Re: Question on DLS software

[<thesatguy1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is a very common problem that DSC is well aware of and simply refuses
to do anything about because they continue to claim that 99.99% of the
dealers never upload/download their panels.  Once upon a time I conducted a
so-so poll in my area and found that they were pretty much correct - most
dealers have no use for the upload/download features and never ever use
them.  Most of the 'dealers' in every area are now simply trunkslammers who
couldn;t care less about upload/download - the only thing that matters to
these guys is can they sell their paper from some new nail parlor or bagel
store or drycleaning substation before it goes out of buiness.  They don't
plan to ever see that customer again and sure as heck will never dial up
that account.

So, the manufacturers play along, the panels all have upload/download and it
works to a certain degree in each companys' panel but when it doesn't things
get very cloudy and support gets very iffy.

Have you tried a different computer?  Do you have our very own 'special'
modem?  Have you ever been able to connect with this particular panel
before?  Do you have an old 286 computer from 1985 that you could try with
it?  This is not very helpful tech support.

In the case of 5010s or 1555s simply drive out there and replace the board
for the second or third time until you find one that works and take the rest
back to your distributor and watch him pitch the bad boards into his 55
gallon drum running over with other bad DSC boards.

If you plan on using the upload/download features on a board always test
this feature on the board on your bench in your shop while you are testing
all of the boards other features.  Never ever go and install a board you
haven't benchtested first.  And always take at least two boards and two
keypads with you.

Having said all that there is a trick that most often works when you get
that dreaded 'unknown panel' or 'panel not supported' or 'panel not
responding' message on 1575s, 5010s, 1555s, 1550s, 2550s and 2007s.

In the case of 2007s you are probably missing the project number and the
panel stops responding at that point - put either the correct project number
in or the default project number in (the software doesn;t put in the default
number) and that will fix that.

In the case of all the other panels find yourself an old slow computer - an
old cheap junk laptop will do nicely - a 286 running a 20 mhz is fine and
use DSC's old dos software.  It supports 5010s and 4020s and 1575s etc but
it doesn't look flashy and it is pretty clunky but it works.  Then when you
can't connect using your fast computer running xp pro try the old slow one
and you will discover that it works every darn time.  The problem is not
line noise - its the speed - its too darn fast for those old slow public
domain communication routines.  Everything is based on the Bell 102 standard
which operates very nicely at 10 baud thank you very much and they get over
run pretty fast at high speeds.  Certain old 2550s are bad about this and
the first 1575s aslo hate the windows crap and some 1550s are simply not
suppoerted in windows.  Trust me I got all of them out there...550s, 1000s,
2000,s 2500s... lots of en's <g>

Now you can either go and replace the boards all the time and bring them
back to test them and find nothing wrong most of the time or you can use an
old computer and be happy and save a lot of gas.  The one exception is the
newer 5010s with the v3.2 firmware (all the other 5010s have v2.1 or v2.5 in
them) and DSC says there will not be any dos software upgrades to any new
versions of anything - dos is dead as far as they are concerned.  Its just
like their old single and two line receivers - you must buy completely new
ones to do internet monitoring.  You can't upgrade them either and you paid
thousands of dollars and they need a $50. mod to work over the internet.

If you guys want DSC and everyone else to make upload/download better - yell
and scream at all the factory reps, call the factory and complain every time
you have a problem.   As long as all the factories think that nobody really
cares they won't make any effort to remedy it - they think it works well
enough for the few guys that use it.
"R.H.Campbell" <rh.campbell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:pNCdndJcdrYf7s_eRVn-uw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>I tried to upload a version 2 DSC Power 832 (5010) this morning, and got a
>response that is becoming far too common when trying to use DLS sofware. I
>am using the latest DSC modem, and a clear line. The panel connected OK,
>and then tried to handshake and gave me a "cannot identify panel" crap ! I
>have tried to connect with two different computers, both with the latest
>drivers installed, and also used the "auto identify" feature as well on
>both computers, but to no avail. I tried going in through the event log,
>which sometimes works, but this time,nothing works.
>
> It seems I have to make another needless service call because of DSC
> crappy software !! Can anyone suggest why this bulls*it might be happening
> and if there is anything my end that I can do to resolve it prior to
> making a service call.
>
> Cripes, I don't need this mickey mouse software crap....Mark, any ideas ?
>
> RHC
>