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Resolved Game Engine crashes

Discussion in 'SimTools DIY Version' started by Raredog, Feb 22, 2018.

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  1. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    Sounds like one of your Scn actuators is not connected to the PC?
    yobuddy
    yobuddy, Mar 6, 2018
    #41
  2. John Memeo

    John Memeo New Member Gold Contributor

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    Same result unfortunately.
    John Memeo, Mar 7, 2018
    #42
  3. John Memeo

    John Memeo New Member Gold Contributor

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    Everything is still connected - I can see the 2 active com ports in device manager.
    John Memeo, Mar 7, 2018
    #43
  4. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    Just so I am certain are you saying the crash happens on a vanilla SimTools install using LFS?

    My suggestion was about ruling out potentially complicating factors around plugins. If it crashes on a clean vanilla install then it is almost certainly a hardware fault.
    noorbeast, Mar 7, 2018
    #44
  5. John Memeo

    John Memeo New Member Gold Contributor

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    So I went from turning my computer on with getting motion at startup with SimTools 2.1- to installing SimTools 2.2 and doing a reboot and losing motion. Is there any way to test the SCN's inside of windows to confirm hardware failure?
    John Memeo, Mar 7, 2018
    #45
  6. John Memeo

    John Memeo New Member Gold Contributor

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    I just did another clean uninstall - and deleted the files left in program files - rebooted and did another install - Game Engine isn't crashing anymore, still no motion. I used TBVST and confirmed motion on my SCNs.
    • Agree Agree x 1
    John Memeo, Mar 7, 2018
    #46
  7. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    • Winner Winner x 1
    yobuddy, Mar 7, 2018
    #47
  8. John Memeo

    John Memeo New Member Gold Contributor

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    John Memeo, Mar 8, 2018
    #48
  9. Raredog

    Raredog Active Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    Bought a brand new motor, new JRK and new ceramic pot meter, the problem is still there... :confused::(
    Raredog, Mar 9, 2018
    #49
  10. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    @Raredog,
    Did you ground isolate the setup?
    yobuddy
    yobuddy, Mar 9, 2018
    #50
  11. Raredog

    Raredog Active Member

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    Yes, everything is just as it has been for the last 3-4-500 hours of use... i haven't even changed a single setting since Simtools 2.0 came out, let alone anything hardware. It has worked flawlessly until now, and i simply can't see it being a hardware failure, as everything but the psu have been changed, and I have tried switching the psu (i run a dual setup, even though it might be overkill)
    Raredog, Mar 10, 2018
    #51
  12. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    You can try running SimTools on another computer.

    But as others are not experiencing the same crashes it is more likely something to do with your particular setup.
    noorbeast, Mar 10, 2018
    #52
  13. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    @Raredog,
    How are your solder joints buddy?
    If it works out of the blue, and then it does not, sounds like a short circuit to me.
    yobuddy
    yobuddy, Mar 10, 2018
    #53
  14. Raredog

    Raredog Active Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    I WAS WRONG!

    It was a hardware fault! Or rather faults...
    As mentioned I run 2 PSUs, and I tried running them in parallel, but that didn't make a difference. Then I bought a new JRK and reverted the installation. After testing all the solderings without result, I tried once again to run the PSUs in parallel, but this time with the new JRK, and everything works fine :):)

    I suspect that one of the PSUs is worn out and delivers less amps, which might have damaged the JRK...

    Thanks a lot for all the help hug:
    • Like Like x 2
    Raredog, Mar 10, 2018
    #54
  15. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    I am glad it is all sorted but I did suggest you check the PSU multiple times, which I have to say is a bit frustrating:

    https://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/game-engine-crashes.11679/#post-151485

    https://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/game-engine-crashes.11679/#post-151592

    https://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/game-engine-crashes.11679/#post-151485
    noorbeast, Mar 10, 2018
    #55
  16. Raredog

    Raredog Active Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, JRK
    As described above:

    Now, with the new JRK, I again is running them parallel.

    So I heard your advise and followed it, but wasn't aware that it could be both failing.
    • Like Like x 1
    Raredog, Mar 12, 2018
    #56
  17. Michael Keymont

    Michael Keymont “I’m racing a Ferrari in the Matrix...” Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    I’ve actually been having the same issue. I’ve found that if I keep the Max% around 60%, it fails rarely if at all, but it does suck at that setting! I’ll have to take a look at power supplies etc. Good info!
    Michael Keymont, Apr 10, 2018
    #57
  18. Michael Keymont

    Michael Keymont “I’m racing a Ferrari in the Matrix...” Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    I finally found my issue! it’s too good to not post here, so here goes...

    Long story short is that I had a bizarre ground loop. The way I found it was when I had my hand on my mouse, and my arm leaning on the stand that was holding my keyboard and mouse, I got shocked!! It was repeatable too.

    What the root cause turned out to be was that the keyboard/mouse stand was pushed up against the baseboard heater that sits along the bottom of my wall, which is electrically grounded, and also touching the frame of my rig. As soon as I moved the rig back a couple of inches and re-tested whether I would get shocked, I found that the shocking was gone. I ran a few laps at Road Atlanta with SimTools at 100% and had no issues at all!! All day today, if I turned it up past 65, I got crashing etc.

    I suspect that there had to be a good deal of noise getting into my system through this crappy electrical short, and that removing it cleared up the problem. One for the record books...
    • Funny Funny x 1
    • Winner Winner x 1
    Michael Keymont, May 7, 2018
    #58
  19. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    @Michael Keymont,
    Great job buddy!
    This brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "the answer hit me like a bolt of lightning". :grin
    Take care,
    yobuddy
    yobuddy, May 7, 2018
    #59
  20. Michael Keymont

    Michael Keymont “I’m racing a Ferrari in the Matrix...” Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, JRK
    I had another issue as well, which I don’t think was part of the cause of this, but it’s worth noting if you’re having JRK12v12 issues. In addition to motion/SimTools, I also use irFFB to manage my force feedback settings as well as my wind simulator. The Arduino that runs the wind sim is on COM4. One of my JRKs was also using COM4 and when I would open irFFBAnd look at the fan settings, it ALWAYS had the JRK com port selected insted of the arduino, even though it DID work.

    I went into Device Manager in Windows and changed the JRK com port to something else and now my Arduino is selected as it should be in irFFB.

    Again, this didn’t seem to cause ME any trouble, but if you are having wierd JRK issues, this might be something to look into before you lose your mind. It shouldn’t be possible for 2 USB devices to be assigned the same COM port, but it happened...

    Side note:
    The thing that makes my issue truly bizzarre is that the baseboard heater that was causing the ground loop is NOT an electric heater - it’s oil, forced hot water. It just happened to be electrically grounded. If I hadn’t felt the shock in my arm while holding the mouse, I don’t know of any other way I could have ever known to look in that area for a ground loop.

    In my avatar picture, you can see the heater on the right hand side, as well as the black legs of the keyboard stand that is holding up the monitor, connecting the heater to my rig. All I had to do was slide the rig 2 inches to the left.

    So, if anyone else has any trouble with Game Engine crashing randomly, tell them to slide their rig 2 inches to the left...
    ;)
    • Informative Informative x 1
    Michael Keymont, May 7, 2018
    #60
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