Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue Understanding and Troubleshooting Modbus Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation, TAC IA Series, Other  Environment All Modbus environments. Cause Modicon first introduced Modbus in 1979. Modbus is an open standard,and it is the most widely used in the industrial environment. Modbus is publicly available and,due to its simplicity, many manufacturers use Modbus as a solution for integration in their own products. Many commercial products and systems support the Modbus RTU and Modbus TCP protocols. For further information, visit the Modbus website at http://www.modbus.org. Resolution For a brief understanding on Modbus and how to troubleshoot Modbus, refer to the Modbus Troubleshooting PDF

Issue When logged in to TAC Vista Workstation it is not possible to see any users. Product Line TAC Vista Environment Vista Workstation Cause Only a user who has Authority level "System manager" has permission to see users.   Resolution If logged in with the system user, make sure that this user has the Authority level "System Manager". If not, try to log in with another System Manager level user. If you do not have one, contact your local Support who will then need a copy of your Vista Database in order to give you a list of all System Manager Users. There must always be ONE System Manager in a Vista system.

Issue It is not clear which part of the license system handles the end-user license and which part handles the demo license. Having both TAC Vista and EcoStruxure Building Operation(EBO) installed on the same PC can cause conflicts in the license system. Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation   Environment Building Operation Enterprise Server   Cause If an EcoStruxure installation is only used for engineering and therefore will only have demo licenses activated, you don't need to install the license server. The service "FLEXnet Licensing Service" is installed by any EcoStruxure software package, and that is the service that will handle the activation of demo licenses. Resolution If you will only use demo licenses on a PC and/or also have TAC Vista installed on the same PC, only install the license administrator and not the license server.   It is also possible to run TAC Vista and EBO using the same License server, please see Lesson Learned SmartStruxure license and TAC Vista license on the same PC

Issue What does the "| n" mean when viewing the properties of an OPC variable in Vista workstation? Problems have been encountered with OPC variables Error messages such as "The object is no longer available in the servers address space", Also, canonical data type or OPC data types. Environment Vista 5.1.X TAC Vista OPC client Cause The "|n" is a reference to the data type or canonical data type as it's called in the OPC standard. In the world of OPC, the client application can be created in on one of many diverse programming languages. To resolve potential issues all OPC data types are assigned a specific Canonical Data Type. When a client application adds an OPC Item to an OPC Group it can use the default data type for the item or it can request the item with a specific canonical data type. If the OPC tool is used then the canonical is added automatically by checking with the server. It's only if variables are added manually that this information is required. Resolution The method used for addressing OPC variables is Folder.Variable_Name|Data_Type  The table below details the data types:  Data Type Canonical Type Size Data Range Boolean 11 1 Bit True or False Byte 17 1 Byte 0-255 Byte Array∗ 8209 1 Byte times Array Size 0-255 Short 2 2 bytes -32768 – 32767 Short Array∗ 8194 2 bytes times Array Size -32768 – 32767 BCD 18+ 2 bytes 0 - 9999 BCD Array∗ 8210 2 bytes times Array Size 0 - 9999 Word 18 2 bytes 0 – 65535 Word Array∗ 8210 2 bytes times Array Size 0 – 65535 Long 3 4 bytes -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647 Long Array∗ 8195 4 bytes times Array Size -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647 LBCD 19+ 4 bytes 0 - 99999999 LBCD Array∗ 8211 4 bytes times Array Size 0 - 99999999 Dword 19 4 bytes 0 – 4,294,967,295 Dword Array∗ 8211 4 bytes times Array Size 0 – 4,294,967,295 Float 4 4 bytes -(3.40 E38 – 1.40 E-45) to (1.40 E-45 – 3.40 E38) Float Array∗ 8196 4 bytes times Array Size -(3.40 E38 – 1.40 E-45) to (1.40 E-45 – 3.40 E38) Double 5 8 bytes -(1.798 E308 – 4.941 E-324) to 4.941 E-324 – 1.798 E308) Double Array∗ 8197 8 bytes times Array Size -(1.798 E308 – 4.941 E-324) to 4.941 E-324 – 1.798 E308) Char 16 1 Byte All Characters supported in the standard ASCII table String 8 1 – n Bytes All Characters supported in the standard ASCII table

