Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue Vista receives an I/NET transaction from a Xenta 527 as an alarm but not as a transaction Environment TAC Vista Workstation Alarm Queue Event Log I/NET Transactions Xenta 527 Cause If your time stamp is in the future, the events window (transactions window is really a filtered events window) will not display them but for some reason alarms come through. Resolution Open the Xenta 527 from Internet Explorer. Open the Events folder under I/NET. Look for the transactions. Note the date and time. Make sure the date and time in your 527 are set correctly and that the time zone is right in regional settings. Even though the SCU time stamps the transaction, the 527 shifts the stamp according to it's own settings.

Issue Time stamps of I/NET transactions are off in the Vista event and transaction windows. Environment Xenta 527 I/NET Events TAC Vista Workstation Cause Even though the SCU time stamps the transaction, the 527 will shift it according to it's time zone and date settings. Resolution Make sure the time is set correctly in the Xenta 527. 

Issue Since I have upgraded my CyberStation it seems that my distribution of Personnel records takes a very long time. Also I have noticed that I am having intermittent communication problems with my field bus controllers, why is this happening? Environment Cyberstation Cause This could be caused by the new personnel distribution engine. The new personnel distribution system takes advantage of all the workstations running CyberStation to load balance the distribution so not just one workstation will do this. With this feature added it was also necessary to include settings to adjust to optimize the process. Below are the settings and where they can be found. Resolution Workstation preferences can be found on the Preferences tab of the workstation editor. Workstation preferences Line 19 (Added in the 1.62 Version of CyberStation) Enables and disables the immediate distribution of personnel records from this workstation to controllers on the local area network (LAN). A value of “True” is the default. When this feature is enabled, the workstation inspects the status of the database, and if there are pending personnel distribution transactions, it performs the distributions. When to disable this preference — Typically, you would set this preference to “False” if the workstation is running a lot of applications, such as graphics. If there are several workstations at this site, disabling it on the web server may result in better performance. It also gives you the choice of turning it off for a workstation that is shut down at the end of a day. When to enable this preference — Typically, you would set this preference to “True” for workstations that are dedicated servers (running 24 hours per day and seven days per week, typically in a back room) and for other workstations based on the number of distributions and throughput. The more workstations that are distributing, the faster the distribution occurs. NOTE: If you have too many workstations with the above set to true it could actually slow down the distribution to field bus controllers by overwhelming them from different workstations. This could result in slow or no response from field bus controllers when polling them for information. It also could result in very slow personnel distributions to the field bus controllers. It is recommended not to set this to true for all the workstations but only to set it true for a few. Workstation Preferences Line 20 (Added in the 1.62 Version of CyberStation) Enables and disables the immediate distribution of personnel records from this workstation to controllers on remote access services (RAS) networks. If there are no RAS networks on this site you want to make sure this setting is false, true is the default. This feature should only be set to “True” on workstations that have modems in them used to connect to remote sites. When this feature is enabled, the workstation inspects the status of the database, and if there are pending access distributions, it performs the distributions. General Preferences are found by right-clicking on the Infinity icon in the task tray and selecting General Preferences. General Preferences Line 12 (Added in the 1.73 version of CyberStation) Number of Concurrent Fieldbus Personnel Distributions — This is the number of concurrent personnel distributions that are sent from each workstation to controllers on each field bus network. The default (and minimum) value is 1. Maximum value is 4. This setting, which works in conjunction with setting 13, improves performance by preventing or large numbers of personnel records from flooding field bus controllers. General Preferences Line 13 (Added in the 1.73 version of CyberStation) Time Interval Between Fieldbus Personnel Distributions — This is the amount of time (in milliseconds) that CyberStation waits before it sends another personnel distribution to controllers on the same fieldbus network. The default value is 30. Minimum value is 0. Maximum value is 15000 (15 seconds). This setting, which works in conjunction with setting 12, improves performance by preventing large numbers of records from flooding field bus controllers. It is also useful when there are many workstations performing access distribution. (That is, set it higher if there are many workstations.)

Issue Access Event messages say, "Access Mode No Communications." What does this mean? Environment IOU module Access Server Cause This message means that the controller/IOU module is losing communications with the Access Server (Workstation that is selected as either the Primary or Secondary Access Server). Resolution  Troubleshoot your communications network. Note: When you are in No Communications mode, your personnel records will be validated based on of how you configured the door to validate while in No Communications mode.

Issue Access Event messages are showing that are say, "Access Mode NoDatabase." What does this mean? Environment Access Server Cause This means that the controller cannot get to the personnel database to validate a personnel record.  Resolution Generally this means that the controller has lost its personnel database and needs to be reloaded. Note: When you are in No Database mode your personnel records will be validated based on of how you configured the door to validate while in No Database mode.

