Factory talk view ME stopped communicating

Rocguy

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Join Date
Dec 2016
Location
Chicago
Posts
48
Hey guys, I am a student learning to use FTV ME. I had created many displays and had them interacting with two plcs at once. Long story short, Things were going fine. I went in to the lab for extra practice with no teacher. I opened up my project like always and, all of a sudden Stack lights and buttons I had working with it were not working.

The stack lights were coming up with error and the bottom of the screen said "No longer available." I had PVP base tags for start and stop buttons in my ladder program. When I tried to use those, it said "problem writing value 1 to it"

It's like there is no communication to it. I went into the RsLogix Enterprise and tried creating a new communication. That didn't help at all. Same result.

I keep trying to refresh all folders to get my tags and reassign this stuff but, nothing shows up. Now I'm worried because I've done a ton of tedious work on my project which my grade depends on. We don't have much time left and it's low budget so during class I have to take turns with 2 other guys on the plc.

Question is, am I going to lose all the displays I've done and have to start over completely? Just learning the software, I can't do this quickly.

Has anyone seen this problem and can tell me how difficult the solution is? I'll be back in class with a teacher on Monday evening to see if the teacher can figure it out but, man I'm worried to death right now. The teacher has 13 students to help.
 
Just breathe, usually the only time you will ever lose everything is when you break the habit of routine backups.

It definitely sounds like a comms issue.

Do you have a copy of studio running on a networked computer? you can get advanced diagnostics if you run your displays in studio.

I would also check the network settings on the PVP and PLC make sure they are on the same network. also see if you can ping them both make sure no cables have been unplugged.

Finally make sure your program is actually in the PLC.

In the end this will be a good learning experience for you.
 
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Just breathe, usually the only time you will ever lose everything is when you break the habit of routine backups.

It definitely sounds like a comms issue.

Do you have a copy of studio running on a networked computer? you can get advanced diagnostics if you run your displays in studio.

I would also check the network settings on the PVP and PLC make sure they are on the same network. also see if you can ping them both make sure no cables have been unplugged.

Finally make sure your program is actually in the PLC.

In the end this will be a good learning experience for you.

First, thank you for the response. The instructor never showed us about backing up Factory talk view. My ladder on the other hand, I have that backed up to flash drive and printed out. I wanted to make sure I was protected against everything.

We connect via Ethernet to the PLC's My program is in the PLC. I know that for sure. I can run it from the physical buttons on the wall.

Shouldn't I be able to see my RsLogix 5000 program tags when I try to tag something to them? (For example the ACC value of a counter or timer?) I wasn't seeing anything. I understand with no comm I won't be able to look at a controller tag.

I'm hoping it's an easy fix for our instructor but, I just don't know enough to know whether it is or not. If FTV was second nature to me, I wouldn't be as worried because worse come to worse, I could re-do all of my displays but, if I had to do that now, it would take a great deal of time. They have thrown a lot at us very quickly and we only have 4 classes left with the final one being demonstrating our project and being graded on it.

I also have set a high standard for myself. Nothing less than an A is acceptable for me. To earn that, I have to have most of the requirements rolling perfectly.
 
ok so next thing did you try to ping the plc to make sure it is still on your network?

Shouldn't I be able to see my RsLogix 5000 program tags when I try to tag something to them? (For example the ACC value of a counter or timer?) I wasn't seeing anything. I understand with no comm I won't be able to look at a controller tag.

Yes this is what leads me to believe your network settings have been changed, FTView can act funky sometimes as well. so a reboot never hurts. But first ping your plc or try to connect using RSLogix 5000/Studio 5000.

And just to clarify are you testing in Studio on a PC or dumping to the PVP and not seeing the tags?
 
ok so next thing did you try to ping the plc to make sure it is still on your network?



Yes this is what leads me to believe your network settings have been changed, FTView can act funky sometimes as well. so a reboot never hurts. But first ping your plc or try to connect using RSLogix 5000/Studio 5000.

And just to clarify are you testing in Studio on a PC or dumping to the PVP and not seeing the tags?

I did not try the ping approach. I didn't think of it. The PC communicates with the PLC's because I can upload my .ACD files from the PC to the PLC's. Do I have to do a ping from Studio or Enterprise to the PLC? I don't know anything about that.

I did try the reboot to no avail. It is possible the settings were changed because when I left class Wednesday night, things were working fine and I shut down both PC's at my station. I came in after work Thursday around 5 pm and at least one PC was on. I can't recall if the other was off and I powered it on or if it was already on.

I am testing in Studio on a PC. To this point I have never dumped anything into the PVP.
 
when is the last time you were able to connect to the plc

to ping you do it from command line

Start>Run type cmd when the black box pops up

then type ping 192.168.1.100
replace 192.168.1.100 with your plc's ip address


Check your communications path in RSLinx make sure you have your processor selected
can you post a screen shot of your RSLinx enterprise.

is RSlinx Classic installed on that PC just curious if you will be able to see it from there.
 
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when is the last time you were able to connect to the plc

to ping you do it from command line

Start>Run type cmd when the black box pops up

then type ping 192.168.1.100
replace 192.168.1.100 with your plc's ip address


Check your communications path in RSLinx make sure you have your processor selected
can you post a screen shot of your RSLinx enterprise.

is RSlinx Classic installed on that PC just curious if you will be able to see it from there.

Let's see if I can explain this in a clear way.

The school lab is closed from Thursday night to Monday morning so I can't get any screenshots of anything until class Monday afternoon around 5pm.

My only problem currently seems to be getting my Studio buttons to work with the PLC. I can't re-tag any existing buttons either. When I try to do so, I go the properties and connections. You then have to refresh all folders. I get nothing. They worked fine Wednesday night. I came in Thursday and boom. Problems. Did someone mess with the computer during the day Thursday? Entirely possible. I don't know.

IF I could walk into the lab today. I would be able to power up the PC. Download my separate ladder programs to two different PLC's (the second one is just for using one analog card. There is literally only one output connected to it. We use a produce and consume tag system to link it to the other PLC) and run my program from push buttons on the wall. That proves the PC and the PLC's are communicating.

Now getting FTV to do anything is suddenly another story. Yes, RsLinx classic is installed
 
when is the last time you were able to connect to the plc

to ping you do it from command line

Start>Run type cmd when the black box pops up

then type ping 192.168.1.100
replace 192.168.1.100 with your plc's ip address


Check your communications path in RSLinx make sure you have your processor selected
can you post a screen shot of your RSLinx enterprise.

is RSlinx Classic installed on that PC just curious if you will be able to see it from there.

Have you tried to reboot?

If not try restarting RSLinxEnterprise from services.

Thanks Max, Yes, I tried to reboot the PC. I can't believe making a new connection didn't work.
 
To update this,

Just as the problem magically appeared, it magically fixed itself. When I went in for class on Monday, I fired up the computer and factory talk view studio and everything worked as normal. There was nothing "different" for me to do that could have caused the condition.

It was just simply start the PC, open the application, go into my displays, and things were fine. I don't have any idea what had happened. :unsure:
 

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