# Old 2003 series PLC error problem **URL:** \ **Category:** B&R Software & Runtime\ **Tags:** plc\ **Created:** [July 2, 2026, 7:53pm UTC](https://community.br-automation.com/t/old-2003-series-plc-error-problem/11801 "2026-07-02T19:53:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![trebor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/FF8800/32.png) [@trebor](https://community.br-automation.com/u/trebor)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 7:53pm UTC](https://community.br-automation.com/t/old-2003-series-plc-error-problem/11801/1 "2026-07-02T19:53:21Z")
Hi from Croatia, 🙂 I have an old 2003 series PLC system (attached picture) that suddenly went into ERROR state. This PLC is part of an old FRONIUS ORBITAL welding system , and after it sat in storage for a couple of years , we decided to power it up and test it. It was OK, and we did a few tests with the machine, but suddenly, for no reason, the PLC went into ERROR state (red LED active). We also have a handheld HMI ( KEBA ht401 model) that is not showing date and time, and it is not responding to commands . My question: If I download Automation Studio 4.0 from the B&R website and use the appropriate RS232 cable, will I be able to connect to the PLC and see the error description? Do I need a paid license to be able to do that? I don’t need to change the program, just pinpoint the potential problem with the system . Thank you all 🙂 Robert ---
**Author:** ![trebor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/FF8800/32.png) [@trebor](https://community.br-automation.com/u/trebor)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 8:00pm UTC](https://community.br-automation.com/t/old-2003-series-plc-error-problem/11801/2 "2026-07-02T20:00:36Z")
I forgot to mention, that I checked the battery(while PLC was ON) and it is 3V and looks OK. thank you Robert ---
**Author:** ![trebor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/FF8800/32.png) [@trebor](https://community.br-automation.com/u/trebor)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 8:02pm UTC](https://community.br-automation.com/t/old-2003-series-plc-error-problem/11801/3 "2026-07-02T20:02:39Z")
Attached picture 🙂 ![IMG_20260702_205351](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/brcommunity/original/2X/1/1c857b61c152b40fa8150ec215a054a3a8e9f204.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![alexander.hefner](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/brcommunity/user_avatar/community.br-automation.com/alexander.hefner/32/111_2.png) [@alexander.hefner](https://community.br-automation.com/u/alexander.hefner)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 5:44am UTC](https://community.br-automation.com/t/old-2003-series-plc-error-problem/11801/4 "2026-07-03T05:44:39Z")
> [@trebor](#): > > If I download Automation Studio 4.0 from the B&R website and use the appropriate RS232 cable, will I be able to connect to the PLC and see the error description? Do I need a paid license to be able to do that? I don’t need to change the program, just pinpoint the potential problem with the system . Hi, I see from the pictures that the PLC from 2003 family, which is quite old an legacy / obsolete, but it’s still supported by AS4, as far as I know. Automation Studio has a 90 days trial mode with a few restrictions but online communication is possible in trial mode - so it could be possible to read the error logbook from the PLC without having a license. “Could” because of it was possible to program this 2003 family with Automation Studio, but also with PG2000 (a very old DOS based development platform). As we don’t know what exactly was used, unfortunately I can’t swear if it will work with Automation Studio (it could be that the logbook format was the same in both programming environments, but I’ve checked that). Instead of Automation Studio, I think it would be also possible to use Runtime Utility Center to read out the logbook (also possible to use it in a trial mode, without license the online connection will only run 2 hours then you need to restart), maybe for a first troubleshooting this would be enough and would need less effort for download, installation, a.s.o. If I interprete the status of the LEDs right, the system is in service mode. From what you described about the machine, I think most probably there’s hardware defect on IO module(s) or a corrupt module in the PLC memory (checksum error or similar)… but in the end this is just a guess. Important to know: the setup of all interfaces of the PLC could be changed by the project installed onto the PLC. That means, we don’t know how the RS232 interface is parametrized - the B&R default setting is 57600 baud, 8 databits, 1 stopbit, parity even. The’re multiple threads in our community forum about serial connection, for example: > [@Determine serial online connection parameters (SG3 legacy systems)](https://community.br-automation.com/t/determine-serial-online-connection-parameters-sg3-legacy-systems/2662): > > Most often, B&R’s legacy PLCs (the so called SG3 PLCs out of the system families 2005, 2003, PowerPanel 15/35 and so on) use a serial connection to communicate with Automation Studio (mostly used with the legacy Automation Studio Versions 2.x and 3.x). This post summarizes some basic information about legacy serial online connections (already written here and there in some posts of our Community), and a idea how to determine the serial online settings if they’re unknown. First, here’s a summar… Best regards! ---
**Author:** ![trebor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/FF8800/32.png) [@trebor](https://community.br-automation.com/u/trebor)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 6:24am UTC](https://community.br-automation.com/t/old-2003-series-plc-error-problem/11801/5 "2026-07-03T06:24:04Z")
Thank you very much for your aswer Alexander, I will try with Runtime Utility Center. Can you please send me the link where to download this software with and corect version that will work with this old PLC? Thank you, ---
