RE: MEDM Comm. Failure / STATE

[Richard Pastrick <rpastrick@xradia.com>]

The problem was specific to the Delta Tau I was connecting to. A status variable was not being checked in the previous version of the tpmac library but it is now and there is a flag that we are intermittently tripping which is causing this problem.

Thanks for the help in pointing me in the right direction.

-Richard


-----Original Message-----
From: tech-talk-bounces@aps.anl.gov [mailto:tech-talk-bounces@aps.anl.gov] On Behalf Of Richard Pastrick
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 11:31 AM
To: Mark Rivers; tech-talk@aps.anl.gov
Subject: RE: MEDM Comm. Failure / STATE

I am not receiving the separate window which displays error messages for MEDM such as when the variable in question cannot be found. I am just seeing the toggling of Comm. Failure and STATE. I believe you might be right that it is the driver that is signaling an error. It could be a communication error.

I am using a Delta-Tau PMAC. It is the UMAC rack form factor. I am using the tpmac library to communicate. The IOC is connecting to all 32 motors on the Delta Tau and it is hosting 18 motors and 1 asynrecord. I don't know for the specific system I am debugging but on a different system I have seen an error message from Pewin when the IOC was running that communication had failed but this could be because of running USB and Ethernet connections to the Delta Tau at the same time.

I am going to try reducing the polling interval.

-Richard


-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Rivers [mailto:rivers@cars.uchicago.edu]
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 11:14 AM
To: Richard Pastrick; tech-talk@aps.anl.gov
Subject: RE: MEDM Comm. Failure / STATE

Hi Richard,

It is NOT a generic problem with running EPICS motors on Windows.  I do that all the time with no problems.  My motor controllers happen to be serial devices (ACS MCB-4B) , but that is not important.

Are you actually seeing error messages from MEDM, or just the motor status indicators (Comm. Failure, state, etc.) that indicate a problem.  I think the problem is that your driver is actually signalling an error state to the motor record, which is responding correctly.  You need to figure out if the driver has an error, if there really are communication problems to the hardware, etc.  What hardware are you talking to?  Delta-Tau PMAC?  If so, what library are you using?

Mark


________________________________

From: tech-talk-bounces@aps.anl.gov on behalf of Richard Pastrick
Sent: Mon 3/23/2009 1:07 PM
To: tech-talk@aps.anl.gov
Subject: MEDM Comm. Failure / STATE



Hello All,



I have compiled an IOC to host motor records on Windows. Everything appears to be working ok but as soon as I launch an MEDM window, I intermittently will receive error messages from MEDM. On the motorx_all.adl window I see Comm. Failure appear in the upper right under the word RAW and next to status in the lower right box instead of NO_ALARM in green I see STATE in red. This also changes the state value just below that from 0x503 for good to 0x703.



The MEDM window is running on a Linux system and the IOC is running on a windows machine.  The IOC host has two network ports, one to the local network and the other directly connected to the motion controller hardware. This second Ethernet port is dedicated to only the motion controller hardware.



Does anyone have any suggestions for what might be the cause of this problem? Please don't just say Windows. I am actively looking into if it really is windows fault. I wouldn't put it past it because EPICS was not initially intended for windows and the compliance with BSD sockets code is not the greatest.



Richard Pastrick

Associate Software Engineer

Xradia Inc

5052 Commercial Cir

Concord CA 94520

925-288-1228 Ext 1151

925-771-8051 (direct line)

925-348-0384 (cell)




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 The information in this email, including any attachments, is confidential and intended only for the recipient(s) listed.  Any use of this email for any other purpose is prohibited.  If you have received this email in error, please notify me immediately by reply email, delete this email, and do not disclose its contents to anyone.