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damutha
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| Posted: February 06 2007 at 09:37 | IP Logged
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Forgive me if any of this is foolish, for I know not what I do. Anyway, I recently got an extra XP box and stuck it in my basement to run PowerHome 24/7 (I will likely be adding other "always on" applications at some point, but this is it for now). Until the last couple of days, I have been able to remote desktop into it with no problems from either of my "upstairs" computers. However, the last couple of days this has become problematic, with today finding me unable to connect from either computer---I was getting some kind of error message telling me the IP address or computer name might be wrong, and then a note below it saying that there was not enough memory to execute the command. I just rebooted the basement computer, and I can now connect fine from both computers again.
SO, my question is this: does running PowerHome constantly build up a cache or set of temporary files that eventually overloads the computer? My uptime was about 21 days, if I recall correctly. Any other suggestions on what could have caused my problem (and possible fixes)?
Thanks.
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dhoward
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| Posted: February 06 2007 at 11:15 | IP Logged
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Damutha,
Leaving PowerHome running constantly should not be an issue. I used to have earlier versions of PowerHome running without problem for close to a year.
However, your question piqued my curiosity and I checked my current PowerHome machine. Ive been running PowerHome continuously on this machine for 64 days straight. I opened up the task manager and checked the processes. Pwrhome.exe was using 20424K (this is normal...PowerHome goes up and down around this number typically) and rteng6.exe was using 6860K (again, normal for the database server). However, SDM3.exe was using 211,660K. I would say this is abnormal and most probably a memory leak. I went ahead and disconnected the controllers in PowerHome (File|Controller Connected) and then manually killed the SDM process. I reconnected the Controllers in PowerHome and the SDM auto-launched and was using 11216K of memory...a much more reasonable number.
Sooo...to sum it up, it would appear that PowerHome and the database server are all OK but if you're using Insteon, the SDM appears to have a definate problem with running continuously (and no good way within PowerHome to have it automatically shutdown and restart to recover that memory). Incidently, Im still running the 278 version of SDM so would be curious what other users are seeing.
The only real possible fix I see (other than SmartHome fixing the SDM) would be to look at adding support for the new Insteon PLM module rather than the PLC. This would then allow for coding direct to serial and would not use any SmartHome created code including the SDM.
Dave.
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damutha
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| Posted: February 06 2007 at 15:15 | IP Logged
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Dave, thanks for looking into that. Indeed, I'm using Insteon. I'm using the 308 version of SDM. Sounds like I'll need to reboot periodically--not ideal, but not the end of the world.
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cmhardwick
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| Posted: February 06 2007 at 16:02 | IP Logged
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It's a good idea to reboot XP occasionally anyway. It's not designed, like server software to run 24/7 but it will. We leave ours on at work 24/7 and on some, i've noticed MAJOR network slowdowns etc on them after they've been on a few weeks with no reboot (for instance the distribution package run during the logon script which should take a few seconds would take 5 minutes or more). I just tell my clients to reboot about once a week instead of the logoff, helps keep things cleaned up 
that said, my uptime at home has probably gotten to a month or more with no issues. I also run IIS on this machine for a website and FTP funcionality.
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Cicero, Enjoying automation!
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raven77
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| Posted: February 06 2007 at 17:12 | IP Logged
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I am having the EXACT same problem! I recently purchased Powerhome and decided to install it on my spare laptop (running XP Pro). After running it over 24hrs I can no longer remote desktop to it and the internet connection on my main laptop also drops. I have tried everything I can think of to correct it, the only thing that keeps the network functioning is not running PowerHome. I fixed it by unpluggin the network cable from the PH laptop for now...
I will have to check what version of SDM I am running (I am also using Insteon).
