Author Topic: No longer a Fix for Silicon Labs + WC and El Capitan 10.11.4 that works for me  (Read 8069 times)

tizza

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This did work BUT it is not a permanent fix!  Modified May 16, 2016 read my entry way below listing 2 weeks of trouble shooting

I've had this intermittent problem with my sil labs driver ever since Yosemite and it actually got better for me with El Capitan until yesterday. Basically 95% of the time it does drop my sil labs driver is when my USB cable is knocked out. I have been uninstalling and installing drivers for the last 16 hrs to no avail until I tried this and it worked immediately.

http://macappstore.org/silicon-labs-vcp-driver/

The fastest way to check is to open a System Report and under Hardware click on USB to see if the installation worked. The most frustrating thing today was I see my SLAB_USB to UART missing. The most frustrating then is going down to Extensions and seeing that the SilLabs driver was actually installed on my computer but it was not switched on. It also said that is was loadable but it just would not activate until I tried the link above.

I do not think this is a Sil Labs OR WeatherCat problem, I think it's an Apple issue. The computer will deactivate for no reason at all sometimes and it works for moths even during OS X updates without any problems. Most software just doesn't act like that and why would it turn itself off? It's one annoying problem I've been dealing on and off with for a while until I found this today and it was a mind-blowing fix. Now when you cut and paste what is on that page let terminal do it's thing, it stops and starts and might take a couple of minutes and ask you for you system password at the end to complete it. Then you pop in one more command into terminal and bam, very happy person. It also loaded the newest SLAB driver too, Feb 2016.

Seeing it sit there all day saying:-
Loaded:    No
Loadable: Yes
was such a pain, if anyone else is or have had this problem or are stuck with it, please let me know if you try it and it works. I'd also like to know if anyone has feedback about this website and if it's a trustworthy source. Thanks
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Davis Vantage Vue, MBPr late 2012.
I'm a photographer and have a photography website if you're interested.
http://www.mixed-up-pix.smugmug.com

elagache

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Silicon labs driver on outside server? (Re: Fix for Silicon Labs + WC)
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2016, 11:39:28 PM »
Dear tizza and WeatherCat system caregivers,

I've had this intermittent problem with my sil labs driver ever since Yosemite and it actually got better for me with El Capitan until yesterday. Basically 95% of the time it does drop my sil labs driver is when my USB cable is knocked out. I have been uninstalling and installing drivers for the last 16 hrs to no avail until I tried this and it worked immediately.

http://macappstore.org/silicon-labs-vcp-driver/

I don't know anything about the website from where you found this, but the actual source appears to be online code repository.  The instructions look like this:

Code: [Select]
ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)" < /dev/null 2> /dev/null ; brew install caskroom/cask/brew-cask 2> /dev/null
brew cask install silicon-labs-vcp-driver

This code is actually stored on this service:

https://github.com/

Somehow I would be surprised at least that Silicon Labs would have products with source-code stored off-site (but I could be wrong.)

As the old saying goes: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."  Still, I have no clue why this would be fix.  I'll take your word for it that it is working, but this is the sort of solution that gives not feel comfortable to me . .

Oh well, . . . . Edouard

tizza

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Quote
As the old saying goes: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."  Still, I have no clue why this would be fix.  I'll take your word for it that it is working, but this is the sort of solution that gives not feel comfortable to me . .

Oh well, . . . . Edouard

THANK YOU Edouard for being honest with me, until I ran it the first time late last night I freaked a bit as code was being sucked in online live. I honestly think that ANYONE who is very computer savvy and would take one for the team might record it while it works. It sucked in a lot of info but I honestly think it does flip that bloody switch from NO to YES, it crashed already as my USB came loose again. I ran the code again and it said to use a force start code but I didn't need to.

Whatever it did it switched my SLAB driver back AGAIN from NO to YES under a sys report>extension>SilLabs210x I have to get a new lead pronto!
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Davis Vantage Vue, MBPr late 2012.
I'm a photographer and have a photography website if you're interested.
http://www.mixed-up-pix.smugmug.com

tizza

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Re: Fix for Silicon Labs + WC and El Capitan 10.11.4 that works for me
« Reply #3 on: May 02, 2016, 05:43:47 AM »
OK so I replaced my USB cable and now I'm back to stage 1. Nothing will work again and yes I shutdown WC before I did it. Weather is now doing that annoying repetitive launch.

Look it did work well, I'll reboot
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Davis Vantage Vue, MBPr late 2012.
I'm a photographer and have a photography website if you're interested.
http://www.mixed-up-pix.smugmug.com

Felix

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Somehow I would be surprised at least that Silicon Labs would have products with source-code stored off-site (but I could be wrong.)



Huh??? GitHub is the largest repository of open-source code in the world, Edouard!


Even Apple's Swift programming language (swift.org) is mirrored on GitHub.


