[Invalid Address]

[Product_Support]

Issue

[Invalid Address]

Product Line

TAC Vista

Environment

• Vista Workstation
• Xenta Programmable Controllers
• Xenta 280, 281, 282, 283, 300, 301, 302, 401, 401:B
• Invalidate Resolved Addresses

Cause

If you view a controller in Vista Workstation and point values read [Invalid Address] instead of showing values, there are a number of troubleshooting techniques to rectify this. Unfortunately, [Invalid Address] is a bit of a "catch-all" error code. Since it can be difficult to determine the cause of the error, these troubleshooting suggestions will have varying degrees of success. The best course of action is to try each of these methods in the order of least to most disruptive. As new techniques and procedures are discovered, they will be documented here.

Resolution

Check the label for N/P Designation

1. If a programmable controller has read [Invalid Address] on every point since it was installed (it has never worked properly) then there is a chance that this is not a Network Presentation controller. These are referred to as stand-alone controllers and each of the 280 and 300 series have a non-network presentation variety.
2. Check the label on the controller to make sure it says "302/N/P" or "282/N/P." If it just says "302" or "282" then this controller cannot communicate on a network and will never report values to a front end.
3. Also see Xenta 280 or 300 Controllers without /N/P (networking and presentation) designation cannot communica....

In the Vista Workstation

1. Right-click on the controller and choose Advanced Operations > Invalidate Resolved Addresses
2. Proceed? Select Yes.
3. Right-click on the controller and choose Advanced Operations > Read Address
4. Proceed? Select Yes.
5. Wait up to about 30 seconds for the values to populate.

Download the Controller

1. In the System Plug-in, Download Applications and Parameters to the controller
2. Recommission the controller
3. In the System Plug-in, TAC Network > Commence Communication (skip to this step for LON controllers)
4. You may want to follow this action with another attempt at the steps outlined in the section above "In the Vista Workstation"

Repair or recommission the Routers

1. in the NL220 or Lonmaker database repair or recommission the Routers.

Re-Do Group Bindings & Commence Communication:

1. In the System Plug-in, LNS network > Create Group Bindings
2. In the System Pug-In right click on the TAC Network and commence communication

Re-doing group bindings ensures that the LNS network interface, and LON to IP routers receive message can 0 for the main xenta address broadcast in the network.

Monitor Sets

If your monitor sets have become corrupted, then every controller you download from that point on will say [Invalid Address] on every point.

Monitor sets are actually stored on the hard drive of the PC, not in the LNS database. If you have made backups and passed them back and forth between PCs, as you often do during the commissioning phase, this invites corruption of monitor sets. There were some known issues with monitor sets in LNS version 3.24 that have since been corrected in LNS version 3.26. This can be downloaded from Echelon's website in LNS Server/Turbo Edition Service Pack 7.

1. Go to http://www.echelon.com
2. Navigate to Support > Support Resources > Downloads
3. Log in with a user name and password. If this is the first time logging in, register for a free user name and password.
4. Search for software in the Recommended Downloads category
5. Find LNS Server/Turbo Edition Service Pack 7 (this is the latest at the time of this article, a newer one may exist and should be downloaded)

Prior to restoring a backup, you may want to resynchronize the drawing making sure to check the option for "Sync monitor sets between drawing and database."

Usually restoring the last good backup will fix up the monitor sets. If you do not have a recent backup, there are a couple of procedures that may help resolve the corrupted monitor sets issue.  

Note: Viewing and altering monitor sets is only available in Echelon LonMaker. There is no analogous menu item in Newron's NL220.

1. Do not download any more controllers.
2. Check your monitor sets in LonMaker by navigating to LonMaker > Network Service Devices
3. Click on the NSS which should have the same name as the network
4. Select the Monitor Sets button
5. If you get "Monitor set cannot be found. (Subsystem: NS, #160)" then your monitor sets are corrupt.
6. Close down Vista Server & LonMaker (if you don't you will get an error when you try to validate that says "The Network Interface, database directory, or NSS type, conflicts with the already active network. (Subsystem: NS, #149)")
7. Navigate to Start > Programs > Echelon LNS Utilities > LNS Database Validator
8. Navigate to the LNS Network to Validate
9. Check the Repair Database checkbox
10. Hit the Validate button

If that does not find and repair the monitor sets, the following steps may help.

1. Make backup of the LNS database.
2. Start LonMaker. Do not start Vista Server.
3. Go to the monitor sets (LonMaker > Network Service Devices > NSS > Monitor Sets) and right-click and delete the monitor sets
4. Run the System Plug-in and create a brand new Vista database in a different location than your current database.
5. Stop the Vista Server and start it again
6. Check the monitor sets again, they should be right now
7. Stop the server again and change back to your original Vista database

Non-Latin Characters

1. If you use a signal name or description in the XBuilder Device Editor with non-Latin characters (like Swedish åäöÅÄÖ) you will get [Invalid Address] when you view the signal in Vista. Value pages are displayed correctly.
2. Do not use non-Latin characters for signal name or description. This issue has been confirmed in versions 5.1.2 - 5.1.4, and will be fixed in a future release.

Classic Networks

1. View the Address Tab under the controller's properties in Vista Workstation
2. Check Address Table slots 0 and 1. If the "Domain Index" and "Member or Node" have been manually altered, set them back to 0.
3. An applicationless controller will display [Invalid Address] in a classic network, whereas in an LNS network, it would simply fail to commission due to its applicationless state.  Direct download the controller through the Menta serial cable to see if it resolves the error.

Xenta 700 Menta values

See Xenta 700 Menta Object Values report [Invalid Address] in Workstation, Read operation failed.

Delete, Destroy, Redo

This is your last resort. If you have tried everything else possible, it is time to remove this controller from the database and start from scratch. The exact steps and methodologies may change based on your network and controllers, but basically you need to remove any mention of this controller and add it back in as though it were a brand new device.

1. Decommission the controller
2. Delete the device
3. Delete the device template
4. In the System Plug-in, remove the device from the TAC Network
5. Update the Vista Database
6. Create a new controller
7. Browse in a Menta file
8. Update Vista and download