Allen Bradley & Dual Core Processors

Fantastic - My new dell arrived today dual core

The KT_1 driver in RSLinx has had a rough time of things in version 2.50. Three different bugs in that driver have been patched since release, and two of them are described in Knowbase Answer ID 36203 and Answer ID 33851.

These problem are limited to the KT_1 driver and the 1784-PCMK and 1784-PKTX cards. They do not affect the DF1 Full Duplex driver or any ControlNet or Ethernet drivers.

So your problem may not be related to the dual-core architecture of your PC.

Can you post some information about the driver statistics in RSLinx ? Where exactly are you looking at the "Timeouts, ACK/NAK Timeouts, Retries, ENQ's Received, NAK's Sent and Packets Cancelled. Then Comm error 00005." ?

Do you have a good chassis ground hooked up on the MicroLogix 1200 ?

Brinkmann said:

We have:

A) 1762-L24AWA Micrologix 1200 PLC

B) 1761-CBL-PM02 Ser. C Cable (Serial to PLC)

C) AB 9300-USBS Adapter (USB to Serial) with Prolific Software/Driver

D) RS LInx Classic Rev. 2.50.00.20

E) RSLogix 500 Rev. 7.00.00 (CPR 7)

F) HP Pavillion 8330 Computer (only has USB Ports)

1) With ther HP 8330 Computer using USB Adapter I can connect to the PLC

Driver Type: RS-232-DF1

Device Name: AB_DF1-1 Device: SLC-CHO/Micro/Panelview

Comm Port: COM 4 Station Number: 00

Baud Rate: 19200 Error Checking: CRC

Parity: None Protocol: Full Duplex

Stop Bits: 1

These were obtained by the "auto configuration" function in the software.

1) I can connect to the PLC for a short period of time.

In the RSWho-1 Screen (RSLinx) On auto browse at the start it will show node 0 found (computer) and alternate to node 1 found (PLC). They willl alternate back and forth.

It will stay connected for a matter of minutes up to 10 minutes or so. As time goes on it will not show node 1 found. Then it looses the connection and goes off line.

Then come the Timeouts, ACK/NAK Timeouts, Retries, ENQ's Received, NAK's Sent and Packets Cancelled. Then Comm error 00005.



2) Searching the AB Knowledgebase I found that AB has a problem with the dual core processors. They are aware of the problem. A patch has been developed for use with a PCMK card. No patch is available for the USB adapter.

3) One of their suggestions was to turn off one of the processors. According to HP this is not possible.

Has anyone found any other way to fix this problem??

Thanks in Advance!

Click to expand...

Brinkmann,
I have to compliment you for the details of your post.( per Ken Roach's request)
This is the way it should be done before asking your question.
Good job.
Sorry I don't have an ansewer for your question.

It could be more related to your OS or BIOS (the only thing you didn't list ) than your CPU. Is your USB port "going to sleep"?? Check your power settings.


And thanks for the incredible detail in your OP!!!

I had problems with a new Dell Intel D processor chipset with RSView ADS Client package (version 7.1). Tech support and I were never able to track down the actual cause because the program was bombing out on mfc24.dll (which is used and shared everywhere). I then installed the ADS package on a Dell Pentium 4 machine and had it up and running in 5 minutes. My guess is that either the chipset or motherboard hardware was causing my conflict. On the flip side may laptop has a Core Duo processor on XP Pro and I have no issues with any Rockwell software that I use.

Ken,

Unit ran at .97 packets/sec. Wasn't D/L a program, just connected to the PLC. Total packets sent matched reply package received uptil 640 or so. This number will vary each time you connect. At time of lost connection (red x)
Timeouts 2
ACK/NAK Timeouts 3
Retries 9
ENQs Received 1
NAKs Sent 12
Packets Cancelled 6

Of course these numbers will continue to increase the longer you stay connected

After many hours with AB support, it's my understanding that the problem is:

with the USB to serial connector, somehow the PLC looks at each processor for timing or acknowlegment of packets. Not real sure of all the details. Depending on which one replies or it looks at the timing gets out of wack. That why I can initially connect and after a period of time it looses connection.

Ground connection is good.

Ozee,
Bios I know enought to be dangerous. In a desparate attempt HP sent to programs to reflash the BIOS, which we did. We had turned off the power saving mode for the USB ports which shouldn't allow the port "goto sleep" as you mentioned.

LBJ

Don't know what ADS Client package is.

Is this just a problem with RSlinx 2.5?

I am using 2.4 with a dual core processor and USB to serial converter and have had 0 problems.

Maybe there is a problem with your USB converter?

allscott,

Not sure if the previous versions have this problem. I am using the Serial to USB converter provided by Allen Bradley.

brinkman,
I hope you are using XP_Pro instead of Home version.
I have had trouble before and I used this to correct it.
Right click on a open area in the "tray". This is lower right corner of desktop where the clock is along with a bunch of other icons that show what applications are running in the background of windows. When the small window pops up with your choices, select "TaskManager". When the TaskManager gets displayed, click on the "Processes" tab at the top. Right click on the "RSLINX.EXE" listing and click on "Set Priority". Choose something above "Normal" and see if it helps. See the attached picture. Since you have a dual core unit there may be some choices to set which processor the service runs from. That may help but I don't have a dual core yet so I can't say for sure.




BD

BD,

I have XP Media Center Edition Version 2002 w/service pack 2. When trying to change priority i get "The operation could not be completed. Access is denied.". I am setup as the administrator on this laptop, so I would think I could change it. Time for another call to HP.

brinkman,

I get that message on my desktop PC, but not on my laptop. Both machines are XP_Pro so I don't know what causes it. The desktop PC has "RSLinx_Lite" while the laptop has RSLinx Pro. I haven't heard of anyone else running RSLinx on Media Center edition. I would consider switching to XP_Pro if I was you. My laptop came loaded with HOME & I had all kinds of headaches until I forked out the extra money for the upgrade. I'll bet that kills your warranty though, it did on mine. I just bought a new hard drive & loaded the new OS on it. Saved the old drive in case I had to deal with a warranty issue. I could have just swapped drives in a few minutes if I had to go back to zero. Total cost was around $260.
Good Luck
BD

I would defintely be wary of Windows Media Center Edition (MCE). Particularly if it is an old version like 2002.

Today most computers come with either XP Pro or MCE. MCE is kind of the new XP Home, and while it contains some new features geared towards media, it also lacks some features of XP Pro. I would seriously consider upgrading to XP Pro.

If that is not possible, try loading VMWare Worskstation (free for 30 days) and create a new virtual machine and install XP Pro in the virtual machine.

OG