Allen Bradley 1799ER Problems

[DavidBartel]

I’m just curious if other people have had difficulties setting the IP address of Allen Bradley's 1799ER-IQ10XOQ10 card (embedded Ethernet I/O card).

I have spent hours on the phone with their tech support to the point where they say the problem must be in my computer.

The only way I have had any success (using the BootP-DHCP Server program) it to restart my laptop in safe mode and then just try, try and try again. I had one unit that gave me every indication that the new IP address was sent, and that the command to disable BootP was successful, but still I had to try at least 3 times before I could even ping it.

 

[Ken Roach]

What you're describing sounds like bad cabling, and iffy switch, or a firewall problem on the PC.

The only way to tell for sure is to run Wireshark and watch the process in action.

When you describe running the BOOTP protocol repeatedly, are you getting the BOOTP requests and seeing the responses, then failing to PING the device ?

Or is it some other sequence of events ?

While I haven't used the 1799ER product specifically, an A-B Ethernet product isn't going to get out of the loading dock if it has some sort in inherent problem running the fundamental Ethernet and IP low-level functions.

I have seen some problems with POINT I/O and certain Ethernet switches with per-port BOOTP. Again, I had to use Wireshark to get to the bottom of it.

 

[PLC GURU]

I had horrible problems with configuring the 1799er. My win7 computer would not work at all. I had to revert to the XP computer. Not sure why because bootp on win7 works fine on most other modules. I could not get the bootp ->static to stick, power cycle would revert it. ended up using RSLinx and ethernet/ip driver to browse for the 1799er with its default ip address and switching(right click, config) it that way. I had another issue with a 1734 module and found that i had to set my computer to DHCP (instead of static with a similar IP address) (I also heard a crossover cable may help too) then my win7 computer had no issue using all of the bootp software functions.

 

[DavidBartel]

Teflon IP Address

PLC Guru -

I had the same problem of reverting back as well. I know AB thinks the problem is in my laptop but I think they have a few problems of there own.

Thanks for letting me know I'm not the only one.

 

[Geospark]

...I have spent hours on the phone with their tech support to the point where they say the problem must be in my computer...

David,

NB: Since these modules use DHCP instead of BOOTP make sure that the module has no access to other DHCP servers, routers, etc. via your network, or a possible wireless gateway through your PC. Something on your laptop may be acting as a DHCP server, and interfering with the BOOTP/DHCP server.

Do you have more than one NIC (Network Interface Card)? Even a virtual one? If so, it's possible that the DHCP requests from the module are coming in on the NIC it's connected to, but BOOTP/DHCP is sending the replies to the wrong NIC. Unless you have more than one, I won't explain how to get around that.

Other possibilities beyond that are...

Windows Firewall - Allow BootP.exe through Windows Firewall
Antivirus software - Turn off all Antivirus software
VPN software - Disable VPN
Incorrectly set Subnet and/or Gateway address - See below

If all is ok, this is the method for setting the modules IP address.

1. Register the 1799ER-1Q10X0Q10's EDS file using the EDS Hardware Installation Tool.
2. Launch the BOOTP/DHCP Server.
3. Click Tools then Network Settings then change the subnet mask and Gateway to their desired values. These will be assigned to the 1799ER module along with the IP address.
4. When you see the 1799ER module's MAC address appear in the Request History list, right-click on the request and select Add to Relation List. The 1799ER's MAC address is listed on it's label.
5. In the New Entry window enter the desired IP Address and click OK.
6. The module should appear in the Relation List. Select it and click Disable BOOTP/DHCP to apply the IP address to the module's non-volatile memory.

I could not get the bootp ->static to stick, power cycle would revert it. ended up using RSLinx and ethernet/ip driver to browse for the 1799er with its default ip address and switching(right click, config) it that way. I had another issue with a 1734 module and found that i had to set my computer to DHCP (instead of static with a similar IP address)...then my win7 computer had no issue using all of the bootp software functions.

PLC GURU,

I think you might be mixing up which method you ended up using for these two modules?

The IP address of the 1799ER-1Q10X0Q10 module cannot be configured using RSLinx. It can only be configured using DHCP through the BOOTP/DHCP Server.

The IP address of 1734-AENT(R) module cannot be configured using the BOOTP/DHCP Server. It can be set either by using the thumb wheel to set the 4th octet to 001 - 254, limiting the address to the 192.168.1.XXX class, or by initially setting a valid thumb wheel address and then browsing to it in a webpage and logging in to configure it a different class address. Alternatively you can right-click it in RSLinx and choose Module Configuration. That goes for the 1794-AENTR as well.

George