Hi everyone,
I am new to PLCs and B&R is the first PLC that I have worked on.
I am trying to connect my X20cCP1586 PLC to Automation Studios however, nothing is appearing in the “Target type description” section.
I have set up accordingly to these youtube guides “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BOAU4PbVt0” and “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTIwgvF18j4”
(steps in the youtube link are: create new project->Define new configuration manually-> search and select X20cCP1586 → goto control panel-> network sharing center-> change adapter settings-> set fixed IP for ethernet. Back to Automation Studios, click online->settings->browse)
however, after following the youtube guides Automation Studios did not detect that my PLC is connected.
I have also tried changing the set ip address that was shown in the video to 192.168.1.111, did a ping test and got a response(strangely, even when the ethernet adapter is connected or disconnected will produce a response). Enabled SNMP, turnt knob on PLC to BOOT Mode and held it for 2 seconds.
But I still am unable to see the PLC appear in the “Target type description” section, please help!!
For context: this is an old X20 PLC that was used for industrial purposes and now is purchased by my school to repurpose. I was tasked to repurpose it with no prior knowledge of PLCs
I think you have to do a initial commissioning by an offline installation of the PLC first - because I assume, that the Compact Flash card still is containing some kind of “old project” or so… and maybe the “search for PLC” functionality inside this project is switched off (which is default for security reasons).
So I propose to:
create a new empty project containing the suitable PLC
setup the IP address manually inside this project, and also enable the SNMP function in the project
perform an offline installation using a CF card reader (please be aware: removing or plugging the CF card is only allowed when the PLC is NOT powered! Otherwise, you’ll damage the hardware.)
wait some time after putting the CF back to the PLC - the PLC will perform some reboots while installation, this can take some minutes.
when finished, try again finding the PLC online
By the way:
It is impossible to get a ping response from the PLC if the network cable is unplugged. Getting still a ping response under that condition, the IP address is used from another device inside your network.
I got a card reader and tried to do an Offline Installation on Automation Studios and it gives me the following error “One or more partitions of USB Mass Storage Device - D:\ do not have assigned drive letters. Aborting installation”
I assumed that it was due to the Compact Flash not having enough partitions so I looked for ways to create partitions by doing the following:
Then I thought it was because it was a RAW file type and tried this:
(manually create partitions in the disk by being the command diskpart in cmd. used the command “clean all” and “create partition primary”, unable to create partitions and unable to format.)
Then I thought it was the Compact Flash Card issue so I swapped it with another card (also a used card) and ran through all the steps in my first post, was unable to detect PLC with Automation Studios, did another offline installation, unsuccessful, ran through all the steps mentioned in this post, and was still unsuccessful.
Independent of the “search for PLC” issue, how is the status of the PLC LEDs after the inital installation?
Is it the same as in the picture above? Because “red” and “yellow” at the first 2 LEDs indicate that the PLC booted into an error (Service or Diagnosis).
And can you please share the IP setup of your PLC and your notebook / PC? Is the PLC pingable if a ethernet cable is connected, and not pingable if cable is plugged off?
If it’s pingable, can you try to access the SDM by browser: http:///SDM and have a look into the the logger?
Yes upon turning on the PLC, the red light for R/E and yellow light for RDY/F will turn on. When connecting it to my laptop using the Ethnet adapter the green ETH light will turn on.
I can’t open the picture, but the PLC cannot answer a ping when it’s disconnected from ethernet.
What is the IP address you set to your PLC in your initial commissioning project?
And could you please ping it, and immediately after the ping execute the command “arp -a” on the windows command line? Because I want to see the mac address of the ip address you’re pinging - if it’s a B&R PLC, the mac address starts with 00:60:65 … if not, it’s a different device.
This PLC was used for industrial purposes and has been bought by my school to repurpose. I have no knowledge of the IP address of the PLC.
I have only set the IP addresses of my ethernet adapters.
Not sure why but I now have an ethernet 5 connected.
Mac addresses of connected devices.
“Download Pinging of Ethernet ports.png | LimeWire”
Top left: pinging ethernet 5 when connected, top right: pinging ethernet 4 when connected, bottom left: pinging ethernet 5 when disconnected, bottom right: pinging ethernet 4 when disconnected
both IP adresses 192.168.0.100 and 192.168.0.101 are used by your Windows ethernet adapters.
It looks like that Ethernet5 is a USB Ethernet adapter ( could also be a built-in port?), and Ethernet4 is a virtual adapter ( not a “real” port). The name of that one, PANGP, looks like that it’s a software adapter for some VPN client.
Google says: “The PANGP Virtual Ethernet Adapter is a component of the GlobalProtect VPN client by Palo Alto Networks. It facilitates a secure VPN connection as a virtual network interface, encrypting internet traffic and ensuring safe remote access to a protected network.”
I also wonder about, that both Windows adapters are in the same IP network - this is unusual and can lead to network problems, maybe even with the online functions of Automation Studio - but it’s really hard to say, I only can say that both IP adresses are used by Windows, so it’s clear why you get ping responses independent of if the PLC is connected or not.
What I also can see in your Automation Studio setup is, that the PLC is configured as DHCP client. Is there a DHCP server in your network available and reachable for the PLC?
Honestly spoken, I’m not sure why the Windows network adapters are set as they are and how this influences the Automation Studio functionality to search the PLC. To find out more I would suggest to:
set testwise a static IP address for the PLC in the Automation Studio project (instead of DHCP client), that fits to your Windows network setup of the physical adapter where the cable is plugged in, and do again an initial installation of the PLC.
disable the virtual adapter (to avoid disturbance by using the same IP network as the physical one).
try to ping the IP address you set inside the project after initial installation while PANGP adapter is disabled.
I have also tried to change the ip address of my Ethernet 5 similar to my default gateway but still unsuccessful.
Do you think it could be due to my router settings or the destination IP address in Automation Studios?
Okay, your router acts as a DHCP server on the network 10.0.0/24
Because of the whole network is set as DHCP range, it’s hard to say what IP adresses are already in use by other devices.
But in one of the linked screenshots I can see, that you used the same IP address for your windows adaoter and inside the PLC - in both cases 10.0.0.101
But IP addresses have to be different but inside the same network.
So, having 10.0.0.101 inside the PLC you must not use that IP on the Windows side but a different one, for example 10.0.0.102
To use static IPs safely inside your network, you should also change your routers DHCP range to get a area of free IPs for static use.
Be aware: I don’t know your network and the number of devices used inside, therefore I can’t say how many dynamic IPs you need!
But, as an example: if you set “2” as start and “100” as end IP in your router, then IP adresses from 10.0.0.2 - 10.0.0.100 are used for DHCP, and adresses from 10.0.0.101 - 10.0.0.254 are free for static use.
The strange thing that I can’t explain is: when the PLC was set to DHCP client, and also your Windows device was set as DHCP client, and both devices were connected to the router, then a communication should have been possible before… I don’t know why that hasn’t worked.
Of course you then don’t know the IP address your PLC got from the DHCP server, and if “search for PLC” doesn’t work for whatever reason, it’s not so easy to determine the IP address.
In the case that your router can display the DHCP leases, you could check it for devices with MAC address beginning with 00:60:65… this should be a B&R device.
Or you could try to follow this guide:
But all of this is about determining an unkown IP address.
I would suggest to try a valid static IP addresses setup first, to eliminate other issues.
Thanks for your help! It seems like the problem was the Ethernet adapter. I just bought a new one and Automation Studios is finally detecting the PLC!
Thanks!
