GPS Problems with Windows 7

[sailson]

My communication problem is with Microsoft Streets & trips on an XP equipped Acer Aspire netbook. It will run forever without a glitch, but if I choose to have S&T provide active driving directions, it "Freezes" after just a few minutes and I have to exit the program and re-enter and reestablish the GPS link etc.
My guess is that most of the "navigational" programs use similar programing logic, that's why we have similar problems with quite different programs.

Sailson

[dehem]

Hi, following the problem described previously
(setup: gps bu353, netbook acer aspire one, windows 7 starter)

Attached is a logfile in case someone can find something in there.
I have edited the file to keep the logs of two OpenCPN runs that ended with no more communication with the gps receiver. (I had to end opencpn by killing it with the process manager).
Except for the fact that there's no clean exit logged, I'm not able to see a hint in there.
One line say's :
"Found Garmin USB Driver." although the gps connected is not the garmin (I also have a garmin gps and mapsource installed).

I'm presently trying the following solution:

1-connect the gps (bu353) and use GpsGate as the main gps data receiver.
2-let GpsGate create a virtual com port for sharing the gps data.
3-Connect OpenCPN to this virtual com port instead of the real one.

I started OpenCPN 6 hours ago with this configuration and everything still working fine.
Hope this can be a workaround for now.

More on this test soon.

[dehem]

I had to change the extension from .log to .pdf for the forum to accept the file but it is really a text file (save and rename with .txt or .log)

[claire]

... to use a virtual serial port as a fix for this very annoying issue. Thanks dehem for the idea.
I am also trying the latest prolific driver as suggested above, as well as disabling the power saving shut down. Unfortunately, every time I restart the computer, Windows 7 resets this last feature to its default on state.

Pavel,
This seems to me like a serious bug for W7 users (mine is 64 bits) that should be fixed in the next release.

[nohal]

dehem,
thanks for the log, there really is nothing of a help

claire,
yes of course it should be fixed ASAP.

Anybody here tested the 2.2 beta to confirm the issue is there as well? From what I can see all of you are on 2.1.624a stable.

Pavel

[jaredko]

I ran across similar issues with my Acer Timeline laptop running win 7 64 bit with a bu353. My system would bluescreen and restart when running opencpn (other programs that used the puck ran ok).

Similar to dehem's suggestion, my solution was to write a quick com port mirroring application that simply opened the com port that the puck was on, read the data and wrote it to another port. Since the communication was one way, it prevented opencpn from sending any commands to the puck. In this arrangement, the system has run reliably without a single issue.

Perhaps opencpn is sending a command intermittently which is causing the hanging/crashing?

[bdbcat]

jaredko....

Thanks for the info.

I'd like to see your com port mirror code, and compare to my handling of the comport. Maybe this will shed some light.

In normal operation, OpenCPN sends no data to the GPS.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to reproduce the fault here with hardware at hand. We'll see.

Thanks
Dave

[dehem]

Just wanted to confirm that OpenCPN connected to the gps (BU-353) through a virtual port (GpsGate) has been working without any problem for the last two days.

It can be a good workaround for now.

[jaredko]

bdbcat,

My code is on another computer, but it is nothing genius. Assuming the gps puck is on com 1 and opencpn is listening on com 2, I have.

com1.open()
com2.open()
while(true)
data = com1.readln()
com2.writeln(data)

I've got some error handling code to reopen a port should it be closed, but that is the meat of it. I'll post the actual code on Monday.

[CarCode]

Use portmon.exe if you are on Windows and really want to know what is going on at the com port: Portmon for Windows

[dehem]

nohal:

I've checked today with the beta version (2.2.1124) and found the same problem. Lost communication with the gps puck after one hour.

[claire]

I think I solved my GPS problems.

I did the following:
1. Found a setting in the laptop power scheme (advanced setting) where I was able to completely disable "usb selective suspend"
2. As stated elsewhere, I reinstalled my AT&T option usb GPS driver
3. For the Garmin GPS connected thru a Prolific serial adapter, I installed the latest driver recommended by an earlier post (dated July 2010)

I then ran Opencpn for more than 3 hours with each GPS and had no issue. As we were at the anchorage, I couldn't run much longer to save power, but I'll test it further during tomorrow's sail.

[CarCode]

Claire,

the wonderful world of Windows
Good for spending time and money and solving problems one never had without it...

Gerhard

[claire]

One more day sailing and the problems are back.
For further details see the thread I started on R2.1.0 issues with Windows 7.

[CarCode]

Claire,

try to use the KeySpan USA-19HS RS232/USB adapter instead of the cheap chinese adapters. It is more expensive but saves you time and headache. The company promote it as the world's best USB Serial Adapter and I guess it is true.

Gerhard