Author Topic: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug  (Read 24822 times)

N4KHQ

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Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
« on: March 09, 2018, 06:54:42 PM »
I'm guessing Weather Underground is doing something to cause my problem but the issue seems not to be happening with other weather apps. I only use WC to send data to my weather underground personal weather station (PWS). The problem started about 3 or 4 months ago but I will only refer to the last 6 weeks after they got Weather Underground working again. I know it still has issues. Currently if I don't restart the iMac every day, WC can't send data after about 24-36 hours of working. The current status says "starting" when you check the Online - Weather Underground preference page. Everything except sending data to WU seems to be fine. In the last 3 months my PWS has been down at least 50 times and restarting WC always brings the PWS back online. I usually reboot the iMac but both methods starts resending the packets and it works for about one and half days. I restarted the iMac every morning for a week and a half. The PWS stayed online 100% of the time. I quit rebooting and the PWS went down the morning of the second day. I rebooted the iMac and it came backup and ran for 30 hours and went down again. I left it down 24 hours; it will not come back without restarting.

Any suggestions on what I should try, should I install version 3 beta? Thanks

elagache

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Problem with your install? (Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 bug)
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2018, 11:39:53 PM »
Dear N4KHQ and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

I'm guessing Weather Underground is doing something to cause my problem but the issue seems not to be happening with other weather apps. I only use WC to send data to my weather underground personal weather station (PWS). The problem started about 3 or 4 months ago but I will only refer to the last 6 weeks after they got Weather Underground working again. I know it still has issues. Currently if I don't restart the iMac every day, WC can't send data after about 24-36 hours of working. The current status says "starting" when you check the Online - Weather Underground preference page. Everything except sending data to WU seems to be fine. In the last 3 months my PWS has been down at least 50 times and restarting WC always brings the PWS back online. I usually reboot the iMac but both methods starts resending the packets and it works for about one and half days. I restarted the iMac every morning for a week and a half. The PWS stayed online 100% of the time. I quit rebooting and the PWS went down the morning of the second day. I rebooted the iMac and it came backup and ran for 30 hours and went down again. I left it down 24 hours; it will not come back without restarting.

So sorry to hear that you are still struggling with these problems.  Unfortunately, many other WeatherCat users are successfully uploading data to Weather Underground, so It seems unlikely that it is a simple WeatherCat bug.  However, there could be some sort of curious interaction between WeatherCat and your current setup.  Could you tell us more about your installation? Is there any other sort of software you run all the time?  I don't recall if you have mentioned this, which year and model iMac are you using?  I believe the suggestion has already been made, but make sure you have the latest Silicon Lab driver for your Davis station.  Any additional information you can offer us could be the key to solving your problem.

Any suggestions on what I should try, should I install version 3 beta?

WeatherCat 3 is 64-bit so the Weather Underground code has been updated to run 64-bits.  That might make a difference given that we don't understand the problem, but otherwise it is doing the same things.  WeatherCat 3 is a very welcome upgrade, you'll definitely want to upgrade at some point.  However, it might be more prudent to spend some more time trying to troubleshoot the present situation before further complicating matters with two different versions of WeatherCat involved.

Sorry, that's the best I can offer at the moment.

Edouard

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Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2018, 11:28:11 AM »
I also don't have any suggestions to add beyond what Edouard has already offered...sorry. Things are running just peachy on the versions noted in my profile.


Tonight (or more precisely, early tomorrow morning) we'll get a chance to see how the latest build responds to the change to Daylight Savings Time. Of course I've tested it during the build cycles by "tricking" my system but there's nothing like a continent-wide time change to unmask gremlins in the code.

N4KHQ

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Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
« Reply #3 on: March 10, 2018, 03:47:38 PM »
I reloaded the Silicon Lab Davis driver about a month ago. The computer is my wife's iMac. She is not a heavy use; apple mail, iMessage, and safari a couple times a day. Occasional she might use photos, Word, or excel. It is usually several hours of none use when Weather Underground stops accepting data and WC gets the current status hung as starting.
Mac (27-inch, Late 2013)
3.2 GHz Intel Core i5
8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M 1 GB

I changed to Rapid Fire every 15 seconds on a suggestion for the developers posted on Weather Underground Trello several weeks ago when everyone was having issues with WU. Making a setting change and testing requires about 2 days on average. When WC is not uploading to WU, I can not find any other issues with Mac or apps on the Mac not even WC. It just so much easier to restart the mac than trouble shoot. I think I will upgrade to version 3 beta and start testing if the issue is still present. I was waiting for the paid release but assume I can just buy and update when it is released.

Thanks for the replies and good suggestions

N4KHQ

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Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2018, 03:56:19 PM »
A little more info:
Davis Vantage Pro 2 Wireless
I send Webcam jpegs directly form a DLink  DCS-7010L webcam with a web interface stored on EPROMs
The webcam is staying up now when weather data is down.

