A S4C+ controller that has been running well for more then a year after commisioning now, is now giving frequently problems after power down, power up.
A year a ago the SMB battery an the battery beneath the computer in the controller cabinet have been renewed.
Custumer says the problem is resolved by restoring backup of the program.
You should suspect the computer battery, but the customer says there are no specific messages about the battery on the teachpendant.
Can I measure the status of the computer battery electrically? If so, on which connectors can I measure what voltage?
Could there be a problem with the flash ram that stores the image after a power down? Where can I find the flash ram, and how can I diagnose it?
Or could it be the main computer?
Would making a cold restart and reïnstalling the system be a good idea, although the systems seems to start now without problems, only the program seems te be corrupted after power down?
S4C+ M2000 problems after power down
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Plc_User -
August 9, 2013 at 10:36 PM -
Thread is marked as Resolved.
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Most of the time it is the battery backup unit as it is a common failure. Under the service window check system status. I should show battery backup unit "charged" anything else would indicate it being defective. After power down watch the light activity on top of the cpu unit. If it remains on for about 30s and you see HD activity then the backup unit is working correctly as the computer will write the image.bin file back to the Flash drive. It is a common failure for the flash drive to get bad sectors over time. Replace with a new unit and make sure you are running robotware 4.0 rev 127. Coldboot the system and restart and retry backup function.
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Thanks so far.
Is there a possibility to see the 'health' of the flash drive (f.i. bad sectors) on the teachpendant? Or is there any other diagnostic procedure? Or should I just replace it as precaution?
What steps do I take when a new flasdrive is installed? Install new system with robinstall from pc (I have ethernet port on robot) and afterwards restore a backup? Or are there other steps necessary concerning the
memory of the new flashdrive? -
You can get a new flash drive from ABB with the basic files loaded. Or (I don't endorse this) ghost your old drive to a new flash. The flash is set to FAT already. You can use Norton Ghost or similar. Then use Robinstall to install the new system. Perform a full backup first if you can to a floppy or USB.
You can hook up a 9pin null modem cable to the MC Console port using Hyerterminal at 9600 baud connect to the CPU. Reboot the controller. Watch for activity on the PC. Usually you will see sector errors during startup. However, in my experience it is just best to replace to flash anyway.