Issue Change the LED pattern on card readers Environment Continuum Site Cause How to Change the LED pattern on card readers Resolution On the ACX line of Infinet controllers and also the AC1+ modules you can change the dynamics of the reader LED. The Alternate LED pattern is selected by creating a numeric point whose name is AccessLEDPattern. When this point exists, the Alternate LED pattern will be employed by the access controller. When this point does not exist, the standard LED pattern will be employed. It should be noted that cold-starting or resetting the access controller does not delete or destroy the AccessLEDPattern.

Issue An ACX781 controller or AC1 IOU module keeps locking up and going offline. What can be done to determine why this is happening? Environment ACX781 AC1 IOU module Cause The most common cause of communication problems is electrical noise getting to the controller. Resolution Rule out any kind of hardware failure The most common scenario resulting in electrical noise and controllers going online and offline is that there are no 39v MOVs installed at the door strikes. The reason for needing these MOVs is that when the door strike relay de-energizes it creates a field collapse electrical spike that can travel back down the output wiring to the controller. When this happens, it generally will not damage any of the hardware in the controller but it could cause it to reset or cause its memory to get scrambled. Generally a reset and reload of the controller clears out the problem. It is strongly recommended to put MOVs on all outputs that have relays on them.  Put the MOVs at the end device and not the controller end.

Issue Access Event messages say, "Access Mode Normal." What does this mean? Environment Access Event messages Cause This is generally seen after you see either "Access Mode No Database" or "Access Mode No Communications" messages and the problem has been corrected. Resolution This means the system is running Normally again. Note: When in Normal mode, personnel records will be validated based on how the door is configured to validate while in Normal mode .

Issue What is the difference between Remote validation and Local validation of personnel records? Environment Personnel Records Cause Differences in remote and location validation scenarios. Resolution The difference between Remote and Local validation of personnel records is: Local validation - the personnel records are validated at the controller itself Remote validation - the personnel records are validated at the workstation.

Issue Dell Optiplex GX 620 and GX 520: When logging into Vista the PC reboots. Environment Dell Optiplex GX 520 Dell Optiplex GX 620 Cause On some Dell computers, there is a problem with the graphics hardware acceleration. Resolution Adjust these setting with the following instructions: Right click on the desktop Select Properties Click on the Settings Tab Click the Advanced Button Select the Troubleshoot Tab Adjust the slide bar of the Hardware Acceleration down from Full two or three bars Click OK Click OK Again Now you should be able to open Vista without the PC Rebooting. This problem is experienced on Dell Optiplex GX 620 (TPI C-88-1-F-97) and Dell Optiplex GX 520 (TPI C-88-1-F-95)

Issue If a widescreen monitor is used, graphics will display properly in Vista, but if you open them for editing in Graphics Editor, they appear stretched horizontally. Conversely, if you create a graphic in Graphics editor that looks proper, it will appear to be squished horizontally in Vista, and the alignment of any text will be off. Environment Vista IV OGC Graphics Editor Cause The computer being used has a widescreen primary display. Resolution Resize the primary widescreen display to a resolution with a 4:3 aspect ratio, 800x600, 1024x768, etc. or, if a secondary display with normal aspect ratio is also connected, it must be set as the primary display.

Issue Integrated NPR Dial on a Xenta 527 Environment I/NET site with Integrated NPR Dial Cause Explanation of Integrated NPR Dial on a Xenta 527 Resolution Are you having an issue where you are setting up NPR Dial on a Xenta 527? Only the US Robotics V92 56K Faxmodem is supported. Do realize that this device cannot perform Auto Dial Auto Answer (AD/AA) functionality. To configure NPR Dial you will need to get the Xenta Modem Kit, part # 0-073-0916. These steps should point you in the right direction: -   Verify that you have the right strings for the modem. Create an I/NET Configuration profile for Integrated NPR Dial and make it active. Restart I/NET. Add site phone numbers (Edit > Host Computers > Phone Numbers.) Connect the necessary cables to the Xenta 527 unit and modem. You can get a full description from part number OFL-3972-001 with all the cables etc. Connect the adapter to the modem then the L1 cable from the modem to port A on the Xenta 527 unit. Query your modem, check the settings and baud rate then dial the site.

