D42F-A001 Controller Boot Error

    Hi All,


    I have a D42F-A001 controller running a ZX200S. The controller has been running well until it was switched off a month ago, today when i turned the controller on it would not start.



    This is my findings so far; I have no idea what to attempt next in order to fix it


    --The teach pendant flickers a few lines on start-up and stops on a solid black screen.
    --The 1KA board had solid red on LED1 and solid green on LED2,3
    --The 1KB board had solid green on LED2,3 and solid red on LED2
    --The only indicator lit on the robot controller was the control power
    --Could not communicate to the robot over ethernet or serial
    --Battery voltage on the 1KA board after power on was at 3.6v
    --All the 1KA voltage test points where within spec.




    Any help would be greatly appreciated.


    Cheers


    Robomike

    Edited once, last by robomike ().

    Welcome to the forum...... :beerchug:


    Initially this is giving symptoms of bootup being incomplete.
    - No feedback displayed on the teach pendant - video and comms to teach pendant is provided from 1KA board.
    - Led status on the 1KA board is pointing to AS startup failure (Led 2 should blink normally).
    - No communication via serial or Ethernet.


    I have some further questions for you.
    1. Can you describe the current application (without breaking company confidence)....I can see CC link, collision detection, fixed tool.
    2. Do you have access to any spare parts - Teach Pendant, 1KA, 1KB and AVR.
    3. Your backup contains no user data.......Programs, locations etc.
    4. This backup if used, would result in controller not having any programs to run, and therefore would need reprogramming/teaching in.
    5. Have you any other backups you could provide or use.


    Going forward:
    - Check and confirm all connections internally to motherboard (card rack backplane) or all secure by removing, inspecting pins and reconnect.
    - Check and confirm 1KA and 1KB boards are correctly seated by removing, inspecting and reseating.


    Confirm communication (not ethernet only serial).
    - Connect a null modem cable to the connector on the front panel (cross over type where pin 2 and 3 are swapped).
    - Open KCWin32 and make sure you have device manager pointing to correct port com settings and baudrate.
    - Power up the Controller and check KCWin display for any messages and provide screenshot.
    - Usually you will see initial bootup message with some information


    Secondly repeat above without teach pendant connected.
    - If suddenly you are getting messages on KCWin.....then Teach Pendant is the problem, probably main cable.


    If no change, then this points to boot up on 1KA has failed.
    - Have you spare 1KA to be able to try at this point.

    Hi kwaskisaki and thanks for the welcome :beerchug:


    The robot is being used in a material removial application. It has a high speed milling spindle mounted as the tool.


    The robot was previously from Ford Australia
    The CC-Link is not being used
    Fixed tool motion instructions are not being used.


    The user data was purposely removed from the backup to protect company IP. I have various backups that can be loaded back in.



    I did remove the 1KA and 1KB boards, all pins and connections looked okay so I don’t think it’s a connection issue.


    I’m suspecting it’s the teach pendant cable from what you’re saying because it has some serious twists in it. Next time I’m on site I’ll try connect through KCWin without the teach pendant connected.


    Unfortunately, I don’t have a spare 1KA board but ill will try and source one if the boot still fails.



    Cheers and stay tuned....

    Quote

    The user data was purposely removed from the backup to protect company IP. I have various backups that can be loaded back in.

    .......... :respect:


    Good to hear that, as the next stage would really be a complete hardware initialisation (which removes ALL data including system and user data) and will render the Controller in operable until a full file save is reloaded.
    Obviously I did not want to advise on a hardware initialisation unless you were in possession of some means of reloading all data so that you would not need to do any reprogramming, so good to hear you have those to hand.


    I can also see this appears to not be handling, but servo gun applicable too.
    - This kind of links in with the thread you were referring to regarding the tool issue you mentioned.....which I think is also Ford Australia and also servo gun application (I shall have to have a re-read on that thread, to be sure).


    So the system has been re-purposed then.....clearly you need to get it back functioning again, before addressing the tool side.


    So what I suggest, is yes, by all means check the teach pendant cabling....and if you can get another teach pendant to swap over, this could eliminate it or prove that.
    Teach Pendants are generic and do not store any information, so just plug and play basically.
    D and E Series pendants are slightly different, but electrically the same, so if you can get hold of either a D or E Series pendant, you could easily prove/eliminate the pendant side.

