muse s - connecting with brainflow (python), but not with brainbay

[windwerfer]

system: win11 (all updates), python 3.11 (brainflow 5.8.2), brainbay 2.7

testing if the device will connect to my laptop:
starting the default connection example (first one on https://brainflow.readthedocs.io/en/stable/Examples.html ) with (i have a muse s = board id is 39):
python brainflow-connection-test.py --board-id 39
the device will be found, connected to, and some data will be recorded.

doing the same in brainbay (choosing the muse s, not the muse s BLED because i do not have the dongle) will return 'failed to prepare session 17' (instandly, no scanning done, just some error).

i tried the same today on win10 (before reformating in installing win 11) and got the same error (it would also connect through pure python-brainflow).

is it possible to use brainbay/muse without the BLED bluetooth dongle?
could there be any other problems?

thank you for, writing this program. it seems amazing, i cant wait to try it out :-)

[windwerfer]

it was a bit late yesterday, and i did not spend as much effort preparing the post as i should have.

first i found that the brainbay forum https://brainbay.iphpbb3.com/ is not accessable from thailand (i thought it was down, thats why i did not look there first). so i will search there first now (i use a vpn now to access it).

also i started brainbay with the --debug option:

commandline:--debug
initialising Brainflow object ...
Brainflow: Board created.
Update channels for Device ID -1, device name = Synthetic
Board description = {"accel_channels":[17,18,19],"battery_channel":29,"ecg_channels":[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16],"eda_channels":[23],"eeg_channels":[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16],"eeg_names":"Fz,C3,Cz,C4,Pz,PO7,Oz,PO8,F5,F7,F3,F1,F2,F4,F6,F8","emg_channels":[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16],"eog_channels":[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16],"gyro_channels":[20,21,22],"marker_channel":31,"name":"Synthetic","num_rows":32,"package_num_channel":0,"ppg_channels":[24,25],"resistance_channels":[27,28],"sampling_rate":250,"temperature_channels":[26],"timestamp_channel":30}
the package number is at channel 0
the sampling rate is 250
Number of rows:32
available channels are as follows:
Now trying to add exg channels: chn1:exg chn2:exg chn3:exg chn4:exg chn5:exg chn6:exg chn7:exg chn8:exg chn9:exg chn10:exg chn11:exg chn12:exg chn13:exg chn14:exg chn15:exg chn16:exg
Now trying to add eda channels: chn23:eda
Now trying to add res channels: chn27:res chn28:res
Now trying to add temp channels: chn26:temp
Now trying to add accel channels: chn17:accel chn18:accel chn19:accel
Now trying to add gyro channels: chn20:gyro chn21:gyro chn22:gyro
Now trying to add ppg channels: chn24:ppg chn25:ppg
Now trying to add pcount channels: chn0:pcount
Now trying to add batt channels: chn29:batt
Now trying to add time channels: chn30:time
Now trying to add marker channels: chn31:marker
Added total number of 32 data channels!
Brainflow: release current Board.
Brainflow: delete Board class
Brainflow: Board release done.
Brainflow: Board created.
Update channels for Device ID 39, device name = MuseS
Board description = {"eeg_channels":[1,2,3,4],"eeg_names":"TP9,Fp1,Fp2,TP10","marker_channel":7,"name":"MuseS","num_rows":8,"other_channels":[5],"package_num_channel":0,"sampling_rate":256,"timestamp_channel":6}
the package number is at channel 0
the sampling rate is 256
Number of rows:8
available channels are as follows:
Now trying to add exg channels: chn1:exg chn2:exg chn3:exg chn4:exg
Added total number of 4 data channels!
EEG Channel 1 has name TP9
EEG Channel 2 has name Fp1
EEG Channel 3 has name Fp2
EEG Channel 4 has name TP10
skipping Channel 0
Using OUT PORT 0 for BF-Channel 1
Using OUT PORT 1 for BF-Channel 2
Using OUT PORT 2 for BF-Channel 3
Using OUT PORT 3 for BF-Channel 4
skipping Channel 5
skipping Channel 6
skipping Channel 7 <- finished loading the brainflow board into my test design
Brainflow: start session. <- press F7
Brainflow: Exception handler triggered.

if there are any other ways to help troubleshoot, please let me know. i would really like to fix the problem.
my programming skills are not that cracked up to be (especially c++), but i can compile things if it helps.

as i said, i find this project pretty amazing. the node style scripting makes it a breeze to create my own designs without programming.. thats awsome. hope i can get it to work with my device. thanks for all the hard work!

