SKJM Forum
Support => iCam Support => Topic started by: kylecordes on June 01, 2012, 05:48:42 PM
-
icamsource will run for minutes or hours but then crashes (and icon disappears). This problem has gotten worse since I added ipcam to an iPhone and iPad. Both are usually off but I will view other cameras. But then icamsource eventually crashes. Any advice? All software is latest version including mac lion.
-
Did you have only one camera installed before adding the IP camera sources? If so, it could be a port forwarding issue. Do you have auto config router enabled in icamsource? And do you also have uPNP enabled on your router? If so, do you a get a uPNP success message? If not, you might try setting up manual port forwarding.
I think the Mac saves crash logs, as well. So if it's not a port forwarding issue, you should send the crash logs to the SKJM guys.
-
i use two other Trendnet wireless ip cameras. i do not use auto config as my router does not allow. i do have manual port forwarding set up and working ok. it all works. it just won't stay working. icamsource will shut itself down. i can still see the cameras using a web browser.
-
Did you increase the number of ports available in icamsource for the new cameras? I think each camera needs 6 or 7 udp ports available. So 4 cameras = at least 28 ports to be safe. And of course you'd have to adjust your router's firewall rule accordingly, as well. Just making sure you remembered both. If everything is good as far as that goes, send the crash logs to the SKJM guys. The following link should help you find the crash logs.
http://skjm.com/forum/index.php?topic=3948.msg13165#msg13165
-
If the iCamSource is crashing periodically and you have a number of IP cameras connected to it then it is likely a frame rate / high CPU issue. What frame rate do you have your two TrendNET cameras configured to? I would suggest configuring those cameras to output 2-5 fps to see if the stability of the iCamSource improves.
-
I have 101 ports open in icamsource and forwarding same in router. My Trendnet cameras are set at 2 fps. I have decreased Trendnet video quality from "highest" to "normal" to see if that helps.
-
the latest crash log that I have is from May 21. Perhaps I'm experiencing some other shutdown of icamsource??? Not a "crash"? I'm having to restart the app a couple times a day at least.
-
the latest crash log that I have is from May 21. Perhaps I'm experiencing some other shutdown of icamsource??? Not a "crash"? I'm having to restart the app a couple times a day at least.
If the application is shutting down unexpectedly then that should (in theory) create a crash log I would think. When you click the Start button on the iCamSource what is the % CPU usage in the Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor for the iCamSource process?
-
on the Activity Monitor, when I re-start icamsource, it shows as the icamsource process using 6-7% CPU, 15 threads, 13MB of real memory.
-
That CPU usage is definitely within the acceptable range.
If there are no crash logs being generated then it is odd if it is closing unexpectedly. Does anyone else have access to the computer and may be closing the program?
You could look in the Library / Preferences folder in your home folder and delete the com.skjm.icamsource.plist file to reset the iCamSource settings and re-entering your camera info in case your preferences have gotten into a bad state.
If you are using Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) then your Library folder may be hidden. Here are some ways to find it: http://osxdaily.com/2011/07/22/access-user-library-folder-in-os-x-lion/
-
Nobody else has access to close icamsource. I deleted the plist file and re-entered camera info. The program worked fine for 24 hours with just my two Trendnet ipcams. When I re-added my iPhone and iPad that have the ipcam app, then icamsource closed after a few hours. Note that the iPhone and iPad were not actually running ipcam at the time. I am now doing an experiment where I have turned on ipcam on both devices and restarted icamsource to see if it perhaps doesn't close itself when ipcam is running on the devices. Otherwise, I will just delete the ipcam devices and stay with the two Trendnet cameras as it is too much of a pain to keep restarting icamsource multiple times per day. I would like to use ipcam on my other devices on an adhoc basis, but perhaps I will be able to someday if/when this is sorted out.
-
I've encountered issues (in the past) where icamsource would crash if it was trying to reach a source but couldn't find it (like when it's looking for your ipCam sources, but they are turned off/not running ipCam). I bet it'll work perfectly with ipCam enabled on both of the source devices.
-
...and therein lies the problem. I want to be able to use the ipcam devices occaisionally, but when not in use, icam will shut down. The only current solution is to delete them from icamsource and then re-add them when I want to use them, but that is burdensome for my purposes. Anyway, thanks for your comments.
-
Did you test it to see if i was correct? If that is the issue, maybe they can tweak the program code in the future to allow connection failures and/or code a built-in feature that will automatically enable/disable IPcam.
-
I did test your theory to some degree, but not long enough to know for sure. I had both my ipad and iphone running ipcam, and icamsource kept running for that time, but after a couple hours, my iphone shut down due to low battery as I didn't have it plugged in. Just for fun, I might re-add my ipad to icamsource and leave it on ipcam and plugged in to see if icamsource stays up for a longer period of time. In the mean time, I deleted both device sources from icamsource and it has been running fine with just the two Trendnet cameras.
-
icamsource has now been running for 24 hours straight, with no shutdown, since I've left the ipcam app running on the iPad the whole time. There seems to be an issue with icamsource that causes it to close when it can't find an ipcam stream for some length of time.
