General Troubleshooting Tips
Troubleshooting a potential problem may involve many factors including but not limited to configuration or communication path issues. The more information provided up front during the support process will speed up the research portion considerably.
Here are some major places to focus on while gathering information:
Logs
Logs are often the only way a communication driver in ACM can report issues it encounters while communicating with a device. The problem might be noticed in an HMI(values not updating), but the driver will provide details regarding errors in the ACM logger. Log files generally have errors or informational log entries. Both are designed to help paint a picture of what has transpired. In most cases, support staff will ask for ALL your log files from the relevant time-frame of the issue. There is no need to filter or convert the files, just send them as is.
Getting Help
Here are some of the common questions that support staff will need to know when working through an issue. Having these answers ready when initiating a support call or ticket will greatly speed up the process.
- Include version information for components that are experiencing the issue. See the ACM Client/Server Information form.
- Is this a new configuration or an existing one?
- If this is an existing configuration, was there an upgrade made? Configuration change? Hardware or Firmware change?
- Is this intermittent or does it happen on a regular or predictable pattern?
- What OPC Client or HMI are you using with ACM?
- Do you have logs? If not, can you turn on the recommended logging and try to capture the issue again?
- Have the log files been reviewed?
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