Staefa Ncrs Emergency

[bkirchner81]

Hey guys,

I work in a LARGE building with about 20 NCRS panels which are used to communicate between DDC boards and my controls computers.

A power outage occurred Monday night and now I cannot connect with ANY NCRS.

I have even went around physically with a laptop (with MS1800 installed) and i try to plug in directly to each NCRS and i still cannot connect!


I need someones help who has maybe seen something like this before.

I cannot fathom all 20 of my NCRS boards burnt up the communication ports while the rest of the actual board (the trunks) are working fine.

the devices throughout the building are all still communicating and working- I just cant see anything with my computers OR laptop plugged directly in.


help! My boss is killing people left and right. Im next.


ben kirchner,
quasi-HVAC tech
wright patterson air force base
dayton, OH

[jogas]

Are you sure you have the correct settings and port for a dirrect connection?
Could be the Node is trying to dial out or connect to a printer on the port you're on. Check the dip switch settings and only try to get on on ports 1 and 2.
What are the lights on Lan A and B doing? Are they dancing? Are all trunks dancing? Do you have the green "heartbeat light" blinking?
Are you using the PC com port adapter and not the SM2 adapter?
The nodes communicate with each other via the redundant Lans.
Are you sure the username/password in the MS1800 matches what is in the nodes? Have you direct connected using trhe present setup before successfully?
Are you using the correct version MS1800, V1.3, V2.0, V3.1?
jogas

[bkirchner81]

Are you sure you have the correct settings and port for a dirrect connection?
yes sir

Could be the Node is trying to dial out or connect to a printer on the port you're on. Check the dip switch settings and only try to get on on ports 1 and 2.
alright i will do that now

What are the lights on Lan A and B doing? Are they dancing? Are all trunks dancing? Do you have the green "heartbeat light" blinking?
yes to all

Are you using the PC com port adapter and not the SM2 adapter?what is the SM2? Serial port (phone cables)?

The nodes communicate with each other via the redundant Lans.
Are you sure the username/password in the MS1800 matches what is in the nodes? Have you direct connected using trhe present setup before successfully?
yes to all

Are you using the correct version MS1800, V1.3, V2.0, V3.1?
using MS1800 v2.1


its starting to look like the information on the NCRS's has been comprimised. I may have to delete them (by pulling that battery) and then hopefully it will let me connect and reload a backup database.

thank you Jogas for your help, it is greatly appreciated.




ben

[bkirchner81]

Could be the Node is trying to dial out or connect to a printer on the port you're on.
At this point I have deleted the database- our modem was connected to host A but that should be irrelevant now.



Check the dip switch settings and only try to get on on ports 1 and 2.

we used the dip switches to lower the speed- all settings appear to be correct.... still nothing.

""FAILURE TO CONNECT TO CONTROLLER- CHECK YOUR CONNECTION TO ENSURE DATA INTEGRITY""

[jogas]

Are you sure you have the correct settings and port for a dirrect connection?
yes sir

Could be the Node is trying to dial out or connect to a printer on the port you're on. Check the dip switch settings and only try to get on on ports 1 and 2.
alright i will do that now

What are the lights on Lan A and B doing? Are they dancing? Are all trunks dancing? Do you have the green "heartbeat light" blinking?
yes to all

Are you using the PC com port adapter and not the SM2 adapter?what is the SM2? Serial port (phone cables)?

The nodes communicate with each other via the redundant Lans.
Are you sure the username/password in the MS1800 matches what is in the nodes? Have you direct connected using trhe present setup before successfully?
yes to all

Are you using the correct version MS1800, V1.3, V2.0, V3.1?
using MS1800 v2.1


its starting to look like the information on the NCRS's has been comprimised. I may have to delete them (by pulling that battery) and then hopefully it will let me connect and reload a backup database.

thank you Jogas for your help, it is greatly appreciated.




ben

There is a seperate serial port (db9) to RJ adapter to direct connect to either the node or a Smart card. Neither will work on the other, i.e., a SM2 adapter will not allow you to connect to a node. Yours should say PC on it. If you've got the green heartbeat lite blinking slowly, chances are the databases are intact. The port with the modem could be trying to dial out alarms and you'll never connect. BTW, we usually set them up for 1200 or 2400 baud. Some nodes can be set to "software baud set" in the port block. Check the dip switches and confirm. What are ports 1 & 2 set for?
WARNING: just pulling the battery may not delete the database cleanly. There is a procedure (99 flush) and you may have to re-load the hex file (operating system in a node). It can be a pain.
Sorry you're right, got my MS2000 V3.1 and MS1800 V2.1 mixed up when I typed my previous reply.
Try turning off all nodes and bring them back on one at a time. Trying to connect throughout the process.
jogas

[jogas]

Well....How did it come out?
What was the solution?
jogas

[absrbrtek]

Don't that just twist your sack? You spend your time helping someone while trying to learn yourself and you never find out what happened. Another one thread wonder. He might be back if it hoses up again.

Well....How did it come out?
What was the solution?
jogas

[jogas]

Don't that just twist your sack? You spend your time helping someone while trying to learn yourself and you never find out what happened. Another one thread wonder. He might be back if it hoses up again.

You got it, man!
Besides the fact we could ALL learn from HIS experience as HE is taking advantage of OUR experience.
jogas

[bkirchner81]

easy friends, im still here. Just a little busy.


It was our Master "A" board. Appearently what caused the initial power outage was a lightning strike to the building. This was the final straw as this particular NCRS board was getting up there in years, so to speak.


We replaced this board, uploaded the .hex system file and the previously-saved database (u gotta back those up!) onto it and then with all of the other NCRS's turned off- we connected to it with the laptop and then one-by-one in numerical order we went around and turned them all back on- only using the LAN connections at first. Then once we could talk to all of the NCRS's from new master "A" I went around and plugged in all of the ethernet cables.

One other thing we lost is serial port B on an NCRS that was closest to the lightning strike- but we can do without this port (we use port A for the modem-alarm dialing-out system)


So, in a nutshell- Bad Board.





Sorry for the delay with the knowledge. To make up for it I would like you all to discover a few individuals who are helping me learn some very real things:

Google or even Wikipedia these folks:
Kay Griggs
Micheal Ruppert
Eustace Mullins
Jordan Maxwell


thanks for your help Jogas!

[jogas]

Your welcome. And thanks for the followup.
Was the NCRS' board transformer bad? Was the board completely dead?
I've had a couple go bad due to spikes.
One lightening strike on a trunk just locked up the trunk! Reset it and the NCRS was fine. Go figure.
FWIW, we've found the NCRS' to be internally bullet-proof, usually an external cause will kill them. I've been doing Steafa for 12 years and have replaced 4 NCRS'. Upgraded a bunch of them though.
jogas

[bkirchner81]

Was the NCRS' board transformer bad? Was the board completely dead?

It was not completely dead, no. The transformer itself? I believe it was fine also.

It appears that all communication ports were lost- LAN, Serial, (the Ethernet port on this board was non-existant as it was too old).



Thanks again for your help Mr. Jogas, you are a gentleman and a scholar.

My boss has reverted to his normal state-


ben