@Bruce, hopefully you stick around regardless. The community appreciates your input. We’d love to hear an update on this even, and especially if this solves the issue. It’s how things improve for everyone.
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I mean: an ATAPI drive over ATA, not AHCI.
Can that be determined by running commands (listdev .etc), or maybe by inspecting the syslog ?
A tidbit that might be relevant – a few years ago when we switched to the F2A55M mo-bos, Dane had to configure each machine he shipped to switch from AHCI to “legacy IDE” or some such (in the BIOS). Otherwise they would randomly fail to boot. Not sure what the status is as of now, I’ve asked if that is still the case, awaiting a response.
Yes, you’ll see something like that:
PCI-ATA: Controller in native mode: cmd 0xf0f0, ctrl 0xf0e2, irq 19
PCI-ATA: init channel…
PCI-ATA: channel index 0
PCI-ATA: bus master base 0xf0b0
PCI-ATA: init channel done
Well, that failed! I bought a 2 port PCI card, which I knew was a mistake! And now it sees the other port. No dofference from the USB problem. More bad advice like I have received since I bought this thing 5 months ago. Since I expected this to fail, I have ordered a single port card. It should be here on Monday. After that, I will be totally lost. Actually, after that, I will move on to a better automation system.
@ttcoder was TT’s swticher ever tested with more than one serial port in a system?
@Bruce to be fair you bought that 2 port serial card without consulting us on what might be a compatible part. That said serial ports in expansion cards should not get renumbered… it should always boot up with the same device name every time.
Yes, I am aware of that and felt it was a bad choice. That is why I bought a single port card 2 days later. It should be here on Monday. It switched just as it had done with the USB ports. It went from ss 4.4 #0 to ss 4.4 #1.
@Bruce It might well help if you double-click “Care Package” right at the time when you notice a “serial port change” (if I followed correctly) and notify me of it, so that I collect more info from the syslog about what happens at that time. EDIT: it could also help if you upload a screen shot of CC’s Settings window, Switcher tab, with maybe the “port” combo box expanded.
@cb88 For several years now we’ve been using usb-to-serial; even back in the BeOS days when we had machines with actual serial ports, I suspect they had only one such port. Dane would know for sure since he was the one handling the actual hardware.
@korli They have something very similar indeed:
KERN: PCI-ATA: Controller in native mode: cmd 0xf140, ctrl 0xf132, irq 19
KERN: PCI-ATA: init channel…
KERN: PCI-ATA: channel index 0
KERN: PCI-ATA: bus master base 0xf100
KERN: PCI-ATA: init channel done
If I understand the way the numbering of port works in Haiku, if the device disconnects than then reconnects, the number will increase by one.
What if there was an intermittent fault in the switcher, would it yield the same symptom?
If the same symptom is observed with the single serial port PCI card, then I would really take a look at the switcher it-self. The question, is there a way to diagnose this device?
I am not sure how to check the switcher. That has crossed my mind. It always sees ss 4.4, which is the switcher. The port number is what changes.
OK. I am running a game right now. It is off. I can do that tomorrow, if it fails again. Once it starts, it will fail on a daily basis. The first TuneTracker computer I had used a serial port. I used that machine for about 10 years.
 I have 3 of the S9 adapters. I can try them all.
If changing the component sitting between two devices does not change the outcome, then of the components it-self has an issue.
In theory, Tune Tracker should know how many systems with this motherboard, USB-Serial converter, and switcher combination are around.
Things like comparison configuration file for Tune Tracker, and configuration settings for the switcher to ensure that those of your system are as they are expected by Tune Tracker should have been done a long time ago.
The apparent randomness of the fault suggests an intermittent fault somewhere - and such fault is the most difficult kind to identify and resolve.
One not so obvious possibility - how clean is your power feeding the entire radio system? Electrical noise on the power grid can wreck the best systems…
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The SS 4x4 audio switcher manual says it’s a multidrop rs232.
In other words, perhaps a good power conditioner could clear this up, if trying the single port serial card fails to solve this problem.
Another issue could be power out of phase. Many home/commercial wiring setups can have the opposite side of the phase wired adjacent to each other. Grid power is typically transmitted to end users as 240v single phase (here in the US) and is divided into 120v by splitting the phase with the neutral in the main breaker box. This means roughly half of all circuits are 180° out of phase from the rest. This can often be the case even in outlets adjacent to each other, depending on how they are wired. This can cause undesirable consequences in hardware that is connected, especially if different connected devices are on opposite phases. If you’re plugging multiple devices into separate phases, it can cause similar issues to grid noise. Make sure everything is on the same phase. Professional audio, especially touring shows but stationary studios as well, have to consider this on a regular basis.
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Reading the switcher manual http://broadcasttools.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Manual_SS4x4.pdf
There are DIP switches that set it’s ID on the multidrop … note the COM port name in Haiku is different from the Switcher ID a completely separate thing independent of Haiku and TT software technically (other than TT should know which ID to send commands to). If the DIP switch is flakey it could cause somethink like if there were a weak solder joint etc… possibly if it had ever been hit as well.
Does it always change between the same ID’s? Such as 0 and 1? One bad solder joint is more likely than several and it would cause it to jump between two numbers sometimes. this would mean the TT software would try to send commands to switcher ID X and the switcher would be set as switcher ID Y due to the errant short or open circuit.