M1ABD STOPPED WORKING.

When I got up this morning, I noticed that there were not many stations on the APRS map. It seems that all the stations left on the map had last been heard 40 minutes ago. When I checked back later, the map was empty apart from 2E1EJC and G4RS. M1ABD failed to respond to a Ping.
So, a trip up the hill was called for. Once again the top of the hill was alive with SEB men cutting down trees and working on poles.
When I got into the site I found that the power was on, the computer had re-started but there was a message on the screen saying that COM 1 could not be opened as it was already in use. This was obviously the cause of the problem as the TNC is connected to COM 1.
The problem appears to be with STARTUP.exe. Mr Google says that STARTUP.exe should be started with a /r switch, i.e. C:\Windows\System32\STARTUP.exe /r
But it appears the switch should be -r or the COM port is not re-started if the power is cut off.
I did several tests to make sure the computer would re-boot if the power was cut off and then restored.
M1ABD is back in working order again and the map is full of stations.

All 3 stations, G0ROZ, G0ROZ-3 and M1ABD-3, were on air this morning. It looks like the problem with auto-reboot has been solved! Deep Joy! :))

MORE PROBLEMS AT G0ROZ-3

Once again the computer appeared not to re-boot itself after the automatic re-boot on Sunday morning. I made a trip up to site today and found the computer screen with a message that it was "Unable to open COM 1 as the port is already open".
The only fault I could find on the whole system is the switch after the re-boot command line was /r instead of -r.
I made a few checks to make sure that it would re-boot okay with -r, changed the command line and saved it.
Lets see what happens next Sunday morning.

PROBLEM AT G0ROZ-3.

This morning I noticed that G0ROZ-3 was not on the map. I thought perhaps it had not re-booted itself correctly in the early hours. A trip to site was made after lunch today. The machine had re-booted but the TNC appeared to be not working. I have not had trouble with Tiny2 TNCs before. I re-booted the computer and the TNC and all appears to be back working again (Touch Wood!!).

NEW COMPUTER ON M1ABD-3

Today I took a new computer up to Headquarters and put it on M1ABD-3. The new box has an Intel 2.4 GB processor, 1GB RAM and is running Windows XP. It is also set up to switch itself back on if the power goes off and also to auto re-boot every Sunday at 0200 Hours.
I was unable to use the old monitor as it was not capable of working with the new machines' graphic card. I had to return to base and get one of the spare flatscreen monitors from store.
Next job is to get a decent rack to hold the equipment.

VISIT TO M1ABD

Today I paid a visit to M1ABD to correct the Uivew32.ini file.
After driving over the nice new bit of road on the top of Bullbarrow, the correction was done with no problems. UIFLOOD is now TRACE and UITRACE is now WIDE and the path is now shown in digi'd packets.

PROBLEM AT M1ABD-3.

Tonight I noticed that M1ABD-3 was not on the map. A check with www.aprs.fi showed that it had not been transmitting for most of the day. So a trip to Headquarters was made.
I found the computer was turned on but there was a message on the screen saying "Operating system not found"! The computer was re-booted and started up normally after doing a Scan Disk.
So it looks like the HDD could be on the way out.
I have a new computer to install at Headquarters once it has been cleaned up and Uiview installed. Hopefully the old computer will last a while longer.

NEW COMPUTER ON G0ROZ-3

Today I took a trip to Eggardon Hill and replaced the computer running G0ROZ-3. Inside this box is a motherboard with an AMD Sempron 26 and 1GB of Ram and Windows XP as the OS. It has been set up to re-boot itself every Sunday at 0300 Hours and to automatically switch itself back on if the power goes off.

While setting up this computer it occurred to me that I had not changed Uiview on the M1ABD computer to take account of the new UIFLOOD and UITRACE settings. You may have noticed that M1ABD is not showing paths with its digipeated packets.

I will go back up to site and change the settings in Uiview32.ini, but I can't until Friday as the road to site has been closed while they resurface it. The road is badly in need of repair so no complaints from me!

NEW COMPUTER OM M1ABD

Inside the old case there is a Dual-Core 2.4 GHz Motherboard with 1GB of RAM running Windows XP.
This afternoon I took a trip up Bullbarrow Hill and replaced the old computer with this new one. It has been set up so that it re-starts itself after a power cut and it also does a re-boot every Sunday at 0300 Hours.
It may have been my imagination but it seemed to be digipeating more stations, but it could be because the computer can process packets quicker.
Anyway, fingers crossed and we will see how it does.

M1ABD stopped working again today. This morning we had a visit by the firm that services the generator. It would seem that they turn the power off when they test the generator. Our installation is on the Non-Essential power supply, so the power to the computer was cut off. As the computer will not switch itself back on after a power cut, M1ABD did not re-boot itself.
I had a message from Chris M6CSV after the last post to let me know that there is a switch in BIOS that will restart the computer after a power cut. Unfortunately the computer at M1ABD is too old for this switch. However, I am in possession of some old redundant Windows XP computers and they do have the switch in BIOS.
So I am busy loading the software onto a new machine and there will be a Windows XP machine running M1ABD very soon.
We are getting very modern!