Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue How fast are the IO Modules polled by the Netcontroller? Environment NCII, Netcontroller CX9900 IO Modules UI-8-10, DI-8, DI-6-AC, MI-6, DM-20, AO-4-8, DO-4-R, DO-6-TR. Cause Information on the update speed of the I/O Modules is required. Resolution It is a polling network with the NCII as the master polling the slave IO Modules: Utilizes a polling protocol in which information is retrieved from I/O modules NetController polls each I/O module by Module ID number Modules are polled at a 50ms rate If Less than 4 modules, the polling rate is 200ms

Issue After selecting a photo and trying to save it in the Image Enhancement screen, the above error pops up.  Environment CyberStation 1.94 Cause Not certain - but possible Windows user profile corruption. Resolution Uncheck the resize box under the capture options. Logged into Windows as another user and the issue was not seen. The Windows user with the problem was deleted (this was not on a domain) and recreated.

Issue All Controllers have recently gone offline to one Cyberstation and get an error trying to access the Windows Firewall Environment Windows XP Windows 7 Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2008 Cause The Windows firewall has become corrupted either by a bad sector on the hard drive or by a virus/malware Resolution Check the Windows event viewer application and system logs to see if there are errors that happen when accessing the Windows Firewall. For example, if there are bad hard drive sectors, run a chkdsk. Take the appropriate action to correct the issue. Run Antivirus and ensure the PC is clean Run Anti Malware software (Ex. MalwareBytes, Spybot, etc.) and ensure the PC is clean Repair the Windows Firewall http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920074 A couple of other options would be to go to a Windows Restore point prior to the issue or Format the Hard Drive, reinstall Windows and Cyberstation.

Issue PIMS are going offline intermittently, so that the doors won't unlock Environment Continuum Windows XP Windows 7 Windows Server 2003  Windows Server 2008 Cause If doors 1-8 are addressed on one PIM and also 1-8 (even though they are different doors) are addressed on another PIM they will conflict with each other Resolution The PIM configuration specifies that Doors 1-16 are addressed on one PIM and 17-32 be addressed on another PIM

Issue Does the Modbus XDriver interface with the ATV212 speed drive? Environment Continuum Modbus XDriver Cause Unable to get Modbus RTU communications working with the ATV212 drive. Resolution Unfortunately, this does not work. The Modbus XDriver's cannot reference the large number address range that the ATV212 uses (above 64,000).   A workaround for this would be to use the BACnet MSTP interface available on the ATV212 to establish communications.

Issue Pinpoint will not open on one workstation. or some parts of a graphic will not work. Deleting the Pinpoint.ini file form the C:\Windows folder fixes the problem for a time, but the problem recurs later. Environment Pinpoint Pinpoint.ini Display Driver Cause When original Dell display monitor that came with the PC had failed, the customer installed an older Hewlett Packard display without installing the appropriate display driver.  The contents of the Pinpoint.ini is not written not by Continuum, but by the Microsoft Foundation Class API.  The ini file contains information on screen resolution, the number of tool bars, and the position and placement of each tool bar. Looking at the Pinpoint.ini file it can be seen that the API attempted to write the information for Pinpoint Design Mode toolbar 1 twice.  The second tool bar property section contained an identical BarID number but none of the other information such as X position, Y Position, Docking state, etc.  It appears that Pinpoint was starting without sufficient information to place the tool bar and would crash.  The API also wrote that their were 11 tool bars when this miswrite meant that there were actually 12 tool bar specifications written.  Resolution Install the proper display monitor driver. Pinpoint crashes will no longer occur.

Issue After successfully logging on to the webclient server, there are no contents displayed under root. When clicking the "show contents" button on the top-right of the left pane, a prompt says, "There is no contents can be displayed in this container." Environment Webclient Windows 7 IIS 7.0 Cause IIS directory browsing feature is disabled for some unknown reason or wrong configuration. Resolution Go to Internet information server manager, click "sites" then "Default website" Double Click  "Directory Browsing" logo On the right "Action" pane, click "Enable", you will see it change to "disable" that indicates the Directory Browsing feature has been change to enabled Save and close IIS manager Try to log on again.

