C4 stops working every 1-4 weeks

[albertc]

Hi everyone, I have been having this issue where the lights can no longer be controlled through the 6-button switches, touchscreens, iphone or PC app. Their status appears that they are off, even though lights could be on. Same goes for the Audio Amp and SR-250s. I have worked with the dealer for months trying to troubleshoot this problem but he can't figure it out. We usually end up rebooting the Controller a few times, reloading the project a few times, resetting every switch, and then the lights begin registering and working normally, as well as everything else. It lasts anywhere from 1 to 4 weeks until we have the same problem again... Sometimes we go for 2 hours of rebooting, etc, other times 2 days before it starts to work.

The dealer seems to think its my network equipment and conflict with Uverse? When we had this problem, I disconnected everything and only had the controller and one touchscreen connected to the Uverse router/gateway... No Uverse boxes were connected or anything else for that matter. That didn't solve the issue. The dealer then said its a Zigbee server issue - no idea how/what to troubleshoot there.

A typical indication that this problem is about to occur would be that the C4-8AMP1-B would start clicking, display goes on/off with every click. During this time, if you turn audio on to any of the zones, it will be intermittent (fades in/out) or no volume at all. Looking at the touchscreen, the audio zone will appear muted. Secondly, the light control becomes sluggish, 5+ seconds lagging. Then the SR-250s will show 'waiting for network' - at this point the lights are no longer controllable.

I am new to Control 4 and have spent a lot to get the gear, I am just at a loss whether its a hardware issue, network configuration, lack of dealer experience or all of the above :|

Here's my list of equipment:

1 - HC-300 (main) running latest version according to dealer 2.x

1 - HC-300 (in HT)

1 - C4-8AMP1-B

2 - 7" touchsreens

Many (~20) dimmers and about 10 6-button keypads.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or ideas you may have!

[ichbinbose]

1. what OS are you on?

2. are all of the C4 devices set to static IP's?

3. is there a network switch involved? If so what type, manufacture, model?

4. for the zigbee, how large is the house?

5. are there any CA repeaters in the project?

6. how many other networkable devices are on the network and are they using DHCP or all static?

[albertc]

1. what OS are you on?

Not sure if this is the place to find it, but going into Home Composer, connect to Controller and looking under System, I found this:

||/ Name Version Description

+++-===============================-===============================-==============================================================================

ii c4drivers 2.1.1.135702 Control4 Drivers

ii flash-navigator 2.1.1.135702 SWF Files For Navigator

ii flash-navigator-addon 2.1.1.135702 SWF Files For Navigator

ii kernel-modules-wolverinev2 2.6.28.10-rc8.75 Linux 2.6 Kernel Modules

ii kernel-wolverinev2 2.6.28.10-rc8.75 Linux 2.6 Kernel

ii pin-control4-drivers 2.1.1.135702 pin-control4-drivers

ii preupgrade 2.1.1.135702 preupgrade package

ii rootfs-hc300v2 2.1.1.135702 Root Filesystem

ii system-version 2.1.1.135702 System Version Utility

2. are all of the C4 devices set to static IP's?

The C4 devices I know how to check are:

HC-300 (both set to DHCP)

touchscreens (both set to DHCP)

3. is there a network switch involved? If so what type, manufacture, model?

Yes. Here's how evertyhing is connected:

Internet -> ATT Uverse RG w/4ports (running DHCP Server and wireless)

port 1 -> HC-300 (main)

port 2 -> TRENDNET TEG-S80G 8 port GB switch (port 1 connected to a no name GB 4pt switch, port 2 connected to Zyxel WAP w/no DHCP, port 3 to PC, port 4 to PC)

-> no name switch on port 4 above is in the HT, and it is connected to the second HC-300, Uverse, Bluray.

port 3 -> NETGEAR GS108 ProSafe 8 port GB switch (port 1 connected to C4-8AMP1-B, port 2-6 are connected to TV, Bluray, Receiver, Uverse and ZyXel WAP w/no DHCP)

port 4 -> TRENDNET TEG-S80G 8 port GB switch (port 1 connected to Uverse, port 2-4 connected to TV, Bluray, VOIP phone)

Everything is on the same subnet and all devices, with the exception of some IP cameras are set to DHCP. We also have a 4th Uverse box that connects via wireless.

4. for the zigbee, how large is the house?

House is 5700 sqft

5. are there any CA repeaters in the project?

No.

6. how many other networkable devices are on the network and are they using DHCP or all static?

There are a total of 24 devices (includes wireless printer, PCs, ipads, iphones, cameras, etc). They all use DHCP.

Not sure if this is relevant, but looking at the Controller log file, it has numerous entries similar to this one for each device name:

Device Foyer(10):Invalidating device 6:5810 cache: device HC300-C COaks reason: OnDeviceOffline

Thanks for your help and input!

[cvlboy]

I had similar problem before when I use hc300 running both zigbee radio and its audio output to the amplifier.

