RsLinx and Powerflex problems

Just took two powerflex 40 and two 22-comm-e cards out of the box and got them hooked up. Launched BOOTP and both are broadcasting MACs. It will send an IP address to both drives but I can not disable BOOTP. The drives will show up in Linx with the IP I assigned them and I can ping both drives. The drives show up however as an unrecognized device with about 20 of these characters "ý" as its name.

Downloaded all EDS files and 22-COMM-E eds file and loaded them through EDS wizard and tried loading through Linx with no luck.

RsNetworx will not rocognize them either.

Ive ordered the 1203-USB adapter and downloading the Connections Workbench, but in the meantime does anyone have any suggestions?

Watch the bottom info bar when running the BOOTP utility; use the buttons only when the previous step has been completed as prompted within the information bar; cycle the power to the devices after modifying any comms settings.

If I power cycle I lose the IP address I just sent to it. When trying to disable BOOTP, I get a Failure message.
I have tried giving it plenty of time to do its business also with no luck.

seth350 said:

If I power cycle I lose the IP address I just sent to it. When trying to disable BOOTP, I get a Failure message.
I have tried giving it plenty of time to do its business also with no luck.

Click to expand...

When I have this problem it's always because my LAN IP address is not in the same group as the address I just gave to the device. For example, if I start with my LAN IP address as 192.168.0.100 and then set the device address as 192.168.100.20, before I can disable the BOOTP I have to reassign my LAN to the 192.168.100.XXX group or the device won't recognize the command.

In my experience with 22-COMM-E's you must be patient when disabling bootP. I find that if I assign the address, wait about a minute, then hit disable bootP, it will work. If I try too soon after assigning the address, it will fail.

Edit: I just saw that you said you were giving it time

Steve Etter said:

When I have this problem it's always because my LAN IP address is not in the same group as the address I just gave to the device. For example, if I start with my LAN IP address as 192.168.0.100 and then set the device address as 192.168.100.20, before I can disable the BOOTP I have to reassign my LAN to the 192.168.100.XXX group or the device won't recognize the command.

Click to expand...

I have checked that as well and have even tried different groups.

I will try again and give it a moment. I had no issue at all setting another powerflex up a few weeks ago. I sped through the BOOTP as well. I can even hook up to that machine with the powerflex and linx will see it!

I may have found the problem.....
What would be the difference if I had a 20-COMM-E instead of a 22-COMM-E or vice versa?

A 20-COMM-E definitely wouldn't fit on a PowerFlex 40... those are for 7-series drives.

In my experience, when the BOOTP/DHCP utility can't send the 'Disable' message, I turn to RSLinx Classic. The 'Module Configuration' feature you can right-click to select in RSWho sends the same sort of message.

The inability of RSWho to get an identity message back from the drive is more worrisome, though. This should be really simple to do.

Are the RSLinx Classic installations on the computer that works and the computer that doesn't work the same revision ? Are the running different operating systems ?

Ken Roach said:

A 20-COMM-E definitely wouldn't fit on a PowerFlex 40... those are for 7-series drives.

In my experience, when the BOOTP/DHCP utility can't send the 'Disable' message, I turn to RSLinx Classic. The 'Module Configuration' feature you can right-click to select in RSWho sends the same sort of message.

The inability of RSWho to get an identity message back from the drive is more worrisome, though. This should be really simple to do.

Are the RSLinx Classic installations on the computer that works and the computer that doesn't work the same revision ? Are the running different operating systems ?

Click to expand...

Sorry to waste your time gentlemen. I had mistakenly installed 20-COMM-E adapters instead of 22-COMM-E. Seems our store room had recieved them and had them cataloged as 22-COMM-E, and I did not bother to double check.

The 20-COMM-E fit the Powerflex 40 physically. Plugged it up and had lights blinking and was able to assign an IP to it, linx just would not recognize it.

Popped in the 22-COMM-E and got it going in no time.


To answer your question Ken, both computers have XP and RsLinx Classic 2.5(6)?

I appreciate the help.

I never tried to fit a 20-COMM-E into a PowerFlex 4.... I guess the ribbon cables are the same and the power pins must be the same.

I learn something new every day ! Thanks for the report !

20-com E is not identified by rs linx, what to do?

ggchavhan, please start a new thread for your new question. You can do this by going back to the main Q&A page and clicking the big green "Start a new thread" button at the top of the page.

In general, you need a matching Electronic Data Sheet to make a device correctly identified by the RSLinx browse. These can be downloaded from the RA EDS website and must be registered by RSLinx Classic.

But first you need to be sure that the device and its host drive are correctly configured.

Are you able to PING the 20-COMM-E ?

Does the 20-COMM-E appear in the RSLinx Classic browse as an unidentified object ?

Please create a new thread describing all the pertinent details that you can about your computer, your software, and the devices you are trying to communicate with. This will give you the best change of getting good advice here on the Forum.

Followup: Found your other post, in which you gave more important details than you did in this one.

So I know that you are aware of the "New Thread" button and that you have the information that's necessary to troubleshoot the problem.

This increases my frustration with your failure to use that information in this thread. My detailed post above was a complete waste of my time.