cRio limbo

[toastnbacon]

We (me) are having trouble imaging our cRio. Every time I try, I end up getting a weird error. And not always the same one, I think we've counted about 5. I think the problem might be linked to one of our engineers powering down or bot while I was deploying a program last season. (who does that?) It's gotten the cRio stick in some sort of limbo-it won't go back to the last version, and it won't accept the new version. I'll try to get the error #'s on here soon, but does anyone have any ideas?

[DonRotolo]

One of the DIP switches causes the cRio to come up in bootloader ("no app"?) mode (not sure which, read the docs), regardless of how badly the software's been farkled. It'll then accept your program, which I suggest keeping minimalist and burning it into the cRio.

Flick the switch again, reboot, and things should work normally again.

Greg McKaskle from NI showed me that trick at the NJ regional, saved us a bunch of grief.

[Mark McLeod]

There are several possible causes depending on the error messages and don't forget what the cRIO status lights are doing either.

You can try the No App switch/reboot as Don suggested. This works if it's only a bad or corrupted user program at fault.

Another process is to boot in Safe Mode and reformat, followed by a non-Safe Mode reimage, both using the cRIO Image Tool. This pretty much works whatever the cause was as long as it's a software problem.

There's also the possibility that metal debris has worked it's way inside the cRIO and is causing intermittent shorts. You fix that by carefully opening and following directions to clean out the cRIO case.

[toastnbacon]

I tried to reformat in safe mode, there's just more errors. I'll try to try the no app switch soon.

[Greg McKaskle]

Without knowing what the error text says, I can only give general info.

The cRIO has to change IP addresses and reboot several times during the formatting operation. Various computer ethernet cards and drivers respond to this very differently. For many computers, you just cable them and format. Others will reconfigure their network adapter each time the cRIO reboots, and still others will start trying to use the wifi or other network options at some step of the process.

For best results disable wifi and any additional network configurations on the computer. Instead of direct cabling the laptop and the cRIO, plug both into a router or switch, such as the blue Cisco. Setup the Cisco to the same IP address as the laptop if it isn't already. The switch will not reboot during the format, and will keep the laptop from reconfiguring its enet when the link goes away. Then follow the safe-mode formatting instructions.

If it fails, please copy the errors and include them in your next post.

Greg McKaskle

[toastnbacon]

I tried the no app, but it I didn't see a difference. I only get error numbers the first attempt after the cRio boots up. The second and beyond gets me this "The cRIO IP address (10.31.69.2) is unreachable. Ensure that one of your computer’s network adapters is on the same subnet." But again, this goes away after I restart it. I normally get error numbers 1, and 60 very frequently, and occasionally I even get a number like 15550, although I couldn't get it today. But they let me bring the electronics board home, so I should be able to respond a lot faster now. Thanks again for your help!

[Mark McLeod]

Sounds like network problems where your laptop cannot communicate properly with the cRIO, so I'd first concentrate your efforts on things that cause those kinds of problems.

• Laptop network settings (10.31.69.5)
• Intermediate router/AP/bridge network settings (10.31.69.4)
• cRIO status lights (there's nothing like a low battery)
• FRC cRIO Imaging Tool cRIO search (a line at the top lists your cRIO when it finds it)
• Network ping (from laptop to cRIO)

What are you running when you get these errors? The FRC cRIO Imaging Tool or LabVIEW?
The FRC cRIO Imaging Tool will tell you if you're getting through to the cRIO. Check to see what IP address is shown for your cRIO. You can connect your laptop directly to the cRIO port 1 for this test.

Do as Greg suggested and turn off wireless, etc., leaving only the Ethernet port enabled.
Connect an Ethernet cable between the laptop and the DLink and another between the DLink and the cRIO.