cRIO completely unresponsive

[daniel_dsouza]

Hello CD,

After our regional, we did a demonstration at our school, during which the robot's battery voltage dropped to 10 volts.

The next day I came to unplug the batteries from the chargers, and check up on the robot. However, I discovered that the robot was completely unresponsive. (no robot comms, or code).

The first thing I did was check the Dlink. I could ping the Dlink, but not the cRIO. So the Dlink was OK.

I then connected a laptop (with the firewall/antivirus disabled) to the cRIO (via crossover on port 1). However, the imaging tool couldn't see the cRIO, and I couldn't ping the cRIO either. The reset button on the cRIO didn't help either. Something else strange was that the green light on the second Ethernet port was constantly lit (even when there was nothing in the port).

I checked for metal shavings, dirt, grease, anything that could interfere with the operation with the cRIO.

Can anyone give any suggestions? Should I contact NI and ask for help? If I call NI, what information do I need? (The service tags on the bottom of our cRIO were ripped off in a previous season).

Thanks in advance,
Daniel

[Mark McLeod]

What do the other cRIO status lights show?

The green hardware connection from the empty Ethernet port indicates a short.
Have you cleaned the interior?


From the NI FRC site

While no specialized FIRST support is available, NI Applications Engineers can still assist with:

• Troubleshooting and processing damaged cRIO hardware for RMA

If you need assistance with activation or cRIO repair, call (866) 275-6964 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central Time, Monday-Friday.

[daniel_dsouza]

Thanks Mark,

I cleaned out the case and ports today, put it back together, and it worked beautifully. I believe that dirt was getting through the holes around where the modules connect to the chassis.

[Mark McLeod]

There are gaskets you can get for sealing around the module and other chassis openings to help keep it clean inside. AndyMark carries them.
The rubber caps for the module and serial port are good to install as well.