msynco

I really like the AB products, however I'd rather have another option when it comes to software. I also feel the Factory Talk View is useless junk, and I feel it's just a matter of time before a class-action lawsuit is brought against Rockwell. The support is a bad joke IMHO also, from the outrageous price to maintain it to the actual telephone support. I'd say 90% of my calls were solved, but there have been some that werent. My second to last call to tech support ended like this: Tech Support Person: I'm sorry, I dont know what else to tell you................. I guess he or she ran out of KB articles to read back to me. The last call ended with: well somethings changed. That's it????? Our local Rockwell distributor suggested getting someone (system integrator) from another plant in our area to come help us, he'd be glad to set it up, but we'd have to pay the guy for helping. That is when I suggested to my boss that we not renew the support contract, and as such we have let it drop. We are currently looking to other alternatives for any new projects we have. It seems that Rockwell would show some interest in their customers, and their needs, and not just in lining their own pockets with money. My rant's over now..... Mike

What version of Factory Talk View are you running in the Virtual PC environment? Thanks, Mike

When the PM's are power cycled the ping returns a normal result until they drop comms. Our IT department has been monitoring the network, and reports they can find no problems. On a side note, when the trouble first started, we had a an ethernet I/O module that was flooding the network with multicasts so much that the router was unable to maintain it's routing table. I have removed power to the device, and will leave it off until we resolve the problem. Mike

I could sure use some help, if anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it. Our plant has a network of 28 AB pm3000's with ethernet comms. Approx. 2 weeks ago, all but 8 of them quit communicating. A few facts about the system: 1. Has been in service for 8-10 years 2. Power monitors share the same fiber optic and switches as our plant's network, but are on a different network. 3. There are 28 AB SLC505's on the same network 4. When powered down, then back on, the 20 that dont work, will go online for about 5 minutes, then drop back off. 5. The meters themselves are still gathering data, just the RSLinx connectivity goes away. 6. When looking at the RSLinx diagnostics , I see a lot of communication timeouts. 7. IT department that maintains the network has made no changes to the switches(routers) in the immediate past. 8. I've always had the occasional meter that would lose connection, and have to be power cycled to restart comms. 9. The 8 meters that do work are using the old firmware in the meter, Base FRN 2.44 and Ethernet FRN 1.21, while the ones I've checked that dont work are newer firmware.(havent checked them all, but it does appear to be a pattern relating to firmware) 10. I took one of the working meters and upgrade to the newest firmware from the AB website. It now will not maintain communications more than 5 minutes without cycling power. I've got the Plant manager breathing down my neck to get the numbers coming back in, and have run out of ideas to check. Any ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Mike