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FTP failure.

Posted: Mon 16 Jul 2018 8:28 pm
by Jeff Cook
For a few weeks now I've been having increasing problems with the FTP utility within Cumulus. I have my station set to update every five minutes, but during a 24-hour period there will typically be just three updates. Manual uploading is likewise very difficult. I'm using Cumulus version 1.9.4 build 1099, and Windows 10 pro version 1803 build 17134.165.

I have started from scratch with a fresh install of the programme after completely uninstalling the original plus all previous data.

I've even tried a different Web Server but the problem remains the same.
ftplog.txt
Your help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Jeff Cook.

Re: FTP failure.

Posted: Tue 17 Jul 2018 7:19 am
by steve
Need a longer ftp log, that one only shows logging in, and all looks fine at that point.

Re: FTP failure.

Posted: Tue 17 Jul 2018 9:49 am
by Jeff Cook
Thank you Steve, longer FTP log herewith. A significant point (possibly) which I forgot to mention is that when the FTP upload fails (most of the time) Cumulus locks up, and the only way I've found to switch it off is to use Task Manager, and then start again. I've tried various web settings but to no avail, also it worked perfectly well for quite a few years, so I'm stumped.

Re: FTP failure.

Posted: Tue 17 Jul 2018 3:29 pm
by water01
You are using Active FTP mode. I would first of all try Passive FTP mode by removing the tick in Use Active FTP Mode, as passive is the is the norm and active should only be used when required by your ISP.

Re: FTP failure.

Posted: Tue 17 Jul 2018 10:32 pm
by Jeff Cook
Thanks David, I've given that a try but with no success. It seems that whatever single box I tick, or combination of boxes it triggers FTP into working correctly, but only for one or at the most two uploads, and then it sticks once again. Then maybe several hours later, quite arbitrarily, it will upload, it is more than my poor old brain can work out. :?

Re: FTP failure.

Posted: Wed 18 Jul 2018 10:42 pm
by Super-T
My Web Settings are slightly different.

Re: FTP failure.

Posted: Thu 19 Jul 2018 8:53 pm
by Jeff Cook
Thanks Terry for your input, but unfortunately no joy. I shall keep bumbling along in the hope of tripping over the answer. :groan:

Re: FTP failure.

Posted: Fri 20 Jul 2018 11:05 am
by sfws
Jeff Cook wrote:I'm using Cumulus version 1.9.4 build 1099, and Windows 10 pro version
That was my normal set-up for some time. My windows 10 pro pc has however been misbehaving (problems with all kinds of inputs, problems with outputs, and locking up software that should continue to run), and for the moment I have given up on running Cumulus (and almost everything else) on it. I can't actually say what is the cause, and am too busy to consider further at the moment with other priorities. Although it may just be a coincidence, a particular Windows Update happened, that apparently changed many settings to Microsoft preferred ones, just before my problems started. I have swapped my Fine Offset and Cumulus (and other work) onto my late mum's vista machine and everything is running smoothly (if significantly more slowly) on it, proving neither my Fine Offset nor Cumulus were responsible for the failures.

It is only my suggestion, but while previous answers have focussed on Cumulus settings, I wonder if you need to examine event log on your pc and see if something on Windows is causing your problems. A search on the forum will find various reports of different problems that seem to be more frequent since people have moved to windows 10, and a few people praising sticking to obsolete versions of windows! For reasons mentioned above, I can't experiment and give precise instructions.

Re: FTP failure.

Posted: Fri 20 Jul 2018 8:16 pm
by Jeff Cook
Hello swfs,

Thank you for your interesting suggestions, in a distant hazy sort of fashion I was starting to wonder along those lines myself, and if I can remember where it is, I will dig out an old XP laptop I have, and install Cumulus onto it and see how things go. There was one particular Windows 10 update which cocked up the numbering of USB ports and left me with two or three things not running, but when I stumbled across the cause it was easy enough to put right, this I feel is going to take more detective work than I am capable of.
I wondered if a change of weather station software might be called for, but I really like the look of Cumulus even though it may well be semi-moribund now, I don't think you can beat it for its conservative good looks and the way in which it unobtrusively runs in the background. Coupled up with the Steel series gauges I think it looks the bees knees and the cat whiskers all rolled into one.
Thanks again for your thought provoking input. :clap:

Re: FTP failure.

Posted: Sat 21 Jul 2018 7:47 pm
by Jeff Cook
Further to sfws's suggestion (and I'm sorry I scrambled your initials), I have dug out my old XP laptop, installed cumulus, and lo and behold everything runs normally. It's been on for six hours and hasn't missed a beat. So the problem was not with my web host whom I dumped in favour of another, nor was it with Cumulus whose Internet settings I played around with until the cows came home, no, it was neither of those, it's down to the particular flavour of Windows 10 I'm using at the moment. It had been okay on Windows 10 until some months ago when it started getting skittish, this gradually became more than skittish, bordering on a permanent refusal to upload. So now some detective work is necessary to find what in Windows is causing the problem. In the meantime I will keep my old XP laptop holding the fort.

A previous update of Windows 10 did cause me problems by re-numbering my USB ports, resulting in two or three things getting lost, but I don't really see how that can be the case here as the weather station I'm running does not require a port number entering, the software automatically numbers the port as 0. Once again sfws thank you for your input. :D

Re: FTP failure.

Posted: Sun 22 Jul 2018 7:04 am
by sfws
Jeff Cook wrote:Thank you for your interesting suggestions
Jeff Cook wrote:I have dug out my old XP laptop, installed cumulus, and lo and behold everything runs normally.
Glad to hear, I have helped.

If you work out what about Windows 10 pro is causing problem, please share it.

I found the event log in my PC was reporting errors with inputs and outputs, indicating high risk of lost data, but not helping me solve anything. The problem is not present all the time, but much of the time, and I can't find any trigger (not even our heat wave) for when the problems start or finish. As I said, it is not just Cumulus, but my other apps too, including my email client, my browser, my word processing... will sometimes work, sometimes not work at start-up, and can annoyingly fail at a vital moment.
I worked my way through every possible setting that might be relevent, confirmed the RAM was working, confirmed no errors on any disc drive, tried deleting USB devices, letting Windows reinstall them and also tried deleting drivers to ensure windows installed latest ones; before deciding my lack of progress did not justify diverting any more of my time from pressing other priorities in my life. I considered taking it to the friendly shop that sold me that second-hand pc, but decided I don't understand the problem enough to describe it, and I have previous experience of that shop dealing with my vague problems.

Re: FTP failure.

Posted: Thu 16 Aug 2018 7:46 pm
by Jeff Cook
I didn't manage to find what went wrong within Windows 10, and so finally I did a clean install of the operating system, and that has cured the problem. It's also put right one or two other fairly minor niggles that had shown up. I think that for me a reinstall of the operating system is probably something that I need to do on a yearly basis.

Jeff Cook.