Running Cumulus reliably

[Mik]

I have been using Cumulus around 2 years now, but the most infuriating things I have found is that Cumulus crashed regularly, Cumulus stops communication with the internet and sometimes the drive fills up with log reports.

I am running Windows 7 on a dedicated laptop.

Here is what works for me and fixed (sort of) all my problems.

First in "cumulus.ini" turn off logging. (Logging=0) this is not required unless you are having problems.
this saves your hard drive space.

I now run the laptop so it reboots 4 times a day (around every 6 hours) what this does is clear any problems, there is no need to be around when it occurs, you can leave your laptop months at a time without worrying if your data is still recording.


You do this by placing your cumulus.exe file in the start up folder.
right click on your file, the go to "pin to start menu"

What this does is (for those who dont know) is to start up your Cumulus program every time you start up or reboot your computer.

If you are only running your PC/Laptop for your Cumulus program, then you will have to turn off your logon and password when your computer starts, so you just reboot straight into your PC/Laptop and your Cumulus program starts running immediately.

Click on your start button and in your run box and type the following "netplwiz" (without the talky marks) and hit enter.

or

Click on Start -> Control Panel -> User Accounts -> Disable Password

This is also good for Vista.

Now do a test

Reboot (restart) your PC/Laptop and see if it starts up and goes into running Cumulus.

If all okay close down Cumulus (for other windows versions you may have to research google a bit)

Now the nitty gritty.

You are now going to set your PC/Laptop to reboot 4 times a day.
For arguments sake we will set this at 4pm - 10pm - 4am - 10am
I have deliberately kept away from 9am and Midnight because of Cumulus roll-over function.

You will need to do this 4 times (or 2 or 3, depending on your preference.)
Click on start button and type "task scheduler" in the run bar (no talky marks) and click on the name to

1. Launch Task Scheduler.

2. Click Action and select Create Basic task.




3. Type AutoRestart (or others you want) in the Name box and click Next. (you can call this any name you want, just make all the actions a different name. ie autorestart1, autorestart2 etc.

4. Select Daily and click Next
https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/download/fi ... w&id=12270

5. Type the time you want to restart the computer and click Next.
https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/download/fi ... w&id=12271

6. Select Start a program and click Next.
https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/download/fi ... w&id=12272

7. Click Browse and navigate to %SystemRoot%\System32 and select Shutdown.exe and click Open. Type –F –R in the Add arguments (optional) box and click Next.
https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/download/fi ... w&id=12273

8. Click next and Click Finish.

go through this task 4 times

Hopefully this is a great help to some people.

[PaulMy]

I have never experienced a crash with Cumulus and going near to 8 years - IT IS MOST RELIABLE! for me. I think many other users have similar experience. I use the Davis VP2 and have read that some other weather stations like Fine Offset can have some issues to which Cumulus caters as best as possible.

I agree that the logging should not be turned on in Cumulus1 unless needed, and the Configuration tab allows for easy setting/changes on this without having to go into the cumulus.ini.

Having Cumulus stop and restart every 6 hours will recycle the Cumulus automatic 10 most recent backups every 2.5 days and that would not be ideal in case of some data corruption, unless you have your own reliable backup system.

Have you investigated what might be causing your frequent issues?

Paul

[BCJKiwi]

Hmm,

Have run Cumulus for some years now without any of these issues on a Win7 laptop and/or desktop.

Suggestions:-
1. ensure the USB is set in Win7 so it cannot be turned off to save power.
Control Panel / System / Device manager / Universal Serial Bus Controllers / USB Root Hub
work through each one and UNTICK properties / Power management / Allow the computer to turn off the device to save power.

In Cumulus TICK these options
2. Stop second instance
3. Restart if unplugged
4. Restart if data stopped.

You say your logs are filling up - what do they say when the system stops?

[mcrossley]

I have to agree with the others, the only time I restarted Cumulus on Windows 7 was when the monthly Microsoft updates required a machine reboot.

So Cumulus is reliable and you need to find out what other factor(s) are causing your problems.

The USB port power management is a good start, but letting it fail again and then posting the daigs folder would be good too. I assumes with all that unnecessary rebooting you no longer have any log files covering a failure.

[Mik]

I havent look deeply into the problems, but have ran the software on 3 operating systems and always the same problems, I think one of them (network error) is because unreliable internet where I live, it generally drops out for us. I have used winxp, vista and win7 and every now and then (about every three days) the software crashes and I have used different versions, the last version is the most stable so far, Im running Oregon WMR200. I have tried different settings on Cumulus without success. I followed all of what I have read on hear when people are having issues. I run 2 businesses so dont have the time to sit for hours to try and nut things out.

I dont have any issues with the hardware all seems to be okay.

