If you have a PowerFlex 755 defined in a Motion Connection within a Motion Group on ControlLogix and are getting an error code 16#0010, in particular check that your Safe Torque Off card (possibly other safety cards) are in Slot 6 on the PowerFlex. There are several other restrictions and requirements on slot assignments and use so see Rockwell’s KnowledgeBase if you have questions about what’s allowed and what’s required. Search for powerflex 755 cip motion slots and that will help narrow it to the correct topic. Note, your mileage may vary, this is not an official Rockwell statement, just something I’ve gotten burned by on 2 separate occasions now. Recommend that when you are changing drives, take photos (or notes) about wiring and also the particular slots. Many of these modules can be installed in multiple ways, but only 1 specific layout will actually work.
Emerson AMS can’t talk to any live devices
So recently could not connect to any live devices on Emerson AMS, either on the device list or through the Multiplexer list. Our system uses Spectrum Connects to provide virtual multiplexers, which I found wasn’t running in the background. Further research showed that each time I tried to start Spectrum Connects it gave a an error similar to #1 Picture Not Available.
After tinkering a while, I finally went ahead and rebooted the server. I then ran Spectrum Connects which started and scanned just fine. Once complete, I started AMS Device Manager. At first it still couldn’t see any live devices so I stopped AMS Servers in the system tray, closed out Spectrum Connects, and then restarted Spectrum Connects. After Connects was online I brought AMS Servers back up and then started AMS Device Manager. At this point, it reconnected to everything and seemed to be working fine.
As a point of interest, I occasionally have to rebuild the hierarchy in AMS Device Manager or even search for all devices to get it working. We’re currently on v 14.xx of AMS but I’m not sure about Spectrum Connects.
FactoryTalk View HMI Server Trending not working
If your FactoryTalk VIew HMI Server trending is not serving data properly to HMI View Clients, check that the BIOS battery hasn’t died and the client station PC has correct date and time set. I’ve had this happen several times.
PowerFlex 7000 Series PanelView Plus 1000 v 6 Fatal Error FE
If your PowerFlex 7000 series Rockwell drive has a PanelView Plus 1000 v 6 (2711P-T10C4A9) that is giving a Fatal FE error when booting, you can try the following. Note that this PanelView is now obsolete and you’ll need to contact Rockwell for the correct replacement as there is supposedly a special firmware loaded into these PanelViews that make them specific to PowerFlex 7000 use. Also, the programming is not stored on the SD card in the PanelView but is instead on an Ethernet card located near the main control boards in the black section of the drive. The SD card in question is a molded gray and contains the application that the PanelView loads on booting. The PanelView is not critical to the operation of the drive.
0: Attach USB keyboard to either PanelView USB port
1: Press and release RESET on back of PanelView
2: Immediately press and hold DEFAULT on back of PanelView
3: Once boot menu appears you can release DEFAULT
4: Press down arrow on keyboard to select boot options
5: Press right arrow on keyboard to select boot option that includes “Safe Mode”
6: Press up arrow on keyboard to select Boot with Selected Options and then press ENTER key
7: Assuming it works, you should see the normal drive graphics. You can now disconnect the USB keyboard
NOTE: This was determined by trial and error and I don’t guarantee your results will match mine. Given supply chain issues, this might help limp along. You will probably have to do this after any power cycle or reboot as I have been unable to get the PanelView in question to boot normally since initial failure.
Windows Server 2019 TCP/IP not properly configured
If you are attempting to setup Active Directory, DNS and DHCP on Server 2019 (and probably others) and get a message that TCP/IP is not properly configured, make sure your server is plugged into a network switch such that the connection is live. I spent several minutes on this, checking adapter configuration and rebooting until I simply plugged the machine into a network switch. I was trying to configure the machine offline and didn’t have it plugged in, just had the IP, subnet mask, gateway and DNS settings input.
