Cocoon PowerTALK 101, User Manual

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PowerTALK 101
48
Potential PowerTALK lock-ups
Endless loop
If PowerTALK 101 SERIAL 1 is looped back to SERIAL 2, and both ports are configured on the
same channel, an endless loop may occur as follows:
♦
Another PowerTALK 101 on the network on channel n, broadcasts a character
♦
The local PowerTALK 101 receives it
♦
Channel n receives it from Ethernet
♦
It gets delivered to serial port S1, which is connected to channel n
•
It gets looped back to serial port S2 via the Laplink cable
•
Serial port S2 is connected to and broadcasts it to channel n on Ethernet
•
It is received by channel n on Ethernet (on the same machine!)
•
It is re-delivered to serial port S1, still connected to channel n
•
Ad infinitum
The best way to break out of this endless loop is to remove the loopback cable (Laplink cable)
from S1 to S2.
Loss of communication to configure PowerTALK 101
If the serial ports are (accidentally) configured to unknown settings, one may not be able to re-
establish configuration with PowerTALK 101 via the serial port, i.e. if you’ve set it to 6 bits, 1200
baud, even parity, and you don’t know the port details, you wouldn’t be able to communicate.
In this case one can still access the device via the network port of a PC. If this is not available, or
the network password is forgotten, a system all reset is the only way to re-establish
communications.
For this special circumstance, a “back door” is left, and can be accessed as follows. Open the
front door of PowerTALK 101; remove the LED chord with the DB-25 connector. Insert a DB-25
male plug with pins 10 and 22 bridged. This will set the PowerTALK back to default serial settings
of 9600 baud, 8N1.
Link for reset to defaults
LED connector, DB-25F (holes) seen from the outside of the box.