I have been using Cumulus around 2 years now, but the most infuriating things I have found is that Cumulus crashed regularly, Cumulus stops communication with the internet and sometimes the drive fills up with log reports.

I am running Windows 7 on a dedicated laptop.

Here is what works for me and fixed (sort of) all my problems.

First in "cumulus.ini" turn off logging. (Logging=0) this is not required unless you are having problems.
this saves your hard drive space.

I now run the laptop so it reboots 4 times a day (around every 6 hours) what this does is clear any problems, there is no need to be around when it occurs, you can leave your laptop months at a time without worrying if your data is still recording.


You do this by placing your cumulus.exe file in the start up folder.
right click on your file, the go to "pin to start menu"

What this does is (for those who dont know) is to start up your Cumulus program every time you start up or reboot your computer.

If you are only running your PC/Laptop for your Cumulus program, then you will have to turn off your logon and password when your computer starts, so you just reboot straight into your PC/Laptop and your Cumulus program starts running immediately.

Click on your start button and in your run box and type the following "netplwiz" (without the talky marks) and hit enter.

or

Click on Start -> Control Panel -> User Accounts -> Disable Password

This is also good for Vista.

Now do a test

Reboot (restart) your PC/Laptop and see if it starts up and goes into running Cumulus.

If all okay close down Cumulus (for other windows versions you may have to research google a bit)

Now the nitty gritty.

You are now going to set your PC/Laptop to reboot 4 times a day.
For arguments sake we will set this at 4pm - 10pm - 4am - 10am
I have deliberately kept away from 9am and Midnight because of Cumulus roll-over function.

You will need to do this 4 times (or 2 or 3, depending on your preference.)
Click on start button and type "task scheduler" in the run bar (no talky marks) and click on the name to

1. Launch Task Scheduler.

2. Click Action and select Create Basic task.




3. Type AutoRestart (or others you want) in the Name box and click Next. (you can call this any name you want, just make all the actions a different name. ie autorestart1, autorestart2 etc.

4. Select Daily and click Next
https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/download/fi ... w&id=12270

5. Type the time you want to restart the computer and click Next.
https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/download/fi ... w&id=12271

6. Select Start a program and click Next.
https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/download/fi ... w&id=12272

7. Click Browse and navigate to %SystemRoot%\System32 and select Shutdown.exe and click Open. Type –F –R in the Add arguments (optional) box and click Next.
https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/download/fi ... w&id=12273

8. Click next and Click Finish.

go through this task 4 times

Hopefully this is a great help to some people.

[Mik]

Did all this months ago but didnt make any difference, just checked again and they are all set like this.

Hmm,

Have run Cumulus for some years now without any of these issues on a Win7 laptop and/or desktop.

Suggestions:-
1. ensure the USB is set in Win7 so it cannot be turned off to save power.
Control Panel / System / Device manager / Universal Serial Bus Controllers / USB Root Hub
work through each one and UNTICK properties / Power management / Allow the computer to turn off the device to save power.

In Cumulus TICK these options
2. Stop second instance
3. Restart if unplugged
4. Restart if data stopped.

You say your logs are filling up - what do they say when the system stops?

[Mik]

Just a shame its not reliable for me. As above all the USB settings have been set as recommended months ago.

I have to agree with the others, the only time I restarted Cumulus on Windows 7 was when the monthly Microsoft updates required a machine reboot.

So Cumulus is reliable and you need to find out what other factor(s) are causing your problems.

The USB port power management is a good start, but letting it fail again and then posting the daigs folder would be good too. I assumes with all that unnecessary rebooting you no longer have any log files covering a failure.

[Mik]

Due to running 2 businesses, the problem I have is that I am unable to check it every few hours or even every few days, so the system could have been out for a couple of days before I even discover it.

Just a shame its not reliable for me. As above all the USB settings have been set as recommended months ago.

I have to agree with the others, the only time I restarted Cumulus on Windows 7 was when the monthly Microsoft updates required a machine reboot.

So Cumulus is reliable and you need to find out what other factor(s) are causing your problems.

The USB port power management is a good start, but letting it fail again and then posting the daigs folder would be good too. I assumes with all that unnecessary rebooting you no longer have any log files covering a failure.

[GraemeT]

Hi Mik,
I've been running Cumulus v1.4(1099) on an Acer Aspire laptop for just over 2 years, unattended for most of the time and the only times it has been rebooted have been due to Windows-7 and using Media Center to watch tv. Cumulus never has any issues, nor does it get in the way of the other uses we put the machine to. It just chugs away, quietly recording weather data at our holiday house.

I also run Cumulus on a local dedicated server and it's been pretty much trouble-free since 2009.
I'd suggest you have something else causing your problems other than Cumulus, as it is certainly the most reliable piece of weather software I've used.