Compaq R1500 UPS Serial Cable

[Peter Jam]

Pellie,

Nothing in Event Viewer at all.  I stopped and restarted the service, which was running.  And checked again, no errors.

[Pellie]

pjamme,

...changed the bitrate of the serial connection, I assume? 

I'm afraid I'm running a little short on ideas here, though. Unfortunately, I don't have an installation of the software here to test it, but maybe you can run diagnostics, or check the 'agent' has an 'verbose output' generating syntax? If this is a production environment, this may not be advisable, but I would still go for booting the UPS entirely from a disconnected state without, and the afterwards with the serial add-in card (the 'option slot card at the back of the device'). If a new card is detected it seems logical that the device would revert to defaults in regard to its settings (bitrate, whether the port is enabled, etc) - the idea here is to trick the UPS into believing you've installed a new add-in card. But it's a long shot.

Do you have any *nix-ish systems with a spare serial port in range of the unit... ?

[Peter Jam]

Pellie,

Not to worry, I ran out of ideas months ago. Still kicking myself for not purchasing APC UPS.

Changing port to 2400 only slowed down the search for a device.

I cannot determine if the Agent has verbose output because I cannot determine where the agent is or what it is.  Guess I had better review the documentation again, see if i missed something the first three times I read it.

I don't have an option addin card for this, just the normal serial port.  I'll investigate partsurfer to see if one is available for the DL3604p.

I have tried the HP Power Manager on my 2 DL3604p's (2003 Std 32-Bit) and cannot put it on the third one, our ERP server.  The third one on the UPS is a Windows 2008 x64 anyway.

If nix-ish refers to Linux type servers, no we have eliminated all Linux and Netware servers.  Only 2003 & 2008 now.  :(

[Pellie]

Hi,

the agent is presumably a process running in the background. If I understood correctly, the software adds a Windows service. If this is the case, go to Service Management (services.msc) and check the executable files name in the properties of the service. Locate that file and open a CMD window in that directory, then try running it with a '/?' or '-help/--help' syntax - it may provide a list of possible syntaxes. Maybe something there will let you diagnose the problem more accurately.

"I don't have an option addin card for this, just the normal serial port."

Am I very much mistaken, or isn't the 'normal serial port' on an add-in card which you can screw out?

[Peter Jam]

"

Am I very much mistaken, or isn't the 'normal serial port' on an add-in card which you can screw out?"  No the back is all one piece two nics, mouse, keyboard, serial, vga, etc.

DevManBE seems to be the agent.

C:\Program Files\HP\Power Manager>devmanbe.exe /?
Options: -p Dir   Root Directory
         -t Type  Trace Type
                  All
                  Info
                  Warn
                  Error
                  Language
                                  Comm
                                  Serial
                                  IP
                                  USB
         -o file  Trace File Name (defaults to stdout)
         daemon   Run as a daemon.
         install  Install as a service.
         remove   Remove as a service.
         start    Start service.
         stop     Stop service.
         pause    Pause service.
         resume   Resume service.

This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.
Please contact the application's support team for more information.

C:\Program Files\HP\Power Manager>

[Pellie]

Well, I would try running 'DevManBE' while the service is stopped with the '-t All' syntax - maybe you also need to add a syntax to indicate you want it to use the serial port - I can't quite tell from the output you posted.

""Am I very much mistaken, or isn't the 'normal serial port' on an add-in card which you can screw out?"  No the back is all one piece two nics, mouse, keyboard, serial, vga, etc."

I meant on the back of the UPS - I think we may have 'had our wires crossed' for a few posts, there. The 'add-in' card on the back of the UPS with the serial port is detachable by unscrewing the two Philips screws to the left and right of the 'faceplate'.

Could you post the output of the DevManBE file with the corresponding syntax? If you run it from its own directory (C:\Program Files\HP\Power Manager\) you probably don't need to specify a 'Root Directory', but again, I could be mistaken.

Let me know what the outcome is - I'm pretty sure we can crack this one!

[Peter Jam]

Ah yes, my bad.  Of course the UPS has an addon card.

Attached is the output from devmanbe.exe -t all.

There may have been more but it seemed like it would run forever so I stopped it after a few minutes.

[Pellie]

Update: I just installed the latest version of the HP Power Manager on a Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x86 machine here and hooked it up to the UPS. Initially, I had the same problem as you - so I followed some of my own advice (literally) and ran the DevManBE application with full output - this started attempting to communicate with the UPS using all kinds of non applicable devices (as it does in your log), and I left the process running. Suddenly (a few minutes later) a green tick appeared in the Power Manager icon in the systray, and the web interface worked perfectly. When I exited the DevManBE application, the connection dropped. I started the service via the services management console, but to no avail. I had to select 'Configure' from the right-click menu on the Power Manager icon, then I selected a TCP port for the webservice and let the software search for the UPS again - it found it, and now everything works fine.The same search for the device failed previously....

Honestly, the only way I can explain this is that running the DevManBE application as a Local Administrator allows it to change some value or forces it to generate a specific configuration. I know this is a strange procedure, but maybe you could try it? At least it doesn't entail downing the servers ;-)

[Pellie]

pjamme,

could you maybe send me the entire output of the DevManBE application after it's run for a few  (5+ minutes)? You can specify a logfile with the '-o' syntax, so you don't need to copy everything from the command line. Please send it to hp[at]pelnet[dot]eu.

I'll take a look and compare it with my output to check for discrepancies.

[Peter Jam]

Pellie,

Sent file this morning.  I noticed in HP Power Mgmt User Guide that HPPM uses Flash, so I  installed this morning.  See Doc quote below:

UPS Summary Menu Option

NOTE:

displays differently if you are browsing to the Management Server from

an HP-UX client browser. Currently there is not a HP-UX flash player

available. If you are browsing from a Windows or Linux client browser,

all pages appear with full flash support.

Just had a thought, should I try using a USB cable to connect?