WeatherCat not persisting Comms preferences

[johnhillphoto]

Hello,
I am now using a Apple Mac Mini M2 with Weather Cat Version 3.20  Build 364 (3.2.0).  Whenever I restart WeatherCat, I need to go to Configure Station Comms, restart WeatherCat and set my weather station type and serial port preferences again.

I am using:
Mac OS Ventura 13.4
Keyspan USB to Serial Adapter USA-19HS
Davis Vantage Vue

Data flow works well once I set the Comms preferences again. 

Any tips or help?

John

[elagache]

Dear John and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

I am now using a Apple Mac Mini M2 with Weather Cat Version 3.20  Build 364 (3.2.0).  Whenever I restart WeatherCat, I need to go to Configure Station Comms, restart WeatherCat and set my weather station type and serial port preferences again.

I am using:
Mac OS Ventura 13.4
Keyspan USB to Serial Adapter USA-19HS
Davis Vantage Vue

Data flow works well once I set the Comms preferences again. 

Judging from your setup this is a new Mac but an older weather station.  Did you migrate recently from an older Mac?

My guess is that you have a corrupted preference file.  This has become an increasingly troublesome issue for later versions of MacOS.  Could you locate a WeatherCat preference file before this problem started (say using a Time Machine backup?)

If so you could replace the file using the instructions on the WeatherCat Wiki:

https://wiki.trixology.com/index.php?title=How_to_create_and_use_a_backup_of_your_WeatherCat_preferences_file

Note you must follow these instructions to the letter.  Otherwise MacOS will once more corrupt the WeatherCat preference file and you will back to square one.

Let us know if this solves your problem.

Edouard

[Blicj11]

I concur with Edouard. For some reason, we are seeing more instances of a corrupt WeatherCat pfile causing weird problems these days. I just experienced an issue where WC suddenly could not read my webcam images after doing so for years. Sounded like a corrupt pfile issue to me so I followed the instructions on the link Edouard shared above and when I rebooted WC, it was back to successfully reading my camera images. Always a super time-saving idea to have a backup of your WC pfile.

[johnhillphoto]

Edouard ,
Thanks for the response.  It is indeed a brand new Mac Mini M2, with an older station.  I decided to follow your instructions to the letter while deleting the preferences file. I then put all of the new settings in manually.

I was able to redo all of my settings by visually confirming them from my old mac.  A fresh preferences file was created!

The station works, but upon restart I had to manually set the station comms again...

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

John

[rpmik]

Bizarre. I have a new Mac as well, though running Sonoma, and haven’t had this issue. I wonder if WeatherCat wouldn’t get grumpy if you set the Comms preference file to read only?

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/change-permissions-for-files-folders-or-disks-mchlp1203/mac

[elagache]

Dear John, Ryan, and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

. . .

I was able to redo all of my settings by visually confirming them from my old mac.  A fresh preferences file was created!

The station works, but upon restart I had to manually set the station comms again...

Honestly I don't have any clear ideas on what could cause something like this.  Could you look at the WeatherCat preference file in the finder to see what creation date it has?  Here is the path in UNIX format:

~/Library/Preferences/com.trixology.weathercat.plist

The tilde refer to your home directory and the forward slashes are the dividers between folders.  Let us know if you need help reaching the Preferences folder.

I wonder if WeatherCat wouldn’t get grumpy if you set the Comms preference file to read only?

Unfortunately, it appears to me that the communication preferences are stored in the main WeatherCat preference file.  I don't believe that can be left read only.

Do let us know what you uncover.

Edouard

[johnhillphoto]

Edouard,
Sorry for the delay.  Was out of town.  I checked the preferences file creation date, and it was September 1, 2023.  That was the day that I deleted the preferences file (carefully following your procedure), restarted the mac, and entered all of my settings from scratch.

A head scratcher for sure.

Thanks,

John

[johnhillphoto]

Edouard,
Turns out the preference for the station comms is persisting each time I restart WeatherCat now.  Whenever I restart my Mac, the problem occurs.  I can reset the comms, and WeatherCat operates correctly until the next Mac restart.

I am using the Keyspan USA-19HS, with the latest driver.
I attached a screenshot of the driver installed.  Wondering if there is some kind of strangeness with the driver.

Thanks,

John Hill

[elagache]

Dear John and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

Sorry to hear about your continued difficulties.

. . .
I am using the Keyspan USA-19HS, with the latest driver.
I attached a screenshot of the driver installed.  Wondering if there is some kind of strangeness with the driver.
. . .

I see from your screenshot that the name of the folder containing the driver only lists the previous 2 versions of MacOS.  Ventura isn't listed.  Is there some way you can find out if this latest driver is also supposed to work with MacOS Ventura?

Let us know what you can discover.

Edouard