Issue Visio 2010 crashes whether or not LonMaker is running and both LonMaker and Visio 2010 crash together often when LonMaker is running. Echelon LonMaker An unexpected error occurred. Please save your drawing and exit Visio/LonMaker. Environment LonMaker Turbo Edition Visio 2010, possibly Visio 2007 Cause The "Send to Bluetooth" Add-In in Visio 2010 has been known to cause Visio to crash thus bringing LonMaker down with it. This often occurs when Bluetooth is disabled on the computer. When Visio is not able to access the bluetooth, the program crashes. Another possible cause is that the Add-In is not compatible with DEP. Resolution Steps to remove the Bluetooth add-in The simplest resolution to this problem is to disable the Send to Bluetooth add-in in Visio by following these steps: In Visio 2010 click File and select Options near the bottom of the left-hand pane. Select Add-Ins from left-hand pane then find and highlight the Send to Bluetooth add-in. In the Manage drop down box select COM Add-ins and click Go. Uncheck Send to Bluetooth and click OK. Shut down Visio and start LonMaker.     Steps to disable DEP in Visio In Visio 2010 click File and select Options near the bottom of the left-hand pane. Select "Trust Center" and click "Trust Center Settings" Click "DEP Settings" and remove the tick mark in "Enable Data Execution Prevention Mode" Shut down Visio and start LonMaker.

Issue It may be desirable to the building management to remove web users and operators' privileges to change their own password. Environment Xenta Server Cause By default all users are able to change their own passwords. Resolution While the privilege that each user has to be able to change their password cannot be removed through standard configuration methods, it can, nevertheless, be removed through the FTP server of the Xenta controller. However, these changes will apply to all web users or to all operators rather than just specific users. Connect to the FTP of the Xenta 5/7/9xx controller by typing FTP://x.x.x.x (where x.x.x.x is the IP address of the controller) in the Windows Explorer address bar. Login with the root username and root password. Browse to the ftp://x.x.x.x/www/config/ folder and copy the either the file named operatormenu.xml or webusermenu.xml (depending on which type of user needs to be edited) and copy it to the desktop of the local machine. Open the ftp.cfg file with notepad on the local machine. If you are editing the web user file then delete the following lines: <MENU name="User Administration" value="/wm/useradmin" type="CFGDIR"> <MENU name="Change Password" value="/wm/useradmin/change_password" type="CFGPAGE"/> </MENU> If you are editing the operator file then only delete the following lines: <MENU name="Change Password" value="/wm/useradmin/change_password" type="CFGPAGE"/> </MENU> Save the file to the desktop without changing the name. In the FTP rename the original file by adding a "1" to the end of the name. For example webusermenu.xml would now be named webusermenu1.xml. This way you can keep the original file in the FTP if you ever need to revert back to it. Copy the newly edited file from the desktop to the FTP folder. If you are already logged into the Xenta server then log out and log back in. The menu should no longer be available. Important Note: If the system program is reloaded in the Xenta Server, these changes will be over-written and will need to be re-done.

Issue Trendlog Server is busy. Please try viewing the page again later Diagram The error looks like a java popup with error "Server is busy. Please try viewing the page again later" Environment Xenta webserver Cause It may take up to 15 minutes before a trendlogs actually starts (Depending on how many trendlogs that are available in the Xenta) after a restart of a Xenta webserver. During this time a Java error might appear if you try to call something including values from a trendlog i.e. Diagram Resolution The server is trying to startup all the trendlogs so please wait up to 15 minutes and try to view the page again.

Issue The Remote Alarm Manager sends a message to the recipient indicating that an alarm has been inactivated. The screen shot below shows how a typical message will appear on the receiving mobile phone. Product Line Other, Satchwell MicroNet, Satchwell Sigma, TAC Vista Environment Remote Alarm Manager version 1.2 Cause An alarm message is generated, and the Remote Alarm Manager processes it in the normal way. After three days and at midnight, the Remote Alarm Manager will send a inactivation message to the on-call recipient, indicating that this alarm has been inactivated. Resolution This is not a fault with the system, it is operating as designed. When a new alarm is received by the Remote Alarm Manager, it is acted on in the way the configuration dictates. If the alarm remains on the system, without being retransmitted, then after three days the inactivation takes place. The 3 days is the default setting and can be changed if required.

Issue Confusion over behavior of the Xenta 121 when using a occupancy sensor. Environment Xenta 121-FC Xenta 121-HP Cause When an occupancy sensor is not defined in the configuration of a Xenta 121 controller the effective occupancy will follow the command given by nviOccManCmd. However, when an occupancy sensor is defined, either as a network bound point or a hardwired sensor, the effective occupancy of a Xenta 121 will behave differently. Resolution The Xenta 121 operates as follows when using an occupancy sensor: The most notable difference in how the Xenta operates are: When nviOccManCmd is in either the OC_UNOCCUPIED or the OC_STANDBY modes then the Xenta 121 will ignore the state of the occupancy sensor. When nviOccManCmd is in the OC_OCCUPIED mode the Xenta 121 will follow the state of the occupancy sensor. Note that this means that the controller could actually enter the unoccupied mode even though nviOccManCmd is set to be occupied. When nviOccManCmd is in the Oc_Nul mode the effective occupancy of the Xenta 121 will Oc_Standby until a signal is received from the occupancy sensor at which time it will change to be Oc_Occupied. This behavior should be taken into consideration when deciding on how to implement an occupancy sensor. It may be desirable to set the nviOccManCmd to Oc_Nul whenever the occupancy sensor should be considered and to set it to Oc_Unoccupied when the occupancy sensor should be ignored. This effectively utilizes the occupied, unoccupied and standby modes as three distinct modes of operation to maximize comfort and efficiency.

