HouseBot

I have ran the ZP for 3-5 hours without any discernable problems. Your error log is needed to try to help me hunt down the connection issue. I have some ideas, but need to the log.

Osler

Attached find the log. I didn't have a failure for 4 days but using the script I published. Today I had a connection problem even though I was not playing at the time.

Thanks for your help,

Victor

Looking at the logs, it apears to be a network related issue. Your ZP is just dropping off the network periodically and I can't tell you why that is. The script is handling the drop and reconnection as it is supposed to. But when it is dropped, there are going to be connectivity issues. I had a feeling it may be something like this. At present, the script is relatively passive with subscriptions. I can impose a mandatory resubsription to services every 30 minutes...something I had thought about adding anyways. However, if there are issues inherent to your network, this may not solve the problem.

From your end, you need to take a hard look at your network configuration. How are your ZP's connected to the network? Mine are all wired and I never see drops as are occuring in your log.

I don't know when I will get free time to update the script. i will try to get something out in the next few weeks for you to try. Things are a bit crazy right now.

Osler

Thanks Osler,

My ZPs are wireless (two of the three) which was the main reason for moving to sonos since it was very difficult to wire the whole house. The interesting thing that I still don't understand is when the problem occurs it is always solved when I restart Housebot. If I restart only the script it doesn't fix it but if I restart Housebot it does and that is the part I am not sure how is related with the health of the network.

Saludos,

Victor

The script ends up failing when the ZP's can't be reached to execute a command. As a result, errors occur which kill the script. You only see a dead script because I have windows error handling turned off to keep nasty little message boxes from popping up on your server box. Only an HB restart will fix this. This is why I moved to an asynchronous find...to try to catch when a zp drops off the network to prevent this from happening. The problem is that I am only informed the ZP dropped once it reattaches...this means the script is executing against a non-existent ZP for a period of time, leading to the script failure. I am not sure I have a good solution for this at the moment. I could code it such that you can define the subscription period for the script, allowing you to determine if a resubscription needs to occur every 10, 20, 30,....60 minutes to keep this from occuring.

Let me add a resubscription subroutine to the script for you q10 minutes and see if this fixes, or at least improves the problem for you.

Osler

Download the attached and give it a go.

Hi,

I'm just trying to understad housebot and - coming from the sonos forums - really want to make the sonos integration work. Seems to be great. But it doesn't work: When I run the UniqueDeviceNames.vbs script I get the following error from windows scripting host:

esc:

Please ensure that antivirus software is not preventing the script from running and that you have firewall permissions set to allow network access.

Osler

Osler wrote:esc:

Please ensure that antivirus software is not preventing the script from running and that you have firewall permissions set to allow network access.

Osler

Hi Osler,

thanks for youf fast reply - I deactivated the FW, stopped AV, made sure the wsc's are properly registered... Then I killed nearly every process I could think of - no effort.

What's odd: I tried to install on the notebook too where first it gave me the same error, but a second attempt worked flawlessly.

The System is XP SP3, full admin rights.

Are you able to run any scripts on the machine? Try a simple script. Cut and paste the attached into notepad then save as Test.vbs and execute it:
Also, have you had any issues with Windows Updater?

Osler

scripting is activated...

Hmm... well I am not sure. Is the Microsoft upnp.dll installed and registered on your machine? This is what the .wsc uses to communicate with the ZonePlayer. It should be included with XP, but you never know.

Osler

Edit: Please see attached. The .wsc and .vbs files attached will throw some additional message boxes when run to help try to track down precisely where the error is occurring. Also, the required .dll is included. Place it in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 and then register is Start Menu -> Run -> regsvr32 upnp.dll

Osler

thanks for trying - unfortunately no success. All message boxes show but still the same error, but now in line 16...

I think my PC should be reinstalled - now housebot doesn't start anymore. (bind() failed with error 10048) - some port conflict. But using netstat I can't find anything. Nothting uses port 5015.

A pity, because housebot with your sonos integration seems to be exactly what I'm looking for.

Yes, a reinstall may be in order. I fear there may be some very bad problem with a few of the services on your machine (BITS and COM+). In last ditch effort, you could try reinstalling the windows scripting host, though I don't believe this is the problem.

I know my scripts work as I use them day in and day out to control sonos. If I can be of any further assistance, let me know.

Osler

See the first post for details and download of the latest files.

Osler

Osler,

I'm thinking of buying Sonos system to distribute audio. I have a couple of questions:

What are the hardware requirements (CPU, RAM, etc) for the HouseBot Server PC, and SWRemote PC, if I want to use Housebot to control Sonos System? I want to use ebox-4300-jsk as a HouseBot Server PC, and Cuwin as a SWRemote PC.

And another thing: I want to use WindowsXP Embedded with Enchanced Write Filter on HouseBot Server PC. It means that all data, that would be written to disk on HouseBot Server PC won't actually be written to HDD, but would be stored in RAM. So all changes will be lost after reset of the PC. Does HouseBot Server plugin need to constantly store any data, or it can be once configured, and work with EWF enabled?

Thanks for your great work!