Timer stops at 1 second remaining, and stays there forever..

hstraf · Post by **hstraf** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 9:23 am

Hello,

We've seen this happen about 5 or 6 times now. Basically, what happens is that we notice there is a customer who has been using the kiosk computer for a long time. This is very unusual, since most customers only use it for 1/2 hour or an hour, etc... it is too expensive to use it for more then 3 or 4 hours..

So when we see the same person there for 3 hours, we get a little curious.

The first thing we notice is that the timer is no longer on the screen. (It is configured to always be "on top", so this is strange.) The customer has moved it over to the very left and off the side of the screen.

So we ask them if we can see the timer.

And it is there with only one second remaining. It is frozen.

And they have been using the kiosk for several hours without paying.

The reset function did not work.

I think this is a bug, because it only happens 5 or 6 times, and normally everything works correctly. (When timer expires, the computer is rebooted.)

I'm not sure how we can fix this, because we don't know what is the reason it is happening.

One thing I do know is that the computer setup is *exactly* the same every time the computer reboots. We are using the "deep freeze" program to do this. (It works great!) So when the computer is rebooted, it goes back to the exact same state each time.

Any ideas what is the problem? It is not good to have customers getting free unlimited usage from the kiosk...

Thanks.

hstraf · Post by **hstraf** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 8:29 am

This has now happened another 3 or 4 times. It is a real problem.

Can you please tell me if you are going to fix this bug?

One thing I noticed is that it might be related to the window expanding size when the timer hits the 20 second mark. (ie: The feature that flashes the timer bigger/smaller to bring attention.)

I wonder if somehow the changing window size is screwing something up. I ask this, because when the timer stops with 1 second left (and the customer can use the computer forever).. I noticed that the "reset timer" button does not work. When the button is pushed, the popup message appears but when you click "yes" to confirm... nothing happens.

So something is screwy.

Perhaps a solution:

1. Configure the SERVICE that runs in the background to periodically check the timer status. If the timer is not counting, then it should automatically restart. (ie: The service software in the background checks to make sure the timer software is working correctly.)

2. Modify the timer window so that it can not be "hidden" off the edge of the desktop sides.

3. Change the "timer notification" for the last x number of seconds so that instead of making the window expand/contract... it will instead just flash the timer numbers. (ie: We normally have it green, so maybe it will flash red/green for the last x seconds.) The alert color will be selectable in the timer configuration section by admin.)

Please let me know that you are working on this bug, because it is very serious and needs to be fixed. We need the software to be reliable, since the kiosk is automated and we should not need to constantly bother the customer to see if the timer software is actually working or not.

Administrator · Post by **Administrator** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 1:35 pm

We are try to reproduce the problem, but could not.
Please let me know the versions of the software.
OS version.
configuration settings.
What is the "deep frozen" program you are using?
Is this still have problem when you are not rung the "deep frozen" software?
Thanks

hstraf · Post by **hstraf** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 1:46 pm

The operating system is Windows XP.

Do you want me to send you a registry file with the configuration settings? (ie: Export of the WeaveFuture registery key?)

Deep frozen is explained here: http://www.faronics.com/html/deepfreeze.asp

Yes, the problem still occurs even without the deep freeze software.

Administrator · Post by **Administrator** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 1:54 pm

Please send me the zipped registry file
to sales@weavefuture.com
are you using version 3.7.5? or 3.7.4?
thanks

hstraf · Post by **hstraf** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 3:53 am

Hello,

I have just sent you an email with the registry export.

I am using version 3.7.5.

Please see my email for more information.

Thanks.

Administrator · Post by **Administrator** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 4:23 am

a temporary fix has been sent to you by email, you can unzip it and replace the old WeavefutureKiosktimer.exe file. Let me know if it works.
Thanks

hstraf · Post by **hstraf** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 4:28 am

Thanks! I will put this onto the kiosk computer today and then monitor it.

Hopefully this will fix it... if not, then I'll post again and we can go from there.

I'm just curious -- what might be causing this problem? (ie: What fix does this new .exe file include?)

