Support Forum

Hello everybody,
I have a strange problem,

I have an Enttec OPENDMX module (the blue one) many years now and is working flawlessly with my laptop in Windows Vista (FreeStyler version 3.4.8).

A few days ago I tried to work with a Windows 7 32bit Lenovo laptop and the setup seemed to go well until I tried to work with robotic heads.
The movement was completely erratic and also the light didn't go to 100% intensity when the "bar" was at 100%, instead when the bar was at 70% the real intensity was 100%... same with 2 LED PARs.
Gobos and colors was ok.

I thought this was a laptop / drivers problem so I also tried in my desktop with Windows 7 64bit. Same thing...
In the same time, when plugged in my old Vista laptop, was working perfectly with all fixtures, cables etc.

In both computers I tried:

- playing with fixture profiles
- different USB ports
- different DMX cables
- Increase/decrease "Output refresh rate" from Setup
- others fixtures (PARs,fog machine, simple fixtures, other robotic heads etc)
- serial driver from Enttec page
- FreeStyler version 3.5.2 & 3.5.9


...any ideas??



thank you in advance!
djwzak
Greece

The enttec open places the load completely on the operating system to get the timing right. Beyond disabling all the USB related energy saving stuff, optimising PC by closing unused processes, removing all other USB devices, and making sure your chipset drivers are from manufacturer (not generic windows) and up to date, there's not much else you can do.
To protect against things like this if you are going to use moving lights, etc. it is much better to have a dmx device with onboard processor, such as the enttec pro, dmxking pro or dmxking micro (<- very well priced too). I agree a "better" PC should do the job in principle, but it also has much more other things going on in the background to think about that can disrupt the timings.


Here is what enttec say;
With the OPEN DMX USB USB the DMX signal is generated by the PC, this means that some parameters (Break length, MaB length, inter-byte time) of the DMX signal can vary from frame to frame.

These variations are are perfectly legal under the DMX512 protocol. Unfortunately some DMX devices do not like these timing variations and display strange behaviour.
There is no real fix for this, the only thing you can try is adjust the frame rate if the software has that setting.
The DMX USB Pro has an on-board processor that generates the DMX signal independently of the PC.

PS.. Sorry this probably wasn't the answer you were hoping for.

Thanks for the fast reply and for your time!

I agree with the above you wrote, but the fact is that IS working on the old Vista pc (2007 model!) and it is not working on a new Lenovo laptop (late 2013 model) and on my veeery superr desktop (2014 build,ssd, 16gb ram, i7,usb 3.0 ports, etc) with Windows 7...

This old Vista laptop has also worked many times simultaneously with Virtual DJ (controlling 2xCDJ400) and FS running 2xPARS,1xFog,1xRobo without a single glitch many times...

...any new ideas anybody..??

PS
I think something is going on with Windows 7... special permissions maybe...?...firewall maybe...?

Also with the things I suggested before that you could try, I forgot to mention disable all network cards + webcams + bluetooth to eliminate other possible latency issues that can affect the timings of a PC controlled dmx signal.

Nothing worked...

Has anyone got to work Enntec OpenDMX USB with Windows 7 perfectly regarding DMX values?

One thing I've noticed that you haven't tried- different USB cable(s). You might also try an externally-powered USB hub to run it. I have an OpenDMX (black case) and it works flawlessly in XP, Vista, 7, and 8.1. Then again, I have a USB cable with a "noise block" in it...

I am running Enttec Open DMX little blue box on Lenovo Win 7 32 bit just fine. I have 14 fixtures connected.