Display stops when playing schedule

[danj]

Last night, my display just stopped displaying during one of my songs.   At first I thought maybe I had tripped a breaker or a GFCI.  But when I checked the first time, nothing tripped.   The second time it happened, I looked at one of the controllers and it was still powered up so I know I wasn't losing power (static manger scene always one--from same set of GFCI outlets....).  Also, when the next song rolled around the display restarted---all lights running as they should....   So, I am thinking that this sequence is unhappy for some reason.  I can't run the display for the next few days, but before I run it again I figured I would re-copy this file from my sequencing PC to my display PC and see if maybe that file got corrupted or something.

Oh--I am running two E682s from two different receptacles and an LOR CTB16PC from a third receptacle.  If it makes any troubleshooting difference, the music of the sequence kept playing.

Any ideas for anything I should look for?
Thanks!!!

[jnealand]

I have had the display stop multiple times in the last week and it does not restart by itself, so consider yourself lucky.  Mine just locks up with some lights left on, the music keeps playing and cycling thru the playlist, but there is no access to the pi even via wired network access.  I've swapped routers, Pis, USB drives, and SD.

[Gilrock]

Danj are you running from the xLights scheduler?

Jim is your only access to the Pi from the wireless?  I had a lot of trouble with my first Pi.  There are things you learn with those as you go.  There are very few wireless dongles that will plug directly into the Pi without causing power issues.  I found one on Adafruit that was a cheap tiny dongle and it worked the best because I really didn't want the mess of a powered USB hub.  Also buying a nice 2A power supply helped me.

[Phrog30]

I have had the display stop multiple times in the last week and it does not restart by itself, so consider yourself lucky.  Mine just locks up with some lights left on, the music keeps playing and cycling thru the playlist, but there is no access to the pi even via wired network access.  I've swapped routers, Pis, USB drives, and SD.

What version fpp? I had issues with 1.7. I reimaged to 1.5 and haven't had issues since. I know the captain said the version should make no difference, but for me it does.

[rdebolt]

I'm with Phrog30. Pi V1.7 won't run my show. Backed up to 1.5 and have had no issues. Just for a try I ran version 1.6 and had issue with it as well.

Roger

[Gilrock]

I swear we could do a release where all we did was change the version number and there would be people claiming it has a problem and they reverted back and it went away.  It happened to us on xLights all year.  I was almost thinking the same thing with my FPP until I finally got my problem to rear it's head on version 1.5.  Then I changed several things and fixed my problem and been running great since with fingers crossed.  And I'm back on 1.7 now.

[Phrog30]

I agree Gil, but there are just too many posts on issues after 1.5. I will try upgrading again after the season.

[Gilrock]

Yeah no reason to upgrade if you don't have to.

[rdebolt]

I don't disagree at all Gil. My sequence that will not play on my Pi plays fine on Captains.... Go figure. At some point Cap and I are going to Teamview and see if he can find an issue.

Roger

[danj]

Gil--Yes I am using the xlights scheduler--using an older laptop to run the display.  Not using a PI.   Plan to learn that next year...   I did re-save all my sequence files from my sequencing PC to my show PC, so I am thinking one of the files got messed up somehow...   This is the first hiccup (other than self-inflicted stuff weeks ago....) I have experienced with the scheduler, so I am believing it is a "thing" with one of my recently re-saved files.   I figured I would ask to see if there was something else I should be looking for!!
Thanks!

[Gilrock]

Maybe Windows decided something else was more important?  Or are you on another OS?

[danj]

Hadn't thought about that....    It is an older PC running W7.   I'll open up the task manager next time the "offending" sequence runs and see if anything flaky is happening just during that song for some reason...
Good thought Gil.

[thevikester]

Mine shut down last night for the first time in the middle of a song...running directly from the PC, I keep the internet connection off on my show computer so I don't arbitrarily get a windows update or some other stuff that isn't as important as the show.

My wife says, did you do something different, the lights are half on, and static ( I like that she knows the difference between static and animated) .  Xlights was off all together when I went out, could not get it to start up....I did a restart on the computer, and it worked fine the rest of the night.

[Gilrock]

So do you guys run xLights for days or weeks without shutting down.  If there is anything chewing up memory maybe it hits a limit.  Ever looked at resource usage?

[danj]

I will look at task manager & resource usage the next time I fire up.
I do just the opposite, Gil--I manually run the show only for the timeframe I plan to run it; the PC is usually powered up but with its lid shut