Controller will not boot after trying to install robot ware version 3.2.56

[Robotic Metallizing]

I have decided to start a new post seeing as I have multiple issues present with this system however this is the first issue that I think needs to be addressed before any of the others can be remedied.

I have an ABB IRB 2400 with an M97A controller console. The system was having issues with excessive payloads on axes and as per the tech I spoke with I pulled the boards and continued to reinstall robot ware to the new version. I have since gone back and forth between the original "shipped" set of disks and the ones I was provided with off of the FTP site ABB has set up. The boot sequence after installation will get as far as displaying the "bootiocase" screen and then clear itself to next display what I believe would be the ABB logo and the system information but the system will hang and never move past this point.

Inside of the cabinet the LED's on the right panel are all lit with the exception of NS which will flash once right before the controller hangs. At this point the button indicator arrows for the buttons around the teach pendant will display however the rest of the screen will remain blank.

I have sent the main computer board out for repair however it tested fine. I have swapped panel boards without any luck and I have checked the cables running between the robot and controller with a megger all without any luck.

Any help that someone might be able to offer or suggestions as to testing a component that may cause such an issue would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[prnuk2003]

Do all the necessary boot disks go in OK during the cold boot then it fails after the first warm start?
Any fault LED's remaining on any of the computer boards?
What version of RW are you going from / to?  (sometimes the computer hardware had compatibility issues when jumping from an early release to the latest revsion).

Did you update the key disk to run with revsion 56?

Have you tried connecting an RS232 cable from the MC/Console to a laptop running hyperterminal (very useful as you can capture all the boot sequence text that you don't see on the TPU). That will not fix the problem but it may give you(or ABB if you send them the log) an idea why the cold boot is failing.

Revision 56 is the last ever version of RW 3.2 to be released but I have versions 52, 53 and 54 if you would like to try an alternative to see if it helps.

[Robotic Metallizing]

Yes, all of the boot disks load fine. I transferred them all to a USB which I use in the robot instead of actual disks, so much more efficient. Yes, it fails after the first warm start.

As far as LED's go I do not see any that are lit. The DSQC363 will flash quick during boot but that will be it. On this board in particular the two CAN lights are green and on the topside of the cabinet all LED's are orange or green except for NS which is not lit at all.

Going from robot ware 3.0 to 3.2 rev 56.

I have never done the updating of the key disk. How is this done?

I have also not done the RS232 connection to the MC/Console using hyperterminal. I will have to look into this as well. Is there a particular software you use in conjunction with this?

[prnuk2003]

I found this comment from an old email so please check with your ABB contact regarding compatability:

NOTE! DSQC363 (IOC/AXC) is NOT supported in RW3.2.  If cold booting with RW3.2 there will be an overflow in the flash memory on the computer board, and a special tool at the supplier is needed to recover the flash.

To go from 3.0 to 3.2 I think you will need to upgrade this board at least.

I have 3.0 v47 and v54 if you would like to try those (probably have others if I dig round enough).

[Robotic Metallizing]

Hi prnuk2003,

Thanks for the reply. Skooter posted in my original post with regards to this particular robot (robot is ghost) you replied there too but I started this post for the boot issue. You guys were right! I called ABB and they confirmed that the 3.2 is not compatible...not sure why I was told to load that in the first place. I tried reverting to 3.0 ver. 2.52 from the 2.01 shipped version. The key disk will not take. At the screen "Insert key disk and press any key to continue" the disk will read and continue to read while the teach pendant flashes blank and come up with "Teach pendant communication lost" Any ideas? I should mention i pulled a fresh copy from the OEM floppy key disk and put it on the USB drive I hooked up so I can't get a more accurate copy of the key than that. I was about to send the board out this afternoon but having gotten a response from ABB I wanted to try this out but to no avail. Regards your thoughts about the flash having to be reset... the ABB tech had also said that after so many flashes the chip may need replacing as it can only be completed so many times until problems begin, a guess this is a common problem they see in the field as well. Let me know what you think and again thanks for your continued help. How can I educate myself as to which versions of software are compatible with which robots? How did you know this was incompatible, just from experience?

Thanks again,

Zack

[prnuk2003]

Hello Zack, I have posted a reply on your other thread.

Still think that failure of the board due to 'so many flashes' may be a red herring in your case especially when you know that when 3.2 was released it came with the very specific warning about the DSQC363.