Over 40 systems crash VPCJ12L0E/B USB Bandwidth

[aasmithr]

We have 40 + systems and more on the way and we are having huge complaints from our clients where these systems are crashing.

We are a software provider and our software utilises a scanner and a HD webcam.

We are now at a situation where we can use a webcam on the system as it will use 90% of the USB Host controller.

If we use a camera we now cannot use the scanner as the whole system will lock up and then all USB devices will disconnect.

There are two USB host controllers

1) Runs all the internal usb components (bandwidth usage at 4%)

2) Runs the external ports and reaches maximum with any web camera.

Why the ports were not divided i dont know.  USB hubs will not work as this is not a power issue.

We need a solution to this issue as these computers are in high profile places and they are not fit for purpose.

Logitech camera is any.  We have tried from quickcam to the C70 Super HD camera.

Anyone can help????

[stephanius]

Hello aasmithr,

if I understand correctly, the problem is that you want to use two devices (camera + scanner) at the same time while the camera by itself uses almost the whole bandwidth that the USB controller offers.

All devices connected to a USB controller share the bandwidth the controller offers. I assume you have confirmed by testing that all 5 USB ports on the chassis are indeed connected to the same USB controller. If that is the case, there is little chance to change the this after the fact.

HiSpeed USB (aka 2.0) is notorious for the net vs gross bandwidth difference, resulting in lower bandwidth than the theoretical 60MB/s being useable. It's also not uncommon for video or audio streams to suffer from dropouts with increasing data rate.

Keeping that in mind, I see points worth looking into:

• The J12 has a built-in (VGA) webcam, which according to you is connected to another USB host controller. I assume you cannot use that for your purposes and offload half the bandwidth to that controller?
• The bandwidth of both the HD webcam as well as the scanner will be directly related to the resolution and refresh speed that your software uses. Try to reduce either value and check how it affects the bandwidth.
• The J12 has built-in Bluetooth. Depending on your use, one of your devices may be able to use this interface instead of straight USB, offering a workaround.
• The J12 has a IEEE1394 host controller which offers a single 4pin (no power supplied) i.link port on the side. While this port offers less nominal bandwidth (approx 50MB/s) than Hi-Speed USB, it doesn't suffer from an unfavorable gross/net bandwidth like USB and can actually use most of the bandwidth, which is why it's being used in professional and semi-professional audio/video products. You may be able to use a camera or a scanner with this interface instead of a USB interface.
  Please make sure not to buy a £10 USB-to-IEEE1394 cable, these can only be used with devices that are explicitly meant to support them.
  More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_1394_interface

I hope some of the above is helpful.

Message was edited by: stephanius

Message was edited by: stephanius

[stephanius]

You mention these systems are set up at borders controls - which implies  commercial or govermental use. The VPCJ12L0E/B is an entry level home  entertainment model.

The key question for me is:

Did your software ever work as intended on the VPCJ12L0E with the two USB devices?

If yes, awesome! The hardware can do it and something (such as refresh rate or resolution of the camera) was changed and increased the amount of bandwidth needed. If you revert the change, you should be fine.

If not, I don't see a resolution for this issue. If the hardware cannot cope with the bandwidth you require, no amount of support requests is going to change that.

[aasmithr]

Whether or not it was designed as a home PC it is not fit for that.

With a standard A4 scanner and a Logitech webcam it crashes.

Most homes have

a) USB PRINTER           4-8%

b) USB MOUSE                        1%

c) USB KEYBOARD      1%

d) WEBCAM                 90%

e) SCANNER                 1-6%

f) SYSTEM RESERVE   20%

Total     126%              

Every home using any type of webcam on your 2011 product will have these issues.

Compared to Packard Bells or lenovo system "ENTRY LEVEL" cheaper than yours they work perfectly. Unfortunaley for us we are stuck with a large QTY of Sonys stock.

I am not powering an aircraft from the USB ports just a scanner and a webcam.

The software is nothing.  You don’t even have to load it to test the crashing status after 2 minutes.

So what you seem to be telling me is that "SONY" products are fit for just Internet and printing but dont use any forms of web communication or Skype, msn nothing that everyone uses a personal computer for in this century?