    Hi All,

    Its been a wile, but feel like some closure thread may help other people with similar issues.


    With some more troubleshooting on the robot we where able to get it running again, the CPU card was dead. after replacing the card you will need to reload the AS and SV firmware. Then all user data and system data need to be loaded in.


    Kwakisaki thanks for the help,


    The tool issue still persisted after the new card was installed, I suspect it is related to firmware in the robot. Next time I visit the site I will turn off the the cc link, ford aus and fixed options to see if it is related to any of those.


    is the servo gun an option that can be turned of through the zoptions?

    Quote from robomike

    With some more troubleshooting on the robot we where able to get it running again, the CPU card was dead. after replacing the card you will need to reload the AS and SV firmware. Then all user data and system data need to be loaded in.

    Perfect, thanks for letting us know...………:top:

    Quote from robomike

    is the servo gun an option that can be turned of through the zoptions?

    I am pretty sure Servo Gun systems use a specific AS firmware.

    So it won't be a case of just disabling it, but it is usually configured as the external axis (JT7).

    You could go into level 3 and look at Aux 2002 and disable the external axis if you're not using it.


    Based on what you mentioned about your application, I would be tempted to install AS handling firmware.

    This would be more suited (less confusing options as servo operation will not be present) and would possibly rectify your TCP issues too.


    Your latest backup could still be used to return the user data, software limits, dedicated signals etc.

    It may require stripping out of non comparison data:

    1. You install the AS Handling firmware

    2. Set the Robot Model and re-zero the joints (so you just have an empty handling robot with no user/specific data, just defaults.

    3. Take a file save.

    4. Compare that file save with your file save from the servo configuration and use something like Winmerge to copy data from servo to handling.

    5. Thus creating a 'made up file' consisting of handling and your user data, dedicated signals etc.

    6. This then you could load in.

    7. Data not recognised (due to firmware differences) is usually rejected during the reload.

    Hi all, I had a chance to do some work on the robot today.

    There was no need to install handling firmware. Turning off the ford and fixed tool options solved the problem.

    Quote from kwakisaki

    So it won't be a case of just disabling it, but it is usually configured as the external axis (JT7).

    You could go into level 3 and look at Aux 2002 and disable the external axis if you're not using it.

    I did check this initially but it did not help, good pointer though. :thumbs_up:


    Another thing I will point out that might help some people prevent headache. I had an unused cclink card in the robot controller with the option disabled. for some reason this was preventing ethernet connection to the robot with KRterm. pulled the card out and it started working.

    That's good to know the ford and fixed options resolved your TCP issues.


    Strange how the unused cclink card was causing an issue with ethernet communication though, as the cclink uses the backplane VME bus to communicate to the CPU card and shouldn't really have an effect on ethernet communications to the port, unless there is an actual component failure on the cclink card that is pulling power rails low.


    It's quite common for 'Ford Spec' controllers to incorporate a ethernet port disable zswitch called:

    ZENATELNET


    Just by typing in the keyboard:

    ZENATELNET ON ; would enable the port

    ZENATELNET OFF; would disable the port


    Are you sure nothing like that is occurring, instead of the cclink board causing the issue.…..maybe worth trying it.


    If not, and it is the cclink board causing the issue, that's one for the memory book just in case others come across something similar so it's sure good to know, thanks...……..:top:

    I found it strange too, it was repeatable though.


    I don't think its related to the ZENATELNET switch because It would connect, then get a communication error.




    It could be related to a failure on the cclink card, I have no real way to investigate this though.

    So that's a screenshot of connection attempt with the cclink card inserted then?

    If it's repeatable with the card inserted......and clears when removed, then indeed it does suggest the physical card is possibly causing an issue.

    I've only ever seen something akin to your screenshot when the ethernet cable used is the problem, but you've obviously eliminated that.

    - Worth just plugging it into a different available option slot if you have one, to see if it is slot related maybe.

    But still, if you're not using it and it's all working without it just worth tagging it with a 'question mark' then.


    Interesting...….:hmmm:

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