PC Keeps Restarting after installing Cumulus v 1.8.8

[JJYakobitis]

I installed Cumulus v. 1.8.8 yesterday. My computer is a Sony Vaio with a 3.00 GHz Pentium 4 processor and 1 GB RAM and runs Windows XP Home SP3. I am using an Oregon Scientific WMR 968 Wireless Weather Station. Everything is working and my data is being uploaded to the internet.

However, the fan in my computer is running very loudly and the processing speed is really slow. It sounds like it wants to fly away. The computer keeps shutting down and restarting periodically. It states that "Windows has recovered from a serious error." when it reboots. I really like the software, but I'm afraid that I can't continue running PC in this state.

Any ideas of the cause and what I can do?

Thanks,
J.J.

[steve]

Any ideas of the cause and what I can do?

How much CPU is Cumulus using? After Windows recovers, what are the error codes that it reports?

Presumably your PC runs OK while Cumulus isn't running?

[daj]

Hi JJ

Welcome to the forum

....I really like the software, but I'm afraid that I can't continue running PC in this state.

Indeed. However it must be something specific to your PC setup that is disagreeing with Cumulus. Obviouslly hundreds (maybe thousdands) of us run Cumulus without issue

If the fan is going into overdrive this is usually a sign that the CPU is being really pushed. As Steve has asked, have a look to see your processor utilisation

Right click on your Windows task, Select Task Manager and then the Process tab. Click on the CPU column heading and this will sort the order, click it again to place the busy processes at the top. Who/what are they and what numbers are we talking about?

[JJYakobitis]

Steve and Daj,

Thanks for your quick responses. I was afraid that my pc would overheat and burn out last night (it kept restarting) so I switched back to my Ambient VWS software (which came with my weather station) so I could continue to post data. The VWS program randomly shuts down on its own and does not restart, which is the reason I switched to Cumulus. However, the VWS software doesn't affect anything else on the pc.

The pc runs fine when I am not running Cumulus - No other issues. I am very particular that I don't have unnecessary programs running in the background utilizing system resources.

Tonight after work, I will run Cumulus again and collect info on what processes are running, the CPU numbers for Cumulus, and record the Windows error codes. I am in Pennsylvania - USA (Eastern Standard Time) so I am probably 5 or 6 hours behind you.

Thanks,
J.J.

[EvilV]

If that was happening to me, after I had looked at the running processes and cpu utilisation, I think I'd try an un-install and then start again. I'm not sure what effect that would have on data already collected - you may lose some data possibly, which may be less of a problem since you have only just started running the software.

I'm assuming the machine is running on a hard surface so that its air vents are not blocked up by poor siting of the laptop. I have my old Dell inspiron 1500 running in a book case which does not give it ideal ventilation, but it is only mildly warmer than its surroundings. Its 1.6ghz celeron is running at 0 - 2% most of the time with a spike of 4%-5% when Cumulus receives or transmits packets of data. Isolating the Cumulus process, it never takes more than 2% for itself.

Hope that helps give you a baseline to work from with your system which is far more powerful than mine is.

Regards

Tony

[steve]

Tonight after work, I will run Cumulus again

Something else you could look at is the "debug window". This shows the data arriving from the serial port. It should just show a packet arriving every few seconds. It's possible that somehow large amounts of data are arriving, causing Cumulus to be running far too much. I still don't see how that could cause your PC to overheat and crash, though. A simple piece of software shouldn't be able to do that, even if it were sitting in a tight loop. I suspect a driver problem. Does your PC have a real serial port, or are you using a USB adapter?

[JJYakobitis]

I am using a serial cable with a USB adapter. The PC does not have a serial port. I know that the driver is working properly because the data loads into Ambient VWS without any problem and the PC does not run as if the CPU is at 100% utilization. Just to be clear, I am not trying to run both software at the same time.

It is a desktop PC that sits on the floor in an open area. The air vents are not blocked. I agree that Cumulus shouldn't cause the problem. That is what is so puzzling.

Thanks,
J.J.