Issue After migrating a TAC Vista export containing TAC Xenta IO modules to SBO, some or all TAC Xenta IO modules are missing the neuron ID's Environment Migration TAC Xenta IO module Cause During the migration, the TAC Xenta IO modules are matched on their name. If the name in TAC Vista differs from the actual name in the associated Menta file, the match can't be made and the properties on the IO modules can not be set. Example of this scenario In TAC Vista   In TAC Menta Resolution 1. Edit the Menta application through TAC Vista Workstation 2. Rename the IO modules in Menta 3. Save to Vista 4. Device gets dirty and need download - download to get rid of the dirty mark 5. Export database in through TAC Vista Workstation 6. Convert to SBO using the Conversion Tool

Issue When generating a XBuilder project, the following error is shown in the "Output" window "Error: Could not open x7parser.exe." Environment TAC XBuilder TAC Menta Cause For some reason TAC Menta has not been properly registered during installation. The file x7parser.exe is part of the TAC Menta installation, if TAC XBuilder can not located the TAC Menta executable, x7parser.exe (which generated the Menta objects in the XBuilder project) can not be launched. Resolution The solution is to manually register TAC Menta 1. Open a command prompt (Start - Run - cmd) 2. Navigate to the TAC Menta installation directory (Typically "C:\Program Files (x86)\Schneider Electric\TAC Menta 5.1.9" but this depends on OS and Menta version) 3. Enter the following command: tam32.exe /regserver 4. Press enter 5. Reopen XBuilder and generate

Issue For maintenance of the site we would like the possibillity to turn a "User Group - Alarm" on or off Environment TAC Vista 5.1.9 Cause "User Group - Alarm" is used when you want specific users to be able to see specific alarms.  For example an alarm control bound to a specific "User Group - Alarm" will only send its alarm to users added to User Group Alarm. When doing maintenance on a site there is often many alarms which the users are not interested in, and this is why the users need to be able to disable a certain alarm user group. Resolution It is possible to connect the alarm user group to a timechart. The alarm user group will only be active as long as the time chart is on. 1. Define a "Time Chart - Local" in TAC Vista 2. Select and open the appropriate "User Group - Alarm" object 3. On "Time chart" select a timechart object created in step 1 and click OK   Now none of the users in the alarm group will receive alarms, as the time schedule linked to the alarm user group is inactive. To return to normal alarm handling, remove the time schedule reference created in step 3, and delete the time chart created in step 1.

Issue R&D may need better dump files than those automatically created by the Windows operating system, in the event of TAC Vista crashing or hanging. Environment Troubleshooting TAC Vista server TAC Vista Workstation TAC Vista OPC Server Cause When TAC Vista crashes or hangs PSS will often ask for dump files to enable R&D to gain insight into what was happening when the system stopped working. Sometimes these dump files are created automatically and it is also possible to capture a dump from a hanged process (Win 7 and 2008 Server and newer) by right-clicking on the process in task manager and selecting "Create Dump File". However the dumps created are "User Mini Dump Files with Full Memory". This is often not enough for R&D to get to the root of the problem. There are better tools available for this and one of those is ProcDump which is part of the Windows SysInternals Software Suite (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procdump). On the ProcDump site the tool is described as: "ProcDump is a command-line utility whose primary purpose is monitoring an application for CPU spikes and generating crash dumps during a spike that an administrator or developer can use to determine the cause of the spike. ProcDump also includes hung window monitoring (using the same definition of a window hang that Windows and Task Manager use), unhandled exception monitoring and can generate dumps based on the values of system performance counters. It also can serve as a general process dump utility that you can embed in other scripts." Resolution 1. Install ProcDump from the Windows Sysinternals suite. 2. With the Vista server running, start a command prompt. Drag and drop procdump.exe onto the command prompt. Here are a couple of examples to get started. A full list of the commands and types of dumps available is available by clicking on the link above. Example 1 - take a full memory dump immediately if the server is hanged or in the process of crashing,  After completing step 2, type:  [space]-ma tacos.exe    Example 2 - monitor the tacos.exe process so that a crash dump is created when tacos crashes. After completing step 2, type:  [space]–e -ma tacos.exe Note! Don’t close the command prompt as this will exit the process monitoring and no dump will be created! Tip: If you want to change the directory first, you can, for example, type cd C:\Dumps at the command line. Then drag and drop procdump on to the DOS prompt do the steps detailed above.

