Real-Time Disk Utilities

[minnellac]

So, I pulled the USB flash drive and took a look on it from my desktop. When I checked, it indicated that it was formatted with FAT (default). I reformatted it to FAT32 and ran the utility in MAX again. It is again listed as FAT (default). It looks like the utility in MAX is actually formatting the drive before copying files to it. This is only a 128MB flash drive.

One other note, I am running max from a 64bit Win7 machine. I'm not sure if it is important, but I don't think I've mentioned that before. Also, when I run 7. Evaluate system, the number in the top right seems to get to SF01480 beforeing hanging.

Chris

[kellis.wiseman]

Thanks for trying that for me! Do you have LabVIEW 32 bit? Or 64 bit? Also, what do you mean when you say you run 7.Evaluate system? 

~kgarrett

[minnellac]

My desktop is 64bit Win7. I am running both LabVIEW 32bit and LabVIEW 64bit (2010 DS1). Sorry for the poor contrast in the picture, but the 7th item on the list is "Evaluate system". This is the tool that is supposed to tell you if your hardware is compatible.

The following options fail:

1. Boot using sofware installed on the hard disk. (obviously, I haven't installed any software on the hd yet)

2. Boot into safe mode.

6. Format hard disk.

7. Evaluate system.

by "fail" I mean I'm left with a screen like the one attached.

These options work:

3. Reset network configuration.

4. Clear password.

5. Disable LabVIEW Real-Time start-up application (at least it doesn't crash when this is selected)

8. Advanced ethernet options. (I haven't tried all the options here, but I can get in and out of this menu)

9. Reboot the system.

10. Backup, Restore, or Replicate the Real-Time system. (same as 😎

Chris

[kellis.wiseman]

Hi Chris, 

I will convey this information to our experts. Until then, please go through this Requirements Article to make sure your ampro mightboard 800 has the necessary specifications. Thanks!

~kgarrett

[kellis.wiseman]

Hi Chris, 

The experts agree it is likely a hardware incompatibility. Have you had a chance to read through the requirements to see if your mightboard meets them? If you think it fulfills all the requirements, please post back and let me know. Thanks!

~kgarrett

[minnellac]

Like I said before, we are successfully running the RT OS on this hardware (I'm guessing whatever version was current with LabVIEW 8.6). I'm looking through the hardware requirements doc:

1. Processor - 1.4GHz Pentium M738: supported in LVRT ver. 8.0+
2. Network Interface 1 - Intel 82541 (1000BaseT): maybe supported in 8.5+ or 2010+ (no suffix is specified)
3. Network Interface 2 - Intel 82551ER (10/100BaseT): maybe supported in 7.1+ (ER suffix not specified on supported hardware list)
   Our experience with this last time was that one was supported and one was not. I don't remember which.
4. Hard Drive - EIDE - Dual PCI-buss Enhanced Ultra DMA 33/66/100 Synchronous IDE: seems like a lot of marketing speak, but it supports PATA drives
5. RAM: 1GB PC2700 DDR 333 DIMM
6. Motherboard Voltage Rails - I didn't see this documented, but we have used M series cards with these computers successfully in both Windows XP and the RTOS
7. Formatting & Setup - I tried formatting the internal drive to FAT32 using gparted, but this didn't make any difference. The Format function in the RT Utility hangs.
8. BIOS Settings - I've tried disabling everything I can that doesn't seem necessary. This processor does not support hyperthreading.

I don't see any red flags here. USB booting works fine, and I've used a number of other utilities from USB flash sticks successfully (clonezilla, gparted, etc.). I don't know how incompatibilities usually manifest themselves, but hanging at simple RT Utilities like Format and Evaluate System is pretty frustrating.

Chris

[kellis.wiseman]

When you say you are successfully running the RT OS on this hardware, how are you sure? Booting the USB key has no relation to booting the RT OS; the USB Key boot is done using BIOS calls and BIOS interactions, and it's not until the PC Evaluator is run, or you attempt to run Safe Mode that the RT OS is booted.   

There are many things that can manifest themselves as hanging at simple RT Utilities like Format. For example, if the BIOS does not provide the specific hooks needed to determine the partition information. The Format command is probably one of the easiest ones to debug, because there's only a handful of things that could be going wrong (which would also explain everything else going wrong at KT01480). 

 Please go through these steps:

1. Set the HDD Compatibility mode to "Legacy IDE" in the BIOS if possible.  It could have a name other than "HDD Compatibility", but it's changing the mode that the hard disk is being used as.  Often times the BIOS will make specific hooks available only when the hard disk is set to a legacy mode.
2. If the BIOS can enable/disable disk interfaces, disable all interfaces except the one used by the hard disk you're using.
3. MAKE SURE the IDE disk is set up as a PRIMARY/MASTER.  If the disk is set as a SECONDARY/MASTER or a SECONDARY/SLAVE or a PRIMARY/SLAVE then RT cannot control the primary disk properly.  This is a known issue with RT.
4. Remove all partitions from the hard disk using any tool (DOS's fdisk is quite useful for this).  The format utility will create a new RT partition if you use option #2 in the format options. Please post back with the results of this. Thanks so much!
   
   ~kgarrett 

[minnellac]

What I mean about successfully running the RTOS on this hardware is this: we have about 12 of these computers, all identical. A few years ago, I was able to get as far as formating the drive using the floppy disk utilities. I handed off the box to someone else (different project), and he was able to install the OS without any notable difficulties. He then used the box with SIT to run some Simulink models. I believe I can image the drive from that unit, and get going with a different unit, but for my project I am using Veristand 2010. Veristand is really picky about what versions of everything are installed, and I don't think I can get it running with the older version of the RTOS. Maybe I'm wrong about that. Anyway, I've been documenting my efforts to get this other unit if and running. I've looked through the bios pretty extensively already, but I'll take another look based on the instructions you provided. I'll let you know if I make any progress.

Chris

[kellis.wiseman]

hi Chris, 

have you tried this same process on any of the other 12 computers? I am curious if it is universal for this hardware setup, or if it is only on that one machine. if you think it would help, I can configure a USB RT Utility for you, and post it so you can try loading that (in case it is the Utility build that is causing the issue). thank you for your continued efforts!

~kgarrett

[minnellac]

Sorry, this is still important, but I've been tied up with other projects. I'll let you know when I get a chance to try some of things you mentioned.

Chris