Troubleshooting

FLASH file system was not mounted

If you receive this error after establishing a serial connection, its because the operating system detected an error in the flash file system on boot. The flash was not mounted to protect the file system from any further damage.

To resolve this issue we need to reformat the flash. You can follow the steps below to reformat the flash and reload the unit. If you need to save any files out of flash we can temporarily mount it. If you don’t then you can skip to step 3.

1. jrflash -z

This will force the operating system to mount the flash temporarily so that you can recover any needed files. The macro and devices files should also be in RAM at the root of the filesystem.

2. FTP

You can use FTP to recover any files from the flash file system. Applications will be loaded using the update packages from the website. Files may or may not be available depending on where the corruption is in the filesystem structure.

3. jrflash -f

This will reformat the flash filesystem. Everything will be lost.

4. Run the 1.8 All In One

This will reload all of the files that are loaded when we ship the unit.

5. Run any additional update projects to get the applications running that you depend on.

6. FTP

Use FTP to restore any files that you saved in step 2.

The procedure above will get the unit running again. If you need any additional help or questions, just let us know!

By | On December 30, 2019 3:10 pm | No Comments |

Insufficient heap

Sometimes an application wont run on a JNIOR Series 3 unit.  This issue may be due to “insufficient heap“.

This error message means that there was not enough contiguous space in “heap” or the SRAM memory for the application.  The application must find contiguous memory of at least the file size of the application.  Once the application finds that space it will stay in that same space until the application is updated.  The memory can become fragmented over time since the SRAM is used for application executables, application memory and the root file system.

Most likely this error condition will occur after updating to a new version of an application.  If the new application is larger than the old application it cannot occupy the same contiguous block in memory.  It must find a new contiguous block.  That space may not be available depending on the fragmentation of the memory. Even if there is a contiguous block of memory large enough when the file is updated, it still might give you an “insufficient heap” error. This might happen because until its run as an executable, the file doesn’t know it needs to be stored as contiguous space and fragment its memory anyways, which would then cause the error.

The fragmentation is caused by file blocks that have become scattered throughout memory over time.  To clear up the fragmentation we could delete a file at a time until a contiguous block has become available.  This would be a very slow approach.  You would not know which file gives you the best chance of finding a contiguous block.  Since the root of the file system contains mostly log files we can just clear the heap on a reboot.  In order to that we execute the reboot -a command.

What about my cinema devices and macros files?

The cinema files are automatically backed up to flash/cinema_backup.  This location is not affected by the reboot -a.  The cinema files will be restored next time cinema runs.

By | On December 15, 2019 12:56 pm | No Comments |

Dolby IMS2000 -> JNIOR Connection Issue

If you experience issues with your Dolby IMS2000 Cinema Server connecting to or executing commands on the JNIOR you may need to follow one of the procedures below. There are two issues that I have seen.

Dolby has resolved the issue for the IMS3000.

A Dolby may not even try to connect to a JNIOR when it should.

Make sure you have rebooted the Dolby IMS after adding the JNIOR as a device.

To determine if this is the issue:

  1. Go to the DCP for the JNIOR
  2. Click on the Console tab
  3. Click ‘Start Session’
  4. Log in when prompted
  5. enter the netstat command
  6. There should be a connection to 9200 with the Dolby Server IP Address for the Remote IP

The Dolby is connected but nothing happens on the JNIOR when the Dolby sends the command.

When Dolby tries to connect to the JNIOR it may not be able to log in to the JNIOR due to a bad password. The highlighted bytes below are corrupted.

The bytes should represent the password like this…

The previous images are screenshots for the WireShark application when analyzing a network capture. This capture is included in a JNIOR Support Tool Snapshot. I have been told by Dolby that this is likely due to the browser auto-fill.

To determine if this is the issue you should check the protocol.log on the JNIOR

To do that:

  1. Go to the DCP for the JNIOR
  2. Click on the Console tab
  3. Click ‘Start Session’
  4. Log in when prompted
  5. Enter the cat protocol.log command

If you see the failed login then do the following:

  1. Go to the JNIOR Device Configuration on the Dolby IMS
  2. Remove the JNIOR device
  3. Reboot the Dolby IMS
  4. Add the JNIOR as a device but DO NOT enter the password
  5. Reboot the Dolby IMS

You can now re-test the JNIOR connection to see if this is resolved.

If it is not resolved then make sure your browser is not using auto-fill for the site. The procedure differs per browser. Follow one of the links below for your browser.

If it is not resolved you can try to analyze the network capture or contact INTEG for additional support.

I hope this article helped you out. Please contact us to let us know!

By | On December 5, 2019 12:53 pm | No Comments |

Troubleshoot: PHP error

There is a chance you will see the following PHP error. For this to be seen you must have a Series 4 JNIOR that had JANOS version 1.6 or older and you just updated to a new JANOS version

Why did this happen?