Background:


http://www.wired.com/2015/03/github-conquered-google-microsoft-everyone-else/

elagache

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How raw is this developmental code? (Re: Fix for Silicon Labs + WC)
« Reply #5 on: May 02, 2016, 11:28:41 PM »
Dear tizza, Felix, and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

Whatever it did it switched my SLAB driver back AGAIN from NO to YES under a sys report>extension>SilLabs210x I have to get a new lead pronto!

OK so I replaced my USB cable and now I'm back to stage 1. Nothing will work again and yes I shutdown WC before I did it. Weather is now doing that annoying repetitive launch.

Look it did work well, I'll reboot

Sorry that you are having so much trouble with this.  One of my concerns is that Silicon Labs would release a new version of this driver after the launch of El Capitan and not list it as El Capitan ready.  I don't know what's going on here, but that is very strange.

Huh??? GitHub is the largest repository of open-source code in the world, Edouard!

I would have had no worries if this driver was also an open-source project.  I had an open-source project of my own on SourceForge for a while.  My worries are two-fold.  Silicon labs haven't indicated that this is an open-source project, if it was you would expect some mention of it on the driver website.  Second, the information about this GitHub repository is coming from a 3rd party website that I personally don't know anything about.  So exactly what is the status of this driver?

It is commonplace for open-source projects to make development builds available.  Usually though they are described as such.  It could be that Silicon Labs decided to keep the code for this driver on GitHub.  Perhaps they have nothing to fear in having people look at this code.  Nonetheless, they aren't advertising that development builds are available.  If they are available on the sly, one thing is for sure - anyone using them does so at their own risk.

There is clearly a potential problem with using Davis stations on El Capitan.  If you cannot find a satisfactory driver but this one, desperate times require desperate measures.  Still, I've run a Linux server with so much beta code that only about 50% was trustworthy.  I guess I've grown old . . . living on the bleeding edge of software is likely to - cut ya' . . . .

Oh well, . . . . Edouard

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Re: Fix for Silicon Labs + WC and El Capitan 10.11.4 that works for me
« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2016, 06:32:26 AM »
Remember Edouard, that some of us Catters out here had trouble with serial communication and solved it by inserting a USB hub between the computer and the Davis Vantage pro 2's output. Instant gratification! Been working ever since.

 [tup]
Herb

elagache

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Dear Herb and WeatherCat IT oldtimers,

Remember Edouard, that some of us Catters out here had trouble with serial communication and solved it by inserting a USB hub between the computer and the Davis Vantage pro 2's output. Instant gratification! Been working ever since.

But did you have insert that hub by the light of a full moon and say some magic incantations that came from a druid? . . . . .

Yesterday, I finally got around to upgrading two pieces of software: EarthDesk and Voila (which is now called mysteriously: Capto.)  Both have problems and Capto clearly didn't get any beta testing at all.

The whole thing reminds me of another Murphy-ism:

If architects and engineers built buildings the way programmers and software engineers create software, the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization!

Grumble, grumble, grumble . . . . . . Edouard

tizza

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Re: Fix for Silicon Labs + WC and El Capitan 10.11.4 that works for me
« Reply #8 on: May 04, 2016, 07:09:27 AM »
Remember Edouard, that some of us Catters out here had trouble with serial communication and solved it by inserting a USB hub between the computer and the Davis Vantage pro 2's output. Instant gratification! Been working ever since.

 [tup]

Hey Herb, do you mind me asking what hub you installed? I've had past issues with Mavericks but literally a couple with El Capitan but now I can't get anything to work. I'm still new to the workings of WC but can a hardware hub work with a Davis data logger?
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Davis Vantage Vue, MBPr late 2012.
I'm a photographer and have a photography website if you're interested.
http://www.mixed-up-pix.smugmug.com

tizza

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Re: Fix for Silicon Labs + WC and El Capitan 10.11.4 that works for me
« Reply #9 on: May 04, 2016, 03:37:22 PM »
My data logger was loose, ARGH what an idiot, sorry guys. Even though I have foam packed in there it did take a fall the other day so it must have been on the verge of connecting and disconnecting. I just packed a lot more foam in there and the SilLabs Driver loaded instantly and is working fine again.

Herb I'd still love to hear what hub you use.
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Davis Vantage Vue, MBPr late 2012.
I'm a photographer and have a photography website if you're interested.
http://www.mixed-up-pix.smugmug.com

Bull Winkus

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Re: Fix for Silicon Labs + WC and El Capitan 10.11.4 that works for me
« Reply #10 on: May 04, 2016, 08:16:58 PM »
Well, tizza, that particular hub was a GE USB 2.0. It was lying around in a drawer for awhile before I fished it out for this issue. There's nothing special about it, except that, previously when the computer's USB port was where the cable was plugged into, I got no communication. Simply using the hub made all the difference. And, this issue came about when I moved from a 2011 iMac to a 2008 iMac with WeatherCat. Connected directly, it worked fine on the 2011.

