Texecom ComIP - Com Port 1 error

[MilkDawg]

Hi

I have an issue, I am completely out of ideas and am pulling my hair out!

I have the ComIP module that has been installed. Everything works okay, it polls to Texecom and the iPhone app works very well with notifications etc. The issue is that it keeps producing an error about Com1. I then have to login as engineer to reset before the alarm can be set again. Once reset, it takes about 24 to 48 hours to happen again. It seems to error in the evening too. I have moved the cable to Com Port 2, no difference. Texecom helped a bit and then advised I change the ComIP. I fitted the new replacement just over 24 hours ago and it has now flagged the error again. I can see on my switch that the port seems to drop quite a lot, not sure if this is right but seems a bit weird! To see if it was the switch, I patched it straight into my router but this made no difference, it gave an error the next day.

I am completely out of ideas! If anyone has any thoughts, I would really appreciate it, I am about to go crazy.

 

[sparkymarka]

Not sure if this is any help and can't check wintex at the moment, but when you use a comm 2400 it checks the line , I used to get comm 2400 fault / restore on my system allways early hours, think BT do something early hours ,to get around this you can set a delay in options ( set 2 mins ) this solves the issue , not sure if this affects the IP comm

 

[sparkymarka]

It's in global / timers / ats path delay / set to 1/2 mins see if this helps

 

[MilkDawg]

Cool thanks. I will see what mine is set to and change it. I too have a Com2400 fitted but the error moans about the port the ComIP is on. When I returned my ComIP to get it replaced, this error did not appear in the week the ComIP was not fitted. It seems something like this as it seems to be around the same time each evening.

 

[MilkDawg]

I have checked mine and its set to 60 minutes. I remember getting that error about ATS a few months ago, it was flagging up our Virgin line every day, so I increased it. Haven't had an ATS fault since. Thanks for your help though.

 

[MilkDawg]

Anyone have any other ideas on this?

 

[MilkDawg]

Does anyone have any thoughts on this please? Over the past few months, the ComIP module has been replaced, along with all cat5 cabling and a new DrayTek router and the problem still persists. I don't get the error as frequent at the moment but it is still happening. Network monitoring tools have been run and I can see the ComIP talk out every 15 minutes, even when the panel errors. I even fitted a ComWiFi yesterday but the error came on at 5am this morning, this is driving me crazy. I am starting to think that maybe the main panel is faulty? I tried to get the power calculator but you need to be an installer to download it, although I don't think I am reaching the power limit (Elite 24, Premier Elite Odyssey 3, 2x Premier Elite LCD RKPs, 2x door magnets, 6x Prestige Dual Technology PIRs, ComIP, Com2400 and a 7ah battery).

 

[secureiam]

turn off your notifications does the error stop?

 

[MilkDawg]

turn off your notifications does the error stop?

Thanks for your reply. By that, do you mean to disable the ARC with the IP info in it for Texecom servers, or is there another way?

 

[secureiam]

Just disable the ARC

 

[dellybellybean]

I am having a very similar issue. But with a comwifi. No feedback from texecom email support yet.
Originally it was just not visible on the network. I found that it was not advertising its MAC address So I manually added the IP and MAC address to my laptop arp cache and it worked. I could now get wintex to connect.
Then I found that it was not talking to my router. Similar problem but no option to amend the arp cache on the router. So I ended up reducing the DHPC pool and hard setting the comwifi to an IP address outside the DHPC pool. That worked for about 24 hours. wintex and mobile app connectivity and alerts via IP all working fine.
Although annoyingly the somwifi only seems to allow one devide to connect to it at a time.
But it has Intermittently dropped off the network. Often a reset digi seems to fix it. But today it dropped out completely with a COM1 error. I tried all the usual tricks. reset com digi. manually update ARP cache. But the only thing that worked was to set COM1 to not installed and then set it back to COMIP.
I have now switched of 'ATS path faults' alerts to see if the errors go away.
It is a very unstable card and often seems like it is is struggling to cope. The ping responses sometimes go sky high and often fail intermittently. I am by profession an IP network engineer and am confident that the network is fine. The fact that it recovers when I 'reset' the COMwifi card on COM1 also suggests that the issue is with the card or maybe the COM on the main board.

My comwifi is running v1.0.05
My panel is a premier elite 24 running v2.11

I also have a com2400 installed. I wonder if this is causing the issue as even though it is wired to an expansion port when it has issues it often co-incides with a COM1 error. Maybe the expanion bus and COM bus are the same?

I may try it without the com2400 installed which is also very flakey and often does not send SMS messages.

 

[sparkymarka]

No it has issues got one on test in the office Com IP so it's not the wifi , this also is a premier 24 , it sometimes does not send push notifications but seems to clear if you do a digi reset as if it's stuck in a loop and can't send it out ! No comm 2400 on this unit !

 

[dellybellybean]

Thanks. The com wifi does the same. Seems to get stuck in a loop. Also evident if you leave a ping running you can watch the response times increase. Do a reset and it all starts working again.
Are you on v2.x firmware on the panel as well. I notice in v3 release notes it says multiple devices can connect to com ip.

 

[secureiam]

V3 allows more than 1 com-ip/comwfif to be connected, you cant have more than 1 session with a device at present.
V3 according to Texecom does not resolve the issue with the notifications and the com fault.

If you set up Montex/ texbase on a pc on your own network you can have notifications via email and use an app on your phone to give you alerts when that email comes in. This doesn't appear to generate the com 1 fault during some test I did over a long time, however be aware that you cant connect to the panel with the app or wintex when the panl is sending out a notification.

 

[MilkDawg]

Just disable the ARC

Well, its been just over a week and no Com Port 1 errors after disabling the ARC for Texecom servers. I too am pretty sure there is nothing wrong with my network, so is this a fault with the Texecom servers? Surely if it is, I can't be the only one. Looking back at logs, I can see the ComIP connect to Texecom every 15 minutes, the connection stays open for about 3-4 seconds then closes. I did happen to see that when it errors, the connection stayed open for 30-40 seconds and did not seem to terminate properly. For spending over £100 for a basic looking network card, this is quite disappointing.