USB connected device won't restart (1 Viewer)

JayR

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Hope this is the correct area for this question.

I have a DVR on a stand-alone computer. The DVR is external and plugs into the USB port, with a number of cameras subsequently plugged into the DVR itself. I also have a UPS on this system such that the tower, the DVR, and one camera will have power if there is ever a power loss, which happens time to time in our rural setting.

What has happened in the past, as well as today, is if the power is off for an extended period of time, the UPS obviously shuts down as well. When power is restored, the computer restarts, the UPS begins recharging, but the DVR plugged into the USB does not restart properly. The DVR software is in the start-up, but I don't know if it starts up too quickly as the software gives an error that the USB is unplugged when it is not. I need only unplug it and plug it back in for the DVR to once again become functional. Not a problem if I am home, but if I am away on vacation or was needing to see what happened in my yard this afternoon, I am obviously out of luck. If I start the computer up, shut down the DVR software, then run the DVR software, it recognizes that everything is ready to go, which makes me think it would be beneficial if I could delay the automatic opening of the application until after all other Windows processes are running.

I seem to recall when I had this DVR on another computer, which died a few years ago, this problem didn't exist. I do not know where to look to see if there are any specific settings or if I can set something up to automatically start up the program as I mentioned above.

Thanks in advance for any help you can spare me.
Jay
 

Minkey

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I think you could be on the right lines as it does appear that Windows in not recognising the USB device before the software loads so why not try this:

I don't think you can change a shortcut (or startup item) to have a delay but you can do it via a batch file so in notepad copy and paste the following (an old style hack :p)

ping 1.1.1.1 -n 1 -w 10000 >NUL
"C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe"

Obviously change the path to your software, the 10000 is the delay in milliseconds so this would be 10 seconds experiment with the timings.

Save the file as whatever.bat (change the .txt to .bat when you save it) and add it to your start up folder. This will delay the software starting the number of seconds you've specified and this will give Windows time to sort out your USB device.
 

JayR

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First off, thank you for your quick response.

Secondly, I made an error in my description. I said that when the error appears that the usb is unplugged, that I unplug the usb and plug it back in. I realized a few moments ago that I should have written that when the error appears saying the usb is unplugged, I unplug the POWER cord to the DVR and plug it back in. I guess this is like a reset of the DVR, but keep in mind that its power was off as well already.

That said, I removed the shortcut from the startup and then added the batch file you provided me with and it didn't work in a different way. I changed the wait time to 60000 as I figured a minute would be fine. When the computer is shut down normally or simulating the power going out, the C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe window appears with the batch file within. In my specific case, this is how it reads:

C:\Documents and Settings\Robb>ping 1.1.1.1 -n 1 -w 60000 >NUL

C:\Documents and Settings\Robb>"C:\Program Files\DigiPro4U\DigiPro4uServer.exe"

Then it appears to be opening the application but stops and says there was an error, asking to send a report or not. It then shuts down and the cmd.exe Window stays open. I close it and try to start the application from a desktop icon and it opens fine except I have no video feed. I close thr application again and then reopen it to show the program working fine again.

So, is my batch file incorrect or is something else going on here?

Thanks.
 

Minkey

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This is an odd one and thb I'm not sure exactly going on here.

There is a couple of things I would do to try diagnose what's causing it:

Does it happen even if you don't have your UPS connected i.e. does it work fine when you power down and backup normally - if so it could be the way the UPS works (does it maintain full power when it running).

What happens when the UPS kicks in ? does the DVR still work and maintains power ?

The batch files should run it fine the syntax is right - what is the error ? Anything obvious in that ? - you could also look in the error log in event viewer (control panel > admin tools)
 

JayR

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I currently have it setup so that the computer tower, the dvr, and one camera, are on the UPS backup power while the computer monitor and the other cameras are on the UPS regular power. Hence when there is a power outage, the only devices running are the computer tower, the dvr, and one camera. When the UPS runs out of power, they all shut-off and this is where my problem is. When power comes back on, everything starts up once again. It doesn't matter how the power goes off, the result is the same.

When I restart the computer, the COMPAQ splash/setup screen pops up, then the Windows XP splash screen, then the Windows screen with loading of personal settings and finally the desktop appears. It is at this time that a DOS window appears (labelled C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe) with the following inside:
C:\Documents and Settings\Robb>ping 1.1.1.1 -n 1 -w 60000 >NUL
C:\Documents and Settings\Robb>"C:\ProgramFiles\DigiPro4U\DigiPro4UServer.exe"

Then the application starts to load but another DOS window appears appears quickly, but then disappears.
The application stops loading and an error message appears stating that the application has encountered a problem and needs to close.

In the event log I find errors:
AMLI: ACPI BIOS is attempting to write to an illegal IO port address (0x70) which lies in the 0x70-0x71 protected address range. This could lead to system instability. Please contact system vendor.

AMLI: ACPI BIOS is attempting to read from an illegal IO port address (0x71) which lies in the 0x70-0x71 protected address range. This could lead to system instability. Please contact system vendor.

What I am confused at is that if I am telling the system to wait 10000 or 60000 or 180000 before starting the application, why does it appear to start each time at about the same time? This is why I questioned the validity of the bat file and whether I may have done something wrong. I do not know how critical it is that there are spaces where there should be and no spaces where there shouldn't be.

In my startup menu, there is only the bat file I typed in notepad and saved as a bat file.
 

JayR

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Does this mean I am at a dead end?
 

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