Appendix C - Troubleshooting

rcServer should operate fairly trouble-free, but there are some areas where problems could occur. Typically, these problems are related to initial setup of rcServer. In general, problems encountered will fall into three areas - 1) serial communication with the DCS or Maestro unit; 2) TCP/IP communications problems; and 3) bugs in rcServer and/or application errors related to running rcServer on a particular PC.

Serial Communications Problems

By far the largest number of difficulties fall into this area. rcServer's terminal component (on the main program display) shows serial data communications. If the host audio delivery unit is playing a cart, for instance, and you're seeing data, the communications link is working - if not, then you need to investigate why.

Serial Trouble Shooting Steps

1.	Check to be sure that you have a working cable connected between the rcServer machine and the DCS or Maestro unit. This cable must be configured as a "null-modem" cable. See the section on serial interface for details on wiring pin-outs for the serial cable.

Ensure that you have selected a valid, working serial port on the PC on which rcServer is running. There should be no other devices using the same port. A common example would be an internal modem using the same port number as a serial port that appears on the exterior of the PC, but is not enabled. You may also have inadvertently chosen the modem port instead of the available serial port on two port machines. Use the Select COM Port button in the rcServer configuration display to select a port. This dialog interrogates the PC and returns only valid ports.

3.	Ensure that the serial port you've selected on the DCS or Maestro unit is a valid, working port.

4.	Check the DCS or Maestro machine configuration to be sure you've set up the machine properly for serial communications. See the section on Setting Up DCS or Setting Up Maestro 3 for more information, or consult your system manual.

5.	If you have performed all of the above steps and communications are still not happening, it's time to experiment. Perform these steps one at a time, then test, then the next, etc., to isolate the problem.

i.	Try changing which serial port is used, if possible, on the PC that's running rcServer.

ii.	Try changing which serial port is used on the DCS machine.

iii.	Try to locate a known-to-be working serial cable configured as a null modem cable and substitute it for the cable you have been using.

TCP/IP Communications Problems

Most often, TCP/IP communications problems will occur if you don't have the host and client applications using the same ports, TCP/IP is not installed on either the rcServer machine or the client application machine, or the port(s) selected for rcServer are already in use by another application.

Selected ports must be the same on both rcServer and client application. You must use the same port number for both ends of the TCP/IP communication.

For example, if rcServer's file transfer port is 6000, then all client applications must be configured for port 6000 or communications will fail. The same applies to the text & command service. Be careful not to reverse port numbers - i.e. inadvertently assigning the file transfer port to the text and command port or vice versa.

TCP/IP is not installed or wrong version

TCP/IP networking must be installed on both the rcServer machine and the client application machines. Further, the TCP/IP networking version number should be version 2 or above. Consult your operating system documentation for assistance in assuring that you have TCP/IP installed correctly and working.

A selected TCP/IP port is already in use

If you configure rcServer (or a client application) to use a port that is already in use by another application, communications will fail. rcServer provides a fairly wide range of port numbers to choose from - you may use port numbers 5300 through 6999.

The port numbers for the text & command service (Listen Port) and file transfer service must be different.

Application Bugs or Errors

Bugs and errors generally fall into one of two categories - a bug, which is the application not doing something as you might have predicted it would, or; an error, which is the failure of the application to run or perform a specific task altogether.

If you find a bug, report it. Every effort is made to ensure rcServer performs as expected, but there may be circumstances that were not predicted in the development of the software.

If you encounter an error, you will get an error message indicating a severe failure and rcServer may terminate. Provisions are made to "catch" such errors and log the error information to a file in the rcServer application directory named rcServerException.Log. Again, report any application errors you encounter. You may be asked to send the appropriate log file to customer support personnel for analysis.

Running rcServer in Debug Mode

You can have rcServer run in Debug Mode by issuing a command-line switch at program startup. Modify your rcServer shortcut to add "/debug" to the command line. rcServer will track additional information and add a menu item (Help | Show Debug Window). You can view this additional information in the debug window dialog and/or save the debug file by using a pop-up menu item in the dialog. When you select the Show Debug Window menu item, a dialog similar to the sample dialog below is displayed.

To save the contents of the Debug Window, [Right-Click] in the list area and select the Save Contents to File menu option. You'll be prompted for a file name.

See Appendix D - Command-Line Switches for a list of all available command-line switches.