**Author:** ![alexander.hefner](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/brcommunity/user_avatar/community.br-automation.com/alexander.hefner/32/111_2.png) [@alexander.hefner](https://community.br-automation.com/u/alexander.hefner)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 7:47am UTC](https://community.br-automation.com/t/old-2003-series-plc-error-problem/11801/6 "2026-07-03T07:47:13Z")
Hi, I can’t send a direct link as you have to select some special version from the download area of the B&R website [Downloads | B&R Industrial Automation](https://www.br-automation.com/en/downloads/) There, you have to: - Choose “Product groups = Software” → “Software = Automation Net/PVI” - find the “PVI Development Setup” package, and select a version **4.x** (the packages 6.x won’t work with your PLC) → 4.12.10.2 - Download the selected package ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/brcommunity/original/2X/c/cbfd168d7bc51d182c9fde7509d308ca90380974.png) When executing the setup, it’s enough to keep the default settings as you just need the drivers + Runtime Utility Center (+ Help recommended to have some information about how it works, the commands, and so on). ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/brcommunity/original/2X/9/94f3b0f3bf28162d7c17682b0e93d3bee79f0455.png) Best regards! ---
**Author:** ![trebor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/FF8800/32.png) [@trebor](https://community.br-automation.com/u/trebor)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 7:53am UTC](https://community.br-automation.com/t/old-2003-series-plc-error-problem/11801/7 "2026-07-03T07:53:21Z")
Thanyk you very much. Great work. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![trebor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/FF8800/32.png) [@trebor](https://community.br-automation.com/u/trebor)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 2:49pm UTC](https://community.br-automation.com/t/old-2003-series-plc-error-problem/11801/8 "2026-07-03T14:49:35Z")
Hi new UPDATE. 🙂 I managed to connect to PLC but I have problems reading logbook. Can you please take alook at attached picture. Maybe you can point me in the right direction what am I doing wrong. I just want to read active ERROR code. Thank you. ![Capture](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/brcommunity/original/2X/8/8204ea9317fad75f568539486af9b024ed31a9c6.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![trebor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/FF8800/32.png) [@trebor](https://community.br-automation.com/u/trebor)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 4:11pm UTC](https://community.br-automation.com/t/old-2003-series-plc-error-problem/11801/9 "2026-07-03T16:11:07Z")
Hi . I think I managed to get error log. Attached log file and picture. Error 9104 is maybe the problem. Can someone maybe explint this error code? Thank you all [log21.txt](https://community.br-automation.com/uploads/short-url/nQLNkhaRVfxlRI12FUr2ZuCZ5Vd.txt) (3.2 KB) ![Capture2](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/brcommunity/original/2X/6/68961672803b387db26bcc002dc33a433eb6bc77.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![trebor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/FF8800/32.png) [@trebor](https://community.br-automation.com/u/trebor)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 4:59pm UTC](https://community.br-automation.com/t/old-2003-series-plc-error-problem/11801/10 "2026-07-03T16:59:54Z")
I did cold reset. PLC works. Not in error any more. 🙂 Case closed. Over and out. Thank you Alexander ---
**Author:** ![alexander.hefner](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/brcommunity/user_avatar/community.br-automation.com/alexander.hefner/32/111_2.png) [@alexander.hefner](https://community.br-automation.com/u/alexander.hefner)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 5:12pm UTC](https://community.br-automation.com/t/old-2003-series-plc-error-problem/11801/11 "2026-07-03T17:12:31Z")
Hi @trebor, I’ve already finished work for the day, which is why I only just saw the message now. Concrats!! Sounds great that the error has gone. Just for completeness: 9104 seems to be the cause error message, I agree: 9104 means “division by zero”, which leads to service mode. I assume somewhere in the code, a division was performed using a variable with a value of 0. Performing a cold restart deletes all battery buffered (retained) data, including variable values… hard to say why this restored the machine function, but maybe the coldstart also resetted the whole software into some kind of “initial commissioning” and cleared other “fragements of data” too… So or so, happy to hear that it worked! ---
**Author:** ![trebor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/FF8800/32.png) [@trebor](https://community.br-automation.com/u/trebor)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 5:43pm UTC](https://community.br-automation.com/t/old-2003-series-plc-error-problem/11801/12 "2026-07-03T17:43:50Z")
Hi, I was also afraid that doing a cold start will delete everything and make things even worse, but in the machine manual (attached screenshot), it is stated that the PLC will go to initial conditions and I will need to reenter machine parameters. This is in contradiction with PLC manual but somehow it works.. You will know better. One last question. Is it possible for me with Runtime Utility Center to do a complete PLC backup? To have it just in case something similar happens and then I cen restore it. Thank you. ![capture3](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/brcommunity/original/2X/8/82aa88e205f16d098cbbaeab84bfd36a018fa37d.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![alexander.hefner](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/brcommunity/user_avatar/community.br-automation.com/alexander.hefner/32/111_2.png) [@alexander.hefner](https://community.br-automation.com/u/alexander.hefner)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 6:19pm UTC](https://community.br-automation.com/t/old-2003-series-plc-error-problem/11801/13 "2026-07-03T18:19:23Z")
Hi, there’s no dedicated function for a backup, and you need to know that the source code is not readable as B&R systems are using compiled code only, so in the PLC are just stored binaries. Nevertheless the’re some possibilities to upload those binaries. Please see rhe pdf document in the following thread (I’ve never used the process described there, but looks good and sone users already did it as I know) : > [@Upload program from PLC SG2003](https://community.br-automation.com/t/upload-program-from-plc-sg2003/4127/2): > > Hello Roger, I am sorry but it is impossible to upload the source code of PLCs as B&R downloads compiled binary files. It is only possible to upload this files and to create a backup which could be downloaded to the same PLC. Nevertheless this uploaded modules cannot be modified. Here is a description how you do this: [HowToBackupSG3Targets\_eng\_AT.pdf](https://community.br-automation.com/uploads/short-url/kq0CjOuiWkkoqVIsC80dRP54Oa8.pdf) (1,0 MB) best regards ! Best regards!