-
The iCamSource that I run at home has 4 IP cameras in it, and usually one of those cameras isn't plugged in. I am not experiencing the same crashing issue that you are, however.
What URLs are you using in the iCamSource for ipCam? Do you have the JPEG or MJPEG radio button selected for them?
If you are still not finding any crash logs, have you tried opening the Console application (in Applications / Utilities) and searched for iCamSource to see if there are any messages about it closing or terminating unexpectedly?
-
the radio button selected is MJPEG. The URL's are:
http://192.168.1.90:1477/video.mjpg (3rd gen iPad)
http://192.168.1.70:1478/video.mjpg (an iPhone 4)
I will re-add them to icamsource and check for messages in the Console. I will report back to let you know what I find. I am not getting crash logs.
-
The message that shows up on the Console is:
6/13/12 3:21:28.089 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501: ([0x0-0x80080].com.skjm.icamsource[892]) Exited abnormally: Broken pipe: 13
-
Fyi, the problem continues, and the console message is always the same, except the numbers within the brackets vary each time.
-
We are trying to replicate the issue on a number of different test systems. Once we are able to do so we should then be able to come up with a fix to the problem.
-
I appreciate the update. Thanks.
-
Still having no luck replicating the crashing issue, unfortunately.
Which Mac are you running the iCamSource on? If you choose the Apple menu (in the top-left corner of the screen) and choose About This Mac and then click the More Info button, how is your Mac described? (Examples are "Mac Pro Mid 2010", "MacBook Air 13-inch, Mid 2012", etc.)
-
iMac 27-inch, Mid 2011
software: Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 (11E53)
Let me know if any other info might be helpful. And thanks for keeping me informed.
-
Ok, I was able to replicate the issue on a re-purposed Mac mini yesterday and I believe I have fixed the issue. Here is a test version (2.4.8.1 BETA) for you to try out to see if it fixes things for you as well: http://skjm.com/icam/iCamSource2.4.8.1.dmg
Thank you for your patience, and I look forward to hearing how it goes. :)
-
ok, I am now running this version. I'll report back in a couple of days. Hopefully not sooner! ;D
-
Ta-da! Icamsource has been running trouble-free for me for 48 hours now. I think you did it! Thanks so much!
-
Excellent news! :)
-
this version of icamsource crashed yesterday evening. I will email crash log. Thanks!
-
From the log this seems like a different type of crash than before ... Do you know if you were connecting to the iCamSource with iCam when it crashed? Or if it just crashed while running? I am guessing that this was also when the ipCam devices were not running?
-
I think it just crashed while running in the background. And you are correct, the ipCam devices were not running.
My previous problem did not generate crash logs, so I would suspect this is something different.
Thanks for your continued concern and efforts.
-
I will try and replicate it using the same test configuration as before.
If your iCamSource crashes again please send on any new crash logs that you may find.
Thanks!
-
icamsource ran trouble free for over a week but crashed last night. I will email crash report. Thanks!
-
The two crash logs are not crashing in the same place, and are in seemingly innocuous, random places in the code. That usually indicates a CPU or memory issue. When running the iCamSource are you still seeing the low memory and CPU usage numbers that you stated in a previous post?
If the iCamSource ran for a week before crashing, then if you are able to run it again for that long, do the values stay more or less the same from day to day? Or are they gradually increasing?
-
I've been up and running again for about 3 days now. So far, CPU% stays between 12 and 15%. Not climbing at this point, but I'll keep watching it. Let me know if any other datapoints would be relevant, such as threads, ports, page ins, system calls, messages in or out, etc.
-
Thank you for the update.
The number of threads as well as the Real Mem usage would also be useful to keep track of.
-
Threads are usually 11 (but I've seen 12). Real Mem is currently 23.2 MB. I'll keep an eye on these as well as %CPU...
-
icamsource has been running for a week now. Performance measures remain steady, %CPU~14, threads 11-12, Real Mem ~23MB. Has not crashed or shut itself down.
-
Thank you for the update.
-
Hi, first of all thanks for this great App. I have been using it from time to time as the were reports/warnings off burglar activities. As i use my normal webcam i do not have the option the the video is triggerd by an event/detection. That means that i stay many hours online on my iphone. As i have only 1 gB usage per month, i can only look a few times. Is there not an adres on the web i can goto to watch after login in ? I work on daytime with a computer that has a internet connection so that would be a great help :)
-
Hi, first of all thanks for this great App. I have been using it from time to time as the were reports/warnings off burglar activities. As i use my normal webcam i do not have the option the the video is triggerd by an event/detection. That means that i stay many hours online on my iphone. As i have only 1 gB usage per month, i can only look a few times. Is there not an adres on the web i can goto to watch after login in ? I work on daytime with a computer that has a internet connection so that would be a great help :)
You can view your webcam (video-only) from a remote desktop computer using iCamWeb: http://skjm.com/icam/web (http://skjm.com/icam/web)
iCamWeb uses a Java applet to connect to iCamSource, so Java must be installed on the computer.