Serial port communication on KRC2 4.1.5

Hello,

I am trying to communicate with a KR16 / KR C2 controller running the 4.1.5 version using a serial port.

I tried changing the settings in the hw_inf.ini & serial.ini file so that I can use the COM1 port but without any success (COPEN would always return a 0 handle regardless whether COM1=ENABLE or DISABLE) . Eventually I tried using the COM3 port on the MFC card with copen(:ser_3,handle) and I succeeded in opening the connection.

On the other end of the cable I have a WIN2K machine running a diagnosis tool which is listening on the serial port, however whenever I try sending any information using cwrite(handle,sw_t,mw_t,"%s","hello") but I always get the same data regardless of what I try sending (be it a string, a %i or %d etc.) :
7 bytes as follow:
00000010
00000010
00000010
00000010
00000010
00000010
00001111

Furthermore, sw_t.RET1 is not equal to #CMD_OK after cwrite executes.

I thought that since I am getting the same bytes everytime it might be the protocol or something like that (handshake?). But I made sure that in my serial.ini I have PROC = 4 for COM3 and in [XONXOFF] I set both XON_VAL and XOFF_VAL to 0 to use pure communication (and yes, I always restart when I change serial.ini).
BAUD = 9600 / CHAR_LEN = 8 / STOP_BIT = 1 / PARITY = 0
and the WIN2K machine has the same settings in the diagnosis tool. (Note that I am able to communicate using COM1 with hyperterminal between the KRC2 and WIN2K without any problems)
But still nothing, it seems as if the changes I make to the files are pointless. Heck, even if I set COM3 = ENABLE or DISABLE it doesn't make a difference.

Please if you have any idea on why I am unable to send data through cwrite drop me a few lines (be it in german or english)

Thanks in advance.

Hi,
I did see mention of the cold boot (kaltstart) in both the cwrite/cread documentation and in some topics here, but when I asked the person who's supposed to know about the robot how to do this he said that all I needed to do "turn off the switch" to have windows shut down then turn it back on again. Is there an other way to do a cold boot? could you maybe refer me to a documentation / procedure?

Thanks

Hmm... seems like some posts were lost after the server was reset or whatnot.

Anyway, I fixed my problem by doing a coldstart. Now I can send data to my WIN2K machine without any problem. However I can't receive data. I tried using WAIT FOR $DATA_SER3 > 0 but the condition never becomes true although I am trying to send data from the WIN2K machine. So for now I only have a one way communication :s

Any ideas ?

Hi,

Well, There is an option actually in the serial.ini on our controller which has a DSR line option under xon/xoff options. I will try to play with that option tomorrow and see if it fixes things.

We actually called the kuka hotline and they sent us an upgrade to 4.1.7. I did not upgrade yet and would rather not since other people use this robot for their research. If the option does not fix it then I will try calling them again to confirm that the 4.1.7 will fix the bug, if not we will ask if it's possible to get a 5.x version.

Thanks a lot for your help, so far you've been the bright light in a very dark tunnel