Problem configuring Desktop PC as RT target

[sp]

Hi all,

Following the steps in help I have used a hub to connect a desktop PC and another desktop PC as RT target on a standalone network.

In MAX the RT target PC shows up as 0.0.0.0. 🙂

But the problem is that when I choose to manually configure the IP address, and press apply settings, the target reboots but it remains unconfigured.

name : unspecified.

IP 0.0.0.0

unconfigured.

My host PC IP address : 169.254.119.180

subnet mask : 255.255.0.0

Gateway:  169.254.119.180

I have set RTtarget PC fields as:

IP address : 169.254.119.2

subnet mask : 255.255.0.0

Gateway:  169.254.119.180

and few other combinations of gateway as 169.254.119.2

and another as IP address : 169.254.0.2

but still It remains unconfigured.

I can see MAC address and the RTtarget PC is recognised, but is unconfigurabel.

Please suggest options to try.

Regards

Shradha

[Bill_in_Detroit]

Shradha: First of all you will need to configure your host PC IP address to something other than a 169... address, which indicates an invalid or default (no) connection.  The following instructions apply to Windows XP.  Right click on the network connection in your system tray or go to Start>All Programs>Accessories>Communications>Network Connections and right click or select properties for the network connection you are using.  Select Internet Protocol and select the "Alternate Configuration" tab to set up a "user configured" IP address and subnet mask.  Pick something in the 192.168.1.100 or 10.0.0.1 range.  After pressing OK, try using MAX to set the RT target up again.  Use a similar address for the RT target, like 192.168.1.101 or 10.0.0.2.  You do not need to set a gateway address on either end.

Hope this helps.

Bill 

[Caseyw]

Hi Shradha,

You should be able to use any IP addressing range between your host PC and real-time target, and so I do not think the 169.x.x.x address is causing the issue that you are seeing now. I would recommend a 198.x or 10.x range as Bill mentioned.

How are you booting into LabVIEW Real-Time? Did you format the hard drive to create a real-time only target PC, or are you booting from your USB drive? What messages do you see at bootup when a screen is plugged  into your real-time target PC?

The fact that the IP address will not "stick" could indicate that a suitable FAT32 or Reliance partition was not found (if you are booting from USB). Can you verify that your hard drive has at least one partition that is formatted with FAT32 or Reliance? 

Best Regards,

Casey Weltzin

Product Manager, LabVIEW Real-Time

National Instruments 

[sp]

Dear Bill and Casey,

Thanks for your replies.

I tried again by setting IP of host PC to 10.0.0.1 subnet mask as 255.255.255.0 and gateway as none .  I set IP of RT target PC as 10.0.0.2. But still I am unable to configure.

I am using a boot floppy disk to boot my PC.  This floopy disk was created on Win-XP with NTFS.

My target Pc  and host PC both are  Win-XP and NTFS.  The floppy disk boots the PC in safe mode. and initiales netwoek setting to 0.0.0.0

Problem is still there.

Shall I format my target PC with FAT file system?

Best Regards

Shradha

[Caseyw]

Hi Shradha,

Good news! We have definitely found the problem.

The solution depends on whether you would  like to use your real-time target computer with Windows XP, or whether you would like to convert it permanently to run LabVIEW Real-Time only.

1)  If you want to convert your target PC to run LabVIEW Real-Time only, then create a Desktop PC Format Hard Drive Disk in Measurement and Automation Explorer, and follow the prompts to format your drive to FAT32 and replace the boot sector (this way you will not need to use a boot disk each time).

2)  If you want to still use your target PC for Windows XP but just boot into LabVIEW Real-Time once in a while, I would recommend using a utility like Easeus Partition Manager or Partition Magic to repartition your hard drive (make the NTFS partition smaller and create a FAT32 partition alongside it). Make sure that the FAT32 partition that you create is primary. After you do these things you should be able to use your current LabVIEW Real-Time boot disk, and the new FAT32 partition will automatically be used.

Ultimately, once you have a FAT32 partition your IP address settings will be able to be saved, which means that you should not see the problem that you are running into now. Have a great day Shradha!

Best Regards,

Casey Weltzin

Product Manager, LabVIEW Real-Time

National Instruments 

[sp]

Hi Casey,

Thanks for the suggestions.

