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NowSMS Support Forums ⬆ NowSMS Support - MMS & Advanced Issues ⬆ Archive through October 14, 2015 ⬆ |
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| Author | Message | |||
| Andrej Silin New member Username: Asilin Post Number: 8 Registered: 11-2011 |
Hello, I have constant problems with NowSMS ever since I've purchased a license and installed several modems. After installing the modems (MC55I - 8 modems plugged into serial-to-usb hub) and configuring them with NowSMS (v2013.11.15 on Windows 8 Foundation R2 Server SP1) the MMS emissions works fine. But after a day or two, I'm getting the following errors: Modem Busy and/or Modem Failure  There is no way to recover the modems unless I uninstall them completely from SMSC/MMSC Routing and delete the <modem_name>.ctr/.lck and <route_name>.err files. MMS route test fail with following message:  Once modems uninstalled from NowSMS completely I can check them with a Windows Diagnostics and the modems respond fine. Such is the case when I add the modems back to NowSMS:  However, as explained previously this does not last long. Could I kindly ask you to inform me what's wrong ? | |||
| Des - NowSMS Support Board Administrator Username: Desosms Post Number: 4776 Registered: 08-2008 |
Hi Andrej, I'm not really sure where to start. But I think we need to see some debug logs. Please enable SMSDEBUG.LOG and MMSCDEBUG.LOG, and when the errors start to occur, copy these logs and send them to us. You can send them to nowsms@nowsms.com, please put Attention: Des in the subject line and post a reply on this thread to further note that you have sent the logs ... just in case I need to look for them. The MMSC Route error "Modem Busy" indicates that the modem is locked by the SMS handler when there is MMS activity pending. ("Unable to allocate modem" indicates the same thing, it just doesn't indicate whether it is the SMS or MMS handler.) If this condition persists for 2 minutes, then it suggests that there is some sort of lockup/blocking in the modem driver. NowSMS does not block while polling the modem. But we have seen situations where a modem driver crashes ... NowSMS issues an API call to request any received data, and the API call never gives back control ... effectively locking out further modem access. But when this type of situation happens, if the driver is crashed, the only way to recover is to reboot the system. And the only solution is an updated modem driver (or multipart driver). In your case, however, since a reboot is not required, it sounds like something else is happening. Can you explain the exact steps you are taking to recover? It sounds like you are not even restarting the NowSMS service, but simply removing and re-adding the modems. (Or are you restarting the service but did not mention this detail?) Restarting the service may trigger an automatic cleanup in the modem driver. So that is why I am wondering if the situation can be recovered without this step. There should be no need to delete any LCK, CTR or ERR files. The fact that you are deleting them suggests you must be stopping and restarting the services, otherwise the LCK file should not be able to be deleted. Which leads me back to thinking something is going run in the driver for the multipart serial to USB hub. When the problem occurs, if you open a command prompt window and issue the command NET STOP NOWSMS ... does it take 60 seconds or longer to complete? If it does, I would be curious to see the SMSDEBUG.LOG after this shutdown attempt. However it would also suggest to me that the an API call to check for new data on the serial port is not returning, which suggests a problem in the USB driver ... so my #1 recommendation would be to check for any updated drivers from that manufacturer. -- Des NowSMS Support | |||
| Andrej Silin New member Username: Asilin Post Number: 9 Registered: 11-2011 |
If this condition persists for 2 minutes, then it suggests that there is some sort of lockup/blocking in the modem driver. NowSMS does not block while polling the modem. But we have seen situations where a modem driver crashes ... NowSMS issues an API call to request any received data, and the API call never gives back control ... effectively locking out further modem access. Sometimes modems stay blocked for a minute or two as described above: I suppose it's normal when sending or receiving a message. However, generally this condition persists until reboot and sometimes even after reboot. Can you explain the exact steps you are taking to recover? 1) I restart the NowSMS service. Generally this does not help. 2) I reboot the server. This helps better, some MMS are sent, but then modems stall again. 3) I stop the NowSMS service (sometimes it won't stop), I reboot the server and then I start NowSMS service again. This seems to be more effective than (2): modems last a litte longer without hanging up. 4) When none of the steps described above help, I stop the NowSMS service, uninstall the modems, remove all the files (*.lck, *.ctr, *.err), reboot the server and reinstall the modems back. In your case, however, since a reboot is not required, it sounds like something else is happening. Actually it is required all the time. It seems however that sometimes modems stay blocked even after a reboot. In that case I uninstall them from NowSMS interface completely and add them back. When the problem occurs, if you open a command prompt window and issue the command NET STOP NOWSMS ... does it take 60 seconds I did that. Here is what's happened: - 1st message "Now SMS/MMS Gateway is stopping..." - 2nd message (30s later) "Now SMS/MMS Gateway couldn't be stopped." Then I ran "NET START NOWSMS": - 1st message "Now SMS/MMS Gateway is starting..." - 2nd message (almost immediately) Now SMS/MMS Gateway is started." Then I ran "NET STOP NOWSMS" again: - 1st message "Now SMS/MMS Gateway is stopping..." - 2nd message (almost immediately) Now SMS/MMS Gateway is stopped." so my #1 recommendation would be to check for any updated drivers from that manufacturer. Maybe it's Windows 8/NowSMS related. I use almost a same setup a one of my colleagues: he was running MC55Is on Windows XP and NowSMS v5.51a and never had this kind of problem. I've sent an email containing debug logs. | |||
