Errors in the log file - what they are and what to do about them

SUMMARY

The HCA log file, in addition to showing you when commands are sent and received also shows errors generated by your X10 transmission hardware.  This note describes what sort of errors you may see in the log file and what action you should take upon seeing them.

As described in the User’s Guide, the HCA log and the log viewer provide a very important tool in making sure that your home design is doing what you intended. By its very nature, X10 transmissions are less reliable than anyone likes. Sometimes signals sent to control a device never make it to the device or reach it in a garbled form. Other times, non-X10 devices in your home can generate signals that look like X10 signals and you find things going on or off at odd times.

These problems are often very hard and frustrating to find. The log provides answers to at least some of these types of questions. Was the command sent and if so when? The log answers this. You use a control panel to send an On or Off to a device but it doesn’t go on or off. Did HCA at least receive the command? The log answers this.

The log is also the place where HCA itself records problems that it encounters with your computer’s serial port and your X10 hardware. What these entries look like, and what you can do if you see them is the subject of this technical note.

There are three types of log entries classified as error entries. These are:

Unexpected X10 receptions

This type of log entry is used for unexpected X10 receptions. These are X10 commands received by HCA for devices (identified by housecode and unitcode) that you do not have in your design. For example, if your design does not contain a device, program, or group with X10 address B13, and a B13 ON command is received, one of these type of entries is made in the log.

You may want to investigate why these commands are being sent. Do you have all control panels in your home setup correctly? Do the HCA devices in your design and the corresponding modules in your home have the same X10 settings?

These log entries may signify a problem in your home but in no way degrade the performance of HCA.

As you may already be aware, X10 commands travel from the X10 hardware attached to the computer to the individual modules in your home using signals transmitted over your house wiring. If you have control panels in your home, pressing buttons on them also transmits an X10 command over your house wiring. What happens if HCA is transmitting an X10 command at the same time you press a button on a control panel? Neither transmission probably gets through to your modules intact.

Depending upon the kind of X10 hardware you are using with HCA, these kind of problems can be detected and logged.

If you are using the Marrick Limited line of X10 coprocessors, these are the errors you may see:

1. These errors signify a problem with X10 transmissions or receptions. This may be due to two X10 transmissions happening at the same time, or some form of interference in your home.
2. These errors should be reported to Technical Support. Please include the complete text of the log entry as well as several of the immediately preceding ones.
3. This error occurs when power is lost at the TW523. This could be due to a power failure or the TW523 has come unplugged from the wall. HCA power failure detection and recovery handles this error.

Internal HCA serial port errors

HCA adds an entry to the log whenever any of its serial port processing detects an error. In general, these log entries are of the form:

    SendTask: <some text> error[<some number>]

Or

    ReceiveTask: <some text> error[<some number>]

What do these errors signify? Some kind of problem with HCA’s use of the computer’s serial port. In almost all cases, there is no action you can take to resolve these. If you see any of these please report it to Technical Support using the exact wording of the error.

One error should not be reported to Technical Support – messages that look like:

    ReceiveTask: ClearCommError error[<some error>]

Unless you see excessive numbers of these they generally don’t signify a problem. Serial communications between your X10 hardware and the computer is sometimes less than perfect due to the length of the cable, interference, etc. These sorts of problems are logged using the above message. If you see hundreds of these in your log, you may want to perform the diagnostics that came with your computer to test the serial port and the cable between the computer and the X10 hardware.