AnywhereUSB/5 G1 - thinks it is connected while it isn't

Hello,
we have got 3 AwUSB/5 G1 devices, two of them are working quite fine, the third was bricked in some strange way at the moment of initial setup.

This problem arised after “DHCP enable” / “update” sequence in AwUSB configuration utility: device rebooted with new name and DHCP, then we pressed “Connect”, device suddenly rebooted and configuration utility crashed.

Now utility detects this device as “configured” and “connected” (gray icon with bold/regular name on different computers), but any attempt to select it in list on any computer leads to debugger popup or silent utility crash.
Was tested on 2.90 and 3.00 drivers.

Since G1 has no telnet, web-interface and/or any “hardware reset” buttons, we considering it is a problem.
We used AwRescue utility - it successfully dropped some parts of configuration, but config utility still crashes upon hub selection.

Are there any way to reset device configuration without its disassembly and similar activities?

Hello,

Thanks for the detailed info.

If you look on the white label on the bottom of the problematic AnywhereUSB/5, what is the 50xxxxxx part number and revision? And is it called “AnywhereUSB 1.80” on that label, or not?

What is the color and activity of the System Status LED, on the problematic AnywhereUSB/5?

If you look on the DHCP server and search for the MAC address of the problematic AnywhereUSB/5, what is its IP address?

P/n on the bottom is “(1P)50000818-05 E”.
Yes, there is “AnywhereUSB 1.80” on the white label.

I see no any revision-like texts, so, if it’s not listed in product number in first message line, please specify example and position of it.

Its status led blinks twice in orange+green on startup, then, after some seconds, blinks green and another green light is rolling on port LEDs.

Currently it is in partial reset state, have internally set IP = 192.168.254.222 and we cannot enable DHCP back - the utility is crashing.

“E” is the revision, so that’s what I needed.

You’re running into a known issue. Other customers have reported this behavior with newer versions of the AnywhereUSB driver package. It seems specific to the newer versions of the AnywhereUSB Configuration Utility that are bundled with the newer driver packages.

From what we’ve observed, it also seems specific to these “AnywhereUSB 1.80” hardware versions.

It may or may not be related to DHCP. We’re still trying to determine that. To give us more information, can you configure the problematic unit with a static IP address that matches the subnet/scheme of the network, i.e. one similar to what the unit would get from the DHCP Server? After it’s configured that way, does the AnywhereUSB Configuration Utility continue to crash?

Also, can you give me an example of what the subnet/scheme is, of the DHCP Server? What would a typical IP address / subnet mask / gateway look like?

And what is the “friendly name” of the problematic AnywhereUSB/5 1.80 unit?

Well, its current IP (192.168.254.222) already static, since we flushed its configuration with recover utility, and it has perfect green USB icon now.

Currently we cannot change anything on this device, since config utility crashes in all cases upon device selection.

Our DHCP provides 10.2.5.* addresses with 255.255.255.0 netmask and 10.2.5.1 gateway.

Friendly name of the unit is “digi5_1FF” without quotes. Other 2 have similar names.

You mentioned an older utility/driver. Is it known from which version utility behaviour changed in such a way?

From what we’ve observed, it looks like this problem started with the 2.70 driver package. So, if you use the version before that, which is 2.40, the problem shouldn’t happen. Here’s a download link:

ftp://austin:!15st3n!@ftp1.digi.com/support/AnywhereUSB/2.40/40002533_G.exe

Note that this 2.40 version does not support Vista/Server 2008/Windows 7. It’s compatible with XP/Server 2003.

If you uninstall the current driver package, by clicking View / Driver Information / Uninstall in the Config Util, then install the 2.40 version after rebooting, that’s one way to do it.

But you might also want to try just using the older version (2.3.0.0) of the Config Util itself, along with the newer driver package that you already have installed. You can download that here:

ftp://austin:!15st3n!@ftp1.digi.com/temp/AwUsbCfg.230.exe

It’s a stand-alone executable so just save it to your local hard drive somewhere and then run it. Be sure to first close AwUsbCfg.exe if it’s already running. If that ends up working, you can rename it from AwUsbCfg.230.exe to AwUsbCfg.exe and then copy/paste it over the newer one in \system32\ but I would first test it, because it might introduce other problems. Depending on what OS your are running, it might be better to just roll back the whole driver package.

Let me know how it goes. In parallel, I will keep trying to re-create this issue. If there’s any additional info you can tell me about your environment, that would be helpful, i.e. what OS and Service Pack the host PC is running, what kind of CPU it has, if the problem happens when a crossover cable is used to connect directly to the AnywhereUSB 1.80, or only when a switch is used (if so, what kind of switch), etc. The more details the better.

Thank you for old driver links, I was able to get to the box and reset it (disable DHCP and update, then enable it back).
Now 3.0 configuration utility is working too.

When I connected to it after reset, it showed “Connected to this computer” status on workstation where problem arised (while driver/system had no idea about it - no USB devices popped up and so on).

I “disconnected” it and now device is usable from systems that are no original workstation. On workstation I have green icon device with DHCP enabled with status “Connecting to this computer…” (old 2.3 utility) and “Connecting to this Host PC…” (3.0 utility).
But, I think, it’s a driver state sync problem, so driver reinstall with registry cleaning will fix it too.

Seems that crossover/network make no diference to this problem, at least on the fixation stage.

Problematic workstation is hp compaq dc5800 microtower running Windows XP SP3 x86.