Issue Error message says "Can not initialize license" when logging in to TAC Vista Workstation. Environment Vista Workstation Cause The installation of the license server has been faulty in some way. Resolution Uninstall TAC Vista Server/Workstation Reinstall TAC Vista Server/Workstation

Issue I have a Window XP PC and cannot get the MSDE to load Environment Windows XP MSDE I/NET Seven Cause According to the Microsoft web site, the file and printer sharing has to be turned off to load Microsoft SQL. Resolution Turn off file and printer sharing. Once The I/NET software is loaded, re-activate the Shared objects.

Issue Dell PC will not allow the MSDE to load from I/NET Seven Environment There are (3) different computers from Dell: L100 Latitude D505 Latitude GX OptiPlex series desktop All were running Windows XP Pro and all had an installation of MSSQL installed already. Cause When I/NET is installed for the first time and MSDE begins to install it fails on the "renaming of the SQL folder" partly due to "Read Only" right to the folder SQL is installed in. The error message is has this reference in it about SQL: MSSQL$MICROSOFTBCM cannot be renamed. The install of I/NET stops at this point. You do not have the option to use "Add Remove Programs" to uninstall this previous install of SQL. Resolution Go to "Manage\Services and Applications\Services... to Stop and or Disable (3) current instances of SQL running. Right click on "MSSQLSERVER" and click on Properties, then click on the Startup type, then select "Disabled", click Apply and then repeat for MSSQLserverADHelper and SQLSERVERAGENT. Now close the Manage window and then begin the I/NET Seven install again. MSDE will install correctly as well as the rest of the I/NET Seven install.

Issue How does the "Door Closed Timer" work in the I/NET Seven Door editor? Environment I/NET site with Access Control Cause Explaining the Door Closed Timer in the I/NET Seven Door editor Resolution Set the duration of the Door closed timer to a value from 0 to 25.5 seconds (0.1-second increments). This timer determines how long the door must remain closed (as sensed by the door sense switch) before an unauthorized door open condition will trigger a "forced door" message. Use this feature to help prevent false "forced door" messages that can sometimes occur when a door closes, but then bounces enough distance to trigger a temporary open condition at the door sense switch.

Issue Alarm not received by Vista Workstation with a Xenta 511/527 present Environment TAC Vista Workstation Xenta 511, 527 Alarm queue Cause Vista Workstation or the Xenta 511/527 can act a the alarm master. If the Xenta 511/527 is set as an alarm master then it will intercept the alarm before it gets to Vista Server. Resolution To check whether this is happening, trigger an alarm in a Xenta controller and check the properties of the alarm object. If the status tab shows the Xenta Alarm Status as "Alarm" and the this alarm is not present in Vista Workstation then you should check the setting in the Xbuilder project.  

Issue "Door open too long" and "Forced door" alarm masking Environment I/NET Resident I/O Cause All of the masking, priorities, and message types may be set in the door editor. DOTL and forced door may even be configured as an alarm or message, but if the Resident I/O point is not masked for the door (08DO or 09DO), you won't receive any DOTL or forced door alarms. Resolution You can also use this arrangement to your benefit. Maybe you want all transactions to one host but you want the DOTL or forced door to go to another one in a guard station. Maybe you want only those to dial out a pager.

Issue How can I set up a user/user group to always have the same graphic open when they log in to TAC Vista? Environment TAC Vista IV Workstation Cause Setting a home graphic allows the user to automatically see the same page every time they log in. Typically this is used to display the building's home page or summary page that is the first place the operator needs to go anyway. Resolution In vista 4.5 and above you can create user profiles, and assign a "Home Graphic" to the profile. If you assign a profile with a "Home Graphic" to a user/user group, the graphic will open every time a user from that group log in. For more information on how to set up user profiles and alarm viewers see 'TAC Vista IV, Administrating TAC Vista Workstation' manual. If no profile is specified for a user/user group it will use the global object $UserProfile that does not have a "Home Graphic" assigned. If you make changes to those objects it will affect all users that are not using their own profiles.

Issue LNS Network limitations in TAC Vista using Loytec NIC852 Environment NIC852 Orion Stack Cause Orion protocol alters the way in which the Vista Server and LNS Server interact and can often provide more efficient communication between the databases. Resolution Vista 5.1.1 and prior There is a limit of 8 LNS networks per NIC card. It is recommended to reserve 1 MNI connection for engineering purposes (through LonMaker or NL220), resulting in a recommended limit of 7 LNS networks per NIC card.  There is a limit of 1 NIC card per Vista network. Vista 5.1.2 and later There is a limit of 8 LNS networks per NIC card.  It is recommended to reserve 1 MNI connection for engineering purposes (through LonMaker or NL220), resulting in a recommended limit of 7 LNS networks per NIC card.  There is a limit of 4 NIC cards per Vista server.  That results in a recommended limitation of 28 LNS databases per Vista server.