Mac "hanging" with new versions of waveforms.

[dave slagle]

I was running an older (2-3 years) version of waveforms with OS 10.14.6 on a 2012 macbook pro and all was great.  I switched to Waveforms 3.17 to get the curve tracer function anf I get the "spinning beach ball" a lot.  Sometimes it lasts a few seconds other times I need to force quit and restart.  I tried the latest beta version of 3.17.21 with the same issue and then went back a release to 3.16 and it still gets stuck.

I have restarted the computer,  quit other programs and done repeated installs and it still hangs.  It will run a continuous bode plot for an hour but the minute I try to change a parameter It occasionally gets hung up with the beach ball.

Does anyone know that the first version was with the tracer function?

dave

[attila]

Hi @dave slagle

Sorry to hear this. Could you post or send me the crash report ?

[dave slagle]

It doesn't typically "crash" rather the spinning beach ball continues for more than a few minutes and I force quit in order to restart and finish working.  I'll try to get it to "stall" and leave it until it crashes to get a report.  I do not recall actually crashing since I backed down from 3.17 to 3.16. 

 

Edited January 4, 2022 by dave slagle

[attila]

Hi @dave slagle

Could it be a USB connection issue so the device gets occasionally disconnected? In this case a disconnect error should pop up quickly.
It could also be an under-voltage or over-current problem so part of the device gets reset. In this case it could take longer for the error to show up.
See the system monitor on the right of the status bar. The USB voltage should be above 4.5V and the current in idle ~350mA. You could try to use 5V DC aux power supply.

Edited January 4, 2022 by attila

[dave slagle]

The odd thing is this never happend before I went from 3.10.9 which has run flawlessly for years to 3.17 then 3.16.  I'll try 3.10 again and see if the problem persists.

I first loaded 3.17 on an  Imac running 1OS 10.15 and it also hung up.... At the time I thought that was from a lack of processing power since I have a few other programs that also run slow on it but now I see a pattern happening with older (2012/2013) macs.

what version was the first to have the tracer function?

dave

[attila]

Hi @dave slagle

3.16.11
digilent.waveforms_beta_v3.16.11_64bit.exe
digilent.waveforms_beta_v3.16.11_32bit.exe
digilent.waveforms_beta_v3.16.11.dmg
digilent.waveforms_beta_3.16.11_amd64.deb
digilent.waveforms_beta_3.16.11.x86_64.rpm
digilent.waveforms_beta_3.16.11_i386.deb
digilent.waveforms_beta_3.16.11.i686.rpm
Added:
- Curve Tracer instrument

 

[dave slagle]

I just worked about 4 hours with my old version 3.10 without a hiccup.  This leads me to believe it is a software issue and not a hardware one.

[attila]

Hi @dave slagle

I was running today for several hours the Impedance Analyze with AD2 on MBP late 2013 v10.15.7 without any issue.

You may try with a newer software version (>3.16.31 but preferably the latest) to reprogram the USB controller.
Disconnect the AD2, open WF Device Manager, press "My device is not listed", connect the AD2, press Find Device, make sure the AD2 is detected, press Program Device. Reconnect the AD2.

 

[dave slagle]

Went to 3.18.10 and reset the device and it still hangs.  I'm on OS 10.14 on a Retina LAte 2013 MBP... I cant go up to 10.15 because i'll lose all my 32 bit software.

 

I have noticed it happens when the program has been doing sweeps for a bit.  If left running it will sweep the bode plots for hours but when I return after a minute or two and try to make a change it hangs.  The computer is in use so it is not a sleep thing.  Once it is working I can make changes to levels or whatever without issue.  It also seems the longer it is idle without a change of anything the longer it takes to "wake up"  It almost seems as if the program goes to sleep and takes a long time to wake.

 

 

[dave slagle]

More info.

Ver 3.10 runs bode sweeps for hours in and out of sleep/wake  without a pause or hiccup.  When ver 3.18 hangs it stays stuck on a single tone until the beach ball stops spinning then it continues to sweep. 

other observations:

-if left sweeping for 5 minutes and then the mouse is moved it hangs for 5-10 seconds then continues.

-If left sweeping until the computer goes to sleep it took 3 minutes of spinning beach ball to resume.

-If the AD2 is plugged in the green LED flashes at a constant rate independent of the software function.

[attila]

Hi @dave slagle

I'm unable to reproduce beachball...
For me the WF app seems to be paused after one minute the Mac goes to sleep (I've connected a LED to an AD2 output controlled from software). The software resumes immediately on wakeup and reacts to the inputs/adjustments fine.

On you machine it could be a low level USB driver / hardware issue, like something related to USB suspend...

@malexander Do you have MacOS 10.14 to test sleep/wakeup ?

You could try to disable the auto Reconnect option to reveal eventual communication error.

[dave slagle]

Unclear if the Disable the auto reconnect was for me but I disabled it and no difference.  I also have a brand new AD2 that I tried and the same thing.  

Swapped cables... same thing.

this was all on a Macbook Pro Retina 15"  2.3gHz i7 Late 2013 running 10.14.6

Also went to a 27" imac  3.2gHz i5 Late 2013 running 10.15.7 same thing.

All of this is while running Bode plots in the network function.

