Android modem - failure - unable to connect to nowsms modem

Android modem - failure - unable to connect to nowsms modem SearchSearch
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peter chanq
New member
Username: Qqblog

Post Number: 40
Registered: 10-2012
Posted on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - 09:51 am:   

android is connected to wifi, from time to time, the nowsms lite displays this error

"failure - unable to connect to nowsms modem ".

this will last for a few minutes. at this time, i could ping the android.

sometimes, this message will disappear. sometimes, it doesn't. we need to switch the modem off and on or restart the nowsms lite.

is this due to network interruption? how long will the service be recovered from network interruption after network connection resumed
peter chanq
New member
Username: Qqblog

Post Number: 42
Registered: 10-2012
Posted on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - 09:54 am:   

this happens for version 2014.06.* and 2014.05.* nowsms lite and nowsms android modem.
Des - NowSMS Support
Board Administrator
Username: Desosms

Post Number: 5115
Registered: 08-2008
Posted on Thursday, November 20, 2014 - 12:58 am:   

Hi Peter,

What Android phone are you using?

While it is possible that it is a network issue, I would first look at other potential issues.

Make sure the NowSMS Lite is also 2014.06.30 or later.

What is the network mask on your network? If it is a full class C address (255.255.0.0) by any chance? (Improvements were made in 2014.06.30 for this type of environment, but maybe we missed something.)

Another issue...in our testing, we've noticed problems with NowSMS Modem service availability on the Moto E. Presumably, the issue is related to Android system management deciding to pause the NowSMS Modem service to make more resources available for other tasks. We've been experimenting with different approaches to avoid this type of problem. The most promising of these efforts uses a foreground service notification which adds an icon to the notification area, and seems to prevent Android from pausing the service.

We've posted an update to the app which includes this change as an interim development release at the bottom of this page: http://www.nowsms.com/download-free-trial

--
Des
NowSMS Support
Des - NowSMS Support
Board Administrator
Username: Desosms

Post Number: 5116
Registered: 08-2008
Posted on Friday, November 21, 2014 - 08:43 pm:   

Follow-up...

We posted a minor update to that update. I'd recommend ensuring that the Android app version is 2014.11.22.

This fixes an issue in the previous update where the app would not always automatically start when the phone was restarted. Also fixed is an issue where pressing on the notification banner did not always bring the app to the foreground.

--
Des
NowSMS Support
peter chanq
New member
Username: Qqblog

Post Number: 45
Registered: 10-2012
Posted on Monday, December 15, 2014 - 09:54 am:   

for android 4.0.x, your latest version could help. the android modem connection could be resumed automatically after a few minutes. but for android 2.3.x, the connection could not be resumed
Des - NowSMS Support
Board Administrator
Username: Desosms

Post Number: 5146
Registered: 08-2008
Posted on Tuesday, December 16, 2014 - 05:09 pm:   

We've done a little more tweaking with a 2014.12.12 version of the app.

It addresses a very odd issue where it was impossible to connect to the modem at all. (See http://support.nowsms.com/discus/messages/33365/72739.html) Because this was an unusual, specific problem, it may not be related to any other connection issues. But one small change cleared the problem, so I am wondering if i may be related to other issues.

We have been running continual connectivity tests with a variety of devices, and we have noticed one of our devices drops off-line at least once a week. When it drops off-line, it cannot be pinged. Turning WiFi off and then back on resolves the issue.

I would be curious to see if you see similar issues with ping failures.

If you read the other thread, you'll notice that ping failures were noted, which is why I believe there is a small chance that the problem may be related.

We are currently waiting for one of our test devices to fail again. We updated them all to this 2014.12.12 build on Friday, so it may take more time for a failure to happen. If it happens again, we plan to do more testing to determine why WiFi is off-line and try to determine whether there are actions that can be taken to restore WiFi without taking drastic action.

--
Des
NowSMS Support
peter chanq
New member
Username: Qqblog

Post Number: 46
Registered: 10-2012
Posted on Friday, December 19, 2014 - 02:44 am:   

no improvement with 2014.12.12 version. ping is ok when unable to connect to modem.
Des - NowSMS Support
Board Administrator
Username: Desosms

Post Number: 5153
Registered: 08-2008
Posted on Friday, December 19, 2014 - 12:55 pm:   

We're still waiting for one of our test devices to fail. It's been a week now, so it normally would have by now.

Let me ask this, if you stop and start from the modem app, does that restore access? We have considered implementing a watchdog that performed this action if there was no activity. We just have no proof that would resolve any problems, as our recent experience of problems are the type where the device could not be pinged.
peter chanq
New member
Username: Qqblog

Post Number: 47
Registered: 10-2012
Posted on Monday, December 22, 2014 - 04:39 am:   

I have tried stop and start both modem app and gateway lite, but still not restore access
Des - NowSMS Support
Board Administrator
Username: Desosms

Post Number: 5157
Registered: 08-2008
Posted on Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - 05:10 pm:   

Stop and start on the app side restarts the listener on the phone side, so if that doesn't allow things to start working again, then it sounds like something is going wrong at a system level. I just can't imagine what.

When this happens, the only solution is to restart the phone?

By any chance, does turning WiFi off and back on restore access?

Does the browser still work on the device to connect to web sites?

Can the browser on the device connect to http://ipaddress:8990 or http://127.0.0.1:8990? ... both should only display a text response of OK.

It may be interesting to note memory usage under Settings/Applications/Running to see if the NowSMS Modem app is consuming a lot of memory.

In another thread (http://support.nowsms.com/discus/messages/33365/72739.html), I suggested installing another web server for testing ... Palapa. I was curious if when the problem occurs, it also blocked access to another web server.

--
Des
NowSMS Support
Des - NowSMS Support
Board Administrator
Username: Desosms

Post Number: 5163
Registered: 08-2008
Posted on Thursday, January 15, 2015 - 09:23 pm:   

Hi Peter,

I wanted to provide a follow-up. We have continued to investigate by adding more phones to a test server. We found one that was especially problematic, and we analyzed how to recover. Oddly enough, the main problem with the device seemed to be either WiFi or DHCP issues.

We added additional logic to detect and recover from 2 different problem observed with this device, along with some other auto-recovery techniques for potential problems. An updated 2015.01.15 version of the app can be downloaded at the bottom of the page at http://www.nowsms.com/download-free-trial

Note that it may take 15 to 20 minutes to recover from some issues. So NowSMS might report the connection as off-line. But this should initiate a recovery process within a 15-20 minute window.

--
Des
NowSMS Support
Des - NowSMS Support
Board Administrator
Username: Desosms

Post Number: 5176
Registered: 08-2008
Posted on Thursday, January 22, 2015 - 10:20 pm:   

The recovery technique was not working consistently in the 2015.01.15 version of the app. It was replaced with the 2015.01.17 version.
Des - NowSMS Support
Board Administrator
Username: Desosms

Post Number: 5197
Registered: 08-2008
Posted on Monday, February 09, 2015 - 03:36 pm:   

An additional follow-up, as we've continued to study this issue.

The new automatic recovery logic introduced in version 2015.01.15 did not get activated if the phone was powered off and back on, or if the device was restarted.

An updated 2015.02.05 version of the app addresses this issue and can be downloaded at the bottom of the page at http://www.nowsms.com/download-free-trial


--
Des
NowSMS Support

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