#1 2007-10-11 09:27:33

**_floyddavenport_**

Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

Ever since we upgraded to Connect 6 SP3, we have been experiencing periods when the video/audio and sometimes the entire computer freezes during a live session.  It is intermittent and usually only last a few seconds, but it is disrupting our meetings.  We have tried swapping out computers and making different adjustments such as DSL speed (even though we have good network bandwidth).  Nothing seems to work.  Users are really starting to complain. 

I'm wondering if anyone else is seeing this issues and if they are tied to the new plugin which requires Flash 8 or better? 

When the computer freezes, we don't see anything reflected in the task manager which would provide a clue to the problem.

Thanks,

**_jameslloyd_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

OMG - Yes, I am troubleshooting this right now.  The freeze locks EVERYTHING on the computer for 4 to 8 seconds.  I've re-imaged the cpu, expanded memory and now have requisitioned a completely new machine.  Adobe sys req page http://www.adobe.com/products/connect/p … ystemreqs/ says  nothing about processor or memory, but your post seems to indicate this won't help. 

I'll be back.

**_Blik_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

Yes, we too have problems, but not what you describe here:

On some PCs the browser will crash instantly after activating the camera & voice pod with a "The Adobe Connect AddIn has encountered a fatal error"-Message.

So far, we have no real clue about what's going on.

Regards
Blik

**_jameslloyd_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

Floyd, I've verified this problem on multiple cpu's of varying speed, memory and graphics adaptors. The freezeup locks all activities on the computer including the task manager.  Sometimes even locks up the mouse. 

This is clearly a Connect Add-in problem and I am reporting it to Adobe immediately. 

I will be asking if there is anyway we can rollback to the SP2 add-in.

**_John_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

I was playing an 8 minute Flash movie through FireFox and had exactly the same experience about 5 minutes in.  The computer gradually came back to life and the Flash movie started playing again.  I was not using a Conenct server.  Perhaps  this issue is Flash player plug in related.

**_floyddavenport_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

James,

I have also sent the problem to Adobe... hope we hear soon.

Thanks,

Floyd

**_jameslloyd_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

Thanks Floyd,

Adobe has still not responded to my support case and I know better than to hold my breath on that.

Today I installed a new cpu in our webcast room and ran a webcast with a large, high-quality video stream.  I watched if for over an hour and did not see the freeze, but then it has also been a day with little activity on the network.  The problem sure seems to be cpu based, but I originally diagnosed it as bandwidth (until I noticed that all apps on the computer were freezing).

The computer that exhibited the problem was:
HP d530
2.66 ghz pentium 4
2 gbytes of ram

the new cpu is:
HP dc7600
3.00ghz pentium 4
1 gbyte of ram
note: our IT department emphasized that the new cpu supports "hyper-threading" - who knows if that's an issue.  You'd think Adobe could help on that.

Will check back when I know more.

**_jameslloyd_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

Hi All,

Last friday I tested the new machine that supports hyper-threading and I ran a webcam for over 2 hours without the freeze.

Today we conducted a meeting for 45 minutes again with no freeze.  I have 3 more meetings this week and will post again with the results. Again, this is all the same versions of Flash Player, Connect version and Connect Add-in version as posted in my previous message.

Oh and both machines are running:

Flash Player version: 9.0.4
Connect Add-in version: win 9,0,177,0
Connect version: connect_603_r40

Also, Adobe did finally reply to the support ticket and asked me boilerplate questions about using the add-in.  It'll take several days to get escalated to a support person who knows anything.  Gotta luv it! (NOT)

Last edited by **_jameslloyd_** (2007-10-15 15:48:46)

**_floyddavenport_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

James,

One thing I haven't tried is to recreate the room since the upgrade.  I've noticed that we didn't have any problem with a new room.  But the problems we have been having, have shown up more in a room that has been around for awhile.  We will recreated it and test during a 3 hour session tomorrow.

**_niallo_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

I am seeing the same problem (add-in crash on enabling video pod) as reported by Blik, and posted a request for information in the General Connect Topics forum (post title "Connect add-in crash").
Does anyone have any information on the cause of this crash, or on ways to work around it?