I solved it by getting another hc300 and make that running solely zigbee radio.

I think hc300's cpu is kinda weak to handle both zigbee radio server and streaming audio.

Hope that help.

[NL-C4]

maybe use the other hc300 in your project to run the zigbee server.

ore even change director to the other hc300.

if it is a hardware problem from the hc300 (that is running director / zigbee server) this is the most simple way to check (in my opinion)

[ichbinbose]

ok, the first thing that I would do is get a 24 port switch from dell or pakedge or something else in that area of performance and plug everything into a single high quality switch ( yes this can make a difference regaurdless of what others may think)

second I would make every device on your network a static IP, as it would be very easy it have an IP conflict with that many devices.

then if you continue to have issues I would add an HC1000v3 to off set the load.

[Godzilla]

sounds like network issues to me............but has your dealer confirmed if your zigbee server was not running?

[thecodeman]

I also would look at the network in addition to controller resources.

[albertc]

Thank you for everyone's suggestions. The dealer came out today and tried different tips in addition to some of your suggestions. He contacted Control4 Tech Support and they logged in to the system and 'optimized settings' on both controllers. According to Tech Support, the system was not strained. They also told him that Uverse modem/routers do not play well with Control4. For optimum performance they are suggesting the Apple Airport to be used as the router and the Uverse to be reconfigured as just a modem, although they said this can be tricky to accomplish. According to ATT, this cannot be done, so I am not sure how we will go about turning the router function off.

When he left, everything was working. A few hours later, the system went down again He's coming out tomorrow to diagnose further...

Thanks again for your suggestions.

[albertc]

I know several people mentioned that components of the ethernet network could be to blame, or as Control4 said, maybe its the Uverse router, etc.

I am new to Control4 and my knowledge is limited in this area, but this isn't making too much sense to me. The only Control4 devices I have on the Ethernet network are the controllers, AMP, and touchsreens. When my lights become uncontrollable through Control4, I can still access (through my Ethernet network) the touchscreen menu and change TV channels, volume, etc - the same is true when I use my iphone or PC (using the Ethernet wireless network). The Control4 items that do not respond are the lights (dimmers, 6-button keypads, and the SR-250s) which I read all use the Zigbee protocol. So in my mind, the culprit is the Zigbee server / Zigbee network coordinator or whatever Control4 calls it, that is dropping the radio communication with all the associated devices. That said, this function should be within the controller and should not be dependant on the Ethernet network?

Like I said, I am new to Control4, so my interpretation of how things work may be completely off... Thanks for everyone's input.

[seth_j]

I know several people mentioned that components of the ethernet network could be to blame, or as Control4 said, maybe its the Uverse router, etc.

I am new to Control4 and my knowledge is limited in this area, but this isn't making too much sense to me. The only Control4 devices I have on the Ethernet network are the controllers, AMP, and touchsreens. When my lights become uncontrollable through Control4, I can still access (through my Ethernet network) the touchscreen menu and change TV channels, volume, etc - the same is true when I use my iphone or PC (using the Ethernet wireless network). The Control4 items that do not respond are the lights (dimmers, 6-button keypads, and the SR-250s) which I read all use the Zigbee protocol. So in my mind, the culprit is the Zigbee server / Zigbee network coordinator or whatever Control4 calls it, that is dropping the radio communication with all the associated devices. That said, this function should be within the controller and should not be dependant on the Ethernet network?

Like I said, I am new to Control4, so my interpretation of how things work may be completely off... Thanks for everyone's input.

I think you're probably correct but if you have one controller running the zigbee server and the other acting as an access point they'll need to communicate over ethernet. But from what you said above I'd be looking long and hard at the zigbee network. Luckily in 2.1 we have some really cool tools to find the causes of zigbee issues.

[xc420]

Thank you for everyone's suggestions. The dealer came out today and tried different tips in addition to some of your suggestions. He contacted Control4 Tech Support and they logged in to the system and 'optimized settings' on both controllers. According to Tech Support, the system was not strained. They also told him that Uverse modem/routers do not play well with Control4. For optimum performance they are suggesting the Apple Airport to be used as the router and the Uverse to be reconfigured as just a modem, although they said this can be tricky to accomplish. According to ATT, this cannot be done, so I am not sure how we will go about turning the router function off.

When he left, everything was working. A few hours later, the system went down again He's coming out tomorrow to diagnose further...

Thanks again for your suggestions.

I think you are correct. C4 equipment is the first place you should look for problems.

I'm using a Uverse modem/router and my C4 system works fine.

ATT is full of it, you can disable their router and use your own. I'm not sure that all the information is here but there is a forum you can go to.

http://www.uverseusers.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=2&topic=4254.0

My guess as to what is wrong, you probably have a bad controller and it needs to be replaced, or it's a bug in C4's software. The dealer can try a USB restore on the controller before deciding whether it needs to be replaced. I wouldn't be so quick to blame everything on the network. It's much more likely to be a C4 problem either hardware/software than anything else.