Forum

GMartin · Joined: Feb 5, 2010 Posts: 308

Jarek I have experienced a freeze multiple times, always under the same circumstances.
BIoEra 4.085
Q-Wiz amplifier.

If the Wiz is not connected or assigned the wrong serial port, Bioera freezes. I need to use the taks manager to close BioEra.

jarek · Joined: Oct 22, 2007 Posts: 1075

If the serial port is incorrectly configured then this is probably caused by the serial port driver which tries to send data and freezes when it can't.

I am not sure I can improve it, I do not have a way to detect whether a serial port is correct (or responsive) before trying to communicate with it. Well behaving serial ports should not cause this, but not all behave well (like those for bluetooth), that applies to any device not just QWiz.

I will try to find out if there is a way to set a timeout on the serial port driver, I just found there is an option which looks like it, but I can't tell yet if it actually is. I also can't reproduce it at this moment (but I think I have experienced this problem before).

GMartin · Joined: Feb 5, 2010 Posts: 308

I just switched serial ports a week ago. Switched back just now and everything is fine.

Seems to be an issue on my PC

jmNZ · Joined: Jun 13, 2019 Posts: 21

I have the same problem when the 'load design' window freezes.
A friend has suggested un-installing the whole BioEra programme and re-installing.
I presume this is feasible with just the dongle?

jarek · Joined: Oct 22, 2007 Posts: 1075

Yes, you can install and uninstall any time you want.

A complete freeze when loading design is unusual though. I have never seen it, but I did see sometimes the file dialog took time to show up. So be patient. This dialog is native to Windows, it is not BioEra built, so it means the delay is probably caused by some Windows OS issues, like misbehaving or very slow network drives.

jmNZ · Joined: Jun 13, 2019 Posts: 21

Ah well, have un-installed and re-installed BioEra but the same problem persists.
Seems to be limited to the design window, where any operation is frozen.
Several months now since I bought BioEra for ?325 and haven't got it running . . .

GMartin · Joined: Feb 5, 2010 Posts: 308

If you are using a PN Wiz amplifier you have to install the driver software twice to make it work.

I would suggest the next step being uninstalling again, disabling you anti-virus and turning off firewall.

I occasionally get a message after installation that the firewall has blocked some functions of the program.

GMartin · Joined: Feb 5, 2010 Posts: 308

If you are using a PN Wiz amplifier you have to install the driver software twice to make it work.

I would suggest the next step being uninstalling again, disabling you anti-virus and turning off firewall.

I occasionally get a message after installation that the firewall has blocked some functions of the program.

jmNZ · Joined: Jun 13, 2019 Posts: 21

For info:
An einsteinian friend has solved my BioEra 'freeze' problem. (Celebrated with a whisky!)
He found that BioEra .bpd files were dependent upon another ('HotSpot') program. Only when a green icon there was clicked did the program unfreeze.
On another topic,
in the dropdown list of elements in the design window, only the description is provided. so one can't look at a design and know its elements nor vice-versa.
Does anyone have a "picture-dictionary" showing the icons with their element names?

jarek · Joined: Oct 22, 2007 Posts: 1075

Good to hear you solved the problem with freezing.

You can find out the element class in its properties. Just open the properties dialog (right mouse click or space keystroke), move to the "Element" tab, and look at "Type" value text. That is the element class and you can find out more info about it the manual: http://bioera.net/manual.html

Most elements have the same icon (except only those most commonly used), so it would make no sense to try to match an icon to a element class.