[JJYakobitis]

I uninstalled and then reinstalled Cumulus 1.8.8. When I ran the program again, according to the processes tab in the task manager, Cumulus uses between 60-80 % of the CPU at 17,440 K of memory at any given time. The next highest process is system process, which runs at about 20-25 % - equaling what remains. The fan is still loud and the system reboots. I also looked in the debug window and as Steve suggested, data packets are only being received every few seconds. They are not constant. Enabling and disabling rapid fire did not make any difference.

For comparison, the Ambient VWS software runs between 2-10 %.

I have not received any windows error messages with the recent reboots.

I'm really not sure what the problem is. Suggestions? Thanks.

[gemini06720]

...However, the fan in my computer is running very loudly and the processing speed is really slow. It sounds like it wants to fly away. The computer keeps shutting down and restarting periodically. It states that "Windows has recovered from a serious error." when it reboots.

JJ, Cumulus might not be the cause of your problem ... but only create enough activities to get the computer to crash...

Let me explain. I had something very similar happening a few months back on a desktop computer. I even reformatted the drive and reinstalled Windows 7 (Windows 7 had been working flawlessly for a couple of months before the problems started). Still the computer rebooting by itself kept happening - did not noticed the fan cycling as it is always operating at near full speed on a desktop. I finally gave up trying to find a solution and took the computer to a local repair shop. After some testings (I was there during the tests), the technician concluded that the CPU had been damaged and was overheating way too fast - thus the automatic shutdown when the CPU temperature exceed the preset value. My only options were to replace the CPU or to get a new desktop computer with more power (better and faster CPU) and memory - and I choose the second option...

Once the old computer was back home, I removed almost every components on and around the motherboard, I installed Windows XP to find out if it would make a difference. I eventually restarted the computer but kept it at the bios setup level displaying the operating parameters screen (the screen that usually shows the speed and temperature of the CPU) and noticed how fast and how high the temperature of the CPU was getting - normally, the temperature of an Intel Pentium 4 CPU should be around 30C but mine was running closer to 60C...

It might be a good idea to check further...

[steve]

I'm really not sure what the problem is. Suggestions? Thanks.

The only thing I can think of is that there is an incompatibility between the usb/serial driver and the way Cumulus drives the serial port (not that Cumulus does anything unusual in that respect). But it may be nothing to do with the serial port at all.

You could try changing the station type to Fine Offset and restarting. Then Cumulus won't try to open the serial port. See how much CPU it's then using. It may not tell us very much, because it won't be doing very much at all. But if the CPU is still very high...

[JJYakobitis]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try changing to the Fine Offset station type tonight.

J.J.

[malc-c]

I'm luck if Cumulus uses more than 15% and that's when first logging in to the FTP server to send an update. When running it occasionally peaks at 2% often showing at 0% and this is on a 2Ghz dual core pentium PC with 4GB ram.

I have to agree with the others in that it's probably the USB to RS232 adapter that's causing the CPU to run so hard, with the net result of the PC shutting down due to reaching the upper temperature limit set in the computers BIOS. Generally these don't cause problems (we use a cable version with a netbook so our engineers can re-program industrial catering equipment) so it may well be that yours is either faulty, or not compatible with the OS you are running.

Hope you get to the bottom of things soon.

[philcdav]

Hi guys.

an interesting trhread for me as I have also been experiencing crashes on my laptop.

But I am NOT running Cumulus.

My 'gut' feel is that my crashes are due to software updates since the New Year ! My best guess is Microsoft IE8 and or AVG (Free).

I wonder if you are using either of these softwares.

Have you had a look at the SYSTEM 'error log' ? Do you see a 'SidebySide' error?

Its unlikely that the RS232/USB connector would harm the CPU but it might well give a PSU (power supply) problem, especially if there is an issue with the connection or cable.

My CPU usage with Cumulus on the main PC is about 2% with spikes to 20% max

Hope this helps.

[JJYakobitis]

The only thing I can think of is that there is an incompatibility between the usb/serial driver and the way Cumulus drives the serial port (not that Cumulus does anything unusual in that respect). But it may be nothing to do with the serial port at all.

I wanted to give an update on this issue. I installed a serial port on my PC and used a serial cable to connect the weather station to base to the PC. Then, I did not have any further problems. It was indeed the USB cable connection from the weather station to the PC in combination with the Cumulus software that caused the issue. I have been using Cumulus successfully for months now.