Please help-cRIO unavailable

[NHS_EAGLES]

In setting up out robot, we have followed the "2012 FRC Getting Started with the 2012 FRC Control Sysytem" manual up untill page 19.

When we power up the control system there is no communications with the cRIO-FRC II. It has been imaged, all updates applied and the communications light still does not come on. Anybody have any ideas?
(We are using the crossover cable to go straight to the cRIO instead of going through the D-Link.

Thanks a lot and I apoligize in advance if this has been posted earlier in the forums.

[billbo911]

Make sure your programming PC has it's NIC configured with an IP in the same scope as the cRio.

[Joe Ross]

Did you set your team number in the driver station (page 9)?

[NHS_EAGLES]

Yes to both
The Ip of the computer, the cRIO have both been set. as well as the team number.
Thank you, keep throwing out the ideas though!

[linuxboy]

If you open the command prompt (press the windows button and R at the same time and type cmd in the box), can you ping the robot by typing "ping 10.41.84.2" <enter> (without the quotes). A successful output will look like "Reply from 10.41.84.2"... a failed ping will look not.

If that fails, check the wiring between the computer and cRIO, if it succeeds, try disabling your firewall (if you need to re-enable it afterwards, you will need to add special exceptions too allow communication with the cRIO).

- Oliver

[NHS_EAGLES]

Yes we do have a ping. The minimum time was 0ms and the max was 1ms. I wonder do we need to have a program loaded into the cRIO from LabVeiw?
Thanks for the suggestion.

[rsisk]

Turn off the Windows Firewall as suggested earlier by linuxboy

[Tom Line]

Why are you using a crossover cable to connect your driver station to the cRio? You should not be. The crossover cable is for the camera.

[Alan Anderson]

Are you using the same cable you used when you loaded the cRIO image? What is the Robot Signal Light doing? What do the Communication status indicators on the Driver Station's "Diagnostics" page show?

Originally Posted by Tom Line

The crossover cable is for the camera.

The only place a crossover cable is strictly necessary is if you're connecting the Axis camera directly to the cRIO and not through the DAP. Every other device in the system should be capable of automatically sensing whether or not there's a crossover connection in the mix.

[NHS_EAGLES]

I have deactivated the firewall and still no results

Yes, I am using the same crossover cable that I used to image the cRIO.

On the diagnostics page the robot light is green, the Enet link is green and the DS radio light is flashing green. Im going to try doing the communications without the crossover through the Dlink (and ethernet cord) I will post an update shortly.

Thanks for the ideas so far!

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by NHS_EAGLES

...the DS radio light is flashing green.

If you're wired directly with no D-Link in the mix, that shouldn't be happening. You might try disabling your wireless network temporarily to see if Windows is confused by the networking configuration. If your wired and wireless connections are both in the 10.te.am.x range, it could be that the computer is trying to use the wrong one.

[NHS_EAGLES]

Alright so we figured it out. The cRIO was in saftey mode which was preventing us from doing anything to it. So now we have communications light on and are able to upload the robot code.

Now, about the ribbon cable that came with the package, the red wire did not line up on both sides so we reversed this. Is this proper procedure or should the red wire be on opposite sides on the male and female ends? I ask this because when running the program, the joystick is unable to control the motor.

Thanks for all the help guys!

[Tom Line]

There is a document on the usfirst web site that explains how to check your ribbon cable.

[NHS_EAGLES]

Okay. IT turns out our ribbon cable wasn't connecting on all the wires. All is good now, it is working perfectly wireless and all. Thanks for all the help guys!

[austin1743]

we are having the same problem, we are wired using an Ethernet cable directly to the cRio and have no robot communication. we have windows firewall disabled... we also have all other anti-virus software disabled.

we checked cRio for safe mode and were not in safe mode.
ip's are set correctly

any suggestions?