Any way to Freeze or Pause a master?

jabramson

Occasionally I'll be working on a program and screw something up which causes the master to go into an infinite loop or (usually in my case) an infinite reboot loop. In both cases, something happens where I cannot upload a new program to it.

Is there a way to remote into a master and "freeze" or "pause" it to load in a new program.

Currently if I'm able to telnet into it quick enough I do a clean or factory reset. Sometimes I can only do it via a local terminal (which still has to be done quickly).

Thanks.

vining

I put all masters and most other devices on an ethernet power controller which allows me to cycle power to a master or any other connected device to force a hard reboot. As the master comes online you can resend your program which is hopefully now fixed.

I consider these a must have item especially when working remotely as I mostly do. I hate programming onsite on a laptop with only one screen. I need multiple screens and a quite environment. I can't even take having a TV or music playing in the background, god forbid saws and construction trades working.

jabramson

Unfortunately my issues come up at the beginning of the program, so I don't even have enough time to send a new file to the master.

mpullin

Flip the first lever on the dipswitch in back of the master, having that on will disable the program.

vining

jabramson wrote: »

Unfortunately my issues come up at the beginning of the program, so I don't even have enough time to send a new file to the master.

Can't say for sure but if you transfer as soon as you can connect you can get in before your program starts.

ericmedley

Just because your program has a loop doesn't mean the it it is locked up per se. Try telneting in and clean the disk. Then reboot.

jjames

As Matt said, turning on dipswitch 1 will disable the program from loading, but NetLinx will still run. At that point, you'll be able to connect and transfer new code. Be sure to flip dipswitch 1 down to run your program again.

vining

jjames wrote: »

As Matt said, turning on dipswitch 1 will disable the program from loading, but NetLinx will still run. At that point, you'll be able to connect and transfer new code. Be sure to flip dipswitch 1 down to run your program again.

Ok, Im lazy but even if I'm onsite I don't want to walk down to the equipment room to flip a switch, power cycle, reload a new program, flip a switch and go back upstairs. Obvously if you don't have a power controller you have to go through that BS but for only $300.00 why would you want to. I've only used the PRD switch a couple of times in my life but have remotely (even if onsite) rebooted the master using a power controller 100's of times and have never not been able to reload my pogram before the bad program started.

ericmedley

vining wrote: »

Ok, Im lazy but even if I'm onsite I don't want to walk down to the equipment room to flip a switch, power cycle, reload a new program, flip a switch and go back upstairs. Obvously if you don't have a power controller you have to go through that BS but for only $300.00 why would you want to. I've only used the PRD switch a couple of times in my life but have remotely (even if onsite) rebooted the master using a power controller 100's of times and have never not been able to reload my pogram before the bad program started.

These are awesome. and pretty reasonably priced. Not only are they remote accessable. they also hav a ping poller with some pretty smart settings

http://www.dataprobe.com/iboot.aspx

vining

I've been using this for rack mounted installs, 2 120v inputs with 4 controlled duplex outlets for each.
$300.00
http://www.digital-loggers.com/epcr3.html

For other needs I use this for $110.00
http://www.digital-loggers.com/lpc.html

Both are controllable by AMX and they have a web gui for direct browser control which is what you need when the master locks up. They also have auto ping so you can ping an IP and reboot any connected devices if there's no response after x amount of attemps at y interval.

I don't why anyone wouldn't use these types of devices on any device that needs a reboot from time to time. I do more service calls from my office that never need me to roll a truck thanks to remote reboot capabilties. Just the gas used on these round trips pay for the smaller units each visit.

mpullin

I feel we need a picture.

vining

mpullin wrote: »

I feel we need a picture.

C'mon it wasn't derailed, maybe not riding on all its wheel but it was definitely still in contact with the track.

champ

Holy cow, did Fred and Daphne loan Spiderman the Mystery machine or did Spiderman steal it?
Somebody should fire watermelons at him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OZjHjJToVo