KRC2 booting issues

    Hi,

    I have run KRC2 (KSS 4.1.7) KR 150-2 for about three years on occasional weekend without any problems but a couple of months ago it started booting only with 2nd attempt. On first trial pendant was dark and red lights were blinking in controller. Power off/on always worked to boot controller on second attempt. Message "Buffer battery voltage low PM1" made me replace batteries but to my surprise problem with robot not booting on first power on attempt persisted.

    I could have lived with that but yesterday much worse thing happened. I accidentally left CD (with just some robot code, no other software) in the PC CD slot before boot and obviously robot attempted to read it it on the start and I did two silly things: 1) I switched power off/on during boot, and 2) when pendant showed the blue screen about driver (see pic) I did not press any key as suggested but powered KRC2 down and up again. This resulted now in KRC2 not booting fully but stopping at "Cross 3" screen (see pic) with red & green lights blinking inside controller.

    Disconnecting batteries and then booting a couple of times (my attempt at cold start) did not help. First time pendant dark as usual. Second time pendant did not go past Cross 3 again. All consecutive times of booting with batteries always stopped at Cross 3 screen and red & green lights inside cabinet. I assume that startup not working on 1st attempt and stopping on Cross 3 screen are two different problems but I cover it all here to get the status right.

    I dearly hope it is some trivial thing I can do to get full boot again. Any advice much, much appreciated.

    DS

  • Go to Best Answer

    Hi

    Looks like a file system problem.

    Make a clone of the hard disk on another disk

    Save the original disc

    On the D: of HDD you must have a backup installation of KSS

    Reinstall KSS on the cloned disk

    I do not rule out the problem with the capacitors that Javamаn is talking about

    My motherboard capacitors are not only bulged but even leaked but I don't have your problem

    Regards

    Pipo

    CR2032 on motherboard need to be replaced every ~5 years. it is backup for CMOS settings. if battery is dead, settings will be corrupt and robot may not start correctly or - at all. solution is to replace it while observing ESD guidelines, reload default CMOS settings and save them. if battery was still usable and was replaced sufficiently quickly (30-60sec), settings may be retained. if computer does not even start, one need to temporarily short pins for startup button and get into BIOS before it gets stuck again.

    1) read pinned topic: READ FIRST...

    2) if you have an issue with robot, post question in the correct forum section... do NOT contact me directly

    3) read 1 and 2

    panic mode, pipo,

    Thanks indeed for your thoughts. I assume it makes sense to try to change battery first before doing clone and reinstall of KSS, right? So, based on your suggestions I will execute the following task list.

    1. get pre-historic (PS2) keybord :smiling_face:

    2. change CR2032 batteries

    3. power up controller, press DEL, go into BIOS, load KUKA DEFAULT settings, and chose SAVE AND EXIT, I have never been in BIOS hopefully its cool there :smiling_face:

    4. set correct time and date in BIOS, I have never done BIOS but there seem to be some KUKA documentation so let's see how it goes :smiling_face:

    ///

    5. get equivalent drive. I just discovered that instead of HDD, company who did refurbish robot has put in SSD! (Innolite EDC 40P-V 8GB). That is good news as presumably it will be much, much easier to produce copy of that.

    6. do the clone. Will investigate how to do SSD to SSD clone :smiling_face:

    7. save original and put cloned SSD into controller PC and re-install KSS.

    Before I do the above points I was wandering if restarting without batteries was a proper cold start attempt. Is there an option to do something with ColdStart.reg or Bootdisk files that I happen to have? :smiling_face:

    The more we get into details the more exciting this gets, as I have done none of this before :winking_face:

    DS

    Hi

    I can send you pictures from my bios if you are not sure how to do it.

    A few days ago I cloned my hard drive. I used acronis true image free version.

    Hard disk cloning is done on another computer. You must have 3 sata

    One to start the computer, one for the original disk and one for the disk on which you will make the clone. I had a problem finding an old computer with ports for IDE disks.

    I have had a robot for two weeks and I am a beginner, but my problems are completely different and after more than 10 reinstallations I learned some things that in this case I hope will be useful to you.

    Success!

    Pipo

    PS

    I think the ColdStart.reg file only serves as a way to restart the KSS. Boot disks are used to start Windows and should not be related to KSS, but there is one option in which if you do not start Windows properly and more precisely the drivers, then KSS will not start either. It is quite difficult to diagnose the problem in this case. After starting Windows without starting KSS in the device manager, all drivers must be error-free and there must be no devices for which the driver reports a problem.

