PCMCIA-CAN Series 2 hanging

Question

Hello,
We are using a PCMCIA-CAN series 2 board on two of our machines to get/send PDO data to CANOpen network of 6 nodes.
Built in 2007, Labview 2010 application (using CANOpen library 1.1.3 in combination with NI-CAN version 2.7.4) seemed to work OK mainly because we used it on short period of time (under 12h). To run more longer tests, we run now the machine over 24h continuously and this revealed a small bug. We investigated the case first with NI-SPY. It reported a communication lost problem with the board firmware and propose different solutions or checks (windows interrupts, application code, etc...). 
In our application, we have two loops to send and get PDOs on the network. We use function "Wait for PDO" to wait for a TPDO during a time slot and if not received we switch to wait for another one and so on. The other loop takes care of the RPDOs the same way. We have no more than 14 RPDOs or TPDOs for our network. We checked the code and even slow down the switching but bug is still appearing.  
We then run the application with other faster computer and made all software updates. Now, NI-TRACE reports (attached with this post) other errors but symptoms are still the same. Application is not able to communicate with board to get/send the PDOs values (or send/recaive SDOs) even the nodes on the CAN network are running OK. It seems that firmware implemented on board stopped functionning or hanged.
We contacted NI sales representative in order to get version 1.1.4 of the CANOpen library (support for LV 2010) but did not get any proposal at this time. We suppose that there is no firmware update as the product is now obsolete. Of course, recommandation was also to switch to new NI PCI board with new library for industrial communications but which is unforunately a little too large to be installed in our panel PC. Another manufacturer hardware will fit for sure...
Reading back my posts in 2007-2008, I remembered also that the PCMCIA boards had more limitations than others PCI boards for example. But, before changing hardware and rewriting the code, I want to give these boards (and all the work done in the past) a last chance.
Does one of you have suggestions or solutions for me ?
Thanks in advance.
Attachments:
20130329SMTSpyCapture.nitrace ‏304 KB
nicanErr.txt ‏5 KB

Answer 1

Hello,
Please find below two snapshots of the code and in particular the TPDO and RPDO loops I have in my main vi.
The TPDO loop receives an array of clusters containing each with  TPDO elements declared. Array contains 7 elements actually. TPDO time refresh time has been set to 200ms so that loop switches on a waiting time for each TPDO around 28ms. CAN network speed is 1Mbits/s and the 6 CAN nodes has been setup to send their TPDOs every 20 or 30ms. Only the one used are sent.
The vi "Get TPDO data" is implementing the TPDO wait function. If a new TPDO is available, its value is compared with the stored one (in array element). If new, the TPDO cluster is updated and put in a queue. Then, in this Producer/Consumer queue principle, the second loop dispatches the values in the variables.
The RPDO loop is based on same principle except that the 2 RPDOs are set every 50 ms. The application then uses SDO to send other commands to the nodes.
When our problem appears, we notice that values are not refreshed anymore on the front panel, even commands with SDO are no more possible. Spying the CAN network shows normal activity of the nodes.
First error message we got from NI-SPY was :
“Overflow in the lower level read queue of the CAN card (frames lost).  NI-CAN reads this queue at Windows interrupt-time. Solutions: Avoid tasks that generate excessive interrupts on your PC (mouse, ethernet, ...); Avoid running other
applications during your test (screen savers, MAX, ...); use Series 2 Filter Mode to filter incoming traffic; For CAN Objects (Frame API), increase read queue length or call Read more frequently”
So we checked our configuration and computer (scren saver, network connection, etc...). We also ran the application with another one, made updates... Now NI-TRACE reports the information contained in the files attached to my last post. Hard to find the bug if it occurs only after several hours of running time...
With these information, any suggestions or comments ?
Thanks.
Attachments:
TPDO Loop.PNG ‏100 KB
RPDO Loop.PNG ‏68 KB