connection) and now have that with me in the office.

I have created a setup here at the office using CIP with the network having only my local processor (and MC2e), the clients router with its wireless connection and our iPad (which has the same versions of both iOS and the CF apps). It worked here for hours at a time, but performing the first overnight test last night it failed.

I placed some new javascript into the design to show a clock on the main screen. As I look at the screen now the clock shows 18:14. If I press a button I get no response other than the iPad click noise. Looking at the debugger I can see a couple of heartbeat messages followed by the "Lost realtime monitor connection" disconnect message. The debug messages stop at 18:14, same time that is currently being displayed on the touchscreen. 

If I use the debugger I can interact with the javascript function there, I can send items to the log, update the weather etc. but nothing changes on the touchscreen. I am still a bit green with this stuff so I am not sure where this javascript is running - is it in the browser or in the app? OK I just refreshed the browser and the various bits of javascript started working and, at length, the app came back to life. so I am about to fire it all up again, this time without the debugger to make sure that is not a factor.

Where to from here

I was going to put a QM-RMC out on site as an intermediary, using an EISC to communicate to the PRO2. I am quite keen to hear from others as to what I should be looking for and/or techniques for improving the stability on site.  

rich

[rich]

Another small quirk,

I just switched to using iViewer 4 from Next and one of my buttons stopped working. I loaded Next again and it works fine, back to 4 and no dice. I switched on debug and fouind the following error in the logs.

> Exception running code received from iViewer: TypeError: 'undefined' is not an object (evaluating 'a.apply')

> Code that caused the exception: (function(){CF.wrappers.f3.apply(null,["d31","0",{"[join]":"d31"}]);CF.wrappers.f10.apply(null,["d31","0",{"[join]":"d31"}]);})();

I deleted and replaced the button but get the same error.

Any ideas?

[Jarrod Bell]

Did it actually crash? Please send us the crash logs if so.
Guide to getting the logs:
http://spreed.zendesk.com/entries/384778-how-to-find-your-ios-crash-logs

JavaScript runs on the PC when connected to the debugger. Def not recommended for testing connection stability at length.

Is the iPad connected to power always? If not, it will lose connection as the wifi gets shut off by the OS.

Jarrod

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[rich]

Jarrod,

no the app didn't crash - on the contrary its been rock solid. The connection seems the problem. I have tried with and without the debugger and so far it hasn't lost connection when the debugger is not used so that seems like it might have been a red herring yesterday. 

As for the iPad's onsite, they are not permanently connected to power, but then they drop off after about 10-15 minutes typically. The iPad here I have run, connected to power, overnight without disconnection.

I am almost 100% sure its not the app. What I am not sure about is how to diagnose the problem I have. I have tried a variety of things out on site, tested the network, tested the physical devices (I took my iPad out to site which has been working perfectly here at the office and it also lost connection) and even paired down the GUI to a very basic version with minimal traffic between it and Crestron but all to no avail.

I have a MC2e that I plan to take to site next week to see if the processor they are using has any issues. 

Any suggestions on what and how to test on site would be welcome though.

rich