Serial Port stops receiving.

[tclancey]

Hi. I have a running app that listens to many virtual com ports connected
to Ethernet to RS232 coverters. Connected to each multi-port converter is a
bar code scanner, (RS232).

The app runs without any problems at all to start with, but after a certain
amount of time the port stops receiving data. I don't get any errors from
any of the equipment or software, but no data gets back to the PC.

Has anyone suffered the same? Has anyone fixed the same?

Cheers,
Tull.

 

[The Frog]

Hi There,

I have seen this problem before with ethernet to RS-232 conversion
hardware. Lantronix was the brand that was used, if I remember
correctly. There was actually nothing wrong with the application
itself, or the hardware either. The issue was that on the network ICMP
packets had been blocked. Periodically the hardware would want to
check / re-establish its connection to the destination, and it did
this with a ping. With ICMP unable to function on the network the
device never re-connected, and the communication stopped. This was a
bugger to track down but in the end turned out ot be a very simple
thing. I dont know if this is the same problem you are facing, but it
might pay to have a quick look and see.

I hope this helps

Cheers

The Frog.

 

[tclancey]

Thanks for this Frog.

I found the problem in the end, as you state it was nothing to do with the
application at all. There were some odd settings in the NetCom virtual
drivers that appeard to be timing out. There were also some problems with
some Network management software from time to time checking the validity of
ports, which stalled the driver. We found some settings that basically
re-started the port if it was temporarily used by another process.

Thanks for getting back.
Cheers,
Tull.