RE: Allen Bradley VME-AB1771, 6008-SV2R

["Szalata, Zenon M." <zms@slac.stanford.edu>]

Hi Mark,
As Eric Norum pointed out, I have a typo in my original note; I am using EPICS R3.14.11.
And yes,  The original software still works in the original VME setup.
I have both, the old and the new VME systems side by side.
But, the original software uses older version of the Allen Bradley support module, whereas my new IOC uses R2.2.
I attempted to build the version of AB software used in the original IOC against EPICS R3.14.11 and vxWorks 6.6 and I got lots errors, so I decided to try the R2.2 version, which built without errors.

Now I am thinking that perhaps I should look more closely at the difference and make modifications to the older version to fix whatever is generating errors and give it a try.
I could also try using mvme2700, since I have one sitting on my shelf.

Thanks Mark,
Zen

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Rivers [mailto:rivers@cars.uchicago.edu]
> Sent: Friday, November 11, 2011 5:06 AM
> To: Szalata, Zenon M.
> Subject: RE: Allen Bradley VME-AB1771, 6008-SV2R
> 
> Hi Zen,
> 
> I am using that AB scanner card in 2 of my vxWorks IOCs.  My configuration:
> 
> EPICS 3.14.12.1, vxWorks 5.4.2, MVME 2700.
> 
> I switched to running EPICS 3.14 back in 2004, so I don't have any recent
> experience with 3.13.
> 
> Is upgrading to 3.14.x a possibility?
> 
> If you revert to your old software does it work?  Just want to rule out hardware
> problems.
> 
> Mark
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> 
> From: tech-talk-bounces@aps.anl.gov on behalf of Szalata, Zenon M.
> Sent: Thu 11/10/2011 11:14 PM
> To: tech-talk@aps.anl.gov
> Subject: Allen Bradley VME-AB1771, 6008-SV2R
> 
> 
> 
> I am upgrading a VME IOC software from EPICS R3.13.2, vxWorks probably 5.3
> to EPICS R3.13.11 vxWorks 6.6.
> 
> The hardware is being upgraded from mvme177P, VME64 crate to mvme6100
> and VME64x.
> 
> The AB scanner module is giving me much trouble.
> 
> 
> 
> -1- First I tried to build the "old" version of the AB Support module, which
> proved rather stubborn.
> 
> I have downloaded AB VME-AB1771, 6008-SV2R R2.2 support module, which
> built fine.
> 
> My IOC with the AB R2.2 software loads with an error during iocInit phase:
> 
> 
> 
>           abDrv: SET_UP failed link 0
> 
>           record TR00:STN:DCM:MODU init error No Card
> 
> 
> 
> Observing the AB VME board during boot, the activity on the LED lights on the
> front panel indicates that the IOC software is poking the board.  I get this error
> each time I reload the IOC software.
> 
> 
> 
> -2- Next I set ab_debug=5 in drvAb.c file.  Rebuild the module and IOC.  This
> resulted in the following messages:
> 
> 
> 
>        Link 0 already initialized
> 
>        sc_lock
> 
>        sc_lock
> 
>        drvAb link 0 sysBusTas failed
> 
>        drvAb link 0 sysBusTas failed
> 
>        drvAb: link 0 sc_lock failure fl_lock 0
> 
>        link_status: sc_lock failed -1
> 
>        sc_lock
> 
>        drvAb link 0 sysBusTas failed
> 
>        drvAb link 0 sysBusTas failed
> 
>        drvAb: link 0 sc_lock failure fl_lock 0
> 
>        link_status: sc_lock failed -1
> 
> 
> 
> the last five lines are printed endlessly.
> 
> 
> 
> -3- Finally, I set ab_debug=0, rebuilt and reloaded IOC software and now the
> SET_UP failed link... error no longer is printed.
> 
> This is very curious.
> 
> 
> 
> At this point the IOC is not working correctly in spite the fact that there are no
> errors printed.
> 
> No data is transferred from the hardware.  This is of course true for test -1- as
> well.
> 
> 
> 
> Has anyone successfully used AB R2.2 with mvme6100, EPICS R3.13.11, and
> vxWorks 6.6?
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for any ideas, suggestions, etc.
> 
> Zen