Issues with getting CC2 to update display lately

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davidnuzik

New member
Greetings,

I've been using CC2 / CFA-735 for a couple of years now, running on Windows 10 as a service.
I'm on Win 10 ver 2004 presently and I've been noticing lately that at boot-time and throughout the display isn't updating any more. I've just been seeing the default screen the firmware shows while it awaits what I assume is serial data to stream to it via the software.

I've been trying to troubleshoot this on my own for a while and am stuck. I'm not sure where to look for logs as I don't see anything in the root dir or in %appdata% or anything. I didn't spot anything in event viewer logs regarding the service. I DO see this many times in my event viewer logs for the config app which displays as "SidebySide" in the event viewer logs:

Code: 
Activation context generation failed for "C:\Program Files (x86)\CrystalControl2\cc2_config.exe".Error in manifest or policy file "" on line . A component version required by the application conflicts with another component version already active. Conflicting components are:. Component 1: C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\manifests\x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.19041.488_none_11b1e5df2ffd8627.manifest. Component 2: C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\manifests\amd64_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.19041.488_none_ca04af081b815d21.manifest.
If it helps this is event id 78

May I request assistance in troubleshooting/debugging this issue? The product is otherwise unusable for my use case here.
Is this maybe something funky Windows 10 may be doing here and that win10 may be responsible for?
Greatly appreciate any aid / pointers.

Thank you! :)
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CF Mark

Administrator
Hi David,
You should be able to find the log & configuration files in "C:\ProgramData\CrystalControl2".
If you can ZIP up the contents of that directory and attach it in here, I'll have a look for you.
 
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davidnuzik

New member
Hi Mark,
Thank you for taking the time to take a look. I have DM'd you a link to the zipped folder.
It's been a couple of years it will expand up to about 300MB.
 
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davidnuzik

New member
Thanks again for taking a look. I realize no one is beholden to provide any support.
Please let me know if there is anything I can do or try out.
 
C

CF Mark

Administrator
Sorry for the slow reply. For some reason im not getting forum notification emails at the moment.
I've attached a slightly edited INI file.
Make sure cc2_config isnt running at all, then overwrite your lcd_635.ini with this new one. It may not fix the problem, but its worth a try.

If that doesn't help, can you follow the steps in here?

How to report a CrystalControl2 problem

CrystalControl2 has extensive logging support to help with debugging problems. To make it easier for us to help you with a problem, it is suggested you do the following: Stop CrystalControl2 using the Windows Startbar control Browse to the directory where CrystalControl2 configuration files...
forum.crystalfontz.com
 

Attachments

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davidnuzik

New member
TL;DR:
Seems to be working now? (with my original INI) But no idea why. Nothing changed on disk or physically with the machine except trying your ini first then mine again (and of course following proper procedure to shut down service before each ini change then start it again).

Long version:
No worries, thanks for following up. I proceeded as you indicated. I ensured cc2_config isn't running at all then edited the INI replacing it with what you gave me (after backup mine). I did so and started the cc2_config process again (and start cc2 service) again no difference. I double-checked on disk and the ini was the same one you provided so it should have took. I restarted my machine to make sure, and yeah same INI and no change in behavior. I diffed the ini you sent against my prior one, and I think I can see what you were trying to do but yeah no change in behavior unfortunately.

I proceeded on to the steps you outlined in that forum post (increasing log verbosity - I think that's what that is) and I see in the 635 log that we can't init the lcd screen or at least with how auto may be attempting to do it. I also got more interesting stuff in Windows Event viewer but it looked like repeats from the logs files about failing to init the com port and lcd. I did still see this though from "SidebySide"
Activation context generation failed for "C:\Program Files (x86)\CrystalControl2\cc2_config.exe".Error in manifest or policy file "" on line . A component version required by the application conflicts with another component version already active. Conflicting components are:. Component 1: C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\manifests\x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.19041.488_none_11b1e5df2ffd8627.manifest. Component 2: C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\manifests\amd64_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.19041.488_none_ca04af081b815d21.manifest.
Click to expand...
Now, since using the INI you sent it seemed like we couldn't initialize the com port / lcd (using auto), I thought I would stop the service and cc2_config and try again (with same file_level setting) and with my INI file, and see if it made any difference in what we get in the logging output.

And what do you know! It did! But why? The screen initializes and is sent data now. It's updating as usual.

So... It seems like the issue is fixed even though we didn't change anything?
And, for what it's worth seems like every once in a while I will get an issue where screen won't initialize or show any data - I would usually restart service or the machine and it would work. But the reason I first contacted you here in this thread was because it was working for weeks maybe months and even after restarting the service and machine. I also noticed I will always see that "SidebySide" error in windows event viewer logs every time cc2_config.exe starts but seems like that doesn't actually affect being able to init display and send data.

