Web Issue with KS34465A

[mawyatt]

Having an issue trying to get the Web Server Mode working with a couple KS34465A using a Mac (Safari) or PC (Windows 10). Long story short is after a wireless router & cable modem replacement (hardware failure) nothing worked, then new router firmware loaded and the Siglent SDS2102X+ Web Server works but not the KSs.

Get an Application Error message on the KSs:

AGILENTLXIWEBSERVICE.EXE
encountered a serious error
and must be shut down.

When web access attempted with both Mac and PC.

Google wasn't much help, but did indicate something related to Java.

Anyone experience this behavior, any ideas??

Best,

[zrq]

seems you somehow managed to crash the KS web server application and you are seeing a WinCE crash handler. can have many reason, need more information about the network setup.

[2N3055]

Something like this?

https://community.keysight.com/forums/s/question/0D55a00008FLFQqCAP/why-does-keysight-dmm-34465a-firmware-v302-and-v303-crashes-when-webpage-of-dmm-is-accessed-dmm-error-message-agilentlxiwebserviceexe-encountered-a-serious-error-and-must-shut-down-how-can-i-resolve-this-issue

No useful answer though...

[mawyatt]

@2N3055

Thanks for the KS site, looks like same problem. Was finally able to get thru to the KS34465A by repeated attempts, but the error message is still displayed on the instrument screen but not the remote web screen. I can ping them and get same response time I get from other instruments.

@zrq

Network is cable modem with separate wireless WiFi router. All instruments are connected to Netgear router by RJ45, NetGear is connected to wireless router with RJ45. Keysight 34465a (2) are only instruments on network that have issues, other Siglent devices & Keithley DMM6500 work fine with web browser. Computer is Mac Pro running Big Sur (11.6.4) and is connected using WiFi. Also tried Acer PC laptop running Windows Home, connected by WiFi, with same result.

Think I'll try contacting KS on Monday, thanks for the help.

Best

[Cerebus]

Followup from https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/keysight-dmm-yay-or-nay/msg4048270/#msg4048270

Just tried wake-on-lan with the latest firmware (3.03), both when not actively accessing the webserver and when accessing the HTML5 'remote control' page - no crash, works fine.

I've found the web server in the 3446x machines to be somewhat flaky. For example: Leave it showing the front panel using the HTML5 remote access and the browser end will say it can't contact the DMM after about 1/2 hour or so and a refresh, or reactivating via the control instrument tab sometimes gets it back sometimes doesn't  - close the browser window and start again and it contacts it with no problem.

However, I've never had problems with basic initial access to the web server, neither have I seen the cash message that mawyatt mentions above.

So, my suspicions are that this is something to do with the local network - either some peculiarity of how it is set up, or some traffic that's happening on mawyatt's network that isn't seen on mine and that causes the Keysight firmware to barf. So, the question is: How good is the OP at using tools like tcpdump or wireshark? The ideal thing to get to here would be to see a packet (or sequence of packets) hitting the port on the DMM and the DMM repeatably crashing when that packet/sequence hits it.

The DMM ought to be insensitive to local network settings (unless they are grossly wrong), other protocols, etc., etc., and behave nicely in the presence of any oddities, but we know that the software/networking world often doesn't reach the standards of quality that perhaps it should. If we can find out why this is happening then perhaps we can find a workaround.

The problem here is that there are 1001 network related things that could be happening, so basics first. What's the topology of the local network, how is the DMM attached (e.g. direct to a switch and so on), how does it get its IP address, how do you browse to it (e.g. by ip address, using bonjour/mdns/zero-conf, name in DNS...)?

[Hexley]

Followup from https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/keysight-dmm-yay-or-nay/msg4048270/#msg4048270
I've found the web server in the 3446x machines to be somewhat flaky. For example: Leave it showing the front panel using the HTML5 remote access and the browser end will say it can't contact the DMM after about 1/2 hour or so and a refresh, or reactivating via the control instrument tab sometimes gets it back sometimes doesn't  - close the browser window and start again and it contacts it with no problem.

@Cerebus: I have not seen that behavior with the HTML5 remote front panel. It runs here all day from time to time, and does not hang. (34465A, firmware v3.03 / Win 10, Firefox).

I wonder if your experience was linked to the memory leak bug that was addressed in firmware v3.01 and again in v3.02? The Release Note for the latter says "Resolves the memory leak associated with LAN traffic that occurred when the DMM is connected to a LAN network but remains idle for several days." Could you have been running earlier firmware when you had the issue? Have you seen the issue with firmware v3.03?

@Mike: Any chance of setting up your Acer laptop and connecting it directly to the DMM with an Ethernet cable -- no router involvement, in other words -- to see if that changes the observed behavior?

[Cerebus]

@Cerebus: I have not seen that behavior with the HTML5 remote front panel. It runs here all day from time to time, and does not hang. (34465A, firmware v3.03 / Win 10, Firefox).

I wonder if your experience was linked to the memory leak bug that was addressed in firmware v3.01 and again in v3.02? The Release Note for the latter says "Resolves the memory leak associated with LAN traffic that occurred when the DMM is connected to a LAN network but remains idle for several days." Could you have been running earlier firmware when you had the issue? Have you seen the issue with firmware v3.03?

No. I was hoping that might be the case but I upgraded to 3.03 the other day and it's still doing it. It may be an issue with a specific browser (Safari in this case) and I haven't yet ruled that out with specific testing across a range of browsers. It just seems to be an issue if you leave the window open idling in the background, if you're actively interacting with it then it's not a problem. I've encountered it most often when using the trend plot to keep an eye on something when, of necessity, you're not changing settings, just passively watching it update. Annoyingly that's one of my biggest use cases for the meter.

[mawyatt]

@Mike: Any chance of setting up your Acer laptop and connecting it directly to the DMM with an Ethernet cable -- no router involvement, in other words -- to see if that changes the observed behavior?

Connected directly with the Acer Laptop and did see and red error message (error from remote command) flash across the KS screen, but it's working and no constant KS screen error message like when using network. Unplug the RJ45 cable and then connect to network wireless router and KS now shows the constant screen error message, even before I try and log on.

Can connect and operate KS with Mac thru wireless router network but error message stays on KS screen. Then directly connect Mac to KS and also see the mentioned red error message pass across the KS screen, however other error message doesn't appear and the KS operates as expected remotely.  Now I connect the Mac to the wired Netgear router and then connect both KS to Netgear router and they work, but display a brief red error message mentioned.

So from this gather that it's something unique with the wireless network that only bothers the two KS34465As and nothing else on network is affected, this includes a couple Siglent SDS2000X+, SSA3021X+ and DMM6500 which all have web servers and work OK.

Anyway, it seems we have a path forward to just connect the the two KS thru the Netgear wired router, and the other stuff on the wireless router.

Thanks for the help, much appreciated!!

Best,