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During the last 6 days of racing we were using timer CP 540. Yesterday, during our race, the CP timer printed the following message:

TCP seq not expected

I was wondering if anyone came across the same message.

Because I did not find any information in the manual, I am just guessing that it could be related to data transfer between Split Second and timer CP 540.

That message appeared only on the one system right after the false signal in the finish - after the racer finished (first signal) and flying snow from his skis flew across the finish line (second signal).

our setup was:
finish eyes - Tag Heuer 2-32, impulse length set to: 1.2
timers - CP 540, IP manually assigned, network connection through provided Ethernet cross connection cable
software - Split Second, delay in the finish 2.5sec

cheers

Dusan Kafka
Whistler
Original Post

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Yes, I have seen that message - along with many other TCP/IP-related error messages - from the 540.

Our testing has shown the TCP/IP stack in the 540 has a lot of problems. Too many to list here.

Last year I sent some example software I wrote, which crashes the 540's TCP/IP stack on demand, as well as a bunch of tapes showing the resulting error messages, to the Canadian TAG Heuer distributor, who then forwarded the material to Switzerland.

To date TAG Heuer has not addressed the issues.

I might add that the serial port on the 540 has performed fine in our tests. Other than the botched attempt at TCP/IP implementation, it is otherwise a pretty solid little machine if you can get past TAG Heuer's bizarre choice of connector hardware.
Hi Deuce,

My name is Marcus, from TAG Heuers headquarter.
Don't worry about the message you get.
TCP seq not expected  

This is not a bad behavior of the Ethernet connection of the CP540.
You got this message because the sequential bib which was attended by the timer did not correspond to this sent back by your computer.
This message will be hidden in the new release. Next Firmware version vC.02 will be available soon.

@James: may you give me more information about the softwares you made in order to crash the Chronoprinter on demand? We not heard about this but could be helpful although. Will give you my email in private.

Cheers
Like most replies I've seen from TAG Heuer "tech support", what Marcus wrote is complete bullshit. TH always blame the application software or the PC or the power or the weather, because of course their own engineering is always perfect...according to them.

Same type of non-reply we got from TH when SIX of their start clocks croaked in the first 3 days of the World Alpine Championships, back in the day.

The fact remains that the "TCP Sequence Not Expected" error message appears spuriously on the 540 even when the application software is only listening (i.e. not sending "this sent back by your computer" at all).

Other common error messages spewed by the TCP/IP itfc on the 540 are:

"eth frm1 error"

and

"tcp frame re-send"

It's not my job to diagnose TH's hardware problems, but as far as I can determine, the majority of the instability in the 540's TCP/IP stack stems from poor connection timeout housekeeping. The nature of TCP/IP's "stateless" connection requires careful attention to timeout recovery, as network connectivity comes and goes. The 540's firmware does not handle this properly. If you test this carefully, you can get one TCP/IP client to use up all four of the 540's available socket connections (as each goes dead in sequence) until the 540 will not accept any further connex.

As I stated in my previous post, my tests with the 540 have shown it to be stable and perfectly adequate when used as a serial device. If you really need to connect via TCP/IP, then I recommend you use a properly-engineered TCP/IP -> serial converter connected to the 540 via serial. And, of course, be sure you have a spare RJ-11 -> DB9 cable handy, as TH's horrible choice of RJ-11s will cause problems when the little plastic tab snaps off in the cold.

But of course nobody would ever use this product in cold weather.
Have difficulty connecting directly to computer using IP. As James says have a multi port IP serial converter connecting to timer, computer and ethernet/interenet has worked great for me. Got the tip from Geoff Elder at Splitsecond. We always run one 540 on Serial and other on IP. Still can not get out to internet via wireless due to IP issues. Use of IP spliter is nessary. got times synce'd to .0001 all day at all of our races. Good device.
Won't be using ethernet connection anymore on my 540's. It crashed at the worst time, right in the middle of a race. It had new firmware installed in November 2012. The timer had the impulses and all times were still on timer A. Scoreboards showed racer still on course, Live timing showed same racer still on course after 5 miniuts. It caused a 10 miniute delay in the race while we switched over to serial. FKP witnessed and will add photos of the messages generated during com failure between timer and computer. This raised eyebrows and I almost sent the machine into orbit.

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