Herb

elagache

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Glad you are back in business (Re: Fix for Silicon Labs + WC)
« Reply #11 on: May 05, 2016, 11:41:27 PM »
Dear Tizza and WeatherCat station caregivers,

My data logger was loose, ARGH what an idiot, sorry guys. Even though I have foam packed in there it did take a fall the other day so it must have been on the verge of connecting and disconnecting. I just packed a lot more foam in there and the SilLabs Driver loaded instantly and is working fine again.

Well, glad you found out what the problem was anyway and that you are now getting your data without difficulty.

Cheers, Edouard

tizza

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Re: Fix for Silicon Labs + WC and El Capitan 10.11.4 that works for me
« Reply #12 on: May 16, 2016, 06:13:27 AM »
OK so after nearly 2 weeks of tinkering and troubleshooting I now know that:
1. My data logger was not loose
2. There is nothing wrong with my leads
3. There is nothing wrong with my Davis Console
4. There is nothing wrong with WeatherCat software
5. There is nothing wrong with my SilLabs Drivers
6. There is something wrong with Apple, whether it's OS X or hardware I don't know! What I do know is that this problem was "initially" a lot worse with both Yosemite and Mavericks, but not El Capitan until now 10.11.4 and for no good reason I can pinpoint.
It was always fixed by running the SilLabs uninstaller.sh in terminal then re-installing the SilLabs Driver. I'd then be up and running again.
Now I need to run the uninstaller.sh in terminal, re-run the SilLabs driver and reboot in Safe Mode by holding down the Shift key on launch immediately after installing the driver. I can then download all my WC data for the the last day or two, back it up IMMEDIATELY and restart the MBP again.
After it has restarted in normal mode, weathercat will then work flawlessly for anywhere between 30minutes up to 3HRS and then my SilLabs driver is switched off again by my MBP!
It shows up in sys repots>USB>USBtoUART controller and under sys report>extensions>SilLabs driver working "YES" once WeatherCat crashes though, the  USBtoUART controller vanishes from sys report>USB devices but still shows up in sys report>extensions>SilLabs driver working "NO"
I need to find out what has caused my MBP to flip keep shutting off this driver. It was working fine on 10.11.4 for ages until now!
Confused and frustrated.
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Davis Vantage Vue, MBPr late 2012.
I'm a photographer and have a photography website if you're interested.
http://www.mixed-up-pix.smugmug.com

xairbusdriver

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One clue is that things seem to work in Safe Mode. As you probably know, Safe Mode disables all non-Apple extensions/kernels and even some of Apple's own. That's one of its two main purposes.

Since others here are not reporting this problem, even with 10.11.4, I'd say it's safe to say the problematic extensions are not from Apple; everyone else is operating with all of Apple's code with that OS, including me (I'm using v. 4.1.1, 3/17/15 of the SiLab driver).

However, it is very likely that you have accidentally or intensionally installed an extension directly or installed a non-Apple app that then installed an extension that is causing this problem. The solution, then, is to find that app or extension. That may not be enjoyable, but it can be done with patience and attention to details.
  • Is there any critical software on that mini(oops, I now see it's a MBP, probably lots of "critical software on it! [banghead] )?
  • How much work are you willing to put into the effort?
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Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system


elagache

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Some sort of conflict. (Re: Fix for Silicon Labs + WC and El Capitan)
« Reply #14 on: May 16, 2016, 11:59:29 PM »
Der Tizza, X-Air, and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

There is something wrong with Apple, whether it's OS X or hardware I don't know! What I do know is that this problem was "initially" a lot worse with both Yosemite and Mavericks, but not El Capitan until now 10.11.4 and for no good reason I can pinpoint.

Well, first thing to try is update to 10.11.5 which was just released.  Perhaps Apple fixed the bug in question.  By far the best policy is to disconnect any backups you have before updating so that you can roll back to 10.11.4 in case it makes things even work.  Impossible?  Clearly you are not familiar with Murphy's law!  [banghead]

It was working fine on 10.11.4 for ages until now!

Are you aware of any other software that you might have changed at about the same time as you made the upgrade to 10.11.4?  That would be most likely the culprit - especially anything that would include kernel drivers.

Since others here are not reporting this problem, even with 10.11.4, I'd say it's safe to say the problematic extensions are not from Apple; everyone else is operating with all of Apple's code with that OS, including me (I'm using v. 4.1.1, 3/17/15 of the SiLab driver).

I think we should be a bit cautious of such claims.  Others are having problems with this driver and needing to use a USB hub to restore connectivity is - to say the least - uncool.

Silicon labs is unwilling to claim their latest driver is compatible with El Capitan and it is now only 2 months old - much later than the El Capitan release.  No company avoids stating that they support the latest version of an operating system - it is good publicity and should drive sales.  If Silicon labs refuses to rate the latest driver as stable on El Capitan - there has got to be a reason.  So far no WeatherCatters have found out what is that reason - da' hard way!   [banghead]  Let's all hope it stays that way!

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]