RT- cannot setup HDD, or new ip

[mortezahaydari]

Hi fellows,

 

 I am trying to set a desktop PC as a RT, but I'm very disappointed with the results as I tested everything and got no advancement...

...would you please please help me out here?!
 

These are PC spec,
motherboard: Asus P5Q SE PLUS (has IDE)
Processor: Intel Core 2 duo, 3000Hz, E8400
PCI ethernet: Intel pro 1000GT (chipset 8254x)
HDD: either WD-40GB(20-pin and 40-pin cables tested) or WD-250GB(40-pin) (not both are connected simultaneously)
RAM: tested  with 1GB or 2GB DDR2-800
Video card: some fancy card is there (does it affect anything?)

BIOS options:
-floppy used with and without USB legacy enabled, for many diffrent cases
-USB is set as hard drive (otherwise it fails)
-tested when extra serial ports are disabled/enabled, audio card disabled/enabled, onboard PCIE lan disabled
-HDD's are not SATA, but anyways, SATA is set to campatible IDE
-ACPI 2.0 support disabled
-Plug 'n Play disabled
-BIOS EHCI hand-off ???
-I couldn't find any other maybe-related option to change

 network setup:
      some address is provided in my workgroup subnet... (ip=ip1)
 local setup:
      didn't have a crossover cable to test...

 USB recognizes primay ip address as (169.100.115.239(ip2) which is in a different subnet as local connection)
 floppy gives primary as 0.0.0.0(ip3)

Tests:
Labview versions 8.2,  8.5.1, 8.6.1

finding IDE hard drive failed:
-formatted using numerous fdisk and format versions (win95, win98, xp, freefdisk, free bla bla, Ultimate boot CD)
-tried only-primary, primary with logic, fat 16, fat32, active/non-active drives
-tested via USb and floppy v. 8.2 8.5.1 8.6.1
-floppy says can only reformat FAT16 and FAT32, please use USB...
-USb says : Error -1: No ATA/SATA drive detected, format failed (or IDE not found in evaluation)

evaluating through USB and floppy leads to the HDD problem only...

using safemode:
-usb: reaches to
 mac xx...: ip1 (primary)
  ...safemode ... (user directed)
-floppy:
  mac xx...: 0.0.0.0 (primary)
  System state: Unconfigured

PC found through MAX using floppy disk (0.0.0.0) and a new ip is set...or USB is found as ip2 and then changed to admin-assigned ip...
...BUT when rebooted, we are at the first place, the new ip is not set
(in all cases HDD is not found)

...for usb case, MAX recognizes ip2 but as inconsistent ip, and it is not possible to install softwares (the PC name does not expand in remote systems)

PROBLEM1: HDD not found at all
PROBLEM2: New ip is not saved, and turns back to default after reboot

Thanks
Morteza

[mortezahaydari]

anyone? Dont tell me we spent several thousand dollars for nothing!

[Charlie_P]

Good Afternoon Morteza,

You said that you tested everything.  Did you follow the steps on the following KnowledgeBase Article?

How Can I Test My PC for Compatibility with LabVIEW Real-Time or LabWindows/CVI Real-Time for Desktop ETS?

     http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/9209361E17708D548625744A007FF353

This will test if your hardware matches (which it seems to) these requirements:

Requirements for Desktop PCs as LabVIEW Real-Time Targets

     http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/8239?OpenDocument

Were there any problems reported by the Evaluator?  Do you see any error numbers?

[mortezahaydari]

The USB evaluator I have used, .. I couldn't use pceval.exe as it did not run with one usb floppy drive I tested once!  I need to find another pc with some old floppy disk or something I guess. Anyways, after that once, I just used USB evaluator...

...The only problem is with the HDD, I can't remember the exact sentence, but something like, unable to find an IDE hard drive...  