I would also like to point out that the laptop is far from entry level which is used by the programmers here and that crashes in the exact same way.

The USB ports Crash all connections to devices are lost and if you unplug them the device manager still has them listed, no further devices can be used or detected unless you restart the computer.

[aasmithr]

Intel chipset all updated to version ending in 30.

The system crashed after 3 minutes

If you unplug any USB device the system will not detect that its unplugged or will not operate any further USB devices.

Only solution – REBOOT

If you switch the scanner off and on the light shows that there is no connection to the system as the controller has failed.

Kind Regards

Richard

================================

From:Sent: 08 July 2011 12:21
To: Subject: RE: Multiple system failures, 40-50 systems VPCJ12L0E/B (TZ) [Case ID #: 415948]

Dear Mr. Richard

Thank you, these information has been sent to the team working on your case and they will provide me with the updates once they finished the investigation.

One thing remains not confirmed which is the outcome of installaing the Intel shipset driver from Intel website as recommended, I look for your confirmation on this.

Regards

T

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Message was edited by: Thalamus.

[aasmithr]

I have spoken with Sony and they have esculated it higher as they cant find the solution yet.

Your suggestion about using both cameras.

a)they are on different controllers which have allocations to each

b)We have also disabled this and makes no difference to the faults.

Seeing as we are using your equipment at border controls it would be silly to use a webcam which faces the opperator.

Bluetooth as you know is not that great with large data volumes and speed.

Any other connections are not possible as the Service running on the machines are not going to look for a device connected to a firewire port.

We put your system up agains 3 others and yours is the only one that fails and its is now 53 systems we have in very important locations which are decreasing the value of your products and ours.

I would advise to anyone buying a sony be carefull as this will cause everyone issues.

We have a sony viao laptop which also has the same issue.  So something you are using on all your latest products is failing.  We cant isolate it and at the moment your technical cheifs cant.

I ask every day for updates from dealer support and every day i get

01/07/2011 - They asked me to try the first bios update (THIS UPDATE MADE NO DIFFERENCE)

Dear R

The case has been escalated to higher levels for detailed investigation, will it be possible to provide any event logs related to this issue.

For the mean time I have got an advice to update the BIOS and check if it solved this problem, please use the link below to update the BIOS:

http://support.vaio.sony.eu/computing/vaio/downloads/info/info.aspx?l=en_GB&url=VAIO/Updates/EP00002...

I look forward for your feedback.

Best Regards

T

04/07/2011

Dear R

For sure any data you can provide will help us identifying the root cause of the issue.

Regards

T

05/07/2011

Dear R

I had passed all these information to our second level of support, they are unable to use the account you provided as it is not verified.

Unfortunately, I don't have any updates regarding this situation as the investigation still in progress.

Regards

T

07/07/2011

Dear R

I'm afraid that I don' have any further suggestion, so I'd rather wait for the second level of support response as he had furthered you case to a higher level.

Regards

Tamer Z

Message was edited by: Thalamus.

[aasmithr]

L

The last thing we want to do is return these systems but they are simply not fit for purpose – your support team has told us that the issue is a known problem with these systems and despite their best efforts they have not been able to fix the issue.

On this basis we must return them to you to either make them fit for purpose or you must refund us or replace with goods that do work

I have this reference number form Sony Viao support – on which you have the authority to refund ( my understanding, their words)   5664640

We first reported this at the beginning of March, within the first 10 days of receiving the goods.

The current forum runs here https://www.sony.co.uk/discussions/thread/128702

Which address should I send the systems we still have here to you and we need to discuss the other systems

Regards

From: B, L [mailto:]
Sent: 11 July 2011 11:38
To: T T
Cc: B, N
Subject: RE: Sony Contact Details

Hi T

I’m afraid we don’t offer Sale or return, this was never discussed when the purchase was made over 3 months ago.

Kind Regards

---

From: T T
Sent: 11 July 2011 11:19
To: B, L
Subject: RE: Sony Contact Details

Dear L

We need to return all 40 of the sonys we purchased from you.

What is the procedure

I would  like to start shipping the ones we have remaining today

Should we return to

T T

Message was edited by: admin

Message was edited by: Thalamus.

Message was edited by: Thalamus.