Powerchute can't find my UPS

[Anonymous user]

Here is a Smart UPS SUA1000RMI2U which is connected with a USB cable to our server (Windows Server 2003 SBS SP2). I just installed "PowerChute Business Edition 5 Node v9.0.1" on this server (and installed the agent, the server and the console).
However, PowerChute cannot detect my UPS. The USB connection seems to work, because Windows detects a "APC Battery BackUP" in device manager. I also tried using other USB ports, but without success.
If I open the PowerChute Console, it asks me to add a device - then I get into the Device List Configuration. But Discovered Devices (and Current Device List) remains empty.

What else can I do?

Message was edited by: bachmann

[Anonymous user]

I had this issue too. I have one UPS (SmartUPS 3000), which is connected to a single server and to some other network devices. Although I didn't really need PowerChute Server, I decided to give it a try in case of expansion of the network structure. It's not very clear that you need to have SAME username and password both on PowerChute Agent and PowerChute Server. After I've changed the password in the console for PowerChute Server, everything started to work as expected. Hope this helps.

[BillP]

do you have a different UPS to try? or a different computer with the same UPS to narrow down whether it is an OS issue or UPS issue?

[Anonymous user]

Ah well...I guess APC doesn't care...

[Anonymous user]

Well no I haven't...unfortunately not easy to do...its a big unit not easy to move the thing around.

[BillP]

yes, i can understand that. to me, it is either an issue with the OS or the UPS. once i also saw an issue with a cable cause this so that is another thing to double check or if you even had a spare. its rare though.

[BillP]

Hi Bachmann,

Have you tried updating the APC UPS USB driver through Device Manager?

[Anonymous user]

What USB driver? There is none on my UPS download page:
http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SUA1000RMI2U&total_watts=50...

[BillP]

The APC UPS Drivers are already included on Microsoft Operating Systems. Once you have opened the Properties window of the device look for Update Driver.

[Anonymous user]

Interesting, Windows found a driver update - now it is recognized as "HID UPS Battery" in my Device Manager. But this doesn't change anything, PowerChute Console can't find any device. 😞

[Anonymous user]

Having the same problem. Have you resolved your issue?

Any possibility the UPS itself is faulty?

Regards.

[Anonymous user]

I'm having this same problem - Windows Server 2008 is recognizing the battery in the device manager (USB cable) but PowerChute can't communicate with it. I've tried uninstalling & reinstalling the drivers, changing USB ports & rebooting the computer but it still won't connect.

Message was edited by: kdconod

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

So... nobody knows how to fix this...

[BillP]

That is absolutely correct.  It's easy to install an agent and then later forget that you ever set a password, because there is no user interface for the agent, let alone any indication there is a password.  And, when you try to discover agents using a server with a mismatched password, it doesn't tell you.  It just acts like those agents aren't even there.

To reset the password on an agent, you have to uninstall and reinstall the agent on the computer.  You should not have to reboot.

If you launch the PowerChute Business Edition CD on a computer with the agent already installed, you will see an "Update" button next to it, and that runs through the installation again, but it won't prompt you for the password again.  Only uninstalling and reinstalling, as described above, will do it.

[Anonymous user]

On 8/29/2015 2:49 PM, Jeffrey said:

you have to uninstall and reinstall the agent on the computer

AND ENTER THE SAME PASSWORD ACROSS ALL SOFTWARE (i.e., agents, servers, and clients).

CONFIRMED -

Wow .... only took over an hour scouring through the 'documentation' (term used loosely) for an answer, over a year and a half in this forum, more time searching online, and over 30 mins on the phone with APC Tech Support -- nice people who didn't have access to this information.

Totally sucks to have to search for this stuff like this ...

What's the point of making excellent hardware if your software sucks? And we can't find answers when we need them.

PLEASE ... PLEASE ... PLEASE UPDATE THE FREAKIN  DOCS, so others don't have to waste time searching like the rest of us. (facepalm)

[BillP]

Hello ... ok ... which doc gave you the correct answer? I have had a SMX 1500 for about two years. I have not gotten it to connect with the desktop app for Personal Powerchute. I did get some documentation about a year ago ... but it was really "cloodgey" and did not work (maybe my problem).

[BillP]

Hi,

PowerChute Personal Edition is not compatible with a SMX Smart-UPS. You will need to install PowerChute Business Edition or you can use APCUPSD. If you decided on installing the PowerChute Business Edition I recommend just installing the Agent and interface with the UPS through the Agent web interface. To access the web Agent open a web browser and enter https://:6547 or https://127.0.0.1:6547