RIO software installation

[Prx_Dave]

I've been running a cRIO system for a little over a year now (running in scan mode).  We had a planned sitewide power outage over the long weekend and now I cannot establish communication with my cRIO9074 chassis since turning the power back on this morning.  The error I got said that there is a different version of RIO on the target than on the PC, which according to MAX they match.  When I tried to re-install the software onto the chassis I got a time-out error when it tried to reboot into install mode.  What else can I try?

Dave

[Mellobuck]

What were your network settings. The above issues often happen when a cRIO uses a DNS server and ends up on a separate subnet from your development computer. Check that those match.

Failing that, you might need to format the drive before continuing, with flash memory if the system was writing to the driver when power was lost, the whole file structure could have been corrupted. (This used to be an issue, it may have been fixed in post RIO 4.0 versions).

To save the time in the future, consider using the Replication and Deployment Utility from NI: http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/epd/p/id/5986

This allows you to make a disk image that you can restore to in the future, and even have the option to retain current network settings.

-Mello

[Prx_Dave]

I checked all the IP settings and everything looks good (the subnet of the target is the same as the host PC, etc).  Since this was a planned outage I had stopped execution of all vi's and powered off the cRIO9074 before our power went out.  Therefore I don't believe that a file was being written when the power went out.  Also, although I cannot seem to connect properly, the 9074 does respond when I tell it to reboot-it won't actually reboot, but the status light will blink a few times before I get the timeout message on the PC.  After trying this twice the status light gives 4 blinks which the manual says means it crashed twice without a reboot or power cycle.

I could try reformatting the memory then re-installing the software, how do I do that?

Dave

[Zach-H]

Hey Dave, 

Getting the Console out of the controller may help us determine what its doing/why its failing. This KnowledgeBase decribes the console out and how to use it. If you are able to get the console out of the controller, go ahead and post it in a .txt file here so we can take a look at it. 

This KnowlegeBase describes how to reformat and reinstall the software on the controller. (Screen shots are of an older version of MAX, but the process is the same) You'll probably want to make note of what software is currently installed on the controller if you're able to see it in MAX and expand the software section, so you know what you'll need to reinstall. 

Let us know how things go

[Prx_Dave]

Upon further investigation I realized that the chassis was locked which is why I couldn't add/remove any software.  I hadn't ever locked the chassis (a mistake on my part) so I'm assuming someone else on our network had thought it was theirs, possibly installed software and locked it.  By resetting the IP I also cleared the password and was able to reformat, reinstall the software and everything is working now.  It's locked now with my own password.  Thanks everyone for the suggestions which definitely helped lead me to the solution.

Dave