The older JNIORs had a different web page than we have now. The main web page used to be served out of the flash/www folder. Now the DCP, the newer web page, is served out of the flash/www.zip file. If the flash/www/index.php file is still found then the web server will process it and serve it instead of the index.php in the www.zip file.

How do we fix it?

To fix this we need to remove the old flash/www/index.php file. This will allow JANOS to look in the flash/www.zip file. This should be a step in the All-In-One update project. You can do it manually with a Telnet connection like this…

By | On November 21, 2019 11:29 am | No Comments |

Troubleshoot: Deleting a filename on the JNIOR with invalid characters

The JNIOR Support Tool will allow foreign characters in the filenames for macro and device files. Here is a quick video showing how to delete them.

1. Create a console session.
2. login
3. type rm mac
4. Then press tab

The JNIOR will fill in the name of the macro file.  In your case, press tab until you get the file with the offending name.

5. Then use the left arrow key to go back and insert a quote at the beginning of the file name

6. Press enter

You can then go back to the folders tab to see that the file is gone.

Repeat the same steps for the “macro file not found.log” file.

By | On November 7, 2019 12:29 pm | No Comments |

JNIOR Series 3 Update Fails

A series 3 JNIOR has a limited amount of flash memory. The update can fail because the the flash is close to being full. There are many files that are loaded on the JNIOR that are not being used.

To get this unit to succeed we will remove files from the flash filesystem. Since the JAVA Applets can no longer be loaded in a browser. This article, https://www.theverge.com/2016/1/28/10858250/oracle-java-plugin-deprecation-jdk-9, explains why browsers stopped supporting the JAVA Applet technology.

Since the Applets can no longer be loaded in a browser there is no reason to keep them in flash so that the web server has access to them. You can safely remove the flash/www contents. You can use the latest Series 3 All-In-One to accomplish this.

Once files have been removed, reboot the JNIOR. Once the JNIOR has booted, try the update project again. If the flash filesystem space was the issue then the update should now work!

By | On October 31, 2019 10:24 am | No Comments |

Troubleshoot: MODBUS client is not connecting

MODBUS client is not able to connect to the JNIOR

The MODBUS server running on the JNIOR is a separate application from the Operating System. It does not run by default when the JNIOR is shipped. It is installed by default. It must be activated by the end user before the the MODBUS connection can be successful.

To activate it go to the DCP, click on the Configuration tab. Half way down the left side click on Applications. You will see a list of applications that are loaded on the JNIOR. Check the box next to Modbus Server. This will tell the JNIOR to run the application when the JNIOR boots up. You will need to reboot the JNIOR at this point to get the MODBUS Server to start.

To verify that the MODBUS server is running we can list the listening network sockets using the netstat command.

Lastly, you can change a few configuration parameters for the MODBUS server under the registry tab.

Port 502 is the default MODBUS port. Most likely this will NOT need to be changed. The Timeout setting is the number of milliseconds to wait for a MODBUS client to poll the server. If a request is not made within this amount of time then the JNIOR will close the connection. If any configuration needs to be changed it will probably be the Login setting. Not very many MODBUS clients implement a login. If they dont log in then you will see the following in the Modbus Server log…

Setting the Login key to false will allow this device to connect successfully.

By | On August 20, 2019 1:50 pm | No Comments |

Troubleshoot: The page cannot be found

The problem: You get the following screen when trying to go to the DCP or any web page on the JNIOR.

In this image we tried to go to the IP Address of the JNIOR.  This should present us with the DCP web page.  In this case we are presented with the “Page not found” response page.

This means that the file cannot be found in the filesystem for this page resource.

To troubleshoot this we need to look at the filesystem.  Since the DCP is not available we need to use FTP or a telnet session.

Using FTP

Open Windows Explorer. In the address bar type ftp://IP ADDRESS. You might see the message that Windows Explorer cannot access your folder.

Most likely this is because you need to provide credentials. To do that you need to right click in the white-space in the window and select Login As…

Once you log in navigate to the flash directory.

If the the DCP or default web page is missing then all of the following must be met:

  • www.zip is missing
  • public.zip is missing
  • www/ directory is missing or there is not an index.php file in the www/ directory
  • public/ directory is missing or there is not an index.php file in the public/ directory

Using Telnet

We can use Telnet to look at the filesystem as well. To do this, open your favorite Telnet application. Make a connection to the JNIOR. Log in. You will then use either the dir command or the ls command. Both commands are the same and will list the directory contents.

Use the command of your choice, whichever command is easier to remember, and add “flash” as a parameter. This wil cause the command to list the contents of the flash directory. If the the DCP or default web page is missing then all of the following must be met:

  • www.zip is missing
  • public.zip is missing
  • www/ directory is missing or there is not an index.php file in the www/ directory
  • public/ directory is missing or there is not an index.php file in the public/ directory
By | On August 20, 2019 9:19 am | No Comments |

Troubleshoot: The dangers of IpConfig/Allow

The IpConfig/Allow registry key can be powerful to help secure your JNIOR.  It can successfully thwart unauthorized access and prevent DOS attacks.