Issue CyberStation error on startup Environment CyberStation v1.91, Windows XP Pro SP3 Cause Windows user permissions Resolution Random DLL files didn't have the proper permissions.  The steps to fix it: 1)       Log in as the user that can't start CyberStation. 2)       Launch ProcessMonitor. 3)       Launch CyberStation (it should error out) 4)       Click the filter button in ProcessMonitor then filter for Process: "Continuum.exe" or Result: "Access Denied" 5)       Find one that failed.  Log in as the admin user and change the permissions. 6)       Repeat for each failed file.

Issue Explain the options are available for entering in operator text  Environment Continuum Windows XP Windows 7 Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2008 Cause Options are needed for entering in operator text  Resolution -Standard Continuum Operator text is entered by the operator to further explain actions taken in response to the alarm. Enable Operator Text Prompt for Alarm Acknowledgment (Only alarm acknowledgement, no other actions) Continuum General preferences (Right click on the Continuum icon from the system tray) Setting this to True will Force a text comment (operator text) to be entered, via the 'Please add a comment' dialog when an alarm is acknowledged. An alternative to enabling this preference is for the operator to click the text field column of the alarm and type text in that Alarm Viewer field.   -CFR enabled Continuum CFR Preferences (Right click on the Continuum icon from the system tray) Enable Operator Text Prompt for Changes Setting this to True will Force all users to provide explanation of actions and confirm user name and password before changes will be permitted. (All actions, not just alarm acknowledgement.)

Issue When should the APDU Timeout setting on a BCX be increased? Product Line Andover Continuum Environment BCX4040 BACnet APDU Timeout Cause Some BACnet devices are taking a long time to respond to BACnet controller requests. Resolution If the device takes too long to respond to a request, it is possible that the response may be ignored by the BACnet controller. Increasing the APDU timeout setting will cause the BACnet controller to wait longer for a response from a field device. 

Issue After Click "Time Zoom in"  from the pop-up menu when right click the chart in group, the trend chart maybe fill out the screen, because there is no scroll bar for time scale, it is hardly to move the chart to the right time period for viewing. Environment Continuum 1.81~1.94 Windows XP Windows 7 Group Cause There is no scroll bar on the chart, it is hardly to move the chart to the right time period for viewing. Resolution Left-click the time scale bar at the bottom of the chart, and hold the left mouse button, then move to left or right until the desired time period.

Issue Not all features are seen when a BMS platform is viewed using remote control software e.g. RealVNC Environment Remote Control Software. Cause Not all features are seen when a BMS platform is viewed using remote control software. One example is: When the SmartStruxure License Software application is used, the drop down menu for adding the license detail is not available when viewed remotely using RealVNC. Resolution When the SmartStruxure License Software application is used, the drop down menu for adding the license detail is not available when viewed remotely using RealVNC. The above example is one scenario. There are a number of other remote control software applications where similar instances may occur. If such an issue occurs, check that the BMS software is functioning correctly by both being viewed and ran in the same environment. Because of the number of different remote control software options that are available, anomalies will prevail.

Issue Getting an Unable to save because attached device is not specified error when trying to import a Cyber export file, even when using a file that has just been exported from the same Cyberstation.  Environment Export Import 1.9x Cause Improper path specified. Resolution The problem was resolved by adding the target InfinityController to the path statement.

Issue After replacing the BCX controller cannot bring b3 controllers online. Environment Node Count BCX4040 b3 Cause BCX was enabled for only 8 MSTP nodes. Resolution Replaced BCX with a 127 node BCX.