Please let me know if you find anything else dumutha.
thanks,
Mike
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Viper
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| Posted: February 10 2007 at 23:13 | IP Logged
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Dave,
I'm running 308 and SDM is using about 72MB right now. I believe it has been running about a week now. I was initially having problems with PowerHome "hanging" or getting very "occupied" doing something. Since then I've been watching things very carefully. I can have Device Status up all the time, no problem. It also appears I can have Insteon Explorer up all the time without problems. I haven't had PowerHome Explorer up for extreame amounts of time, but it hasn't seemed to be a problem when I do run it. However, I believe that if I leave PowerHome Status up, that is when PowerHome gets "occupied" doing who knows what. I don't know if this is related, to Damutha's and Raven77's problems, but it might help.
Tom
Edited by Viper - February 10 2007 at 23:15
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ginigma
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| Posted: February 14 2007 at 22:28 | IP Logged
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I haven't had any issues. Running XP Pro but I use VNC.
Windows uptime is 40 days.
Powerhome uptime is 38 days, mem usage 8080K.
SDM3.exe (ver 278) mem usage 6264K.
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dhoward
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| Posted: February 15 2007 at 11:29 | IP Logged
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73 Days now of Windows uptime and PowerHome uptime. Checked my memory usage again and these are the current numbers:
pwrhome.exe 24544K
rteng6.exe 10516K
SDM3.exe 121412K
A Reinit brought the SDM3.exe back down to 11206K. Definately something wrong there.
Darn it...I was messing around opening up as many PowerHome Explorer windows as I could and finally caused a Critical Error on about the 20th window. Got to shutdown and restart PowerHome now (you should always do this if you get a Critical Error) which is going to reset my statistics  .
Anyways, instead of doing a periodic reboot, it appears that you can "reset" the SDM by reinitializing PowerHome. This can be done programatically using a ph_reinitialize function that can be set to run periodically using a timed event.
Dave.
Dave.
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TonyNo
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| Posted: February 15 2007 at 13:47 | IP Logged
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Cool work-around, Dave! 
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damutha
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| Posted: February 16 2007 at 09:07 | IP Logged
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I agree that it's a great workaround. Wanted to give some more data, however: I've only had it running since last reinitialization at around noon yesterday, and currently I'm showing pwrhome.exe at 83,692K and SDM3.exe at 86,712K. They are both steadily increasing. Could having status scan constantly running have something to do with this?
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damutha
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| Posted: February 17 2007 at 09:18 | IP Logged
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I think I've answered my own question---without status scan enabled, the memory is holding steady at a pretty low level. Is the status scan holding something in memory, and is there some option that can be enabled or disabled to stop that from happening?
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TonyNo
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| Posted: February 17 2007 at 11:14 | IP Logged
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Do you mean Insteon Status Scan? Mine is enabled. I also always have the System Status window up.
PH has been up for 11 days with PH using 24M. I fired up the Insteon Explorer and it jumped to 36M. Exiting the IE did not lower memory usage. Minimizing PH dropped it to 12.8M, and restoring it nudged it to 13.6M.
The SDM is at 23M.
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dhoward
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| Posted: February 19 2007 at 14:54 | IP Logged
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Damutha,
Status scan should not increase PowerHome memory usage. It definately seems to increase SDM usage (more traffic).
The only way that I can see it increasing memory usage with PowerHome would be if the Insteon Explorer window is left open. If Status Scan is enabled, alot more Insteon traffic is generated. This traffic is stored in the 3 Insteon Explorer status windows (Pending Operations, Completed Operations, and SDM Log). In this way, Status scan would be increasing PowerHome memory usage. However, if you close the Insteon Explorer and minimize PowerHome, this memory should all be returned.
All,
Ive been running SDM 235 for several days now. It appears to NOT have the memory leaking problem of later SDM versions. When initially launched, it started around 11 megs. Ive seen it bounce around, but it's usually around 11 megs and sometimes as low as 3 megs. At one time it was 86 meg, but bringing up the SDM window and minimizing brought it all the way back down to just under 3 megs. I havent encountered any problems with using the older version and will probably distribute this version with the next beta. I'll make available zip files of later versions for users who would rather run the latest/greatest.
Dave.
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Topic: Memory Tied Up?
