ALM probs

[Sleepy Wombat 27]

When installing the new Step 7 every thing is ok up to the ALM. During installation of the Automation License Manager I get the error "Cryptographic provider initialization failed (PlugIn SCP3)." Each time I reboot I get the same error. checking the event viewer i find that Plugin ALMPlugInSCP3.ALMPlugIn CoCreateInstance failed with 0x80040154. However the next entry 5 sec later it is started. But you still cannot see valid keys etc... No.. i do not want to here do a clean system reformat etc that is a complete cop out for a crap bit of software. This is the only software package that i have ever had trouble with... And yes I have checked the MS files and have the latest. Any other constructive suggestions appreciated.. ( I know an obvious one .. but it aint goin to help the situation)

[JesperMP 2]

You didnt state that you have tried to deinstall and resinstall ALM. If you havent done that yet, try it. And you can try to install a different ALM. Older or newer if you can find one. Apart from that, you may have to do that what you dont want to do. I am pretty certain that the standard-answer from Siemens support will be that you have to start with that,

[Sleepy Wombat 27]

Left that out... uninstalled / re installed several times... and found newer version no success same error message. Used Desktop Maestro to clean the system also. Still no luck... got the latest MDAC 2.8 -- no errors found there... checked all known FAQ i could find on Siemens ALM and know that i am not the only one who has had this and know the common response .. which is quite pathetic in this day and age. All up i have probaly spent upto 30hrs trying to get this working on my lap top (researchin, uninsrtalls etc) so you can imagine how i feel about their licencing system... Thanks for responding Jesper... BTW Jesper can you point me in the direction (manual - etc) of how to do an what i would commonly call online edit on an S7 300...thanks again.

[JesperMP 2]

Hello Sleepy. Which version of Windows do you have exactly ? Which version of .net framework do you have exactly ? And which version of STEP7 and ALM exactly ? Did you find and try out the FAQ about "complete deinstallation" of Siemens software ? A normal deinstall is not enough in all cases. Do you possibly have an older version of ALM that you could try out ? And what do Siemens support say about it ? I have to admit that for the general usage of STEP7 I never looked in any manual - just tried and erred until I got it, with a little help from some experts when I got stuck.I cannot find any specific help for online programming. This is what I do: Edit programs offline, and when I want to try it out, I hit the save button, the download button, and then the "glasses" button to go online and see the result. That is basically it. If you have several blocks with modified code that should be activate in the CPU at the same time, then you go to the managers block view, select all the affected blocks (CTRL+"click") and download them. The CPU will then switch to the modified blocks when the last block has downloaded.

[panic mode 246]

There is no real online edit in Step7 but you can make partial downloads of your offline project without stopping PLC. You have to open offline file, make change, save and download it. This is the simplest case when making change to piece of code with no strings attached. If there is no other file affected by the change (like your new code doesn't try to read or write non-existent memory location or datablock) PLC should remain running. If there is a change that requires access to part of DB for example (or calls another FC or FB that is not in the PLC) you have to download either: - dependant blocks before downloading the one you are changing - all at once (dependant blocks and changed one) You may still fault CPU here and there but as long as you make changes offline, save them and then do download of changed blocks you will avoid most of the pitfalls. pay attention when changing DBs. if you don't care about values (like when values are created by program for example like in an instance DB) you can change descriptions, add few more items at the END of the DB then save and download. if the structure is changed (you replace type of something for example etc.) and it is used by program, PLC will fault when you download it. if the content of the DB is important (calibration values etc.) then: - open the DB offline (always...) - click on little icon next to save button (tool tip is "open online partner" or so and click OK, not do not click on glasses!) this will show you offline copy of the DB but with live values from PLC. - click Save. this will save offine copy (not in PLC). - now you can add few things at the end of the block (use declaration view) - note while in declaration view values are not shown but they are there, only enter values of new data - save and download it to plc if you monitor piece of offline code (using glasses) and then make change (any kind of change) it will kick you offline (no monitoring) and when you close the block it will prompt to save. (keep in mind when you accidentally touch something). if you choose to save and download, it should return to monitoring... btw. based on my own experience there is no way to install siemens software properly. I've done it so many times - and on freshly formated machines but there was allways something off! eventually i just gave up and decided to keep what I have after most of it seamed to be "reasonably functional": - Step7T is missing some help files but otherwise looks ok, - WinCC Flexible always hides Simatic Manager, using Alt-Tab to get to Manager places it back into task bar but in new place etc. - WinCC flexible fails to download working project to another (identical) HMI. workaround - change few tags, save, change them back, save, download again. if it doesn't work - try again. - Step7 windows (both main and pop-ups) are not properly refreshed all the time (alt-tab to something else and then reurn may work) - Step7 crashes after running whole day (like 8-12h) or keeps running but corrupts downloads (it says that download is ok but they are not). the only way to get out of such scenario is to delete MMC content using promer (cannot get rid of it using manager or memory reset procedures - at least not on F CPUs). siemens guys suggest something must be wrong with my PC but this can't be true. if it wasn't for Siemens software and occasional trips to site I would not have reason to power down my PC (it passes all diagnostics and without Siemens software runs rock stable for months). btw. i just came back from one week training (company paid for TIA-2 so why refuse). the same problems have been happening on PCs in Siemens trainging facility and they just say - that's the way it is... good luck

[Sleepy Wombat 27]

yeh, blame the PC for $hitty $hitty software.. give me AB / OMRON / MITSU any day... Siemsn software should be free considering the total number of man hours wasted collectively by a large percentage of users just trying to install the darn crap ... nether alone have it crash your PC with a response -- that's the way it is... hah hah hah what a joke... and to mention the fact that an install practically infects your machine like a virus ... rant off.

[Mike Dyble 0]

ALM is a windows service, and one problem we have noted is that it fails to start sometimes, this results in a message indicating the licence key cannot be found when you start s7. If you manually start it its fine. All in all S7 dosnt seem stable, we have had problems with corrupted projects when accessing the project on a server, even when only one person at a time attempts to access the project. Also attempts to use wireless networking with s7 on Field PG's failed miserably even although every other application worked fine. Siemens reaction 'It's the wireless network' This reminds me of a situation we had last year. We had purchased some S7 upgrades, we 3 have systems with s7 'normal' and 3 systems with s7 pro. We tried to upgrade a V5.3 pro to V5.4 with a 'normal' upgrade, yes our mistake I know, but thing was, it didnt warn us, and s7 fell over completely. We uninstalled v5.4. We then tried to reinstall V5.3 from the cd, as V5.4 pro upgrade then didnt want to work, to no avail, various error messages during reinstallation of V5.3 resulting in a system that didnt work and would not upgrade. In the end I had to manually remove every s7 file and registry entry I could find, after a couple of hours I had found them all and managed to reinstall v5.3 and get it working. We then applied the correct s7 upgrade. Since then we always back up the hard disk using a disk imaging program before applying an upgrade or any other Siemens software to these machines, we can then go back to the last known working installation if all else fails.

[JesperMP 2]

Hi again. I found a link to a "cleanup setup tool", that should fix some problems that occur during install. http://support.automation.siemens.com/WW/view/en/28465761 Apart from that, I would insist on more support from Siemens until the problem is solved. My own experience is that support will stay with me until the problem is solved, even if it takes a long time. Have you gotten a support case number ? If you have they shall keep it open until the problem is fixed.