unrecognized devices for compactLogix 1769-L35E

[pittlei]

Hi, I am new to PLC and seeking advice here.

We have a compactlogix 1769-L35E. The L35E has been situated in shelf for a while, therefore, the battery might be dead. I am using the RSlogix 5000, version 17. Here is background.

I was updating the firmware of the 1769-L35E to version 17 through Ethernet port. The L35E was key in PROG mode. However, in the middle of updating, the L35E cycled power, and failed to proceed. The error message was "Failed to begin update to the target device. The target device is not in the proper mode to accept an update". Then the firmware was reset to be version 1.XX . I tried a couple of times, the problems remained the same.

Then I was trying to update to version 16. Same thing happened. But situation became worse. The RSlink only shown Ethernet port with yellow question mark: "192.168.1.5, Unrecognized Device, 1769-L35E Ethernet Port". All other hardware were not recognized, for example the backbone, the compactlogix processor, and local bus adapter are missing.

I switched to serial port communication. Same thing, device not recognized.
I read online information saying yellow question mark means EDS files is missing. Then I tried to download the compactlogix EDS files from rockwell. https://rockwellautomation.custhelp...ename/All_CompactLogix_EDS_Files_Thru_V20.zip

Even the EDS installation process went through, but no change in the unrecognized device. and the bottom of the EDS installation tool, "there are currently no devices in our database"

could you kindly help with the solution of the problems?
1. how to solve the yellow question mark and rediscover the devices?
2. how to update the firmware?

regards

Lei

 

[A_G]

Hi, I am new to PLC and seeking advice here.

We have a compactlogix 1769-L35E. The L35E has been situated in shelf for a while, therefore, the battery might be dead. I am using the RSlogix 5000, version 17. Here is background.

I was updating the firmware of the 1769-L35E to version 17 through Ethernet port. The L35E was key in PROG mode. However, in the middle of updating, the L35E cycled power, and failed to proceed. The error message was "Failed to begin update to the target device. The target device is not in the proper mode to accept an update". Then the firmware was reset to be version 1.XX . I tried a couple of times, the problems remained the same.

Then I was trying to update to version 16. Same thing happened. But situation became worse. The RSlink only shown Ethernet port with yellow question mark: "192.168.1.5, Unrecognized Device, 1769-L35E Ethernet Port". All other hardware were not recognized, for example the backbone, the compactlogix processor, and local bus adapter are missing.

I switched to serial port communication. Same thing, device not recognized.
I read online information saying yellow question mark means EDS files is missing. Then I tried to download the compactlogix EDS files from rockwell. https://rockwellautomation.custhelp...ename/All_CompactLogix_EDS_Files_Thru_V20.zip

Even the EDS installation process went through, but no change in the unrecognized device. and the bottom of the EDS installation tool, "there are currently no devices in our database"

could you kindly help with the solution of the problems?
1. how to solve the yellow question mark and rediscover the devices?
2. how to update the firmware?

regards

Lei

It is extremely important to keep power and communications to the PLC during firmware updates, otherwise the controller could be go into an unrecoverable fault and even become unusable (or so I've been taught). You say it cycled power, this could be an issue. Did it cycle power by itself, or is it possible that power was lost somehow (loose cable, etc)?

Are you confident that the PLC was in good working state before, since you mentioned it's been sitting on the shelf for a while. Could be a bad controller.

To get rid of the yellow question marks, you have to install the EDS files, like you already did. Not sure why this did not work. If you have another CompactLogix, you could try connecting to it and browsing to it in RSLinx and see if the yellow question marks appear for this second PLC also.

Another thing to try, make sure the endcaps are installed.

 

[pittlei]

The controller cycled power by itself when in the transition between transmitting block 1 and block 2.
The controller was in the good shape as I was told. but battery could be dead. I looked information before, saying even without battery, we can update firmware. Not sure this is true or not.
since the device became unrecognized after updating failure, it should be related to the endcap issue.

 

[A_G]

The controller cycled power by itself when in the transition between transmitting block 1 and block 2.
The controller was in the good shape as I was told. but battery could be dead. I looked information before, saying even without battery, we can update firmware. Not sure this is true or not.
since the device became unrecognized after updating failure, it should be related to the endcap issue.

