Why is Mode light RED?

We are having issues with downloading code to our RRIO. We have verifed the RRIO image is correct, and the PDP firmware has also been updated. On this robot we have a PDP from 2015 robot.
When we deploy code, it seems to deploy correctly, but the MODE light is RED. We do have robot communications, and robot code is running.
We did select “run as startup” before we deployed the code.

We are perplexed and looking for some guidance.

Thank

Do you have “Test” selected on the Driver Station (where you can pick Teleop, Autonomous, etc. modes)?

I’ll check tomorrow. I don’t recall seeing that on the driver station, but now see it on the dasboard. What does Test mode do if we are using Labview? would it disable any of the motor controls?

This page seems to indicate test mode is applicable to Java
http://wpilib.screenstepslive.com/s/4485/m/26401/l/255405-enabling-test-mode-livewindow

Test mode bypasses your normal code control and turns the mode light on the roboRIO red.
It is for running separate independent tests.
Look for the Test.vi under Team Code in the LabVIEW project explorer window. You can add your own specialized tests in there and it has an example to get you started.

Your user control code is only going to work while the robot is in Teleop mode (or Practice mode during it’s 135 second Teleop -by default).
Driver controls also don’t work in Autonomous mode.

Just to add. Initiatively, test has the motors disabled and lets you hand-manipulate sensors and switches and view their values. The enable button also works, and at that point your periodic tasks code, if you have any, is running, and you can independently set actuator values.

So you can have test VIs that then drive an output and read sensors to verify operation of a mechanism. This can be quite useful after a repair.

Greg McKaskle

Thanks for the explanation. Test mode was active and now we have a robot that moves :slight_smile:

Thanks