[Fourlanders] 8/15-16 computer status update

[Bob Lear]

After the Monday afternoon update, Jim came up and we worked on some 
other things, but I kept doing testing  periodically.  Made bogus Q's 
and entered them, passing skeds, sending gab with ALT-G, calling with 
F2, calling live, changing ops, etc.  We left the computers and stations 
on overnight Monday night.  Stayed out in the shack until after 
midnight.  NOT every station was working properly

On Tuesday morning, the computers and stations had been left on 
overnight.  Started the testing rounds about 10:30 AM
6m:  computer frozen in WL, no C-A-D, had to turn off to recover. 
shutdown, restart, run WL.
2m:  running OK but noticed that none of the computers were actually 
talking on the network even though showing in 'networked frequencies' 
box.  on 2m, F2 working, live PTT works but no live audio, CW OK
222: ok, F2, live PTT+audio, CW
432:  radio was CAT to computer but not live on network.  (Remember, I 
did not have it set up to TX or do audio.)

Reboot WL on all 5 computers.  6m came up and showed 'WL stopped 
working'  message and 'do you want to send info' message.  Now used 
C-A-D to kill these messges, shut down and restart computer and run WL.
The other 4 computers, normal exit WL, shut down computer.  restart, run WL

On all 5 computers, I loaded the file I had been using, 'test', did a 
save as 'test2, save and exit and restarted WL.
Interesting that the test2 file shows up in the WL\contests\ directory 
but does NOT show up when starting WL as one of the available recent 
files.  ??  ( After another reboot or so, it did finally show up in the 
recents list )

Restarted all the computers:  Turn on, run WL, choose TEST2 file (if 
possible, if not, I browsed and chose it), Link to Network Server and 
then start testing all for proper operation.
6m:  Now CAT, F2, live PTT+audio, CW, all working normal  (6m did NOT 
have the test2 file in recents)
2m:  same normal   (2m and others all had test2 file in recents)
222: same normal
432:  CAT ok

Continued the rest of the day (till 5PM) with logging Q's, calling with 
F2, calling live, calling CW, changing frequencies, sending and faking 
skeds, testing GAB, changing operators.  Jim got on every computer, 
'change operator', recorded his message and did the same activity.  We 
alternated.  Did this from before noon until 5PM when we quit for the 
day, shut down the computers and stations as the WX looked like we may 
have a T-storm.  (didn't happen but radar looked ominous)  I went to 
local club meeting, Jim went home.

So half a day with Normal, proper WL operation and NO glitches. Finally 
getting somewhere.  Wish we knew what we really did to make this happen 
finally.

Wednesday morning.  Came out at 10:30, started all computers and 
stations.  Go around testing like yesterday, just me, but changing ops 
and calling CQ with other op F2.  Now 6:30 PM and still continuing with 
proper operation.  Network stays connected properly, each station still 
operating normally with calling, recordings, change operator, frequency 
display and networking.

The only thing I'm noting now that is different than we've been used to 
is a noticeable delay if you hit F2 on a station that has not had any 
activity for a while, I'm guessing maybe 30 minutes.  Had never seen 
this before.  Next time F2 is normal.  Same on other stations, but I did 
do something in WL, like a 'save file', etc. before I tried F2 once and 
F2 was immediate.  This would not normally be a problem, but with all my 
recent experiences, when it hesitated, I managed to get off several cuss 
words before I found it did start working.  I have a pretty short fuse 
right now.

Going to shut them all down for the night (WX) and will probably turn on 
and test some again tomorrow but am feeling better about the new 
computers now and not thinking so much about cancelling the contest and 
throwing them all out in the cow pasture!

Till the next update......    Bob