So... I'm not sure where we go from here? Probably not much more we can do unless we see the issue again? And I guess if so we can probably stick with my ini but I can try setting file_level to 0 again (I'll set it back now that we're in a working state it seems) and report an issue again?

Sorry for the big tl;dr and thanks. Let me know if there's anything else we should do or if we should just proceed as I suggested. I'll go ahead and send you the log files in a DM message in case you are interested. Purely optional.
 
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CF Mark

Administrator
Thank you for the detailed write-up, it does help.
How very strange.

First, yes the SideBySide/SxS notices can be ignored.

Can you tell me the hardware version and firmware version of the CFA635 that you have?

Can you try changing the module COM port name in the lcd_635.ini file?
Open the windows device manager, find the COM port name (ie, COM5) for the display, then edit "lcd_635.ini" and replace the line:
port="\\\\?\\usb#vid_223b&pid_0004#1735735tmld442662#\12386e0d1e0-8089-11d0-9ce4-08003e301f73\125"
with:
port="COM5"

Make sure cc2_config is closed before doing so (cc2_config loads the INIs on starting, and saves them on exit, so any changes made while its running are lost).

Keep "file_level=0" in logprefs.ini for debug level logging.
Run cc2_service for an extended time - until it has the problem, then send a ZIP of the files again.
 
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davidnuzik

New member
Hi Mark,

I have a CFA735 running in 635 mode. It was a while back but I think it was recommended somewhere to run in this manner.
I tried to figure out the hardware version on the board, I see part number CFA-10052 1v0 - the board is copyright year 2012.

I'll keep an eye out but it doesn't look like the screen is initializing. I just see the 635 logs stuck at:
WARNING 20201117-180036-10.224159s serpak_send#75: no reply, dropping packet
NOTICE 20201117-180036-10.282285s serpak_send#72: no reply, resending packet retry #0 (cmd: 0,len: 0)
NOTICE 20201117-180036-10.343622s serpak_send#72: no reply, resending packet retry #1 (cmd: 0,len: 0)
NOTICE 20201117-180036-10.405208s serpak_send#72: no reply, resending packet retry #2 (cmd: 0,len: 0)
NOTICE 20201117-180036-10.467290s serpak_send#72: no reply, resending packet retry #3 (cmd: 0,len: 0)
NOTICE 20201117-180036-10.528850s serpak_send#72: no reply, resending packet retry #4 (cmd: 0,len: 0)
NOTICE 20201117-180036-10.590318s serpak_send#72: no reply, resending packet retry #5 (cmd: 0,len: 0)
NOTICE 20201117-180036-10.652857s serpak_send#72: no reply, resending packet retry #6 (cmd: 0,len: 0)
NOTICE 20201117-180036-10.714060s serpak_send#72: no reply, resending packet retry #7 (cmd: 0,len: 0)
NOTICE 20201117-180036-10.776016s serpak_send#72: no reply, resending packet retry #8 (cmd: 0,len: 0)
NOTICE 20201117-180036-10.839355s serpak_send#72: no reply, resending packet retry #9 (cmd: 0,len: 0)
WARNING 20201117-180036-10.840341s serpak_send#75: no reply, dropping packet
ERROR 20201117-180036-10.841002s lcd_setup#1090: could not get a response from the lcd
ERROR 20201117-180036-10.841978s init_lcd#1403: could not initialize the lcd module on port "COM3"
Click to expand...
I did set it to COM3 which is where the device appears to be as per devmgmt.msc
1608253753749.png

Looks like that doesn't work for some reason.

One other interesting development:
When I started cc2 service I saw my UPS usb was disconnected it instantly connected when I started CC2 service. Very very weird. Does the CFA device act like a usb hub or something? I'm wondering if there is something funky going on at hardware level. Like maybe the way it's set up on my mobo. I dunno this is funky stuff. My UPS is using onboard (from obo I/O shield) USB. This is different from the mobo USB (from pinout). Hope that makes sense.
And sorry I didn't think about UPS looks like that is acting up too. It will disconnect sometimes. Makes me wonder if this is all some hardware issue on my end perhaps (maybe?). My mouse and keyboard never have issues though.
 
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CF Mark

Administrator
That log snippet is rather strange. CC2 is able to open the COM port to the display, but cant communicate with it.
The CFA735 doesn't do anything usb-hub like. I dont know why it would effect the UPS USB connection.

All of this is making me wonder if the USB/Serial drivers are a problem. A Windows update may have broken them.

Can I suggest that you completely remove the CFA735's USB drivers, and re-install them?
To do so:
- Right click on the CFA735's port in device manager, uninstall, select "delete the drivers".
- Un-plug the CFA735, then reboot Windows.
- Download & install the driver package from here: https://www.crystalfontz.com/product/usblcddriver
- Plug the CFA735 back in.
 
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