[ChrisVeigl]

thank you or the detailled report!
unfortunately I don't know why the problem happens, as the "Muse S" device (ID 39) should be supported. It is opened like any other device. I can try to update the Brainflow libraries and rebuild the executable, maybe this will help. I will do this in a few days when I am back at my development machine, and post a note here as soon as the update is done.

[windwerfer]

that would be very much appreciated. thank you, lets try that.

[ChrisVeigl]

i just updated the brainflow libraries and added the timeout parameter - maybe this helps,
see https://github.com/ChrisVeigl/BrainBay/releases/tag/v2.8

[windwerfer]

thank you for the update. i tried it and there is still error nr 17 (instantly). i tried setting the timeout to 10, but it didnt change. instant error 17. i found in the brainbay programm folder the file brainflow_error_log.log and it had the following content:

[2023-07-15 17:16:44.091] [board_logger] [info] incoming json: {"file":"","file_anc":"","file_aux":"","ip_address":"192.168.4.1","ip_address_anc":"","ip_address_aux":"","ip_port":4567,"ip_port_anc":0,"ip_port_aux":0,"ip_protocol":0,"mac_address":"","master_board":-100,"other_info":"","serial_number":"","serial_port":"COM4","timeout":10}
[2023-07-15 17:16:44.098] [board_logger] [info] Use timeout for discovery: 10
[2023-07-15 17:16:44.098] [board_logger] [error] failed to load lib
[2023-07-15 17:16:44.098] [board_logger] [error] Failed to init dll_loader
[2023-07-15 17:16:44.098] [board_logger] [error] failed to prepare session17
[2023-07-15 17:16:50.485] [board_logger] [error] failed to stop stream15

when i try to load another brainbay board (i tried the notionosc2) i get:

[2023-07-15 17:54:40.012] [board_logger] [info] incoming json: {"file":"","file_anc":"","file_aux":"","ip_address":"192.168.4.1","ip_address_anc":"","ip_address_aux":"","ip_port":4567,"ip_port_anc":0,"ip_port_aux":0,"ip_protocol":0,"mac_address":"","master_board":-100,"other_info":"","serial_number":"","serial_port":"COM4","timeout":0}
[2023-07-15 17:54:45.026] [board_logger] [error] no data received in 5sec, stopping thread
[2023-07-15 17:54:45.026] [board_logger] [error] WSAGetLastError is 10060
[2023-07-15 17:54:45.027] [board_logger] [error] failed to start stream7
[2023-07-15 17:54:55.740] [board_logger] [error] failed to stop stream11

it seems to fail to load some libraries. i am pretty sure that it is hard to debug from afar, is there anything i can do to help out troubleshooting? (i installed microsoft visual studio 2019 and compiled brainbay successfully, but since i have no experience in c++, i do not know what do there :-)

so it seems that it is specific to the muse device, not brainflow in general.

[ChrisVeigl]

thanks for these additional insights.
AFAIK I copied all brainflow libraries and dlls into the brainbay folder after the new brainflow build.
maybe it's a muse-related lib/dll... it's a pity that the error log doe not tell which dll is needed....

3 more things you could try:

*) increase the timeout (i think it's milliseconds) to 2000 or 3000 - i remember that somebody reported that a longer time is needed for establishing connection
*) copy all muse related .dlls you can find to the briainbay bin folder
*) ask andrey / in the brainflow slack channel about possible reasons

[windwerfer]

thank you for the advice. i downloaded the git master branch from brainbay and copied the dll files over. and it worked a bit more. i now get (timeout 100s, i tried with longer values but it just freezes brainbay for longer):

{"file":"","file_anc":"","file_aux":"","ip_address":"192.168.4.1","ip_address_anc":"","ip_address_aux":"","ip_port":4567,"ip_port_anc":0,"ip_port_aux":0,"ip_protocol":0,"mac_address":"","master_board":-100,"other_info":"","serial_number":"","serial_port":"COM4","timeout":100}
[2023-07-21 05:18:04.028] [board_logger] [info] Use timeout for discovery: 100
[2023-07-21 05:18:04.041] [board_logger] [info] found 1 BLE adapter(s)
[2023-07-21 05:18:04.054] [board_logger] [warning] Probably bluetooth is disabled.
[2023-07-21 05:19:44.055] [board_logger] [error] Failed to find Muse Device
[2023-07-21 05:19:45.062] [board_logger] [error] failed to prepare session7

(but bluetooth is activated and working - tested with muselsl)

i will ask andrey / in the brainflow slack channel about possible reasons. just wanted to let you know that there is progress. thank you.

[ChrisVeigl]

okay -- thanks for the update! I have no idea why the BT-connection can't be opened successfully by the Brainflow library...

BTW: in case you download from the master branch (or install the current version using the setup exe) you do not need to replace the .dlls - they should be up-to-date.