Results for August 07 2016

[NickST]

Well... that was fun trying to get this fixed up   

Anyway, you guys can find the results files here. If you do see problems (and I am pretty sure you might), please post up and I will try to get them corrected as quickly as I can

Site Link: http://mycarspecs.com/sasc/2016/event/event.html

Direct Link: http://mycarspecs.com/sasc/2016/event/practice/2016_08_07.txt

[MurrayPeterson]

In discussions with Chris, it appears that this is the second time that mjtiming has been running under the "impression" that the date was different than the current date on the computer.

I can see several reasons why this could happen:
1. mjtiming started the day before and never shut down.
2. Computer got access to internet and updated its date/time
3. programming bug on my part

I obviously need to put in safeguards to prevent this from happening again, but I won't be able to do that until October

Until then, be sure to shut down mjtiming and start it up again just before the event goes hot.

Sorry about this people -- I hate it when a supposedly simple to use program becomes troublesome.

[NickST]

Yeah there was 2 files for timing data; the morning runs were under one date and the afternoon runs were under another. Then 2 files for driver data, and for some reason not all of the cars were entered into the registration... All of the data for Matthew K for instance was missing from both files.

I had to basically cut and paste a working file together, then check through one by one to make sure no duplicates, conflicts, or discrepancies existed between the lists.

[MurrayPeterson]

Your description adds another possibility to the list: a second mjtiming app was running at the same tiem, with both of them writing to files.  Sigh.  I guess a check with the task manager is also required for safety   I am glad that the data files weren't corrupted beyond repair.  And that I don't encrypt them like another well known timing app does

[NickST]

I am not really sure what was going on, I didn't see a second app running or anything

The timing data was in good shape though. I had a bit of a heart attack when I got the computer home and only the second set of times were there... thank god the backup had the first set   

On top of all of that, MJAnnounce was not cooperating either. It kept giving me an administrator error. I didn't have time to investigate, but is there a connection cable that goes between the laptop and the router, or is it just wireless?

Oh yeah, and the finish didn't trigger every so often... which caused a lot of issues when we had 4 cars on course and didn't notice right away.

I was pretty stressed today, haha

[MurrayPeterson]

mjannounce cannot act as a web server unless it it run as administrator.  Which is why the laptop has a desktop icon to fore that on startup.  Guess my error message wasn't clear enough?

No cable needed, since I configured the router and computer to do things themselves.

I think you need to do a trial run of mjtiming before the next event.  register a new driver, manually enter some times and car numbers, and verify that the scoring works.  If not, perhaps going back to an earlier version of the software might be in order.

[94boosted]

Nick and Murray thank you for troubleshooting and getting the results up so fast.

[NickST]

mjannounce cannot act as a web server unless it it run as administrator.  Which is why the laptop has a desktop icon to fore that on startup.  Guess my error message wasn't clear enough?

No cable needed, since I configured the router and computer to do things themselves.

I think you need to do a trial run of mjtiming before the next event.  register a new driver, manually enter some times and car numbers, and verify that the scoring works.  If not, perhaps going back to an earlier version of the software might be in order.

I was kind of bumbling though it to be honest, haha. Ok, I will look for the desktop icon next time, I was just trying to run it from the folder location

Next time around I think we are going to be double checking to make sure all of the file dates and computer dates are matching up, I think that should resolve a lot of the issues

I don't really know what to do about the stop not triggering. There wasn't an alignment problem, and it wasn't far away... I have no idea why it wasn't triggering so randomly

[pardglg]

Notwithstanding the timing hiccups, the day looked to have been a huge success. There were 80 cars (give or take), a huge lot for us to play in, great weather, and lots of folks dropping by to see what was going on. Kudos to Reijo for nabbing the site (and for buying a katrillion new cones); and many thanks to everyone that helped out to make it a successful event.

[Apex Carver]

mjannounce cannot act as a web server unless it it run as administrator.  Which is why the laptop has a desktop icon to fore that on startup.  Guess my error message wasn't clear enough?

No cable needed, since I configured the router and computer to do things themselves.

I think you need to do a trial run of mjtiming before the next event.  register a new driver, manually enter some times and car numbers, and verify that the scoring works.  If not, perhaps going back to an earlier version of the software might be in order.

I was kind of bumbling though it to be honest, haha. Ok, I will look for the desktop icon next time, I was just trying to run it from the folder location

Next time around I think we are going to be double checking to make sure all of the file dates and computer dates are matching up, I think that should resolve a lot of the issues

I don't really know what to do about the stop not triggering. There wasn't an alignment problem, and it wasn't far away... I have no idea why it wasn't triggering so randomly

Agreed, I noticed the date was off during the 1st heat but by that time a bunch of cars had already gone. I figured that instead of trying to stop everything and restart it would have been better just to press on and get the event completed.

I think we're better off next time now knowing what to look out for.

Thanks again Nick for going through the results and Murray for helping with the troubleshooting.

[PedalFaster]

Oh yeah, and the finish didn't trigger every so often... which caused a lot of issues when we had 4 cars on course and didn't notice right away.

Was this happening all day, or just in the late afternoon?

Toward the end of the last heat, I noticed that the sun may have been shining on the timing receiver -- that could have been causing the timing issues. My old region (and I think SCCA national too) puts the timing lights in little boxes to prevent sunlight from ever shining directly on the receiver.

[Apex Carver]

Oh yeah, and the finish didn't trigger every so often... which caused a lot of issues when we had 4 cars on course and didn't notice right away.

Was this happening all day, or just in the late afternoon?

Toward the end of the last heat, I noticed that the sun may have been shining on the timing receiver -- that could have been causing the timing issues. My old region (and I think SCCA national too) puts the timing lights in little boxes to prevent sunlight from ever shining directly on the receiver.

It was happening all day... the morning runs had issues with this too, but it was far more prevalent in the afternoon. Moving the car closer to the finish receiver seemed to help

[MurrayPeterson]

I believe that is a fairly new radio unit, but perhaps try swapping it with the sppare for the next event?

[MurrayPeterson]

Another thing that might be causing the computer to change date -- could someone please check the timezpne setting on the timing computer.

[Mkelder]

When I started the equipment in the morning I ran mjbroadcast from the link on desktop and it worked for the first group and second. I think it was tied into the date conflict that made it stop for the afternoon.

Something to consider, I was the 3rd person to sign up for event and when I did so it said August 7th as the date of event but then listed everyone as Saturday entrants. I made a post about it raising the issue but since the date seemed correct nothing was done. Perhaps check the msr file for correct date?

I confirmed with Rachael when we noticed the unknown driver errors that she indeed did atart off with a fresh start of mjtiming even though it seemed like a similar problem as last time we had.