Issue
Users who clean-dist or factory restore JACE-8000 to Niagara version 4.1 risk losing the serial ports.
Product Line
TAC IA Series
Environment
I/A Series N4 Jace 8000
Cause
Due to an old defect (fixed in Niagara 4.2 update 2; 4.2.36.38), a programmable device that controls the serial port may be left in an erased state during firmware programming. If this happens, serial ports (COM ports) will be missing when viewing the Serial Port Service under Platform Services in a station. This continues to be an issue for customers who routinely clean-dist or factory reset to Niagara 4.1 on upgrade scenarios. It is not necessary to clean-dist or factory reset when upgrading JACE-8000. If you are advised to do so, it is recommended that you use the 4.9u1 clean dist rather than the 4.1 version one, to avoid being affected by the old defect.
Resolution
When the JACE-8000 is loaded with Niagara 4.14u2 (or newer) the issue will be automatically detected and fixed on boot. However, when a serial expansion module has been erased, the software cannot distinguish between an RS-232 expansion module versus an RS-485 expansion module. The following messaging will appear in serial shell (and system logs) when the JACE is booting (it will continue booting):
|
Starting USB-0 and USB-1 Host controllers... |
To fix the issue, download and start PuTTY. In PuTTY Configuration, select the radio button labeled Serial under Connection type. In the text field under Serial line enter COM3 (or whatever the port number is) and enter 115200 in the text field under Speed. Press the Open button to connect. You will need the same VCP driver that is noted in Preparing for new JACE commissioning and JACE-8000 Backup and Restore Guide.
Sign in to the JACE serial shell. At the prompt type 'sh' to exit the menu and enter serial shell prompt (shell prompt is $ dollar sign).
Copy the correct command from the serial shell instructions. To copy with PuTTY, click and drag over the text. When you lift the mouse button, the text will be in the clipboard. To paste the text, you simply right-click. In the instructions above, 350130901TF9S81 is serial number of a programmable device that controls the serial port. Your serial number will be different. But if that was your serial number, and the erased device was an RS-485 expansion module, then the command to enter would be:
echo "/sys/images/usb/vid03eb/pid2425/Tridium485-2_r01" >
/etc/usb/350130901TF9S81
And if it was an RS-232 expansion, then the command to enter would be:
echo "/sys/images/usb/vid03eb/pid2404/Tridium232_r01" >
/etc/usb/350130901TF9S81
The file name and path may change in newer versions of Niagara. Therefore, copy from the instructions given in the serial shell output (do not copy the command from this Knowledge Base Article). Press the enter key after the command has been pasted correctly. Then send shutdown to warm-boot the JACE-8000, or just cycle power.
Observe the following output on the next boot:
| Starting USB-0 and USB-1 Host controllers... Started USB-0 and USB-1 Host controllers get_ctrlperms: ctrlperms set to 644 Check for usb firmware updates Reprogramming usb device: 1.2 350130901TF9S81... loaded 350130901TF9S81 with /sys/images/usb/vid03eb/pid2404/Tridium232-1_r07.bin Reprogramming usb device done: 1.2 350130901TF9S81 Expansion boards have been reprogrammed - rebooting... exiting usbinit, shutdown requested |