Produced / Consumed Tags faults with ControlLogix (16#0203 connection timeout)
We recently had a failure in which a PLC “PROD” (ControlLogix L72S with L7SP) was producing tags without any faults while the consumer PLC “CONS” (ControlLogix L72S with L72SP) kept timing out trying to connect. Both PLCs are at 20.1x firmware. PROD had produced tags for both safety and non-safety configured with a maximum of 1 consumer and safety networks in both directions matched where necessary. Both PLCs actually shared tags both directions so each had produced safety and non-safety tags and consumed safety and non-safety tags from the other one. The tags were user-defined AOIs with a connection status object, DINT[0..31] array, and REAL[0..99] array. These tags and CPUs have been in use for 10 years so not a new application.
Initial indications of the failures were that both bits (DINTs) and REALs were being lost before reaching the CONS processor. The values were being set properly at the PROD cpu but not reaching CONS. Loaded both CPU programs on Logix 5000 and found that on the PROD controller organizer there were no faults shown in the tree and communication status showed RUN, no FAULTS constantly. CONS controller, however, showed exclamation icon for PRODs L72S cpu. Physically looking at both CPUs in their respective showed no problems with EN2T cards or CPUs.
Tried resetting EN2T on CONS cpu and finally replaced with new EN2T, still same results. Verified IP addresses were correct, verified configuration, reloaded program into CONS cpu thinking maybe an issue with memory corruption had occurred. No changes.
Researched via Internet and found a couple of references to similar issues, basically networking possibly a problem. Double-checked all settings again. One thing of note is that the producing CPU doesn’t seem to care if it actually has a connection to any other device. From what I can tell it will allow the maximum number of consumers but will not complain if there are none at all. I had expected a fault on the PROD plc tree similar to the CONS plc tree but this explained why the PROD plc didn’t show issues.
Using Studio 5000 Task Monitor, checked the EN2T module on CONS plc and noted that both the safety and standard messages were faulting; the organizer tree did not show safety messages faulting, though. Sure enough, comparison of data showed this failure as well (no data changes on CONS for a change on PROD).
Finally went to double-check cables. When doing so, found one of the two Stratix 8000 switches in the CONS control cabinet had 5 connections but all were staying on solid green, no flashing lights at all. Cycled power to switch and everything started working properly after switch finished booting. This problem was very strange because all connections to the failed switch still showed network traffic and no indication of failure. Thought I’d post this in case anyone searches for similar issues as there wasn’t a lot of information for similar configurations on this fault (16#203 or 16#0203 ?).
Cheers
Makeup by Granddaughter
Just out of curiosity, how many who identify as he/him have allowed their granddaughter to do their makeup and then gone to a public location (such as Chuck E. Cheese)? No judgement here, my granddaughter is amazing at 4 years old and can do makeup like a pro!
Alexa, when did you become watered down?
Answer from Alexa (for real): 2016
Retro Computers and Status
Over the years I’ve purchased quite a few retro computers. I thought maybe if I list them and their associated status, maybe it would encourage me to get off my backside and start fixing them as quite a few of them are in various states of disrepair (or just completely broken).
TRS-80 Model III
#1: Video completely out of adjustment. Also, internal “ribbon” cables are completely junked. Have replacements but never got them to work since video is crap.
#2: Video completely out of adjustment. Won’t power up properly.
#1: Works properly, needs RTC installed but otherwise works fine.
Apple IIe
#1, #2, #3: Various states of disrepair, keyboards missing keys, video outputs flaky, etc. Actually no plans to repair at this time since Platinum works
Apple IIGS
#1: Power supply trashed, changed RIFA caps, still not working
#2: Works great, has 8 MB, SCSI, lots of stuff but CP/M board not working
#3: Recently purchased ROM0 off Facebook group, need to test and possibly update RIFA caps
Apple IIc
#1: Irish keyboard, seemed to work okay when tried but video connector needs repair
#1: Forgot about this one, needs to have video connector replaced. Otherwise, need to test and learn more about it.
- Additional testing found that the video cables included with the Viewmaster board were in very poor condition 2022-06-17
- Replaced RIFA in power supply 2022-06-18
- Disk II drives neither work, possibly 74LS125 chip in the drives, suspect they were incorrectly plugged in 2022-06-20; Additional testing on 2022-06-21 found that Titan Accelerator IIe was possibly causing problems with drives, need to retest
- ADTPro works great with the SSC in slot 1 [edit] for Bootstrapping only, cannot get it to operator in DIR or RECEIVE mode with MacBook running Catalina. Switching over to IIe Platinum to see if it behaves differently.
