Real-Time Application doesn't run; source code works fine

Question

The short version is I'm programming a cRIO and apparently the RT code isn't running after being deployed and I can't figure out why. This is further complicated that I'm doing all this remotely and I don't have direct access to the unit since I'm 500 miles away. I'm working through a couple of other guys who know some LabVIEW, but neither works at the site so they have to explicitely travel out there every time I have a bright idea.
I was out there a few weeks ago. During this time I created a simple cRIO code, since I'm new to cRIO, that allowed the user to move a control and change a graph. It worked fine, but I should note it did not have an FPGA component. After that I worked on the real code, which reads some sensors, displays the results on a UI and logs the results. This did have FPGA. I used it in the LabVIEW environment and it worked fine, but I ran out of time before I could complete a release version and deploy the RT as a compiled application. I sent them the release version later, my contact deployed it but got network stream errors when running the UI.
After hours of looking at network problems and sending over debug versions, I tried creating a log on the RT level so I could see what was going on. The log doesn't even open, even if it's the first command in the code. I pored through the forums and found http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/cRIO-Troubleshooting-creation-and-deployment-of-startup/td-p/1956475... which took me in a new direction.
I had my contact use the RT debug console and when he pulls up the RT front panel, it shows a broken run arrow. He clicks it and nothing happens -- no running, no bug list. If he pulls up the bug list manually, it's empty. Again the RT works fine if you run it through LabVIEW and not as a compiled real-time application. He also noticed that the Open FPGA VI was grayed out on the block diagram. No other icons are.
So the problem appears to be that the compiled RT application is getting some kind of error but not telling me what it is, and it seems to be related to opening the FPGA. I've recompiled the FPGA and RT. I've had him recompile the RT himself, but not the FPGA because it would take hours. He's downloading everything correctly to the cRIO. The RT is set to run automatically. He's rebooting the cRIO every time he deploys the RT. They have LabVIEW on a computer there but it doesn't have the right drivers to run the code from the LV environment. I'm resisting having them install the dirvers because downloading big files is complicated there due to security restrictions and a lousy network connection at a remote site. Besides that doesn't solve the problem of the RT executable not running the same as the source code, which according to the thread above appears to be a thing.
The latest thing I'm trying is that I sent him instructions for how to build a source distribution from the project I sent and try deploying that to the cRIO. Even if that works I'm not sure that's an acceptable solution because I assume running the VI rather than the EXE is slower, and they need speed on this project.
I simply have no idea where to go from here. I probably need to get direct acess to the cRIO and I might be able to convince them to ship it to me so I can figure this out, but I'm not sure where I'd even start other than the standard voodoo debugging of "try stuff at random until something works". I'm open to suggestions if anyone has managed to solve this before.
Code snippet of the first part of the project is attached, though I'm not sure how much good it will do. I'm really stumped and the client is getting frustrated with how much of the budget is going to fix this.
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RTMainSnippet.png ‏623 KB

Answer 1

Have you checked the cRIO error log? Usually I'd access it through the LabVIEW project (right-click on the target, don't remember the exact menu options and I don't have the RT toolkit installed on this machine to check), but it must be stored somewhere on the cRIO as well, although I don't know if it's in a human-readable format.
Which cRIO are you using? What exactly do you mean by "debug console"? (This may be related to the cRIO - the newer ones have video out, although I don't know if that's what you're referring to.) With a broken run arrow, you won't get an error list unless you're running in the development environment.
Have you confirmed that the software installed on the cRIO matches the version you're using for development, including patch level? Get someone to connect to the cRIO with Measurement and Automation Explorer, and get a list of the software installed on the cRIO.
Sounds like the ability to connect with a remote debugger would be helpful here, if you can get the right drivers installed on the machine with LabVIEW that's connected to the cRIO. Make sure all driver versions match what you're using. Any chance you could then do a remote desktop connection from your work site to the remote LabVIEW machine?