RSLinx all devices unrecognized

[bctg106]

So ever since I got my new PC all my devices in RSLinx have had the yellow question mark and were unrecognized. This was not an issue because I never needed to drill down to the backpanes to connect to anything, I was able to just directly remote connect to any of our PLCs just based on the controllers we were using.

Now I'm being tasked with assisting with a configuration that requires the device to be recognized so I can connect through the backpane.

I've downloaded and installed EDS files, tried different connections to no avail. I just cannot set a project path for this 1756-L72S controller. I may do a clean wipe of rslogix as the other automation guys are also stumped. It could be a network configuration issue that I'm missing but I really don't know at this point.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[dmroeder]

Welcome to the forum!

This is likely an issue with network configuration issue. What IP address does your computer have and what IP addresses are you trying to connect to?

Have you tried pinging the PLC's? There is no point it looking at RSLinx until you can successfully ping the device you are trying to talk to.

 

[bctg106]

Yes I can ping the server and even access the 1756-ENBT ethernet module via a web browser by typing in the ip address

My PC's local IP is 192.168.100.122

PLC IP is 192.168.150.25

I can see 50+ devices in ethernet/IP mode in rslinx, but all of them are unrecognized yellow question marks. Other automation engineer opened the program and was able to connect as he could hit the + and get to the backpane to set a project path. I have no idea what to configure here.

 

[Ken Roach]

Welcome to the PLCTalk forum community !

Because you're able to otherwise connect to devices and literally all of your devices are showing as unrecognized, I'm going to take a scientific wild-arsed guess and say that the database instance that holds the EDS files is corrupted.

At about the same time as RSLogix 5000 became Studio 5000 Logix Designer (call it the "v21 era", about 10 years ago), RSLinx Classic's EDS subsystem started using a quiet and unobtrusive instance of Microsoft SQL Server to hold EDS information.

If you had a mix of pre/post v21 software, or some other stuff that could go wrong, that installation could get corrupted.

The simple solution is often "reinstall RSLinx Classic v3.51 or higher".

Other solutions and more complex situations are described in the RA Knowledgebase, in Article ID BF16333 (Access Level: TechConnect).

 

[bctg106]

Just a quick uninstall/reinstall?

Or do I need to delete the old EDS files?

 

[Ken Roach]

You don't need to use the Hardware Installation Tool to remove EDS files from the database or purge them from your computer; RSLinx will rebuild the database from the EDS files on your PC or its installer during installation.

Ideally, you should install versions of all of your Rockwell Software products that are newer than v21, i.e. ten years old.

If you have a mix, then reinstalling RSLinx v3.51 or newer won't allow the older products to use the modern database EDS subsystem. They will remain unable to browse the network and identify devices.

Also be sure that you aren't using a desktop shortcut that's set up for XPSP3 mode (item #3 in the Knowledgebase article).

 

[Ken Roach]

Or, first, you can try the old-school method of clearing the Harmony subsystem cache:

Open Windows Explorer and go to

• For 32 bit Systems, C:\Program Files\Rockwell Software\RSCommon
• For 64 bit Systems, C:\Program Files (x86)\Rockwell Software\RSCommon

Delete Harmony.hrc and Harmony.rsh (you may have Harmony instead of Harmony.rsh). Do not delete HRMYUI.DLL

 

[bctg106]

Ken Roach was correct with this comment:

Because you're able to otherwise connect to devices and literally all of your devices are showing as unrecognized, I'm going to take a scientific wild-arsed guess and say that the database instance that holds the EDS files is corrupted.

At about the same time as RSLogix 5000 became Studio 5000 Logix Designer (call it the "v21 era", about 10 years ago), RSLinx Classic's EDS subsystem started using a quiet and unobtrusive instance of Microsoft SQL Server to hold EDS information.

If you had a mix of pre/post v21 software, or some other stuff that could go wrong, that installation could get corrupted.

The simple solution is often "reinstall RSLinx Classic v3.51 or higher".

I had v20 installed first and something broke with the EDS system when installing newer versions of Logix/Studio.

Simple uninstall/reinstall of RSLinx solved the issue.

Thanks for all the help

 

[Operaghost]

I wonder...does RSLinx offer a "repair" option in lieu of uninstall/reinstall?

Just curious.

OG

 

[James Mcquade]

may i suggest the following since you have a new laptop.
have someone use the rslinx backup / restore tool and backup their configuration.
copy the file to your system and note where you put it.
run the backup / restore utility and do and do a restore.
your rslinx configuration will now be identical to theirs.
we do this all the time.
james

 

[I_Automation]

Any chance you have CAT5 AND WiFi both enabled?

If the RSLinx driver is looking at the wrong network adapter, which can also be a VPN or Teamviewer network adapter, even if it is running it will show the devices, but as unrecognized. It will also show devices as unrecognized if the driver is stopped.

Go to network setting and see what interfaces are available on your PC (This one here shows 1 WiFi adapter and 7 Ethernet adapters, although there is only 1 CAT5 plug)

 

[JaxGTO]

Ken Roach was correct with this comment:



I had v20 installed first and something broke with the EDS system when installing newer versions of Logix/Studio.

Simple uninstall/reinstall of RSLinx solved the issue.

Thanks for all the help

I have one VM that has most of the PLC software installed and it wont accept any NEW EDS files. Oh it will upload them from the device or use EDS install tool. But it still wont recognize the new ones. Had Rockwell poke around on the machine for two hours and they couldn't figure it out. I uninstalled and reinstalled. Tried latest version and none of that worked.
I think I am going to have to uninstall and scrub all of the RSLinx files everywhere to fix it. But at this point its not so bad. If I need a newer device I just use RSLinx on the host machine.