I tried the first option, but on booting with the Desktop PC Format Hard Drive Disk the message appeared that the primary disk is not FAT16 or FAT32 so it cannot format it. I reloaded Win XP with FAT32 and a smaller disk space of 10 GB, but still it is giving the same message that the C drive is not FAT16 or FAT32 so cannot format it. I have checked that C drive is FAT32. Please suggest.

With boot disk utility , still the IP address remains unconfigured. 😞

IP address setting has really become an issue, so I cannot proceed further.

So the problem still there.

Regards

Shradha

[Caseyw]

Hi Shradha,

I would recommend that you call in to our Applications Engineers at this point for some more direct help (since you are unable to proceed further without an answer). Off hand, I have not encountered this issue before; it sounds like you have formatted the disk correctly with at least one FAT32 partition but the boot disk is not properly identifying the partition.

You can call (800) 531-5066  or visit ni.com/support in order to contact our Applications Engineers. If you prefer to use the forums (or do not have a support contract), then I am very glad to help further in a few weeks; I will be out of the office until that time.

Best Regards,

Casey Weltzin

Product Manager, LabVIEW Real-Time

National Instruments 

[MBoyd · Accepted solution]

Shradha,

     From my experiences with the NI RTOS, it is a very particular system.  In order to be able to boot off the harddrive into NI's real-time OS, the FAT32 harddrive has to be the first partition of the first drive in the system.  For example, if you are using a PATA harddrive interface, the NI FAT 32 harddrive must be in IDE_0 or the first IDE on your motherboard.  Through many struggles with trying to get a computer system to boot in both NI-RTOS and Windows, this is what I found.  With SATA I am not sure that is the case with the first, but I still do it out of habit.  That being said if you are using a SATA drive, it has to support ACHI, as stated by the NI RTOS requirements page found here. 

NI RTOS Requirements Page

I hope this helps.  Let us know if you still have problems.

Michael

[sp]

Hi Casey,

Thanks for the reply.

With few more stuggles , I have managed to boot my PC as RT target. I would like to point out 2 important issues .

1.Problem 1: My USB boot drive was not being recognised, so I was compeled to use floppy as my boot device.

Solution : Root cause. The BIOS tends to see only 1 or 2 USB ports for boot device. I have  4 USB ports, I was trying on 1 of the ports so it was not working. When I tried on other 3 ports , my USB was able to boot from one of the ports. So i moved one step ahead.

2. Problem 2: I was able to boot from floppy , but I was not able to configure my RT target from my main PC.

Solution : When I was able to boot from USB, I run the menu item to check my PC validity for RT target. Now came the root cause of my problem. I got error message about incompatibility of my hard disk. My hard disk is SATA . So in BIOS I had to enable HDD legacy support. RT target requires PATA and does not work on SATA. After this I was able to even configure my PC after booting from USB.

I am sure HDD incompatibility issue was preventing me to configure RT target when booting from floppy.

I hope this helps .

Regards

Shradha

[gaving]

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All LabVIEW Real-Time versions support Parallel ATA in IDE while LabVIEW 8.5 (and above) and LabWindows/CVI RT 8.5 (and above) support Serial ATA only in AHCI. LabVIEW Real-Time and LabWindows/CVI *****RT versions prior to 8.5 do not support Serial ATA*****. LabVIEW Real-Time 8.6.1 and previous supports hard drives up to 126 GiB. LabVIEW Real-Time 2009 and above support hard drives up to 1.99 TiB. The following options may be available depending on the specific desktop PC.

• A Parallel ATA drive can be installed and the Serial ATA controllers can be disabled in the BIOS.
• The BIOS may have the option of setting the Serial ATA controller to a mode making the drive appear to be Parallel ATA. This may be referred to with different names such as "PATA", "Legacy", "Compatibility", or other names. An example of this mode is discussed in section 4.1 of Intel® 82801EB (ICH5) and Intel® 82801ER (ICH5R) Serial ATA Controller - Programmer’s Reference Manu.... Some PC BIOS may not support this mode, such as the Dell Precision 360. Sometimes it is helpful to disable the UDMA-mode.
• If AHCI, IDE or compatibility/legacy mode isn't available or doesn't work, try RAID to get HDD recognized

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