Ethernet driver: what am I doing wrong

I'm trying to configure an ethernet driver and when I browse sswho nothing shows up on the network. I have very little experience with configuring ethernet drivers and have mostly worked with serial port.

Which driver do I use? I've been using the Ethernet/IP driver, browsing the local subnet and selecting the IP address that matches the address found under Local Area Connection.


Screen caps attached below

try using the "ETHERNET DEVICES" driver instead ... you'll have to manually type in the IP address - but that driver will often work where the ETHERNET/IP driver will not ...

have you tried to "ping" the IP address? ... that's usually the first step to take when setting up something new over Ethernet ...

When I use the Ethernet Devices driver and enter my IPv4 address of 192.168.1.9 and then check rswho the only thing that pops up is "192.168.1.9 RSlix, RSlinx Server" so I assumed that was the incorrect driver. Also, this isn't the 1st time this laptop has connected to this network and I don't know how to ping anything on the network.

You need to test your network. Just ping any known ip address on the network.

LowRange said:

I don't know how to ping anything on the network.

Click to expand...

Just google it or look for a video on youtube.

first things first ...

what device are you trying to connect to? (example: the Ethernet port on a MicroLogix 1100) ...

what is the IP address of that device? (example: 192.168.1.9) ...

TIP: you're saying "my IP address" - but we're not sure whether you mean the IP address of the device that you're trying to connect TO - or the IP address of the computer that you're trying to connect FROM ... please be more specific ...

what is the IP address of the computer that you're trying to connect FROM? ... (is that the 192.168.1.9 - or something else?) ...

what type of physical connection are you using? ... a "straight-through" Ethernet cable - or a "cross-over" type? ... or do you have a switch/hub/etc. being used in the connection? ...

there's a basic idea of how to "ping" something shown below ...

I'm offline for the rest of the night - but the forum members should be able to help - if you can give them enough information ... one-size does NOT fit all ... we need details in order to nail this down for you ...

good luck ...
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Here's a bit of an update. I've changed the laptop's IP address to 10.20.5.1 from 192.168.1. I believe the IP address of the laptop had been changed to 192.168.1 to communicate with a PVP+ 1000 on another production line when downloading a factorytalk application to it recently. After taking a look at IP address of the PVP+ 400 I'm trying to communicate with a light bulb came on and I realized that the laptop's IP address needed to be changed back to 10.20.5.X to be similar to the IP address of the devices on the production line I am attempting to communicate with (switch, PVP+400, CompactLogix PF525 all under the 10.20.x format). Still unable to communicate with anything on the line I pinged the address of the PVP+ 400 (10.20.5.42) and it failed.

I imagine my next step is to grab a length of known to be good ethernet cable, a spare PVP+ with IP 10.20.40 and to attempt to communicate with the PVP+ in a controlled environment to verify that I am configuring ethernet drivers correctly. Once I can configure a driver correctly I'll connect to the PVP+400 on the line by bypassing the switch and connecting directly to the HMI.

Once I can talk to the PVP+400 on the line I'll explore why the application's communications setting do not match the terminal's communications settings so I can go about resolving this issue and then finally explore why I can't communicate from the maint office to the production line.

I've got a spare PVP+400 IP 10.20.5.50, a length of ethernet cable, the laptop IP 10.20.5.10 and rslinx. I can ping IP 10.20.5.50 of the PVP+400 and get a good ping. The only way I can get the PVP+400 to pop up in rswho is to configure an Ethernet Devices driver with the PVP+400's IP address.

How do I configure a driver that will allow me to enter the laptop's IP address and see devices on the network? Surely I don't have to configure an Ethernet Devices driver for every single device every single time I want to communicate with something. I distinctly remember seeing every IP address of every device on the production line in the network under rswho in the past.