I went to the signal generator looped back to the scope and same thing on both computers.

dave

 

[malexander]

@attila

Unfortunately, I don't have that version of OSX installed anymore. The MacBook pro is on 11.4 and I just upgraded the M1 based MAC Mini to 12.1 to work through a different support question.  I'm not sure how to install it natively... there's no optical drive on the MBP and I don't have the disc image. Maybe we can run it in VM?

[attila]

Hi @dave slagle

Could you post or send me your workspace and a screenshot from the application ?

[dave slagle]

two screen shots and the workspace attached

 

 

hanging.dwf3work

 

I have given up on trying to get these versions to work in my current environment... hopefully a future release will solve the issue.

Edited January 20, 2022 by dave slagle
clarity

[dave slagle]

went to 10.18.14  same thing...  when I force quit this is the report that gets sent to apple.

 

Date/Time:       2022-01-24 10:20:50 -0500
End time:        2022-01-24 10:20:52 -0500
OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.14.6 (Build 18G9216)
Architecture:    x86_64h
Report Version:  28

Data Source:     Stackshots
Shared Cache:    0xa2cb000 0AAC2509-305F-33C8-A30C-29FF1CD5AD75
Shared Cache:    0 705F3C00-33B3-3014-9AA4-D8655923FC54

Command:         WaveForms
Path:            /Applications/WaveForms.app/Contents/MacOS/WaveForms
Identifier:      com.digilent.waveforms
Version:         3.18.14 (3.18.14)
Parent:          launchd [1]
PID:             30122

Event:           hang
Duration:        2.10s (process was unresponsive for 79 seconds before sampling)
Steps:           21 (100ms sampling interval)

Hardware model:  MacBookPro11,2
Active cpus:     8

Time Awake Since Boot: 440000s
Time Since Wake: 44s

Fan speed:       2604 rpm

 

 

5 more pages snipped..... see doc attached

hang.docx

[attila]

Hi @dave slagle

I was still unable to reproduce the issue.
In the latest version I've tried to make some changes that may have relation to this but I see 3.18.14 didn't fix it.

The issue may be related to this unsolved bug:
https://forum.qt.io/topic/104804/qt5-hanging-crashing-problems-when-window-is-not-active-on-macos

[Charlie Carver]

This is also happening to me with the latest Waveforms (3.17.1) on both an M1 and Intel Mac. Older versions didn't hang, although I don't remember exactly which. Happy to help with debugging, just let me know what's needed.

[tomko]

I have been experimenting between different versions and it looks like the problem started happening in 3.15.2. In 3.15.2, it switches to using QTS 5.12.9 while in 3.13.23, QTS 5.6.3 is used. This seems to confirm the discussion in the above link from @attila.

I then try to understand under what conditions the GUI would hang. So far It appears that the GUI would hang when brought to the foreground from the background when all or part of its GUI is overlapped by another application. If the GUI is hidden into the dock or in another Mission desktop (but not blocked by another application), it would not hang when bringing into the focus/foreground.

I will keep on trying to verify the finding above.

[attila]

Hi @tomko

Please see if the problem persists in the following:
https://digilent.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Software/Waveforms3Beta/3.18.15/digilent.waveforms_beta_v3.18.15_Qt5.12.12.dmg
https://digilent.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Software/Waveforms3Beta/3.18.15/digilent.waveforms_beta_v3.18.15_Qt5.15.2.dmg
https://digilent.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Software/Waveforms3Beta/3.18.15/digilent.waveforms_beta_v3.18.15_Qt5.9.9.dmg

I'm downloading Qt 5.6.3 but it is taking ages since it is archived.

[tomko]

Hi @attila

Here is the outcome of my tests on the 3 beta version:

• V3.18.15 with Qt5.9.9: No hanging and observed the same behaviour as Qt5.6.3
• V3.18.15 with Qt5.12.12: The GUI hanging when brought to foreground from behind a window e.g the same behaviour as Qt5.12.9
• V3.18.15 with Qt5.15.2: The GUI hanging when brought to foreground from behind a window e.g the same behaviour as Qt5.12.9
  • This version crashed when I selected the About WaveForms menu item under the WaveForms menu. The crash report is attached. The versions with Qt5.12.12 and Qt5.9.9 are both fine.

Thanks

V3.18.15_Qt5.15.2_Crash_Select_About_WaveForms.txt

Edited January 29, 2022 by tomko

[attila]

Hi @tomko

Thank you for the feedback. Next WF builds for macOS will use Qt5.9.9

[tomko]

Hi @attila

Glad to help. A slight observation between Qt5.9.9 and Qt5.12.9 - the font seems to be in bold or slightly heavier in Qt5.9.9 when compared to Qt5.12.9. See the attachments.

Also the Help TOC is not readable when the Mac in the dark mode. Not sure if you are aware.

Thanks

[attila]

Hi @tomko

In the newer version the dark themes should be better.

The Font can be changed under WaveForms/Preferences/Application.
To fully reset the app options enter the command: /Applications/WaveForms.app/Contents/MacOS/WaveForms -safe-mode

I just notice with Qt 5.9.9 and Macintosh theme the selected tab title is not visible... 

[tomko]

Hi @attila

Unless I am mistaken, I don't think it is possible to change the colour. The TOC text is too dark. Or have I missed a trick?

Thanks

[attila]

Hi @tomko

For me the TOC looks good in WF 3.17.1 and 3.18.15 under Windows and macOS...