Powerchute 3.0.0.1 on older Back-UPS Pro

[Anonymous user]

I am 0-for-3 getting Powerchute 3.0.0.1 to run in my home. In all three cases, the APC UPS Service refuses to run, so the rest of Powerchute also fails. The error shown in the task bar is "Managed PC shutdown not provided - APC UPS Service not running".

All three of my systems are 64-bit Windows 7 (Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate), and I am installing and running in an admin account in all cases.

Assuming Powerchute 3 really works on 64-bit Win7, I am wondering if my problem might be that my UPS's are not supported. My devices are:
Back-UPS Pro 500, firmware 16.3, USB firmware 4
Back-UPS Pro 350, firmware 15.4, USB firmware 5 (2 of these)

Is there a firmware update that would get my PC's and UPS's talking?

Thanks,
David

[BillP]

what is the cable you are using between the UPS and computer? i ask because powerchute personal edition only supports UPSs with a USB connection, not serial. also, what is the exact model of these units? unfortunately we have several back ups pro units over the years. this will be on a white sticker on the back or bottom of the unit. generally a model number could be something like BP650S.

also, no Back UPS that I know of have field upgradeable firmware. only newer Smart UPS.

[BillP]

hmm ok. those should be ok - the USB cable is the RJ-45 to USB?

also, are you able to provide a screenshot of the particular error for reference?

if you look at the windows device manager, is anything popping up under Batteries or any other section when you unplug and replug the cable in? is there any chance there can be a firewall or similar blocking this program or communication and we just need to allow it?

[Anonymous user]

All devices are USB A (PC) to USB B (UPS) connections.

This is 3 different PCs, 3 different UPS's, and 3 different cables. All cables are directly plugged to the PC. All were clean installs of PCPE 3, where no prior version had been installed.

I attached 5 screen shots:

1. Services
2. Sys Tray
3. PCPE
4. Device Manager
5. Device Stage

I did learn this morning that the APC UPS service runs fine until I plug in the USB cable. Then it stops immediately.

[BillP]

hi..ok, we are doing some investigation and have a few things to try and a few routes to go to get to the root of the issue here.

1.) in the services section of the control panel/administrative tools, can you try to manually start the APC UPS service, since its not started, and tell us what it says in response for the reason or any code it provides (when the UPS is connected)? when you do this or when it stops upon connecting your UPS, is there anything in windows event viewer that is helpful? (we have tried a similar UPS with 16 firmware and got it to work on windows 7/XP so that is why we are going through all of this - unable to replicate yet).

2.) can you follow the instructions in this kbase (even though the subject is different), http://nam-en.apc.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/11271, to try and rollback/change your drive to HID UPS Battery instead of the APC UPS driver and see if there is any change?

3.) let us know the results and any errors you encounter and depending on that response, we will take the next steps.

thanks!

[Anonymous user]

In the event log, I see this when it terminates during Windows boot:

Faulting application name: mainserv.exe, version: 3.0.0.1, time stamp: 0x4e54beba
Faulting module name: mainserv.exe, version: 3.0.0.1, time stamp: 0x4e54beba
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00086693
Faulting process id: 0x730
Faulting application start time: 0x01ccb065aa41c4df
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\APC\PowerChute Personal Edition\mainserv.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\APC\PowerChute Personal Edition\mainserv.exe
Report Id: 559c2d6b-1cd3-11e1-a116-88532e704d82

and this when I attempt to start manually: (same exception code, different process id)

Faulting application name: mainserv.exe, version: 3.0.0.1, time stamp: 0x4e54beba
Faulting module name: mainserv.exe, version: 3.0.0.1, time stamp: 0x4e54beba
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00086693
Faulting process id: 0x115c
Faulting application start time: 0x01ccb0e5571d5127
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\APC\PowerChute Personal Edition\mainserv.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\APC\PowerChute Personal Edition\mainserv.exe
Report Id: 962f4d4c-1cd8-11e1-a116-88532e704d82

[Anonymous user]

On one pc (samsung series 7 slate), I switched to the HID device driver. Attempted to manually start APC services. No change. I will try later on the other two pc's (one laptop, on desktop)

[BillP]

thanks for the information.

i had escalated this and was provided the following link which appears to be a system related error:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie8-windows_7/ie-8-error-on-closing-exception-code-0xc00...

we are also going to test later on an windows 7 x64 system and see what our results are as well. in the meantime, you might want to take a peek at the article mentioned above.

[Anonymous user]

I restored the APC UPS battery driver in Device Manager, and I execluded mainserv.exe from Windows 7 Data Execution Protection (see attached), and now the service runs fine. So there's something in your code that triggers a DEP error on 64-bit.

My new problem is that the home screen of PCPE isn't giving much information. It shows a connection to the battery, and the estimated battery time, but that's all. No information about energy use, or battery health, or power events, etc. Is there an issue, or is there a lag before it reports that information?

[Anonymous user]

All of the cables are USB,

Model numbers are BP350UC (2x) and BP500UC.

UPS units are about 10 years old, but the batteries are all recent replacements.

[Anonymous user]

Forget the DEP fix. It stopped on the first PC after a few hours, and it never worked on the other 2. I am back where I started.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

well i can tell you that the energy usage and certain other information has to be supported by the UPS firmware. the energy usage stuff is definitely not supported by these units and i presume some of the other stuff isn't as well. i believe you should still though get a little bit more info than you're seeing.

we will see what else we can find. on the systems we tried of this type, we got it to work without issue.

also - on your last screenshot, was this from the BP350 or BP500?

if you can, we were wondering if you could also do this system check? http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833