c-RIO connection troubles

[Sev]

I AM A COMPLETE ROOKIE AT PROGRAMMING
Thought I'd get that put of the way first. I've had 0 experience, and our team's programmer last year was... eccentric, to say the least. He taught me nothing, will not respond to attempts at contact, and no one else on the team has even a clue where to begin. I have no mentor.

I am running Vista (no choice in the matter). I can't connect to the c-RIO, either via router or ethernet cable. I always get the same error message: Error connecting to 'VxWorks6x_10.23.93.2' (Registery localhost). Failed to launch target server
Possibly caused by: back-end not connected.

Removed dead-end from Registry!

I've tried using different projects, without luck. I have my firewall off, and the router and bridge are both set up correctly.

My team is about to kill me.
Help me Chief Delhpi forums, you're my only hope.

[taichichuan]

Hi Sev,

Are you using wireless or wired to connect from your PC to the cRIO?

The first thing to look at is to open a DOS box (cmd.exe) and do a "route print" command. Do you see a route to 10.0.0.0? If so, can you ping the cRIO? (ping 10.23.92.2 from DOS box). If you can't ping the cRIO, either the cRIO isn't booting or your network isn't set up properly. The IP address of the Classmate should be 10.23.92.5, but you can have any address on the 10.0.0.0 segment (e.g., 10.23.92.10).

Do you have an Ethernet crossover cable? This is highly recommended so you can update the firmware on the cRIO to V19. Also, a serial port with a null-modem cable would be handy so you can talk to the cRIO serial port to make sure nothing's wrong with the cRIO. Does any of this make sense to you?

BTW, where is Team 2392 located? If it's anywhere close to the D.C. metro area, I might be able to get you going in person.

HTH,

Mike

[Sev]

Right now I'm using a wired connection, but I could potentially do either.
No network with the address 10.0.0.0 came up in the DOS box. I don't have a crossover cable, but I might be able to either buy one or make one. And We're from Tennessee.

[taichichuan]

Sorry, Tennessee is too far to pop over :-(. But, I'll still try to help remotely.

OK, you'll need to get a cross-over (null modem) Ethernet cable (BestBuy, RadioShack, MicroCenter and others carry them) and plug it between your PC and the cRIO port 1. Once you've done that, open the control panel, Network control and double-click the network connections icon for your Ethernet to open it up.

Click the properties button, select Internet Protocol and click properties again. This will bring up a dialog box with a tab that says "General". Select the "Use the following IP address" radio button and key in your PC's IP address in the IP address field, e.g., 10.23.93.10 and enter 255.0.0.0 into the subnet mask field. You can leave the rest blank. Click OK and then OK again. When you're done, click the "Close" button.

Turn on the cRIO and check your DOS box again to see if it can ping the cRIO after a minute or so.

Also, while you're at the BestBuy, pick up a female-female null modem cable with DB9 connectors on it. This is what you'll need to monitor the boot cycle on the cRIO if things go wrong.

Assuming the cRIO is pingable, you can next move on to using the cRIO Imaging tool to load v19 of the firmware. You can get that from the FIRST website.

HTH,

Mike

[Sev]

I made the IP changes, and pinged 10.23.93.2 and got 4 time outs. I assume this is not a good thing.

[taichichuan]

Yup, that means that either your cRIO isn't responding or your network connection is down. This is where having the serial port hooked up will help you. That will tell you if the cRIO is booting at all. BTW, the serial port runs at 9600 baud, No parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit. You'll need a female-female null modem cable (Radio Shack Model: 03044 | Catalog #: 55010600 $14.99) and a serial port on your PC.

HTH,

Mike Anderson
Mentor
Team 116

[Sev]

Bad news: got the cable, but my laptop lacks the proper receptacle.

[taichichuan]

Unfortunately no. WinDoze won't detect the cRIO on the other end of a serial port. You'll need to run hyperTerminal or other terminal emulator like Teraterm and set it up to connect to your serial port at the 9600,N,8,1 setting I described earlier.

On the other hand, it should be able to detect when the Ethernet carrier comes up because the cRIO has booted. If the settings are right, you'll see a "Ethernet connected" message show up in the task bar on the lower right-hand corner of the window.

HTH,

Mike Anderson
Mentor
Team 116

[Sev]

While that probably would solve my problems, I have two problems with that.

1)I have the wrong port on my computer (in stead of a 4-5 double male stack, i have a 5-5-5 triple female stack)
2)I have no emulator. =/

[taichichuan]

Hi Sev,

OK, that means that you don't have a serial port on your computer. That's not uncommon these days as serial ports are considered "legacy" ports. In order to address this, you'll need a USB to RS-232 adapter. They're available from Radio Shack or Best Buy for about $30. You can get them cheaper from NewEgg, but you'll have shipping costs and lose time.

As for the terminal emulator, you've already got one with WinDoze. It's in the accessories tab of the start menu called Hyperterminal. Or, you can download Teraterm for free from the Internet.

Good luck,

Mike Anderson
Mentor
Team 116

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Sev

I can't connect to the c-RIO, either via router or ethernet cable. I always get the same error message: Error connecting to 'VxWorks6x_10.23.93.2' (Registery localhost)...

Have you run the FRC cRIO Imaging Tool to select C++ development and set the cRIO's IP address to match your team number?

[taichichuan]

Alan has a good point. I was under the assumption that your cRIO had booted at some point. If it's brand new and hasn't been set up, then you'll need to use the cRIO imaging tool to load v19 firmware before you'll be able to do anything else.

HTH,

Mike Anderson
Mentor
Team 116

[Sev]

No, this is our third year overall. It worked last year and the year before.
Also: have the cable (confused some of the guys at best buy too) and teraterm

[oddjob]

If the same cRIO worked last year, chances are it is working and you simply can't connect the PC.

I don't have a Vista PC, but what I'd suggest you try first is to check your PC network port is set for a static IP address of 10.23.93.xx and use e.g. 6 for xx. The cRIO should already be on 10.23.93.2 and the Classmate will need to be on 10.23.93.5 so you can't use 2 or 5. Then you can open the PC cmd window and "ping 10.23.93.2" and get a response. For instructions on setting the IP address of a PC running Vista, try google or maybe Vista itself has sufficient Help to get it done. It's not difficult but I'd need a Vista PC to give you the precise instructions.

As soon as you get a successful ping, run the FIRST cRIO imaging tool to install image v19 (select C++) on the cRIO.

[Sev]

'Should work' doesn't always apply.
The IP's are set correctly (I checked) and I pinged from the classmate, but it timed out.