Issue Get "Error 530, Could not connect to server" when trying to connect to Xenta Server with FTP (File Transfer Protocol) The user name and password are correct but the FTP client can't connect. Screenshot from FileZilla FTP Client Environment TAC Xenta Server 500 TAC Xenta Server 700 TAC Xenta Server 900 Issue detected in version 5.1.9 Cause FTP has not been enabled for the user that is attempting to connect via FTP. To confirm the issue check the following: That the issue is not FTP client - try various FTP clients That the password entered for the root user is correct - Log on to the Xenta Server's web interface using the root user That port 21 (used for FTP) is not blocked by the firewall or at the network level - Check with telnet or make a similar test with a network tool. That FTP is in fact enabled in the TAC Xenta Server - When logged in to the Xenta Server, navigate to "Configuration-Servers-FTP Server" and check that the setting is as below Resolution Log on to the device and navigate to the "Configuration-User Administration-User Administration" web page. Click on the user that has unsuccessfully attempted to connect via FTP Locate the "FTP" setting under "User settings" and change the setting to "Enabled"

Warning Potential for Data Loss: The steps detailed in the resolution of this article may result in a loss of critical data if not performed properly. Before beginning these steps, make sure all important data is backed up in the event of data loss. If you are unsure or unfamiliar with any complex steps detailed in this article, please contact Product Support Services for assistance. Issue When opening an XBuilder project with Menta objects referenced to Menta Library objects, the references are lost and all Menta objects are showned as disconnected from the library. Environment TAC XBuilder Cause For some reason, the library definition in the project has become corrupted. Resolution 1: Browse to the XBuilder project file (*.xbp*) 2: Edit the file with notepad or similar 3: Search the file for all instances of "MENTALIBOBJ" 4: If the node doesn't have anything in "GUID=" that's the problem 5: For all instances that are wrong, copy the "MentaObjLibId" value to "GUID" 6: Save the file, and reopen the XBuilder project

Issue When opening a TGML graphic in Webstation using Internet Explorer you get a link to download the correct Java version even though Java is installed on the PC used Environment Java Vista Webstation Internet Explorer Cause Webstation has a built-in check to see if Java is installed which does not work in Internet Explorer Resolution Open this path "C:\inetpub\wwwroot\TACVistaWeb519" Version can be different depending what you have installed. Edit the file "TgmlDynamicGraphicsPage.aspx" and remove the lines in picture starting with <script< strong=""> and ending with /script></script<> NOTE: Make a backup of the file in case something happens. and save the file.   Also remember to set the viewer mode to "Dynamic" in TAC Vista Web Settings. The down side of this, is that Webstation will not work on PC's not having Java installed.

Issue A file called Netstat_Tq.txt keeps growing, and it's not clear what it's for or how to stop the writing to the file. Environment TAC Vista Cause Debugging of TAC Vista Server network is enabled 1: Hold down shift and ctrl, right click the Vista Server node and click properties 2: Scroll down to "NETQDBG" and remove the check mark Resolution Disable network debugging

Issue When viewing a graphic (or other object requiring a Java plugin) in Google Chrome you get the message "This plug-in is not supported" where the graphic should have been shown Environment Webstation Xenta Server I/A Series G3 version 3.8.xx or earlier Cause Google Chrome has disabled Java in version 42 and above Resolution 1: Open Google Chrome 2: In the address field, enter the following: chrome://flags/#enable-npapi 3: Click on "Enable" to enable the feature so it looks like this 4: Click on relaunch to restart Chrome   More information from Java's web site

Issue Cant login to webstation Loginpage for webstation Environment Vista webstation Cause Mostly  caused by that another process is using the same port as webstation do Resolution Run the command netstat -aonb | find ":80" in the command prompt to see what process PID is taking the port 80, If Vista is using another port change 80 to what port you use. A common scenario is that it is the TAC Vista SmartStruxure interface that is taking the port, and that after a reboot, the interface starts up before the IIS. Change the port used in the interface to something else

Issue The Windows power save is interrupting system operation, i.e if you have a graphic open on a Workstation which is talking to another PC and the mouse has been inactive for some time, when you move the mouse it takes some time to update the graphics Environment Windows ES Continuum Inet Vista SmartStruxure SmartStruxure Lite SBO Cause This is caused by the Windows OS going into a power save mode, this will normally close down the CPU, Network adapter, graphics card etc Resolution   PC is going into a power save mode, Go into, "Control panel", make sure view is "Small icons", then click "Power Options" in here you will have a number of option, set this to "High performance" then "change plan settings" make sure all are set to Never or high performance, when you have done this, goto "Network and Internet" then "Change adapter settings", right click on your network adapter and goto "properties" then click "Configure" then "Power Management" make sure that the power save settings are off, this will stop the network from going to sleep.   This will need to be done on the ES, Workstation PC, Continuum Workstation, SQL server, etc This should then stop you having the delay as the PC wakes up