I don't know whether you need the battery to update the firmware either, but you can confirm if the battery is good or not by looking at the BAT LED on the front of the CompactLogix. the BAT LED is lit when the battery is low. See pg 128 here:

https://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/um/1769-um011_-en-p.pdf

 

[pittlei]

if i unplug the cord, there is no battery LED at all. I am assuming the battery is dead.

 

[OkiePC]

if i unplug the cord, there is no battery LED at all. I am assuming the battery is dead.

The BATT LED will light when the PLC has power and the battery is dead. No power = no lights at all (even if the battery is good). I have seen a similar problem updating firmware due to a bad end cap...

 

[pittlei]

The BATT LED will light when the PLC has power and the battery is dead. No power = no lights at all (even if the battery is good). I have seen a similar problem updating firmware due to a bad end cap...

@OkiePC, are you saying even if the battery is good, when power down, there should be no light?

it seems to me this is different from the manual. "Once the controller is powered down, the battery retains controller memory as long as the BAT indicator remains on."

I did try to remove the battery and power on the device, the BAT LED became ON. But I am not sure, if dead battery and power on the device, the BAT LED is on or off?


if you see similar problem when updating the firmware, did you happen to have the unrecognized devices issues ? and how did you resolve that?

 

[OkiePC]

@OkiePC, are you saying even if the battery is good, when power down, there should be no light?

it seems to me this is different from the manual. "Once the controller is powered down, the battery retains controller memory as long as the BAT indicator remains on."

I could be mistaken. Maybe the LED is on when there is no power...that doesn't sound right to me though, I don't remember any LEDs operating solely on battery power...I don't have hardware to check this...the wording in the manual seems to say that they will waste battery power lighting up an LED, but only if the battery is low...seems fishy to me...

I did try to remove the battery and power on the device, the BAT LED became ON. But I am not sure, if dead battery and power on the device, the BAT LED is on or off?

If the battery LED is off when power is applied, then your battery is good.

if you see similar problem when updating the firmware, did you happen to have the unrecognized devices issues ? and how did you resolve that?

If I recall, the unrecognized device has to do with the fact that the presently installed firmware wasn't recognized by RSLinx. In my case, I changed the end cap and tried again to update firmware and it succeeded.

 

[Operaghost]

Let's set the BAT light issue aside for the moment. It is not necessary for the firmware update. Also, the controller will often restart 2-3 times during a firmware upgrade. This is normal. The battery isn't an issue for this.

You do still have an EDS issue. That yellow question mark means that your computer still cannot identify that device. I'm sure you've done this already, but just to be sure......sometimes I have had to reboot for the system to see the new EDS files. Almost always they work immediately without a reboot. So just to rule out the obvious, you have rebooted the computer since installing the EDS files, correct?

Can you verify that the EDS files did indeed get installed? If you open the EDS Tool you can either install or remove an EDS file. Select Remove. We won't remove anything, but it allows you to browse what is currently installed.

After a few minutes you can select Find Device. Type "L35E" without the quotes and select Find Next. Once you find the 1769-L35E you can expand it and see all of the different revisions installed.

Back to the battery, I am pretty sure that the BAT note in the User Manual is not written correctly. As stated in previous posts, the BAT light will only turn ON when the unit is powered up and the battery is missing or >= 95% discharged. When powered off, there are no lights energized. In that same manual Appendix A identifies those status indicators and makes it clear how that light works. I worked for Rockwell for a number of years and mistakes like these do happen sometimes. Once an issue like this is pointed out to them they usually fix it.

And, as Okie mentions, the end cap is critical.

OG

 

[the_msp]

It's a few moments later, I have an L32E here and can confirm the battery LED indication is only operational when there is mains power to the controller. After all, if the LED was on when the controller was powered off, it would just drain said battery.

 

[mike3475]

Just had same problem "Failed to begin update on the target device. The target device is not in the proper mode to accept an update" when trying to install Firmware v20.013.81 This is a new start up, tried VIA usb and Ethernet both and got same error. Problem was I was in old school mode drilling down through the ip address to the back plane and then selecting the processor. What I should have done was single click select the IP address and start the update (don't drill down). Also important to note I assigned an IP address via bootp and did not leave the bootp server running so when processor rebooted the update timed out. :doh:Tried again leaving the bootp server running and all was good.
Good luck!

http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=57653