has the DSC Engine any type of built-in tracing capabilities

[Tobias1234]

I need to identify an error which occurs at the communication between an OPC Server (from Beckhoff) and the DSC-Engine. I tried other clients which worked correclty so i think the problem is on the client side. The other point is that the same application was running on a different pc with the same software (WinXP, Labview 7.1, DSC Engine 7.1) for some time without any problems, so i should not be caused by firewall or virusscanner or anything like this. 
Sometimes the values arent updated at the DSC Engine and all (or sometimes only one) tag cant be written : The status returned by the DSCvis is -103. The tags show bad quality in the TagMonitor but at the server or when connecting with another client everything looks fine.
Is there any possibilty to know why the TagMonitor shows BadStatus ?
On the OPC Troubleshooting page u recommend the Matrikon OPC Sniffer to have some type of tracing capabilities. Do i really have to do this step or...

[REM1]

-103 is the default error which is returned when the OPC connection returns a non-success result that the DSC engine does not specifically handle.  Once the engine gets this value it sets the quality of the tag to bad status.  The tag monitor does not communicate via OPC but, rather, uses logos to communicate with the engine so, once the engine flags the quality of the tags data as bad the tag monitor will reflect that.

[Tobias1234]

Does this mean that once a tag has 'Bad Status' it isnt updated anymore (in the DSC Engine itself and/or only in the TagMonitor)  even if the connection is alright again ?

What could be the reasons for a "non-success result" ?

(sorry for this stupid question but i could need any hints to solve this problem and im pretty new to OPC)

[REM1]

The specific OPC errors that the DSC engine handles are bad direction, bad datatype, unrecognized item, bad value, and value out of range.  Any other error condition will give a -103 result.

I will try and investigate your other question.

[Tobias1234]

I tried to use the Matrikon OPC Sniffer. But after a short time there appear additional instances of the DSC Engine, the Sniffer is shutdown restarted.

In the Sniffers Manual they say that some clients make multiple connections to an OPC Server which causes the sniffers popup to appear numerous times.

But in my case the Sniffer is shutdown and then restarted and additionally serveral instances of the DSC Engine appear.

Here are the last entries of the sniffers log :

[05/03 17:49:36.66] (6) - CClientDataObjectSniffer:::OnDataChange() -          hClientItem=0x0000072d ftTimeStamp=0x01c66ec9-0x2da5cbc0 [03.05.2006 15:49:35] wQuality=0x00c0 vDataValue: vt=0x0005 [205]
[05/03 17:49:36.66] (7) - CClientDataObjectSniffer:::OnDataChange() - Function returning [hr]=[0x00000000] at line [188] in [.\ClientDataObjectSniffer.cpp].
[05/03 17:49:37.37] (6) - CGroupDataObjectSniffer::Unadvise() - dwCookie=0x001b7854
[05/03 17:49:37.38] (7) - CClientDataObjectSniffer::_InternalQueryInterface() - Function returning [hr]=[0x00000000] at line [65] in [.\ClientDataObjectSniffer.cpp].
[05/03 17:49:37.38] (7) - CClientDataObjectSniffer::SetUnadvised() - Function returning [S_OK]=[0x00000000] at line [95] in [.\ClientDataObjectSniffer.cpp].
[05/03 17:49:37.48] (7) - CGroupDataObjectSniffer::Unadvise() - Function returning [hr]=[0x00000000] at line [226] in [.\GroupDataObjectSniffer.cpp].
[05/03 17:49:37.48] (6) - COPCGroupSniffer::IOPCItemMgt::RemoveItems() - dwCount=129

...

...

[05/03 17:49:38.30] (6) - COPCGroupSniffer::IOPCItemMgt::RemoveItems() -  [128] - ppErrors=0x00000000
[05/03 17:49:38.32] (7) - COPCGroupSniffer::IOPCItemMgt::RemoveItems() - Function returning [hr]=[0x00000000] at line [469] in [.\OPCGroupSniffer.cpp].
[05/03 17:49:38.32] (7) - CGroupDataObjectSniffer::FinalRelease() - Entering function at line [26] in [.\GroupDataObjectSniffer.cpp].
[05/03 17:49:38.32] (7) - CGroupDataObjectSniffer::FinalRelease() - Function returning at line [28] in [.\GroupDataObjectSniffer.cpp]
[05/03 17:49:38.32] (6) - COPCServerSniffer::RemoveGroup() - hServerGroup=0x00000008, bForce=1
[05/03 17:49:38.32] (7) - COPCGroupSniffer::_InternalQueryInterface() - Function returning [hr]=[0x00000000] at line [64] in [.\OPCGroupSniffer.cpp].
[05/03 17:49:38.32] (7) - COPCGroupSniffer::SetDeleted() - Function returning [S_OK]=[0x00000000] at line [102] in [.\OPCGroupSniffer.cpp].
[05/03 17:49:38.32] (7) - COPCGroupSniffer::FinalRelease() - Entering function at line [31] in [.\OPCGroupSniffer.cpp].
[05/03 17:49:38.32] (7) - COPCGroupSniffer::FinalRelease() - Function returning at line [33] in [.\OPCGroupSniffer.cpp]
[05/03 17:49:38.32] (7) - COPCServerSniffer::RemoveGroup() - Function returning [hr]=[0x00000000] at line [485] in [.\OPCServerSniffer.cpp].
[05/03 17:49:38.32] (6) - CServerShutdownObjectSniffer::Unadvise() - dwCookie=0x001b1d64
[05/03 17:49:38.32] (7) - CClientShutdownObjectSniffer::_InternalQueryInterface() - Function returning [hr]=[0x00000000] at line [65] in [.\ClientShutdownObjectSniffer.cpp].
[05/03 17:49:38.32] (7) - CClientShutdownObjectSniffer::SetUnadvised() - Function returning [S_OK]=[0x00000000] at line [91] in [.\ClientShutdownObjectSniffer.cpp].
[05/03 17:49:38.32] (7) - CServerShutdownObjectSniffer::Unadvise() - Function returning [hr]=[0x00000000] at line [224] in [.\ServerShutdownObjectSniffer.cpp].
[05/03 17:49:38.32] (7) - CServerShutdownObjectSniffer::FinalRelease() - Entering function at line [26] in [.\ServerShutdownObjectSniffer.cpp].
[05/03 17:49:38.32] (7) - CServerShutdownObjectSniffer::FinalRelease() - Function returning at line [28] in [.\ServerShutdownObjectSniffer.cpp]
[05/03 17:49:38.32] (7) - COPCServerSniffer::FinalRelease() - Entering function at line [179] in [.\OPCServerSniffer.cpp].
[05/03 17:49:38.32] (7) - COPCServerSniffer::FinalRelease() - Function returning at line [181] in [.\OPCServerSniffer.cpp]

Where can i find a explanation of this logged events ? I dont see any hint for a server/client problem or is there ?

Are there any alternatives for the Matrikon OPC Sniffer ?

[Tobias1234]

I solved the problem by chanching the PC. So i guess it was some hardware conflict.
Anyway, thx a lot for the help.