Windows 10 issue with data acquisition stopping

[CamEra]

Hi,

I have just transferred a DF system from a Win7 box to a Win 10 box. I am using all the same hardware, the only difference is that it is on a Win10 box as opposed to Win7.

It is a relatively simple system. It has two interfaces, a Modbus unit (IP based) and a serial interface which is actually an SDI-12 unit to USB converter. I have other systems on Win 7 still operating using the SDI-12 to USB converter with the exact same instrument - a multi-parameter sonde. For some reason it regularly fails to read both the Modbus unit and the SDI-12 to USB instruments, this throws an error from the script I have written to communicate with the SDI-12 instrument - this comes up in an error window with the title "Alert" as well as being displayed in the Command/Alert window. To treat the symptom I wrote a script that runs every 5 minutes to check for the "Alert" window and if it exists it closes it and then runs the software for the sonde and have it rescan the ports which then gets all comms going again.

Not the most ideal solution especially as the script doesn't always work. On checking the scheduler that runs my script every 5 minutes its log file tells me that the script has been run every 5 minutes but it appears that it cannot either see the Alert window or cannot access it.

This system is remote from me and if I use Remote Desktop Connection to access it then the next time the scheduler runs the script to clear the Alert window it works. This suggests that somehow Windows 10 is going to sleep or not actioning commands - I have set Windows 10 to leave the screen on full time as well as not put the hard drive to sleep. Other jobs in the scheduler are working fine e.g. a script runs just after midnight and takes yesterdays data and adds that to a yearly file even though the system stopped accruing data at 8 pm the night before.

Has anyone seen this type of behaviour in Windows 10.

Thanks

George

[AzeoTech]

It really sounds like a device issue, almost certainly with the USB/Serial converter.  It is one of the reasons I really hate them and recommend folks purchase Ethernet->serial converters instead of USB to serial converters.  With Ethernet, DAQFactory uses native Windows functions to communicate and that is all handled nicely because there is no 3rd party software involved.  With USB->Serial, DAQFactory also uses native Windows, but that is then hijacked in Windows by the USB/Serial converter driver (the "virtual" comm port).  If there are issues with that driver, and there often are, DAQFactory fails to communicate, which unfortunately makes DAQFactory look bad, even though it is not its fault.  So, my initial recommendation is to make sure you are running the latest drivers for that converter, and my second recommendation, which you may not be able to implement, is to just switch off using USB converters and go for an Ethernet->serial converter.

As for Win 10, also make sure you have disabled auto-updates.  You can't explicitly do this, but have to use the trick of marking all your network connections as "metered".

[massimodutte]

Even though you've set Windows 10 to keep the screen on and prevent the hard drive from sleeping, there might be other power management settings affecting the USB ports or network adapters. Check the power management settings for these devices in Device Manager and ensure that they are set to "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" is unchecked. Windows 10 has a feature called USB Selective Suspend, which can selectively suspend USB devices to save power. This could be affecting your USB-connected SDI-12 converter. You can disable this feature by going to Control Panel > Power Options > Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings > USB settings > USB selective suspend setting, and set it to Disabled.

[AzeoTech]

Thanks!  Yet another reason to avoid USB...