**_jameslloyd_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

Thanks for the info Floyd.  At this point the only change I've made that has stopped the freezing is the new computer.  Everything else is identical including the use of existing meeting and seminar rooms.

Niallo and Blik, I've never had a meeting room completely crash upon starting the camera & voice pod.  That sure sounds like a hardware or operating system issue.  I HAVE had the camera pod lockup when I had the wrong video source selected (on some computers I have multiple video & audio sources; usb & firewire at the same time for instance). Be sure to select your camera and sound input BEFORE trying to activate the pod.

**_floyddavenport_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

Just a quick follow up... recreating the meeting room didn't solve our probelms.  We have swapped out just about everything and tweaked everything we know to tweak... still stumped on this one.  Hope Adobe finds an answer.  We have considered testing a meeting without using the new plug-in to see if the problems occur.

**_Blik_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

Niallo and Blik, I've never had a meeting room completely crash upon starting the camera & voice pod.  That sure sounds like a hardware or operating system issue.

Well, somewhere deep within OS and/or hardware there surely must be something that causes this crash, but so far I could not determine its cause. From the outside, the affected PCs are "off-the-shelf" computers with Win XP and a webcam. The only thing I can say is that the errors started to come up only and only after upgrading to SP 3. So I guess it's fair enough to say that something is wrong with the Meeting Add-In.

(Of course since there are - so far - not too many PCs affected, there always is the off-chance that some other software or OS-updates could be the source, but I somehow doubt that.)

Regards
Blik

**_jameslloyd_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

I've conducted 4 webinars since replacing the computer and not had a single freeze-up.  I really do think that there is something new in the SP3 ADD-IN that requires some hardware capacity of the new machine.

My best guess right now is (as our IT department emphasized) the processor of the new machine supports Intel hyper-threading - see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper-threading .

I have seen the meeting freeze-up on my own laptop (hp nc6230) and our video workstation (compaq d530), neither of which support hyper-threading. 

Of course another parameter to examine would be graphics adaptors, but because the freeze takes down EVERY PROCESS on the computer including the Task Manager, I still primarily suspect the cpu.

It might be worth considering if Dual-processors might have the same remedy on the Connect Meeting add-in as hyper-threading.

Please keep in mind that I am NOT an IT professional.  I'm just a flash artist making guesses at this stuff.

Last edited by **_jameslloyd_** (2007-10-22 14:24:26)

**_jameslloyd_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

Oh, and it's been 11 days since I submitted this as a ticket in Adobe's support system.  No serious reply yet from them (other than did I do the connectivity test, a boilerplate response).

If anyone from Adobe is reading this, it's ticket #172921697. 

BUYERS BEWARE - this is typical of the support we get for a $20,000+/year product!

**_jameslloyd_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

(Of course since there are - so far - not too many PCs affected, there always is the off-chance that some other software or OS-updates could be the source, but I somehow doubt that.)

Regards
Blik

Blik, did you see Niallo's thread about crashing the camera pod?  http://www.connectusers.com/forums/cucb … php?id=689

Last edited by **_jameslloyd_** (2007-10-22 16:33:54)

**_DanLynch_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

The problem I'm seeing is that Connect will freeze during screen sharing for 3 to 10 seconds at random times.  It actually seems to be slightly more likely to happen when I'm making small changes rather than large changes.

When I'm presenting a meeting, I use dual monitors on one PC.  The left monitor is my work monitor where I'm manipulating my software.  The right monitor is the Connect meeting room showing the attendee list, the share pod, etc.  There is also a laptop on the left side of my desk, connected using a different internet connection, which is logged into the meeting room as an observer.

Because of this setup, I can clearly see that the network lag time between the right screen of my presentation machine and the laptop is fairly stable and is usually under 1 second.  The problems which were created by v6 show up as freezes of the connect meeting room on the right screen.  This does not corespond to maxed out CPU usage or massive video processing.

Monday, October 8th - reported the problems to Adobe.  Connect case # 172911246.  The kid on the phone probably meant well, but it's annoying when he just babbles about network bandwidth after I explain the methods I used to rule out bandwidth problems.

