Arduino Opta Reset LED Flashing Red 4 times on/off | Network issues

Official Hardware Opta
1

Hi There Arduino Opta Experts,

We have been experiencing instability of the Opta PLC, resulting in a crashed device with the status LED flashing 4x fast, 4x slow, while having an Opta in a production environment up-and-running.

This is serious issue for when running a production environment and should need proper attention and better documentation at least.

We have found the device in a crashed state for over 3 times now and are wondering what this could be. Is there any log or method to get to know what is causing the crashes?

In search for system logs and possible solutions, we found that in the arduino-cli.exe, there was a new core 4.1.1 (Release Release 4.1.1 · arduino/ArduinoCore-mbed · GitHub) available.

We were thinking that maybe memory leaks, or some other bugs, could have caused these issues.

However, after downloading the lastest core, reseting the opta, downloading the initial setup again over serial COM port, it seems from the debug logs, that the Arduino PLC IDE is still using some kind of cached older version 3.5.4

Are we talking about the same "core" being used here? The version that is being shown in the debug console, in my case is coming from:

C:\Users[User]\AppData\Local\T\A\internal\arduino_mbed_opta_3.5.4_ccd8464f766ff0fc

In summary:

1: 4x slow, 4x fast means OS crash, is there any way to get to know where this is coming from?
2: Can it be firmware or core libs and if so how to get the latest version working and how to validate if the Opta is really on the latest version?

Update (24-04-2024): We just found out that when unplugging the network cable on our test device, while running a state machine, immediately leads to a crash wherein the flashing light sequence starts. It seems that the issues have something to do with the network / network interface card instability?

Thanks in advance.

Best Regards,

JG

1 Like
2

I would like to echo the comments made by @jgqontrol. We are also experiencing the reset LED problem. We are in desperate need of support to find the root cause of this problem.

I added a watchdog timer to my code in an attempt to gracefully recover from the crashes. Also, tried some strategically placed calls to the NVIC_SystemReset function. However, the addition of both results in crashes.

Regards, Mark

1 Like
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Guys,
Can you please share the projects that are causing the issue? You can send directly to me at pro@arduino.cc for reviewing and troubleshooting.

Also, are you also using the Ethernet from the embedded sketch or only from the PLC side with Modbus TCP?

4

What is your scenario: Arduino IDE or Arduino PLC IDE? It's not recommended interfering with the PLC runtime from the sketch using low-level calls such as NVIC_SystemReset.

5

The Arduino Core shipped with the PLC IDE is considered LTS and it is not meant to be updated. It lives in a segregated scenario in respect of the standard installation for the Arduino IDE and there is no way to interact with the PLC IDE's Arduino environment from the IDE or the arduno-cli.

In the next days a new version of the PLC IDE will be release, containing 4.1.1 and fixes for networking support on PLC runtime and the integrated sketches. Projects will need to be manually updated, at least for the embedded sketch part.

6

Giampaolo,

Thanks for your prompt reply. Very much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards, Mark

7

We are seeing a similar issue with a product are we looking to put into production.
I power cycled the device 20 times this morning and got the red flashing lights 6 times.

We are using an Ethernet connection - initialised in the sketch, but only used for Modbus.

Thanks,

Andrew

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I just removed the Ethernet initialisation from the sketch - I'm now at 40 power cycles on the 12V rail and 0 issues.

Andrew

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Hello @abailie !
What programming language are you using? C?
Also are you using the dashboard and Clout IoT or you are using opta just for standalone control?

Thanks,
Marian

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Hi Manchuino and others,

Thanks for responding to this thread. Sorry for the delayed response, just back from a holiday and saw the reactions. Really happy to see that it lives.

I have sent a .zip file with the project added to you to the email-address "pro@arduino.cc".

It is good to note that the issues on disconnect over the PLC IDE or by disconnection the ethernet cable only start after a few days / weeks. Immediately after restarting (after the crash or after turning off and on again), the next few hours we can just connect, disconnect, plug in-and-out the cable without any issues. However, if doing so after 2 weeks or so, the PLC crashes as described above.

I also noticed that firmware version 4.1.3 has been released a few days ago. Will this be embedded in the newly released PLC IDE version? Any idea when this comes available?

Best Regards,

jgqontrol

11

Hey @jgqontrol,
Thank you so much for sending the archive.

A few days ago, the PLC IDE 1.0.6, including core 4.1.1, was released. Would you mind testing it?

Please note that if you had Ethernet stuff in the embedded sketch, you must update it (check a new project to get the new solution).