Issue A badge prints the orientation incorrectly depending on the user who is logged in or the printer selected Environment Continuum EpiBuilder Windows XP Windows 7 Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2008 Cause Some printer manufacturers bundle multiple badge printer drivers in one drivers installation package and then the driver for the specific model of printer must be selected. Depending on the user logged in and the printer selected and if multiple printers of the same manufacturer are selected, Epibuilder can misinterpret which printer needs to be used and the printer driver Resolution If the printer was working and the driver was updated, reverting back to the older printer drive may correct the problem Try to only install one specific printer driver per Cyberstation instead of printing to 2 different printers If a multiple selection was offered during the install or 2 printers must be installed then the following procedure may need to be followed to get badge printing working properly. Uninstall both printers and uninstall the badge layouts.  Shutdown Cyber and Reboot the PC After restarting verify that there are no printers and no layouts in Cybers  Shut continuum down again and install the first printer.  Reboot the computer Reloaded the badge layouts Test the layouts with the one printer and verify they work.  Install the second printer and verify it works Verify the first printer

Issue Infinity Numeric Templates do not allow the BACnet Object type to be specified. Environment BACnet controllers bCX1 b3 Cause The BACnet Object Type is greyed out. Resolution A Workaround for this is to create multiple templates for the different BACnet object types, one template for BACnet Analog Values, one for BACnet Binary Values and one for BACnet Multistate values. You define all of your other attributes as required then create the objects. By default it will create Analog Values, then if you change the BACnet Object Type to Binary Value in one of the objects created from the "Binary value" template, this will prompt you to change all other objects created from this template, so all objects will be changed. You can do the same for Multistate values.   Note: Analog Value, or Binary Value templates can only be applied to Workstations you cannot create objects in the Blue BACnet folders of a bCX controller.  

Issue For email alarms to work properly with Continuum, Outlook needs to be started before Continuum and a mechanism is needed to delay Cyberstation startup to allow time for Outlook to start. Environment Continuum Windows XP Windows 7 Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2008 Cause Outlook needs to be started before Continuum, if both are placed in the startup folder, Outlook may not start first. Resolution Use a batch file (DelayContinuum.bat) to delay the startup of Cyberstation  -Create the file and place it in the Continuum folder It should contain the following lines: @echo off ping -n 30 localhost> nul C:\Progra~1\Continuum\Continuum.exe Note: 30 is the amount of pings, experiment with the number to allow Outlook to open -The shortcut target will be the path to the batch file, but don’t use the .bat in the target (Ex. C:\progra~1\Contin~1\DelayContinuum) Lastly, in the shortcut properties, select run minimized.

Issue Why do the default Continuum Menu pages not look "sharp" on very high resolution monitors? Environment Cyberstation V1.94 Cause Only one set of default .bmp menu screens are provided with a Cyberstation install. Resolution The default menu pages supplied in a Cyberstation V1.94 SP1 installation are bitmaps of 1020 x 662 resolution. If you are using a very high resolution monitor with a much higher resolution you may want to re-draw these example menu pages to suit the sites requirements.

Issue Error code 29506 installing SQL Management Studio Environment Windows 9 SQL Management Studio Express Cause Windows permissions Resolution Run the command prompt as an administrator and launch the .msi file from there to install the management studio. Go to Start\All Programs\Accessories Right click on command prompt and select run as administrator Launch the .msi file from the command prompt.

Issue Is the "Card Reader Power" specified in the datasheet per reader input or the controller total? Environment ACX5740 ACX5720 Cause It does not define on the datasheet if the reader power specified is for each reader input or the controller total. Resolution The reader current available specified on the ACXII datasheet is for each of the reader inputs. The jumpers on the board are used to define if each channel is supplying +12VDC or +5VDC. Each of the 4 reader inputs on an ACX5720 or the 8 reader inputs on an ACX5740 can supply the following: Either: 120mA @ +5VDC Or 180mA @ +12VDC If a reader is used that has a peak (Maximum) current consumption that exceeds this then it must be powered from a separate external power supply.