Help with reconnecting with DS

[kennypu]

hello,
my name is Ken and I'm the main programmer for our robots, however this is my first year directly participating in FRC.
Anyways, while I was playing around with the cRIO and windriver, learning how to do various stuff, going through tutorials, etc. At one point I was able to connect the DS and cRIO, and everything was functional (except for the camera). Now however, I can't get the cRIO to connect with the classmate anymore (the 'communication' and 'robot code' lights will not turn green). If it is possible, I may have resetted the cRIO's ip, making it not connect with the DS. I have tried to use the re-imaging tool to set the cRIO again, however the imaging tool cannot detect the cRIO. I looked around places, and I've read that you need to use something called MAX to reset the cRIO? But obviously I have no idea. Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.
-Ken

[EHaskins]

First, welcome to ChiefDelphi.

Attempt to ping the robot's IP address from the classmate. The IP is 10.xx.yy.2, where xx is the first two digits of your team number and yy are the last two digits. 1103 would become 10.11.3.2.

If ping is successful skip to DS troubleshooting, otherwise continue to network troubleshooting.

Check the status light on the robot. If you have the status light connected it should be blinking, if not look at the LED next it's connection on the digital sidecar. If its not blinking post for more help, and ignore what I'm saying below.

Network issues

If at anypoint pinging the cRio works stop this list, and test the driver's station.

Verify the team number adn IP address are set correctly on the classmate. Setting the team number in the driver's station will confrigure the IP correctly. Then try to ping again.

Run ipconfig from the classmate command prompt, and verify the IP address is 10.xx.yy.5. If not configure it manually.

Verify you are connected to NIC #1 on the cRio.

If using the wireless verify there is connectivity between the bridge and router. There will be a wireless light on on the bridge if it is working.

Connect the cRio eth1 to the classmate using a crossover cable. Try again to ping. If this work reconfigure your wireless hardware.

While still connected via a crossover run the cRio imaging tool.

Connect a serial cable between the serial on the cRio and a PC, set the consoel DIP switch on the cRio, and watch the console output during bootup. You will see a line saying it is configuring network, and then two line with the IP addresses of the two NICs on the cRio. If the NIC#1 Ip doesn't match IP you are using to ping there may be an issue. Post for more details if this is the case.

DS troubleshooting

Verify the team number is set correctly in the DS setup screen.

Reboot the classmate.

Verify that no firewalls are blocking DS communication.

Post if this doesn't resolve the situation.

[Greg McKaskle]

Max, full name National Instrument Measurement and Automation Explorer, should have been installed on any computer that had LabVIEW installed, and probably WindRiver and Java.

The first thing to do is to simplify the networking. Ideally, just one computer, a cable, and the cRIO. Be sure to turn off the firewall, run Max and see refresh the remote devices. If the controller shows up, you can reconfigure it to have your teams number.

If that doesn't work, it will likely be necessary to use the DIP switches to reset the IP and use the imaging tool.

Greg McKaskle

[kennypu]

thanks for the trouble shooting tip, although I am not sure if that would be enough. As for the status LED, I believe it blinks once. The classmates IP is set correctly, I can assure you that. The other steps I will try out when I can tomorrow.

EDIT:
thanks greg, I will try that tomorrow as well.

[kennypu]

Thanks guys, I was able to solve this problem.
I took Greg's advice, and I reset the cRIO's ip, then reimaged it, and it connects with the DS again. Now I have a problem where the robot code light stays red (in DS) even after successfully downloading a code from windriver, but thats a different problem. Thanks guys.