Siemens Step7 Backup missing files and won't open

[JarredDouglas]

Hi,


I received a Step7 Backup from my client and tried opening this backup but it won't open as there seems to be files missing from the backup. I need help urgently to get this backup open. If anyone can help me i would appreciate it.

 

[JesperMP]

There is a .rar file inside the .zip file.
Did you use unrar ?

 

[drbitboy]

Does this help?

 

[JesperMP]

It looks like a STEP7 project folder.
I dont have STEP7 right now, so I can test it.

Unzip the files to a local folder, then use the open project in Simatic Manager and browse to the first level of the unzipped folder.

 

[parky]

It is probably a project that has been compressed in the IDE of Step7, then zipped up there is no reason why they did this as this is just compressing an already compressed file so unzip the file then unzip it again.

 

[JesperMP]

There is a file Chi2.s7p in the subfolder \Chi2.
The .s7p is usually the project file you have to open.
Unfortunately STEP7 says that the project is corrupted, probably because the folder content has been manipulated outside of STEP7.

Sometimes I see that email virus filters can look inside atatched .zip and .rar files, and if there is something it does not like it simply strips it from the archive.

@JarredDouglas, ask the client to archive the STEP7 project (again) using the archive function in STEP7, and then send the new archive file. If possible, they can use zip instead of rar, since rar is relatively uncommon these days.
Also ask them to send the file in another way, for example put it on an FTP server.

 

[Thomas_v2]

Yes, the project is corrupted. Siemens had the intelligent idea to store relevant data in files with a .lnk ending (link.lnk in root directory, or hrs/linkhrs.lnk), which has a special function as file link in Windows. If someone copies or moves the folder of a Step7 project with the Windows Explorer, Windows sometimes tries to relocate the links. Either they are corrupted or completely gone.

There is a possibility to bring at least the program blocks back, if there is no backup which has all the files.

 

[parky]

I managed to open the file, however, the symbols are corrupt, I will try to repair it but I do have the PLC code (well it looks like it).

 

[JesperMP]

Maybe the problem has to do with the character set used in the project.
Is the project set to be language neutral ?
Select the properties of the main root folder, and set a tick mark in "Can be opened under any Windows language settings".

 

[Thomas_v2]

A way to get the program and the symbol table back (it's easy here because there's only one program inside the Step7 project):

Create a new Step7 Project, add a new S7 station and a basic hardware configuration for a S7-300.

Copy the following files from defect to new project:
YDBs\xxxx\SYMLIST.DBF
YDBs\xxxx\SYMLIST.MDX

ombstx\offline\xxxxxxxx\BAUSTEIN.DBF
ombstx\offline\xxxxxxxx\BAUSTEIN.DBT

ombstx\offline\xxxxxxxx\SUBBLK.DBF
ombstx\offline\xxxxxxxx\SUBBLK.DBT

ombstx\offline\BSTCNTOF.DBF
ombstx\offline\BSTCNTOF.MDX

In some projects where a station or a program was deleted some time, you see may see many folders, where some contain old programs and not the active program. But this project is clean, maybe someone has saved it with reorganisation where old data are removed completely.

The next step I would to, is to go online at the station and download it to the PG as new station. Then copy the program blocks and symbol table from the repair project to the downloaded one, compare the blocks and fix possible differences.

 

[parky]

It appears that it is only now the symbols table I copied all those into a new project and was able to view the code, it is at this moment just the symbols db so I'm working on it, but does not look good for them, it appears it is not a particularly large program & if I manage to get some symbols it will need to be compared against the original in the PLC.

 

[parky]

I think I have managed to get the file to open, what I did is copy all but the symbol DBF's into a new project, imported the hardware & then manually created the symbols by copy/paste.
It opens up ok, can now see all the code & comments, only thing I would do if I was you is to upload the hardware config from the PLC & also verify the blocks just in case & upload them.
You need to retrieve the project in S7 as it is now a proper archive zip file.