Step7 - Bits setting spuriously during WinCC Flex 2005 download to panels

I had a call from a customer this morning who's on site commissioning a system for which I did the HMI in WinCC Flex. The system is a 315-2 DP with 3 ET200s, 3 non-Siemens burner controllers and three Siemens OPs all connected to the Profibus port on the 315. The customer swears that when he downloads a modified version of the HMI S/W to the panels Bits in the CPU memory get set spuriously. The guy's had about ten years Step5 & Step7 experience, so I'm inclined to believe him even if it does sound pretty unlikely!

Has anybody ever seen anything like this?

No, havent seen it.
Are the relevant bits some that are defined as tags in the HMI ?

No, he spotted the problem because some of the Bits that were getting set were Alarm Bits which caused the plant to shut down (more than a bit embarrassing!). So far he hasn't been able to spot any pattern as to which Bits are getting set.

RMA said:

The customer swears that when he downloads a modified version of the HMI S/W to the panels Bits in the CPU memory get set spuriously

Click to expand...

But when he downloads the original version everything is ok ?
Who has done the modifications ?

But when he downloads the original version everything is ok ?

Click to expand...

That's interesting, I hadn't thought of that, I'll ask him. He's been doing the mods on-site in response to customer request and he knows what he's doing - he's been working with WinCC Flex for over two years, which is longer than anybody I've ever talked to!

Just talked to the customer, he has tried going back to the original version, but he will when he gets a chance.

The Siemens hot-line people have suggested installing Hotfix 5 for WinCC Flex (no, I didn't know it existed either, it's only about two months since Hotfix 4 came out!) and updating the panel firmware - I guess he's going to be busy for a while!

Hotfix 5 for WinCC Flex 2005 is available at http://support.automation.siemens.com/ww/view/de/24104401 that's the German page but if you click on the "English" button, you land in the right place.

On another forum, I have been warned against installing HF5. According to the people there it causes more problems than it solves.

But I get another idea.
If you can, download the modified application to another panel. It must not be on the target profibus network.
Then, upload the image with Prosave.
Finally, download the image to the target panel, again with Prosave.
If the problem does not appear then, we will know that there is a bug in WinCC Flex.