Can Comfort crash?

[HenleyBranch]

I have had my system installed for six months now. In that time, I have had two, what I would term, crashes. It seems to happen when the system is in alarm.

The symptom is that the keypad is unresponsive, as is dial in via phone and the UCM Ethernet via Comfigurator to perform a reset. Only solution is to power down at the mains and re-power up which seems to reactivate the keypad, but I then get an error message on the keypad: \"WRONG TEXT PUSH *1 TOGETHER\" on the keypad, and when pushed I get \"NO TEXT DATA DOWNLOADED ABORTED\". The system has appears to have lost its vocab. Last time around I was able to perform a reset, and solved the problem through upgrade of firmware and vocab thanks to Cytech Support. Everything has been fine since then, but this morning my system has suffered another similar outage.

I think I am on the latest firmware 6.011 now. I have re-established coms through powering down as above, but get the error on the keypad. In trying to re-upload the vocab, I am getting an error mid-way through in Comfigurator. I am worried, as in both instances I have been at home and able to deal with the situation, but I am concerned if I am away and cannot therefore perform the power down reset required.

Any suggestions?

Henley

[ident]

That is a concern
We have heard of this happening but have not been able to duplicate it

When it happens are you able to reset Comfort by pressing the RESET button on the Comfort PCB, without removing power and battery? This is very important to know
When did you install 6.011? Was it before or after the problem occured?


when you upgrade vocabulary sometimes you may encounter an error because the process takes so long, about 20 minutes. It is best to disconnect all other  modules  from the bus when you do this

[HenleyBranch]

I have sent support@cytech.biz my clx file, log, and i/o monitor grab for your diagnostics.

It has happened twice. Once when I was on previous 5.xxx firmware as purchased and now early this morning with the firmware on 6.011.

After it first happened, three or so months ago, I \'fixed\' the problem by upgrading the firmware, and Comfigurator. It hasn\'t happened since until today.

This morning, I got up early, and my system was therefore still in Night Mode. I have configured sensors to automatically disarm from night mode if two sequential sensors (upstairs hall and downstairs hall in that order) activate - which ordinarily works very well. This morning it didn\'t disarm, which I realised when I reached the kitchen. It went into alarm, but the keypad was then inoperable to disarm.

The only way I have therefore found to stop the alarm is to power down the system at the mains. Once powered back up, I get the error message described in my original post. There is some comms via the UCB Ethernet, but the system won\'t fully reset from Comfigurator. To reset it, I have to open the main Comfort box and use the reset button on the PCB which in my case is under the zone expansion board (I can just reach it with my finger). The sirens briefly activate and then the system resets and comms via UCB Ethernet are fully restored. But the keypad issue remains until I do a full vocab upload. On this occasion, this took several attempts, but was eventually successful. My system is now back up.

My main concern with this is understanding why it is happening and particularly if my system goes into alarm when I am out of the country, how likely is it to lock up with the sirens on continuously and with no comms! In both cases thus far, I have been in the property myself, so have been able to deal with it, but obviously this isn\'t always the case.

Henley

[HenleyBranch]

I should add - I did a full write of the system from Comfigurator to Comfort before uploading vocab.

Henley

[Vangelis]

Not a fix to your problem, but maybe of assistance regarding what the sirens do when the system locks up...

Have a look at the details of the sirens you have installed, as any installed in the UK have to \'timeout\' the siren after 15 mins - this, from recollection, is under the control of the Comfort system - however there maybe additional electronics within the siren to kill the output after a number of successive alarms (I know some sirens have this), and just keep the strobe active.

Maybe worth a check so as not to annoy the neighbours..