Tuesday, October 23 - Invited to a meeting with the guys from my distributor and Jim Johnson from Adobe to discuss the issue.  Showed them all exactly how easy it is to see that it's not a network issue.  Standard reply about how important this issue is, top priority, etc, blah, blah.

Thursday, November 1 - Checked my email and giggled myself silly to be receiving an invitation to join ConnectUsers.com while at the same time being ignored by Adobe and shopping around for an alternative solution.

So, my distributor has actually been great about keeping me informed and staying in contact during this disaster, but all he can do is call me every few days and say, "no word from Adobe".

That's my story.

Dan

p.s. So far, I think I win the prize for "Most Ignored".  25 days and counting.  If I were in a turkish prison this long, they'd have a telethon for me.

p.p.s.  I forgot to mention that these problems are happening on an HP dc7600 which is a Pentium D running at 2.8GHz with 3GB of RAM.

Last edited by **_DanLynch_** (2007-11-01 18:56:25)

**_pafell_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

My firm is currently on Adobe Connect 6 SP2 and we're looking to upgrade to SP3 to take advantage of the more efficient codecs and turbo screen sharing.  While speaking with Tech Support about another issue I asked whether or not there had been any issues reported with SP3 that would be of enough concern to warrant waiting a bit before deploying SP3.

I was told that while there weren't any problems with SP3 that he was aware of "unless you feel the need to upgrade to SP3 to fix a specific problem you're having, I wouldn't".  He also implied that the turbo screen sharing wasn't notably faster which runs counter to what Adobe is saying publicly.

It's a little puzzling for a software vendor to recommend NOT installing their latest upgrade while at the same time telling me there's nothing wrong with it.  If the service pack has problems then pull it from your website, notify your customers not to deploy it, and work with those who have to identify/resolve the problems.

It seems from the posts I'm reading here that the problem isn't affecting everyone but I'm still a bit nervous about it and can't risk exposing my users to platform instability.

I'd be interested in hearing about system performance from those who are running on SP3 and what we should watch out for.

Thanks!

Also, thanks to Adobe for providing a forum for users of Connect to share ideas and experiences with the system.  An active and vocal user community will help improve the product and make it an even better platform for all of us.

**_DanLynch_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

Cute, isn't it?  You were told that there's no problem.  I was told that it's a known problem which they think is something to do with the new add-in.  I was also specifically told that this is the "number one priority" for the Adobe Connect engineering team right now.

If you're interested, the specific version being run on my hosted account right now is:

6.3,40
Connect 6.0 SP3 r. 40/c. 332051/b. Mon Aug 20 03:47:55 2007 (beet patch 113)
  Presenter r. 582
  FMS r. Dynamo_HotFix Serv_2_0_2_r61c

  patch:
      connect_603_r40_bug_1593902.jar
      connect_603_r40_bug_1600427.jar
      RegisterMeetingHandler.ase

You asked about performance and what to watch out for.  If you're planning to do any screen sharing, what you should watch out for is the fact that it's useless.  You can't possibly do a meaningful demonstration of anything when the software is locked up for 3 to 10 seconds every minute or so.

Yes, this does also lock up the camera.  No, it doesn't matter if you have the camera on or off.

Yes, this does also lock up the VOIP.  No, it doesn't matter if you have the VOIP on or off.

Also of note is the fact that Adobe hasn't gathered any meaningful information about my hardware or software configuration.  Since they obviously know this isn't an imaginary problem, that would lead one to believe that it doesn't matter what your hardware and software setup is, and they've been able to replicate the problem with any system they try.

Dan

Last edited by **_DanLynch_** (2007-11-02 10:16:36)

**_jameslloyd_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

Hi Folks, I've done 9 meetings now since replacing the cpu with the hyperthreading model and not experienced that freeze even once.  I believe it is a signifigant issue.  You all may want to try either hyperthreading or dual-processor computers.

Regarding Adobe - I too love this forum and am very grateful for it. 

But also regarding Adobe, the support ticket for this issue (now 21 days old) was escalated to engineering 3 days ago - and nothing from them yet.

**_pafell_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

Thanks for your insight Dan.  We do a lot of screen sharing in Connect so if the new add-in locks up THAT frequently we're best to stay put on SP2 until they sort this all out.  Yikes!