Cheers!

hstraf · Post by **hstraf** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 4:33 am

Administrator wrote:...you can unzip it and replace the old WeavefutureKiosktimer.exe file.

I am having some trouble replacing the old WeavefutureKiosktimer.exe file. When I try to copy the new file, it gives me an error that says, "File in use -- can not copy".

Is there a trick to copy this file over top of the old one?

Let me know..

perdix1975 · Post by **perdix1975** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 3:09 am

I have the same problem. The bug occurs when you right click the timer, choose "reset timer to 0" and you answer nothing to the confirmation dialogue. (The confirmation window stays on and the timer gets frozen when it reaches 00:01).
Luckily I had a previous version of the program and installed that one instead.
Please fix it.

Administrator · Post by **Administrator** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 3:27 am

We will fix it in few days as soon as possible
Sorry for the inconvenient.
the previous version link
http://www.weavefuture.com/download/coi ... imer37.zip
http://www.weavefuture.com/download/coi ... imer36.zip
http://www.weavefuture.com/download/coi ... imer35.zip

hstraf · Post by **hstraf** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 6:22 am

OK... it looks like the new .exe file did not fix the problem.

However, I have done more research into the problem and I think perhaps I *might* have more information.

I was able to reproduce the problem only one time. (I tried about 50 times.) I entered money into the coin machine to start the timer for 5 minutes. Then I opened up about 60 windows with various programs. (IE, firefox, Windows Explorer, a CD burning program, Word, Excel, etc..) I entered garbage information in some of the programs so that they would open up different error dialogue boxes. I left all the dialogue boxes open, without closing them.

So when the timer began to countdown at 10 seconds remaining, I had about 60 windows open with various "error" dialogue boxes also open for many of the programs.

When there was five seconds remaining, I clicked the "reset timer" button and also left the "YES/NO" window open.

(NOTE: I should mention that we have the timer software configured so that it will reboot the computer when the timer expires.)

And then the timer reached 1 second remaining, and it started to close down all the windows. (The timer still said 1 second remaining, which is odd...) All the windows were closed, except for one Internet Explorer window, and also the "reset timer" YES/NO" window.

And then the reboot process stopped.

From that point on, I was able use the computer without the timer having any effect. I was not able to close the "Reset Timer" window. When I clicked the "Yes/No" buttons, they did nothing.

Also, I was not able to reboot the computer using the "START-->Turn Off Computer" method. When the window popped up to ask if I want to reboot/shutdown/logoff... I chose reboot (and also tried with shutdown), but there was no effect. I was not able to shut down the computer using any kind of software, even Windows itself.

The only way I could restart was to manually recycle the power, by clicking the power reset button.

So... I wonder if there is some kind of problem with the reboot process used by the timer software. The timer definately did TRY to shut down all the windows, but it was not able to do so, and then the timer froze after that. (Although the computer was still definately working, and I had no problem to open any program and use the computer, even with the timer sitting there with 1 second remaining.)

I hope this information is helpful to diagnose the problem.

Let me know what I can do, because we definately need some way to make sure the computer is properly rebooted when the timer expires.

If this problem is not resolvable, then perhaps you can use the "Coin Acceptor" service to check the timer time remaining, and if it is under 1 second then you can perhaps block the keyboard and mouse and display a message that asks the customer to manually push the power reset button. This way, even if the computer can not be rebooted by the timer software, it is still smart enough to NOT allow the customer to continue using the computer forever...

Let me know.

Administrator · Post by **Administrator** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 2:40 pm

Base on your information, you may need to try the Time Out Reboot.
check
Start->administrator-> Kiosk Setting->Reboot when Timer expire.
uncheck
Start->administrator-> Auto Logon->Enable Kiosk Auto Logon
Start->administrator-> Auto Logon->Logoff when the count down timer reset to 0, it will close all the running applications and log off, suggest to use this with Enable Kiosk Auto Logon
the other auto logon should be enable and username password should be set.

This will force the PC to reboot when time expire.
The window's own logout will have problem when it could not shut down a program.

Please make sure use the original version 3.7.4, not the quick fix I send to you.
thanks