LowRange said:

Here's a bit of an update. I've changed the laptop's IP address to 10.20.5.1 from 192.168.1. I believe the IP address of the laptop had been changed to 192.168.1 to communicate with a PVP+ 1000 on another production line when downloading a factorytalk application to it recently. After taking a look at IP address of the PVP+ 400 I'm trying to communicate with a light bulb came on and I realized that the laptop's IP address needed to be changed back to 10.20.5.X to be similar to the IP address of the devices on the production line I am attempting to communicate with (switch, PVP+400, CompactLogix PF525 all under the 10.20.x format). Still unable to communicate with anything on the line I pinged the address of the PVP+ 400 (10.20.5.42) and it failed.

I imagine my next step is to grab a length of known to be good ethernet cable, a spare PVP+ with IP 10.20.40 and to attempt to communicate with the PVP+ in a controlled environment to verify that I am configuring ethernet drivers correctly. Once I can configure a driver correctly I'll connect to the PVP+400 on the line by bypassing the switch and connecting directly to the HMI.

Once I can talk to the PVP+400 on the line I'll explore why the application's communications setting do not match the terminal's communications settings so I can go about resolving this issue and then finally explore why I can't communicate from the maint office to the production line.

Click to expand...

If the IP address of your PV+ is 10.20.5.42, then your laptop address should be 10.20.5.xxx (x's being any number 1-255 that is unused in that subnet), and your subnet mask matching that device you are trying to connect to, I.E.: 255.255.255.0.

The generic AB_ETHIP-1 driver should work just fine. As long as your target device is on your network, it should show up in RSLinx. If the address shows up as a yellow '?', then you need a matching EDS file for the device.

Also, if you have an ethernet cable plugged into your laptop, and are also utilizing your wireless card (wifi, I saw in your picture that you have a Dell driver for it), that sometimes creates havoc in RSLinx. It's not sure which connection it should be browsing with, so limit your connectivity to a single path.

I'm on my way to work - so I don't have much time - but this idea might help ...

the Ethernet/IP driver will ONLY work for devices which are relatively NEW ... specifically, some OLDER devices are NOT compliant with Ethernet/IP ... for those older devices you MUST use the "Ethernet Devices" driver - and NOT the "Ethernet/IP" driver ...

read this link ...

http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showpost.php?p=682227&postcount=6

basic idea: the "Ethernet Devices" driver will NOT automatically browse - but at least it works for all of the older devices - as well as for the newer devices too ... the bad news is that you must know the addresses of all of the devices that you want to connect to - and type them into the list ...

the "Ethernet/IP" driver WILL automatically browse for devices - but it will ONLY find the "newer" type devices which are Ethernet/IP compliant ... the tricky part is that the "IP" in Ethernet/IP does NOT stand for Internet Protocol ... so ... just because a device has an IP address does NOT mean that it is Ethernet/IP "compliant" ... (so what nut came up with that idea?) ...

when using the "Ethernet Devices" driver, you must manually type in the IP addresses that you want to connect to ... you do NOT need a new separate driver for each individual connection - when you configure the Ethernet Devices driver you can fill in a list of what you want to see ... (but note that these must all be on the same "subnet" ... in other words, something like 10.10.10.x cannot be added to the list to connect to 168.192.68.x) ...
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wish I had more time ... off to work ...
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The problem has been resolved. For those who are interested:

An Ethernet Devices driver configured with an IP of 10.20.5.10 (same as the laptop's) was not able to communicate with a spare PVP+400 IP 10.20.5.50 when connected to the laptop by a known to be good length of cable. I changed the laptop's IP to 10.20.5.42 and configured another Ethernet Devices driver to 10.20.5.42 and then I was able to communicate with the the spare PVP+400 IP 10.20.5.50. With the Ethernet Devices driver configured as IP 10.20.5.42 I connected to the production line network and was then able communicate with all the devices on the line. Interestingly, 10.20.5.42 is the IP of a PVP+400 on the production line. I changed the laptop's IP back to 10.20.5.10, configured another Ethernet Devices driver as IP 10.20.5.10 and was still able to communicate with the devices on the line. "It" wanted me to do the same thing over and over, become the definition of insanity and then sort of snapped out of it and began working again.

Thank you for all the help