PanelViewPlus Firmware could not be completed

Hello everyone,

I have a new Allen-Bradley PanelViewPlus1500, color, touch terminal pre-loaded with firmware version 3.2.06.42 (Catalog # 2711P-T15C4D2). I programmed my application with RSViewStudioME version 4.0 so I proceeded to upgrade the terminal to 4.0 (CPR7). When I performed the firmware upgrade (using CompactFlash) I got the following message:

"The firmware update could not be completed. Cause: This is a pre-release version of the terminal that does not have the storage capacity to support this upgrade."

Has anyone seen this before and know what I can do about it? I certainly don't want to have to put version 3.2 of RSViewStudio back on my computer and rewrite the application. I performed the same firmware upgrade on a different PV+1500 about six weeks ago using the same file and method without any problems. Any ideas?

Here are some notes I found from the Rockwell Knowledgebase (G108654899- Firmware upgrade on PanelView Plus / VersaView CE fails.). Did you follow these suggestions with the successful PV+ upgrade, and not the one that failed?


1. Always use a firmware upgrade card. Do not use Ethernet.
2. Always delete all MER files, log files, and Kepware drivers from the terminal before attempting to upgrade the firmware. To delete the Kepware drivers from the terminal, see technote A50957787. Make sure there is no MER file running on the terminal.

3. Always start the upgrade while the terminal is showing the configuration screen (after the unit has been reset/power cycled without an application loading - this resets the RAM memory allocation).

4. Always wait (upgrades can take up to 20 minutes) for the upgrade to complete (The user is prompted to pull the card and reset the terminal.)

DO NOT PULL THE COMPACT FLASH CARD FROM THE TERMINAL UNTIL PROMPTED TO DO SO!

If this doesn't work, I'd suggest contacting Rockwell Tech support.

Rick

Thanks Rick. Yeah, I followed all those points, it was a new terminal right out of the box so there was nothing loaded on it. I have sent a support request to Rockwell and I'm just waiting for a response. I checked the online knowledgebase and couldn't find any reference to the message I got. Sometimes I find I get a quicker response on this web site so I thought I'd give it a try. Thanks for your suggestion.

I posed the question to my local distributor and they sent me a tech note they received last week. Apparently I may have an older version of the Firmware Upgrade Wizard (I downloaded in November) that doesn't always calculate the space available on a terminal correctly. The fix is to download the latest version (from December). I'll try it tomorrow and post my results. Here's the link to the technote:

http://domino.automation.rockwell.com/applications/kb/RAKB.nsf/0/2EE3670089B0057A8525710000634C55?OpenDocument

Yup, using the "new" firmware update utility did the trick. I just downloaded the "old" one in November, sheesh. All is fine now.