communication problems

[sierra]

I have had problems with communication problems between Helios and Tmax from day one! The first year it only happened randomly, sending a message to computer saying "timer not communicating properly" and I was unable to set a bed thru the computer...now, it begins happening more frequently, so my bed distributor did send me a new TMAX, I hooked it up, and it is still doing the same thing-just as frequent. I called Helios and they were asking me about my Ubc cord connecting to the tower-it shows that it is working correctly. I don't know what else to try! Thanks for any advice!

[unity]

Try a new cord anyway. If its sporadic its likely not software. Then again its a PC, not a Mac, so you never know. :)

[sierra]

thanks, I will!

[Kevin Barrett]

As you tried another T-Max Manager and you are getting the exact same problem, it's probably not the manager.

So try another USB to RS232 converter as suggested above. However, some computers seem to not like USB to RS232 converters. It may be neccessary to have a PCI RS232 card installed in the computer.

Check out your system resources in your computer. Check out your memory usage and make sure you have enough memory for your applications. You may have to add more RAM. Make sure there is no spyware or viruses that may mess things up.

Kevin Barrett
ADI Tech Support

[2tootie2]

Another source of your problem could be your daisy chain connections! I had the same problem with my t max. It was a PITA, but I eventually found one of the daisy chained wires had a crimp with a broken wire in it which was causing the problem!

[Nichesoft]

If a program is having an issue communicating with the timer I would try not using the program that is giving you the problem and go with adnet.

Adnet is T-Max's program that does very basic things. If Adnet can see the bed's and turn them on and off then the communication between your PC and your Tmax is good. Then turn to the software company and see where there program settings are and get them to match Adnet's settings.

But if Adnet doesn't work and it doesn't see your bed's then of course.....your software program is not going to see the bed's either. Therefor that tells you that the problem is in 1 of 3 places.

1. The serial port/usb port on the computer
2. The actual cable it self
3. The serial port on the timer itself.

If you wanna take it a step further bring in your laptop from home.
If it works on your laptop then that tell's you that #2 and #3 are good and that #1 is not working on your main machine.
If it doesn't work on your laptop then it's going to be either #2 or #3.

You see how your weeding out what is the issue by addressing each point of communication between your software and the timer? Figure out where it's failing and there ya go.