Can't connect to cRIO via MAX, but can connect through Web Browser, why?

[nickc75]

Lately I have been developing an application for the cRIO 9034 and have had no problems.  The cRIO and the host computer are on the same subnet with 192.168.x.x addresses.  For convenience, I set the router so that the cRIO always has the same IP address as does the host computer and every device on this small "home" network.  Just recently however, after having powered down the cRIO for about a week or so, I find that I can't connect to the cRIO in MAX, but I can still connect to it in my project explorer, where I can deploy and run my target code, and I can connect to it using the web browser, as well as distributed system manager and device monitor.  Only MAX can't see it, which is a major show stopper.  Any help would be greated appreciated.

Forgot to mention that I connected a sbc9606 to the network and MAX can connect to it.  For this device however, the IP address is not reserved, but I found it by using the RS232 connection to Putty and entering that into MAX > Create New .... it successfully connects under remote systems.  But why doesn't this work for the cRIO since it has a valid IP address?

[natasftw]

If you add it manually by IP to MAX, does it work?

[nickc75]

Unfortunately no.  That's sort of the problem.  I would think that since I know the IP address is valid and can use it to access the target by http://<IP Address>), etc.  that I should be able to use it to add it manually in MAX, but that doesn't work.

[crossrulz]

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@nickc75 wrote:

For convenience, I set the router so that the cRIO always has the same IP address as does the host computer and every device on this small "home" network.

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Networking 101 says that that is a BAD idea.  I tend to always have my computer be X.X.X.1 and then my controllers start at X.X.X.10.

[nickc75]

Every device on my network is 192.168.1.*, where * is a unique number for each device.  I don't see how this violates any fundamental networking concepts....  nor do I see how the ordering of that * value among all my devices could cause any communication problems, conflicts, etc. 

[crossrulz]

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@nickc75 wrote:

Every device on my network is 192.168.1.*, where * is a unique number for each device.  I don't see how this violates any fundamental networking concepts....  nor do I see how the ordering of that * value among all my devices could cause any communication problems, conflicts, etc. 

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I interpreted your previous comment as "all of my devices are the same IP Address", not that they are all static.  We'll blame the lack to sleep...

[natasftw]

You have the 9034.  Have you tried connecting via the USB A-B cable and seeing if you can see the cRIO in MAX with the 172.22.11.2 IP address?  If so, you can get a look at the status of the Ethernet connection to see if there's anything strange there.

Do you have MAX blocked with any firewalls that would prevent it from communicating with the device?

[nickc75]

Yes, I have tried the USB A-B cable in which case Device Monitor comes up with "Device Detected" showing the correct target name cRIO-9034-<serial #>.  But if I click on the option that says configure using MAX, that just brings me back to MAX and MAX is still not able to see the device.  With the USB in place, I then tried connecting the host directly to the cRIO via Ethernet and changing the IP of the host to a 172.22.11.4 address and still no change.  All this time, I can just go to Internet Explorer and type in the IP address of the cRIO and I can see all networking properties for the usb0 adapter (172 address and subnet mask), as well as teh eth0 and eth1 adapter addresses and subnet masks, including link speeds.  All preferred link speeds are autonegotiate, packet detection is Line Interrupt.  Nothing looks suspicious.

I am running a McAfee software, but the policy allows 192.168 addresses and in the logs I can see outgoing messages from MAX are healthy (ie., non-blocked) for both the cRIO as well as for the sbc-9606 as well as a sbc-9636, where I have no problems whatsoever with the latter two.  But I do notice in the logs that when connecting to the sbc's there are a lot of healthy outgoing messages whereas for the cRIO there's only 1 outgoing message (non-blocking) and then complete silence.  Regarding incoming messages, both cRIO and sbc's show very few, but for each there is a mix of blocked and unblocked messages, pretty much the same messages for each as far as I can tell.  Still, for the sbc's I can delete them the list of from remote systems and manually add them back and even discover them just by clicking refresh over and over with out any problems, whereas MAX is "Unable to initialize connection" to the cRIO.  After trying everything possible for nearly 48 hours straight with little sleep I am at a complete loss .....

Forgot to mention that I had no such problem with the cRIO just a few weeks ago with this same host running the same McAfee etc.  I even unintstalled the entire LabVIEW software and reinstalled as my most recent attempt and still the same problem.

[natasftw]

Just to clarify, sbc means sbRIO?  Those are model numbers for sbRIOs but I can't find anything about sbc's.  Just want to make sure I understand what we're talking about.

Do you run any DAQmx tasks that are configured in your MAX?  If not, it's probably worth trying to reset the MAX database to see if something has gone a bit screwy in there: http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/2C7480E856987FFF862573AE005AB0D9

If you do have those tasks, you'd have to recreate them after resetting the database so be prepared to put in that legwork. 

You shouldn't need to change your IP.  The USB ports on both sides create an Ethernet interface.  If you connect via the USB A-B cable, you can open up your command prompt and type in ipconfig /all

You should see an interface with 172.22.11.1 as the PC's IP address.  That's your USB port.  If you go in and set the IP through Windows, you're likely setting it for the Ethernet port and not actually doing anything productive here.  In fact, you'd be breaking the communication to the eth0 port you're hoping to talk to.

Are you trying to change a setting of some sort?  If you can work with the cRIO through the project, it seems a bit strange to be going through all of this work to get it to work with MAX currently.  You can use the SysConfig API to modify settings.  Have you taken a look at that?  (I agree it should work in MAX.  But, if you're stuck these are workarounds worth taking a look at)

[nickc75]

Thanks natasftw,

Yes, the "sbc's" I was referring to are the sbRIO-9626 and sbRIO-9606.  They have not given me any problems this whole time.

Regarding DAQmx, let me also clarify what software I am running and the order I installed things.  Several weeks back I installed LabVIEW Embedded Control and Monitoring Sutie 2015 for the first time on this newly received workstation and worked for several weeks with the cRIO-9034 with no problems.  A few weeks later, just before this problem started, I installed NI-DAQmx and NI PXI Platform Services Runtime because I wanted to support some older projects which were developed for non-RT hardware, like PXIe-8135, etc., and the ECM Sutie 2015 did not come with DAQmx or PXI drivers.  I don't recall if it was the very next time after that but it was soon afterwards that MAX couldn't get to my cRIO.  Now I am thinking why is the problem only with the cRIO and not with the sbRIO's, but one possiblity is that the sbRIOs were just brought out of storage to help troubleshoot this problem so they have no "history" with this new host until now.

I did try resetting the database - several times and I even unstalled the NI Software and reinstalled it.  I did not reinstall the DAQmx or PXI Platform Servces however, and as I mentioned in my last post this did not solve the problem.  I tried the USB A-B as you mentioned, without messing with the IP address and indeed I do see the 172.22.11.1 address for the host.  Going into MAX and trying to manually connect to 172.22.11.2 fails just the same.

I don't know about the SysConfig API - what is that?   But you are right, I am putting in a lot of work just to be able to update the software.  At least the problem has not manifested itself to the point of interering with connecting and delpoying to the cRIO and the web browser support works fine too. And, without much inconvenience, I have access to a separate computer running MAX with the same EMC Suite running so can proceed that way the few times I need MAX.

My final thoughts are that something is corrupted deep inside the NI software installation and uninstalling/reinstalling is not thorough enough to clear it up.  I'd have to reimage this entire machine to start over and I am not will to do that at this point.