Formatting a Crio with 2014 image

[de_]

We are poking away at trying to repeat a complete setup of a 2014 CRIO system and java development environment. We seem to have got all the files and documentation etc and are trying to reformat our Crio that currently has a 2013 image on it with the V52 2014 Crio image. We believe we have the configuration correct (2014 NI update installed), using 2014 imaging tool, set our IP correctly etc. We are directly connected to the CRio through a cross over cable.
The FRC 2014 Crio imaging tool finds the Crio with the expected address. It reports the Crio has the 2013 image loaded on it. It knows about the 2014 V52 zip file image. We select Java and Format the Crio and in short order it reports the image was transferred and it is waiting for the Crio to reboot. It waits forever. If we cycle the power on the Crio, it reboots and the imaging tool reports that the Crio still has the 2013 image, (not the 2014 image) installed. I sort of remember transferring the image was a somewhat long slow process yet here it transfers in a second. Anyone remember or have any suggestions ?

[Mr. Lim]

The waiting for reboot process can be finicky, mostly dependent on your computer's ethernet setup, and how quickly it recovers from having its Ethernet cable unplugged + plugged back in. Sounds weird but:

My suggestion is to connect a powered switch, hub or router between the computer you are imaging from, and the cRIO.

Here's why:

When the cRIO reboots, it cuts power to the ethernet port. If the computer is connected directly to the cRIO, this power drop causes the computer's ethernet interface to go down. In Windows, you see it say "Cable Unplugged" or something to that effect. When the cRIO powers back up, and power is restored to the Ethernet port, the computer detects this and tries to bring up its Ethernet interface too. On some computers, this takes a really long time, and the reboot signal seems to be missed - the computer ends up waiting forever.

With some kind of powered device in between, the computer's Ethernet interface always sees a live connection to the hub, switch or router, even while the cRIO is rebooting. Thus the computer's Ethernet interface never goes down, and the reboot signal comes in a lot more reliably.

I find I have a much higher success rate at imaging when doing this, and usually I just grab any robot radio lying around and patch both devices into it. As long as the router isn't configured strangely, it usually works fine.

Good luck!

[de_]

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately it did not work

So I retrieved 2 more cRIOs from storage, one 4 slot and one 8 slot.
The 8 slot behaved identically to the first unit (also an 8 slot) - "Rebooting CompactRIO device..."

The 4 slot unit was found by macc address and reported an unknown image. It did have a slightly different team ID for testing. Formating it to 1310 DID work with all the expected update messages.

I do note that when running the Network console to watch the cRIO consoles, on the 8 slot devices I see a number of threads (multiple Command Server TCP connection threads and FTP Server Connection Thread) terminating. This doesn't sound good as FTP is the method through which things are downloaded.

More head scratching...

[Mr. Lim]

Originally Posted by de_

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately it did not work

So I retrieved 2 more cRIOs from storage, one 4 slot and one 8 slot.
The 8 slot behaved identically to the first unit (also an 8 slot) - "Rebooting CompactRIO device..."

The 4 slot unit was found by macc address and reported an unknown image. It did have a slightly different team ID for testing. Formating it to 1310 DID work with all the expected update messages.

I do note that when running the Network console to watch the cRIO consoles, on the 8 slot devices I see a number of threads (multiple Command Server TCP connection threads and FTP Server Connection Thread) terminating. This doesn't sound good as FTP is the method through which things are downloaded.

More head scratching...

For the 8-slot units, all I can suggest is trying to image them in safe mode by flipping the corresponding DIP switch.

Also, if they're really old units, they might lack the gasket that keeps swarf out of them. It might be worth opening them up and blowing them out. I've had at least one cRIO act completely wonky communications-wise, and was unimageable. Cleaning out its innards resolved the problem.