The danger comes in when the registry key is mis-configured. It can be a typo or not fully configured, something simple, but when this happens it can prevent legitimate attempts to access the unit.

If this happens a USB-to-Serial cable is needed to access the unit via the RS-232 port. Make sure to use the correct serial settings of 115200, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit and no parity. Once connected you can issue the reg command.

Above you can see that the IpConfig/Allow key is set for 10.0.0.0/24. This states that the first 24 bits of the address must match for a network connection to be accepted. If, for some reason, this was mistyped then legitimate connections would not be allowed. This would basically render the network port useless. The user might not have noticed what the error was.

Using the Serial to USB cable is the only way to access the unit. The key can then either be fixed or removed to regain access over the network.

By | On August 13, 2019 2:25 pm | No Comments |

Troubleshoot: Finding the JNIOR IP Address

Sometimes you need to find out what the IP Address of the JNIOR is that is sitting on your network.  Sometimes someone else set it up and are no longer working with you or maybe you programmed it but years have passed and you haven’t needed to access the JNIOR because it is performing its job and no attention has been needed.

There are a couple of different ways to find out the IP Address.

By far the easiest way to find the JNIOR IP Address is the use the JNIOR Support Tool.  The JNIOR Support Tool only works on Windows systems.  http://jnior.com/category/news/support-tool/ will have links to the latest, as well as previous, versions of the JNIOR Support Tool.  Once loaded and started you will be presented with the Beacon tab.  The Beacon tab will show all the JNIORs that are present on your LOCAL network that have reported.  When the Support Tool launches a broadcast is sent out asking for all the JNIORs to report their information.  Some network configurations can either help or hinder this operation.  In most cases it works as intended.  Here is a picture of the Beacon screen.  If you have more than one JNIOR shown you can use the Serial Number of the JNIOR to identify which row corresponds to your unit or you can use the identify feature to pulsate the amber LED next to the power indicator.  To perform that function you can right click on a row and select either Query | Identify or Configure | Identify from the menu.

The other way to determine the IP Address of a unit is to directly connect a serial cable to the RS-232 port.  Computers do not come with serial ports anymore so a USB to Serial adapter will be needed.  You can find them at Amazon.  Once the cable is connected, select your favorite terminal application or use the Command Line application included with the Support Tool.  The serial settings must be 115200, 8, 1, none for the baud rate, data bits, stop bits and parity respectively.  Now that the connection is set up you can press enter and the login prompt will be presented.  The default credentials are username: jnior and password : jnior.  You can now enter ipconfig to see the current network setup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly, for those who know Morse code, you can unplug the network cable and the status LED will flash Morse code representing the value of the last octet.  You must know the first 3 octets of your network.

    0 --- --- --- --- ---
    1 - --- --- --- ---
    2 - - --- --- ---
    3 - - - --- ---
    4 - - - - ---
    5 - - - - -
    6 --- - - - -
    7 --- --- - - -
    8 --- --- --- - -
    9 --- --- --- --- -
By | On June 14, 2019 8:41 am | No Comments |

Troubleshoot: Taking a Snapshot

Many times the best way to send diagnostic information to INTEG is to send us a Snapshot. A Snapshot is a zip file containing all of the files from the JNIOR.

When a Snapshot is taken the Support Tool will make a telnet connection, run a few diagnostic commands and then download all of the files. The diagnostic commands that are executed will be logged to the snapshot.log file.

There are two commands that will generate files that are not normally in the file system.

The first in the iolog command. The iolog command will generate a jniorio.log file. This file shows the past 512 digital input transitions as well as the past 512 relay output transitions. Up to 16 relay outputs will be shown in the log. The relays on the expansion modules will be logged as well.

The second command is the netstat -c command. This command generates a network capture file in the temp directory. The network capture file can be loaded in a desktop application called wireshark. This file will grow up to 512Kb. The duration of time covered by the file depends on the amount of traffic that the JNIOR handles. Optionally filters can be applied to the capture buffer to limit the types of traffic that are logged.

To take a snapshot follow these steps:

  1. Open the Support Tool. Go to the Snapshot tab.
  1. Click on ‘Take Snapshot’.
  1. Answer ‘Yes’ to the Snapshot confirmation dialog
  1. Select the JNIOR you want to take a Snapshot from and click ‘Ok’.
  1. Once your snapshot is compete find it on the left. It should be made visible once it is complete. Right click on the Snapshot file and select ‘Show in folder’. You could also expand the zip archive in the tree view or double click it to open in your loaded Archive application.

By | On May 8, 2019 12:21 pm | No Comments |