RT PXI IP problems

[SarahW]

Hi,

I have some RT PXIs which are set to get an IP address from a DHCP server. When I first set them up they work fine, I get the IP address I expect and deploy my program.

After a while (sometimes weeks), they disappear from the network. When I reboot them and connect a monitor they are getting a 169.xxx.xxx.xxx IP address. If I boot in safe mode they get the correct IP address, but when I come out of safe mode they get the 169 address again.

If I reformat the PXI when in safe mode through MAX, then reinstall LabVIEW RT etc they all work fine again, for a while, then it all happens all over again.....

These PXI systems have been in and running for a number of years, and this has only started happening recently, I think since updating the software to LabVIEW 2010.

Any ideas?

Many thanks,

Sarah

[viScience]

I would consider going to a static IP address if possible. 

Do you also need to go through a gateway?

[Christian_Hartshorne_NIUK]

Hi SarahW,

If you have specified that you PXI system automatically obtains it's IP address and it adopts an IP in the format 169.254.x.x, it means that a DHCP server has failed or is no longer available. This is known as a link-local IP address and will only be used when a DHCP server is not available. The fact that your system is working fine with its DHCP assigned IP address until the network connection drops out, and when the system is rebooted it returns with a link-local address suggests to me that there is a problem connecting to the DHCP server.

Is your PXI system connected directly to the host through a crossover cable or is host and target connected thorough a LAN?

Best Regards,

Christian Hartshorne

NI|UK

[SarahW]

Hi Christian,

Thanks for your reply.

The PXIs are connected through a LAN. The DHCP server is also set up so they always get the same IP address and the lease never expires. Once a PXI has failed they do get their correct IP address when booted in LabVIEW RT safe mode, and after a quick reformat of the controller they get the correct IP address again, so I don't see how it can be a problem with the DHCP server.

I also don't think the network connection drops out, I think the PXI disconnects itself from the network. It's hard to know for sure but I'm assuming this as I have 5 RT PXIs on the same network, they have all started encountering the same problem, but at different times, if it were the network dropping out I would guess they would all fail at the same time? I also have ~20 Windows PXIs, and they never have any problems.

These RT PXIs have been in for a number of years and this problem has only started happening recently, as far as i'm aware there have been no changes to the DHCP server, but I have kept the LabVIEW software on the PXIs up to date.

Regards,

Sarah

[SarahW]

Hi,

I have just had another RT system fail, this time I left it on and plugged into a monitor after it had finished initializing the network to see if it displayed any errors. Attached is what I saw.

Any ideas what this means?

Regards,

Sarah

[Christian_Hartshorne_NIUK]

Hey Sarah,

Part of the error message that you are seeing is detailed in the following Knowledge Base article:

NIDEVLD Fatal Error: Failed to connect to MXS

I suspect that this may be a consequence of the network drop-out/crashing rather than a cause but if this causes further problems, the KB details how we can overcome these problems.

As for the "NI Configuration Manager: Insufficient disk space to perform a backup" error, this is an error message that I have seen in past customer problems. It seems that this problem relates to the actual HDD in the controller. Is this an isolated instance of this error message or is this a message you have seen before? Past issues that I have seen show that reformatting the HDD solves this problem. Can you check in MAX how much free space you have on the HDD in the controller?

Best Regards,

Christian Hartshorne

NI|UK

[SarahW]

I think we may have found the problem!

There is a packetsIn.log that is constantly growing, as explained here:

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/6C30DA6A12F5612E8625788B00706682

Do you know if this logging is new in LabVIEW 2010? If so, that would explain why I have only just started having problems with this.

Regards,

Sarah

[Christian_Hartshorne_NIUK]

Hi Sarah,

It seems that you have got to the bottom of your problems! The behaviour you are talking about is actually specific to the version of the Ethernet driver you are using for your PXI, rather than the version of LabVIEW. The default behaviour in the Ethernet driver that was shipped with LabVIEW 2010 is to create and update this log file when multitask packets are received. As far as I can see, this was not the default behaviour prior to LabVIEW 2010 and this is certainly something that we will be addressing in the version of the driver that is shipped with LabVIEW 2011. 

If you disable the multicast debugging log file, your problems should disappear.

Best Regards,

Christian Hartshorne

NI|UK

[Christian_Hartshorne_NIUK]

Hi Sarah,

It seems that you have got to the bottom of your problems! The behaviour you are talking about is actually specific to the version of the Ethernet driver you are using for your PXI, rather than the version of LabVIEW. The default behaviour in the Ethernet driver that was shipped with LabVIEW 2010 is to create and update this log file when multitask packets are received. As far as I can see, this was not the default behaviour prior to LabVIEW 2010 and this is certainly something that we will be addressing in the version of the driver that is shipped with LabVIEW 2011. 

If you disable the multicast debugging log file, your problems should disappear.

Best Regards,

Christian Hartshorne

NI|UK

[Åsmund]

Hey

Im experiencing similar problems as described (hard drive full even though it isnt) Im sitting on a NI pxi 1044 and i managed to fill up the harddrive completely with data, but later used the MAX to delete files. It still says it is full though, event though i know it isnt. Found any solutions to this apart from formatting?