Strange Chart Behavior in Latest Beta

[sailracer]

I have used the latest beta for the past few weeks -- even on the water. Yesterday I used it and had some strange behavior. The charts began to flicker between being present and then going black. This happened several times until it finally went to only black and the open chart icons at the bottom of the screen (right above the status bar) went black, as well. I rebuilt the chart database but had the same experience. Even after restarting cpn. Eventually I got a much smaller scale black screen with chart outlines only. When I clicked on the "go to boat" icon at the top the program crashed.

The only difference with the previous time I used it, when it worked flawlessly, was that I had my instruments connected via NMEA (using a Keyspan USB to Serial adapter.) The instruments worked perfectly with the plugin.

When I returned home and started the program (without instruments or GPS), it again worked fine.

Is this a known behavior with a known fix?

Many thanks.

Ed

[HappySeagull]

Originally Posted by sailracer

I have used the latest beta for the past few weeks -- even on the water. Yesterday I used it and had some strange behavior. The charts began to flicker between being present and then going black. This happened several times until it finally went to only black and the open chart icons at the bottom of the screen (right above the status bar) went black, as well. I rebuilt the chart database but had the same experience. Even after restarting cpn. Eventually I got a much smaller scale black screen with chart outlines only. When I clicked on the "go to boat" icon at the top the program crashed.

The only difference with the previous time I used it, when it worked flawlessly, was that I had my instruments connected via NMEA (using a Keyspan USB to Serial adapter.) The instruments worked perfectly with the plugin.

When I returned home and started the program (without instruments or GPS), it again worked fine.

Is this a known behavior with a known fix?

Many thanks.

Ed

Hi,SailRacer,
Gee that doesn't sound good.I've got a usb/serial adapter - as far as I know,they've been fairly benign with OpenCPN.I know that's not a lot of help-might be model specific..or,what was plugged into it?

Anything in the log?OpenCPN has a verbose one and it contains a pretty good history...likely,it'll include both bad and good runnings.(Everyone should always check the log before posting,I've learned!)

[sailracer]

Thanks for suggesting i check the log.

First of all, I followed the advice in the manual and copied the link from the About menu item and it opened it in my web browser. Unfortunately, the log from two days ago, when I had the trouble, was already gone. It only shows today and yesterday -- the two most recent times I ran the program. I'll have to try again tomorrow when I'm back on the water with the same configuration as when I had the trouble. I'll save the log.

By the way, is there a way to find the log file -- and config file -- manually without pasting the path into a web browser? I cannot find the log or config files in my opencpn directory. I checked my Windows 7 file and folder permissions and I have it set to see hidden and system files. Am I missing something?

[sailracer]

Duh! My poor eyesight. I see the opencpn data files are not in "Program Files" but in "Program Data." Found all relevant files.

[HappySeagull]

Sailracer,if you get Opcn "acting badly" again,can you get a screengrab and post it too?Pictures are worth a thousand words...

(General Windose directions for this:PrtScr on your keyboard then Ctrl+V on any loose picture file-then Ctrl+S as whatever.jpg (or.png) and upload to the forum(paperclip in the advanced posting toolbar)

for anyone lurking:
"To find the location of the log file go to the ToolBar click on "About OpenCPN", the button furthest to the right. ....A quick way to view the logfile is to copy the full file path and then paste this into the address field in a web browser."
Thanks,sailracer!I didn't know that!
But I made a shortcut to the folder because I'm a tweakfreak.