Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Fri, 09/22/2017 - 23:59
For at least the tenth time today, I have had VPHOT report "Flash Error ..." when trying to upload images.
I've reebooted, re-signed on, and am really getting frustrated. I've got 350+ images to load and after ~10 to 20, (sometimes after a single image) I get the error message. Am I the only one?
Lew
Lew,
This morning I was trying to load multiple files and halfway into the 2nd file it would hang, fail and sometimes give:
"Flash object reported an IOError attempting to upload file". And this was when the server load was shown as "None".
--John
I'm having problems with loading again. It gets about 85% into the second file then throws and "Upload Failed!" message. These are not big files. 768KB each.
With so many retries this now beggs the question I know I've seen people ask before; that is, with all the VPHOT file names being identical, how do we know which got uploaded and which did not? Even with the upload failures, some of them seem to get through. In other words; does Vphot check for duplicates somehow; i.e. check for duplicate Julian Dates? And a related question; how do I verify that a given specific file on my machine actually got loaded if VPHOT shows all identical file names? If we are loading hundreds of files it doesn't seem practical manaully check each FITS header or the like. Or stated differently, how do I cross-check between specific files on my machine and those on VPHOT?
--John
This has been an ongoing problem ever since the 'upgrade'.
I've had much, much better luck with the upload "W"izard, but that's not always good, either. Sometimes I disparagingly refer to it as the "Gizzard" or the "Lizard", with tongue-in-cheek. I just tried to upload 160 files from T24 (1.4GB) and the upload held until I clicked the "NEXT" and VPHOT has been grinding on it for ten minutes so far. Just sits there, with the "wheel" turning and turning.
Stupidly, I forgot to have iTelescope solve the plates and forward them to AAVSO last night. But NOW I see they all got through! On to my next set of images from last night (from my 'scope).
Lew
Thanks Lew! That is working for me, at least for the moment.
I can only upload one file at a time. I've tried Chrome, Firefox, and IE, it only lets me select one file when using the "quick upload", which of course it isn't. And even then it takes forever, and I have a 10 mbps upload speed.
Jeff
The key for your browser is to enable active x scritping, different procedures for different browsers. Google enabling Active X for your particular browser, and it will allow you select and upload all files at the same time. Different issue. I keep getting upload fail after two. This morning it worked then it works partially..it's very frustrating because I have 24 hours worth of data that I can't upload... Best!
I have 7 nights of data in limbo. Cannot get it to VPHOT. Tried 3 computers, 4 locations, and all 3 browsers. Very unclear how to get Flash accepted by these browsers. Something is not working right here.
I suspect George is working very hard on this.
Gary
Multiple selection requires that you enable Active X scripting for your particular browser.
Google enable Active X on your (name) browser and doing that will allow you to select multiple files for upload...now whether it will upload or not it's a different issues , mine works sometimes and at other times it hangs and fails..I suspect it has to do with their server.
Best!
I had the problem but multi-image uploads just now worked for me (Windows 7)
Thanks George
Mike
Thanks Mike for alerting me
I got a single night to upload. It was pretty slow. MIght be the remainder of Irma, Jose, or Maria here on my end.
Will try more tomorrow. Thanks George,Ken and all. Using Chrome, Win7/64.
Gary
Hello
Update this morning. I am able to upload the test image at 1.25 MB/sec, which is my normal speed. That's about >10x faster than last night. However the test image appears to complete, but the "next" button never lights up, and I cannot proceed. It appears that the que is not moving this am. Also, this morning, the "shif-click" to select all does not work--it worked last night. This was using the Wizzard. Hope this helps.
Update using the Quick Upload and Flash option. It loads a few images and then boggs down, then stops. No luck trying the simple method either.
Gary
All VPhot Users:
So you know, George and I have been regularly reading the comments from our frustrated users. We have discussed possible causes including: (1) the apparent correlation with the switch to a more robust AWS instance, (2) the observation of potential "Flash" related problems from a very old flash tool within vphot, and (3) the increased daily number of images uploaded to VPhot recently and a potential RAM exceedance.
We have discussed some corrective actions and are looking at them in a logical, albeit slow process.
The fact that the upload problems are intermittent, although increasingly frequent, does make it more difficult to pinpoint but hopefully not impossible. The long term plan to update the AWS instance to a current Windows Server OS (x64) will hopefully help but will take a while to execute since it will also require some recompilation of VPhot.
In the mean time we will try to determine if the AWS switch could reasonably be expected to have precipitated the problem. A switch to an alternative AWS instance may have a financial roadblock due to the contract fine print!. However, we won't let that prevent the change if appropriate.
Please understand that we are working to correct the problem but don't really have a good guess on time frame for a permanent fix. We do hope it will not take too long!
Ken and George
JUST TO LET EVERYONEKNOW, I'VE HAD GREAT DIFFICULTIES WITH THE UPLOAD LIZARD AS WELL.
LEW