RSLogix500

[stickman47 0]

I have a strange problem with my F/T Activation. Whenever I run my laptop on battery I get a notice that my software is not activated and I am running on a trial version. Once I restore the A.C. supply the notice comes up that the program has been properly activated. Anyone else had this?

[hmiman 1]

Hi, The FactoryTalk licences attach themselves to a piece of hardware on your machine when they are deployed. This is to prevent you from copying it to another machine. Thus, everytime you start the licence request, it verifies if it is still in use on the original machine. You have most likely attached it to your network card, which gets de-activated on battery mode for power saving. You have two options: 1. Disable the power saving mode on your NIC to have it permanently on. Disabling the device will cause it to disappear from the FactoryTalk licence clients sight, thus failing. Disavantage: Higher power consumption on your laptop, thus decreasing battery life. 2. Rehost the licence and attach it to your hardrive. Disadvantage: Harddrives are more prone to failure than NICs, so you will have a lengthy phone conversation with Rockwell if you lose your harddrive. My recommendation is to rehost the licence and use the harddrive instead. Hope it helps.

[Buckaroo 0]

One other thing I can think of is if your license is tied to a NIC address on a docking station for the laptop if you have one. With the laptop docked everthing is ok. When you undock to use it out in the field or plant then you lose the activation. If this is the case then you should rehost the activation to the NIC address on the laptop itself and not the docking station. Actually come to think of it I think on Allen Bradley website it says to use the DISK_SERIAL_# for the Factory Talk Activation when using a laptop. Not sure why but it is something to consider. Hope this helps. Tom

[stickman47 0]

This looks like the answer since I have other systems that use Ethernet to communicate it would be practical to have the network card active all the time. I have A.C. power available if the battery get too low so it wouldn't be a problem switching over. Thanks for the info. I wonder how I got attached to the network card in the first place.......

[PMersault 1]

The FTActivation tool's Get Activations tab will show the Host ID of the computer. By default, it comes up with the MAC ID(s) of the PC, but hitting the drop down box will show all available IDs, including the hard drive's ID. Since MAC comes up by default, this is most likely the ID used when you downloaded the activation.