Diags folder

Introduction

The introduction to Diagnostics article is the place to look for general information about the files described here for Cumulus 1.

This article is only for Cumulus 1 users, please see MXDiags_folder for equivalent file if you use Cumulus MX.

File type, and content

All diagnostic log files are simple text files, with multiple lines (inside a file) containing the time and a description of each event.

Entries in cumulus.~og are identified by a date (in your selected Windows locale format) and time (to milliseconds) e..g. 28/01/2017 14:29:31.083 : Reading cumulus.ini file

These latter files log many of the actions performed by Cumulus 1. They will show the Cumulus specific files that have been accessed, values found (or calculated) from log files, before and after values for updates to highs and lows for monthly and annual extreme records, rejected spikes, and much more.

File growth and deletion

A new file is created in this sub-folder each time Cumulus is restarted, after deleting the oldest and renaming the other old files to maintain the naming sequence.

Entries are added to the cumulus.~og file while Cumulus is left running, regardless of whether debugging is on or off (see example above).

To avoid loss (or inaccuracy) of readings being processed from your weather station, it is best if Cumulus is left running, and not restarted except when unavoidable. Consequently, the current diagnostic files will grow in size. If the file is left to grow too large, Cumulus will crash. Therefore, you may want to delete these files.

Any diagnostic file can be deleted at any time as Cumulus does not read from them. Cumulus creates a new file if necessary to continue its logging.

Solving Cumulus 1 Errors

The diagnostic file cumulus.~og also logs error messages, often with extra information compared to the error window (accessed by clicking error light/indicator), and that file may help you if you have a problem.

When you ask for support via the forum, you often need to upload (as a zip) one, or all, of the diagnostic files in the Diags folder especially for problems that occur when you start or restart Cumulus. Include all files in the folder, unless you definitely know that a single diags file contains all the information for both when Cumulus 1 is running normally, and when it encountered the problem and failed.

In Windows Explorer, open the Cumulus installation folder (default is C:\Cumulus). Right-click on the 'Diags' folder, and from the pop-up menu, select 'Send to -> Compressed (zipped) Folder' (available in most Windows versions). This will create a file called Diags.zip. Add debug.log from the folder above the files described on this page into the zip.

Post your message in the forum, and attach the zip file using the 'Attachment' section below the area where you have typed your message (browse for the file, then click 'Add the file').

Sample File for Cumulus 1

An extract from a cumulus.~og file

28/01/2017 14:29:31.082 : System Uptime: 37 minutes 24 seconds 
28/01/2017 14:29:31.082 : Locale = 2057 ENG: United Kingdom (English (United Kingdom))
28/01/2017 14:29:31.082 : List separator=, Decimal separator=. Date separator=/ Time separator=:
28/01/2017 14:29:31.083 : Reading cumulus.ini file
28/01/2017 14:29:31.084 : Cumulus start date: 25/09/2011
28/01/2017 14:29:31.097 : Looking for strings file: T:\Cumulus\strings.ini
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : WindUnit=mph RainUnit=mm TempUnit=°C PressureUnit=in
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : YTDRain=0.000 Year=2008
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : RainDayThreshold=0.400
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : Offsets and Multipliers:
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : PO=0.000 TO=0.000 HO=0 WDO=0 ITO=100.000 DAO=0.000
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : WSM=1.300 WGM=1.099 TM=1.000 TM2=0 HM=1.000 RM=1.000
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : Spike removal:
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : TD=20.00 GD=30.00 WD=30.00 HD=60.00 PD=80.00
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : MR=100.00 MH=30.00
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : WMR200TempChannel=1 VP2SleepInterval=0 GraphHours=36 ChartMaxDays=31
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : Debug log is off
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : NoSensorCheck=0
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : UseDataLogger=1
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : Station type: Fine Offset
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : COM port = 0
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : Short date format: 28/01/2017
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : Long date format: 28 January 2017
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : Short time format: 14:29
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : Long time format: 14:29:31
28/01/2017 14:29:31.098 : VarToDateTime is using this format to convert dates:  dd/MM/yyyy
28/01/2017 14:29:31.416 : Creating backup folder T:\Cumulus\backup\20170128142931\
28/01/2017 14:29:32.004 : 625 web tags initialised
28/01/2017 14:29:32.004 : 14:29:32 EWUSB: Creating EW USB
28/01/2017 14:29:32.023 : Showing main form
28/01/2017 14:29:32.060 : Todaydatestring = 28/01/17
28/01/2017 14:29:32.060 : Looking for T:\Cumulus\data\today.ini
28/01/2017 14:29:32.060 : Today.ini exists