...the only error NUMBER, I got is when I use format option in USB drive created by max for versioj 8.6: Error -1:  No ATA/SATA drive detected, format failed

...I note again, that the HDD is working in various PC's and is found in BIOS and with windows 95/98/xp boot disk (floppy/CD) 

[mortezahaydari]

requirements are met

[mortezahaydari]

Some progress here,

 (1)  I used a very old PC (dell, 16MB ram!) , and I was able to format the HDD...

  (2) Using a router, I'm able to automatically (using USB) have a consistent ip address, and reach the point "Connected - No software installed" in MAX

   ...Still the PC doesn't recognize the HDD, these are some clues:

   (1) HDD is alright, problem is from somewhere else...

   (2) PC can boot from reformatted HDD, but it doesn't even can find itself!!

   (3) using floppy/USB the HDD is not found

   (4) using floppy safemode, I reach to 0.0.0.0 (primary), I set a new ip, reboot, -> nothing is changed

   (5) using USB safemode and router, the ip is set automatically (no ip reset, set, reboot is required)...

    ...BUT when installing software it says:"it cannot update /ni-rt/..., possible problem:disk full

   ...obviously, now that HDD is reformatted through some other PC, it still cannot recognize the HDD, but it is not the HDD problem

[mortezahaydari]

also, tested a dual-core 2GHz processor instead of core 2 duo 3Ghz..., no change

[Charlie_P]

Good Afternoon Morteza,

After reading through your posts again, I have some questions/comments.

-Are the RT computer and PC on the same subnet?

-The harddrive needs to be formatted as FAT32.

You have mentioned several different computers.

  -Have you been moving the same harddrive around between these computers?  Maybe the harddrive configuration is wrong (i.e. the jumpers on the back of the IDE drive)

  -What tests have you been doing with these computers?

  -I know you made more progress with the old Dell.  What exactly happened?  What are you testing with these different computers?

Make sure you follow these steps exactly for the conversion to work.

Create a Real-Time Desktop PC from the Desktop PC Format Hard Drive Disk

     http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/6F13EAA1C5B57F5486257483007D370D?OpenDocument

Booting into the Real-Time Operating System without a Floppy

     http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/985340187C003C8B862569E600689BC0?OpenDocument

[mortezahaydari]

-Are the RT computer and PC on the same subnet?

Sure they are, I am quite sure I have no ethernet problem here.

-The harddrive needs to be formatted as FAT32.

It is, I also tested 16 anyways

You have mentioned several different computers.

-Have you been moving the same harddrive around between these computers? Maybe the harddrive configuration is wrong (i.e. the jumpers on the back of the IDE drive)

*it is set as master (it is single) ( since it is only the only ide in all computers, the configuration in this sense is the same)

*I used several other options too, like having one/two hards, master/single/slav.

-What tests have you been doing with these computers?

*one of these is ours (which doesn't work), two others are not ours anyways, so even if they work, it is not a working option. And the old dell is the only working one.

* Basically, using  dell pc, everything worked very easily (just a bios configuration, and working. I formatted 20GB/40GB using floppy with dell. I used these two hards on our pc (which didn't recognize or format the HDDs) to set up the system using floppy/usb/MAX(router or internet connection); it still couldn't recognize the HDD(s) ... (there are 3 points implying the same) (1)the max says "0 bytes" space in HDD(s), (2) If a new ip is se and rebooted, the new ip is not recognized (not saved in HDD), (3) if using USB (which sets the ip automatically) I try to install software on HDD, it starts with error uploading, probably disk is full.

*I also installed RTOS on the 20GB HDD using dell, and did several tests on our pc, no progress...

-I know you made more progress with the old Dell. What exactly happened? What are you testing with these different computers?

*with dell everything is fine. Our PC seems to be imcompatible. I can't use the other PCs as they are not mine, just wanted to test with them, so I know where the problem is, or if I could format the HDDs somewhere and use them here (which didn't work)

Message Edited by mortezahaydari on 07-13-2009 05:23 PM