TRS-80 CoCo II
#1, #2: Untested, both in very good condition along with several drive controllers
Multi-expansion unit: 1 works, 1 flaky due to compatibility issues
TRS-80 CoCo I
#1: Need more testing, has floppy and multi-expansion, all need more testing
Heathkit H89
#1: Works, also have external dual floppy (hard sector on all 3 drives)
#2: Pacific Scientific: Needs recap, blew cap when first started, has 2 builtin drives but torn down and now I don’t remember a damn thing about it
Heathkit H-8
#1: Boards for H-8 backplane, CPU, etc., to build, need to order parts
TI-99/4A
#All: Lots of these, most of them seem to work. However, very disappointed with design, probably going to sell most of them
Peripheral Expansion Box: Untested, has memory board, 1 floppy, serial board, extra floppy but nothing to install yet
#1: Sweet unit, also 9131 and 9133. Need repair on one of the 3-1/2″ drives. Need to copy 9133 hard drive, maybe with MFM emulator board from PDP/8 projects. Have memory card not yet tested.
- Machine doesn’t start properly, cycling power quite a few times may result in working fan and, ultimately, machine might show video. 2022-06-11
- Found 5 RIFA safety capacitors on power supply, all showing cracks and signs of impending death. Removed, planning to order soon. 2022-06-11
Atari 800XL
#1: Basically untested, have a 1050 drive to go with it but power rectifiers were blown. Replaced but haven’t tested
Amigas
#1: Amiga 500: Boots but essentially untested as I don’t have disks, etc.
#2: Amiga 2000: Battery cut out (no apparent damaged), needs reassembly and testing
#3: Amiga 1000: Untested, no video adapter or keyboard/mouse, extra external floppy
Bridgeboards: Have 3 of these, need to test
PC-based Stuff
Lots of these systems need testing. Have 2 XT clones, 1 of which worked when stored but didn’t have good storage at the time.
Lots of unassembled CP/M and other systems, mainly newer projects
Some items I plan to just sell off as I don’t have much desired to repair (TI-99/4A stuff particularly).
Amdek COLOR-I Composite Monitor
This monitor came with the Apple IIe Platinum mentioned above. It had gotten buried in a pile of stuff and had been an attraction for a group of mice at some point.
ParrotOS (Linux) 4.7 Update
So installed ParrotOS 4.7 x64 as my primary OS on a Lenovo X250 laptop. It’s been installed on it before so expected no real issues. Since I downloaded this image of 4.7 several weeks/months ago I knew it would need updating.
After installation, the automatic update feature announced 2500+ updates available so I told it to update. It finished about 2 seconds later so I checked using the command line. Still around 2500+ updates so attempted to upgrade the files and found an error about libc6-dev breaks libgcc-9-dev < 9.3.0.5 but 9.2.1-14 was to be installed. Apparently there is a similar issue on some releases of Kali.
First of all, I didn’t realize that Parrot should be updated using parrot-upgrade rather than the typical apt update/apt upgrade/apt full-upgrade used on many Debian and Ubuntu flavors. I found this out while searching for ways to fix the broken upgrade. Looks like parrot-upgrade simply does a lot of the work for you and helps keep the system aligned with ParrotOS.
Anyhow, found a reference that instructed to edit the file /var/lib/dpkg/status, search for the Package: libgcc-9-dev and delete all lines in that particular block. Also remember that you’ll need to use sudo as several descriptions I’ve seen assume you are logged in as root or are running a root shell.
If you’re not really sure how to do the above:
sudo nano /var/lib/dpkg/status
Use ^W to search for libgcc-9-dev and use ^W multiple times as needed until you reach the Package: libgcc-9-dev entry
Use ^K to delete all lines from Package: libgcc-9-dev until you reach the next Package: entry.
Use ^O to write the file back out (don’t change the name, just hit <ENTER> to accept the default name).
Now run sudo parrot-upgrade again; it should refresh the packages and install properly. If running a different distro, try running sudo apt update and then sudo apt upgrade or sudo apt full-upgrade.