Thanks again

elagache

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Energy saver settings? (Re: Weather Cat bug)
« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2018, 10:16:30 PM »
Dear N4KHQ, Felix, and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

It is usually several hours of none use when Weather Underground stops accepting data and WC gets the current status hung as starting.

If this is happening when the computer is idle one thing to look into is the computer's energy saver settings.  For starters, make sure that AppNap is disabled for WeatherCat.   Select the WeatherCat application from the Finder and do a Get Info on it.  That should bring up a dialog box like this:



Make sure the check box marked on this example is indeed checked.  WeatherCat attempts to prevent macOS from enabling App Nap, but caution is the better part of valor.

Next take a look at your system energy saver settings:



Make sure that the computer going to sleep is set to never and that the hard disks will not be powered off.

If this doesn't work, there is still one more recourse.  Other WeatherCat users have had similar problems that it turned out where caused by the Mac going to sleep even if the macOS settings were supposed to preclude it.

http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=2526.msg24555#msg24555

In such cases there is a free program that has reliably solved the problem.  It is called Amphetamine and it really does prevent your Mac from going to sleep - period!  Here is the link to the App on the Mac App Store:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amphetamine/id937984704?mt=12&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Hopefully one of these measure will solve your problem.  Please let us know what remedies you try and what are the outcomes.

Cheers, Edouard


N4KHQ

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Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2018, 04:17:35 PM »
Thanks, Prevent App Nap was checked. The iMac Energy Saver is a little different, I unchecked Enable Power Nap to see if that will solve the problem. Not sure about Wake for Network access, it should not be asleep. I will try the app next if the problem continues. The screen shot shows current settings of Energy Saver.

elagache

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Interesting - not friendly? (Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4)
« Reply #7 on: March 11, 2018, 10:53:17 PM »
Dear N4KHQ and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

Thanks, Prevent App Nap was checked. The iMac Energy Saver is a little different, I unchecked Enable Power Nap to see if that will solve the problem. Not sure about Wake for Network access, it should not be asleep. I will try the app next if the problem continues. The screen shot shows current settings of Energy Saver.

Thanks for sharing the screenshot of your wife's Energy Saver preference pane.  I sure don't like what I?m seeing.  As I read the various options, there is no setting that would guarantee that the iMac wouldn't go to sleep at some point.  If that's the case, that is precisely what your problem is.  Indeed if the problem persists, try the Amphetamine app.

*Sigh*, I'm getting really tired of Apple trying to save me from myself. . . . . . . 

Oh well, . . . . . Edouard

Blicj11

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Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
« Reply #8 on: March 12, 2018, 05:53:53 AM »
Regardless of settings, I couldn't get my iMac to stop taking a nap so I installed Amphetamine and have never had a problem since.
Blick


N4KHQ

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Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
« Reply #9 on: March 12, 2018, 09:34:45 PM »
I installed Amphetamine yesterday and did not restart the iMac this morning. In the past 90% of the time, it would be down by now. Looking hopeful, thanks for the help.

Blicj11

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Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
« Reply #10 on: March 12, 2018, 09:37:41 PM »
Let us know how this goes. I have been using Amphetamine for a couple of years now and it has resolved my issues similar to yours.
Blick


N4KHQ

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Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
« Reply #11 on: March 13, 2018, 09:17:33 PM »
It been up a record time with no restarts for a record length of time. I never had the problem until about the time I installed High Sierra and that was about the time Weather Underground issues started in mass and I thought it was WU for a month or two.

Thanks for the help

elagache

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Please check in again. (Was: Weather Cat, MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug)
« Reply #12 on: March 13, 2018, 10:47:36 PM »
Dear N4KHQ and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

It been up a record time with no restarts for a record length of time. I never had the problem until about the time I installed High Sierra and that was about the time Weather Underground issues started in mass and I thought it was WU for a month or two.

If you continue to have no more problems for a week or more, could you please post the confirmation of your success on this thread?  If indeed that is the case, I think I'll need to add a WeatherCat Wiki entry about this problem.  It has happened often enough that we should document the solution more formally.

Thanks for putting up with this long struggle!

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

pbeaudet

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Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
« Reply #13 on: March 14, 2018, 09:31:06 PM »
I have had no problem with the my Mac Mini going to sleep. It is now running 10.13.4 beta. However, my Energy Saver preference pane is different. I had been running 10.3.3 until last week without a problem.




elagache

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Dear Phillip and WeatherCat sys-admins,

I have had no problem with the my Mac Mini going to sleep. It is now running 10.13.4 beta. However, my Energy Saver preference pane is different. I had been running 10.3.3 until last week without a problem.

Yes, you also have the Energy Saver preference pane that allows you to explicitly prevent your Mac from ever going to sleep.  I don't know why some iMacs cannot be configured in the same way.  However, since we appear to have at least 2 examples of this sort of problem, it might be time to write something up on the Wiki about it.

Cheers, Edouard