    Edited once, last by pipo (July 20, 2020 at 9:20 PM).

    pipo thanks!

    Just got ps2 keyboard and will attempt to do battery change on motherboard soon. Regarding BIOS, I do expect to see this kind of screen (from KUKA documentation)...if it is just clicking on those options, sure I can do it. If there are more tricks that I should know, then yes, it would be cool to get some screens & advice :smiling_face: Thanks.

    Dear all,

    These are the actions I have taken so far but unfortunately they were unsuccessful:

    - I checked if startup behavior is the same and it was (first time pendant dark, second time stalls on Cross 3 screen)

    - I checked if I can enter BIOS with ps2 keybord

    - I changed CR2032 3V battery to a new (did it with controller powered off, myself grounded, in about 15 seconds)

    After battery change on controller start-up pendant would never light up (several trials)

    - I located motherboard (SY-7VBA) manual from manufacturer and located PWR pins (see picture)

    - I shorted the pins with screwdriver several times (different ways with controller switched on and also in sync when switching on controller)

    - I even re-seated video card (in same slot with controller switched off) as that was reported to solve pendant not lighting up issue for someone else

    None of this helped, pendant is not lighting up on controller power on, so I cannot enter BIOS

    Super grateful if anyone has any ideas for the next steps:

    - I assume I shall get screen with parallel port to get into BIOS

    - Shall I short "RST" (reset) pins instead of "PWR"?

    - Any other ideas? :confused_face:

    All connectors robot < - >computer must be plugged on the right places. Check!


    Problems with blank screen on windows coming from hardware errors in most cases. Try to unplug all from MB (incl. RAM) and plug again. Reset the BIOS! If the problem persist - try to plug external monitor to VGA port on MFC/DSE card. If monitor is blank plug VGA card on MB and use external monitor.

    Try changing the ram memory or if you have two leave only one on DIMM1 and try to start. Then put the other one and try to start again. I don't see a buzzer on the motherboard. If there is, it signals hardware problems with a certain number of beeps, and the number of beeps determines the problem.

    Thanks for the comments!

    - controller/PC connections have not been changed (robot has been used for last 3 years without any changes to hardware/software/connections). I re-plugged all PC connections to same places.

    - I re-seated both cards on PC motherboard, memory as well as SSD in the same slots, just to be sure

    - I plugged in external monitor in the VGA port of video card

    None of this has helped. After switching on controller, there is no sign of life that PC is even attempting to start (no lights e.g CD-ROM light, ventilator not spinning, external monitor says no VGA cord, no sounds that would indicate HW fault, no reaction to pendant or external monitor when shorting "PWR" pins on the motherboard. It's like after I changed CR2032 battery the PC is not switched on by controller in any way (while controller itself is spinning ventilator and blinking green & red lights).

    Can a change of PC motherboard battery really take the life for PC? :smiling_face: Before I changed the battery PC was always failing to startup on first attempt, always started on second attempt. Now PC is not showing any signs of life.

    I wander if there is a way to somehow start PC independently of controller so I have opportunity to even get into BIOS?

    It is just a PC hardware wise, so first of all check the power supply if it is supplying power. Can someone pitch in and say if you can just connect an external power supply and turn it on - any problems with that?

    Battery replacements should not do any harm to a motherboard, provided the motherboard is actually not failing through some fault and you didn't kill it through some freak static discharge,

    Hi, can you make a picture of the complete pc frame.


    As I remember the pc power supply is using the 24 Volts from the cabinet (are the 24 Volts there?)

    On top of the pc frame there should be a white connector (if I am right) applying the 24 Volts.

    The ATX power supply requires a pulse to start (and if this is the cabinet I am thinking of) disconnecting the upper portion of the white connector and reconnecting after few seconds should solve the problem.

    So please send the picture to let me check wheter is the cabinet I am thinking of

    regards

    MOM

    ATX power supply requires power_on input pulled down and kept low (0VDC)....

    this is done by connecting power_on input (green wire) to any of the 0VDC wires (black).

    carefully inserted paperclip could be used as a start up tool.

    btw many power supplies may not start without some minimal load (10-20W).

    I don't recall seeing anything of that sort with KUKA power supplies but, just keep that in mind.

    maybe better to have something connected as a load. i have started many KUKA supplies using described method and so far never had an issue.

    1) read pinned topic: READ FIRST...

    2) if you have an issue with robot, post question in the correct forum section... do NOT contact me directly

    3) read 1 and 2

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