Unfortunately, the majority of our users' PCs are not dual-processor so even if the add-in performs as expected on dual-proc boxes it won't do me much good.

I'm glad to hear that it is their "top priority" but I'm baffled why if the ticket is 21 days old and the issue is as serious as it appears that it was only escalated to engineering 3 days ago.  I'd have to think that their clients on the hosted service are at their wit's end if Dan's experience is typical.

From my conversations with Adobe, they were debating whether or not to even put out Service Pack 3 and just wait to roll the bug fixes into Connect 7 next spring/summer.  Now it seems likely they will need to deploy another interim fix of some sort (either another SP or an updated add-in) before the next full release next year.  Ultimately, I think they'll "get it right" but when and how effectively that's communicated to their customers remains to be seen.

**_DanLynch_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

It would be interesting to know how this mess all happened.  We never will, of course, but it's fun to think about.

First, engineers are generally neither stupid nor careless.  When something this major is messed up, you can be certain that there were non-engineering forces at work pushing this release.  So what is this release?  It's mostly the "turbo" screen sharing.  There are some other things tossed into the salad, but that's really the only thing that counts as a major change which people may have been screaming to see.  But we still have the dilemma that engineers aren't stupid and yet the release is screwed up.  So how did that happen?

The most likely answer is not enough testing time.  In my experience with software engineers, that always means the schedule was rushed which 99.999% means sales/marketing was screaming to get the new feature.  In most R&D situations, sales and marketing can pretty much go play in the street as far as engineering is concerned.  You'll get the product when it's finished and tested, so sit down, keep quiet, and don't bother the adults.  The only exception to this is when there is a major customer jumping up and down on the table yelling that they want the new feature NOW or they're going to use a different vendor.

I don't think we'll ever know for sure, but I would bet that there is a very large Connect customer out there, who uses lots of turbo screen sharing and also happens to use only super high-speed computers for their meetings.  They're probably a new customer, but they might also have been a hosted customer with lots of licenses threatening to switch over to another vendor.  I'd bet the new version was tested at their site, worked great, and then deployed to the rest of us.

Of course, that could just be a fairy tale, but it's probably very close to being accurate.  If Adobe is paying any attention to this, I hope someone takes off the blinders for a few minutes and considers the huge damage which has been done to Connect's reputation by this one bad decision.

Dan

p.s. It should also be noted that right now, the engineers involved are probably flamingly mad and/or completely disgusted.  If my guess is correct or close to correct, the engineers were probably objecting to the release right up to the time when it became clear that they should either shut up and soldier or find a new job.  I have this mental image of a bunch of guys in Macromedia shirts sitting around a bonfire of Adobe logos.

**_Blik_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

Dan,

I laughed and cried at the same time when I read your post... I too have it clearly in front of me...

Marketing: "It's got to be out by Monday!"
Engineering: "But it's not properly tested yet!"
M: "But what I saw looked good."
E: "But we're not done yet! There are zillions of configurations left."
M: "Aah, come on - I promised!"
E: "Can't they wait another two weeks?"
M: "Nupp. If we don't deliver, they jump boat with WebEx. We sell less, have to cut our resources..."
E: "5 days!"
M: "You have 4 hours."

and so on and so forth...

(But I still love Connect, guys, it's great!)

Regards
Blik

**_jameslloyd_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

Hmm, is this really epidemic? I count 6 posters in this thread so I wonder if others have found the same thing.   Anyone know if we can create polls in PunBB?

pafell - I don't know if this makes a difference in allocating hardware, but the cpu issue is only for hosts and presenters - AFAIK attendees are not having any problems with the update since they don't use the add-in.

**_Blik_**

Re: Any problems with Connect 6 SP3 via the new plugin?

AFAIK attendees are not having any problems with the update since they don't use the add-in.

That's not right - I know of some participants whose PCs will crash instantly the moment they start their Camera&Voice Pod (no hosts, no presenters, but participants with extended rights to use the camera-pod).

But I can count their numbers with one hand (so far), so you're right by saying it isn't epidemic, but these users are lost to me and probably for Connect (generates bad vibes...)

Regards
Blik