Driver Station ignores user input after connecting to the roboRIO

[plengel]

I have two HP laptops both running Windows-7 and after the driver station connects to the roboRIO the driver station ignores all user-input and the only way to terminate the program is to use the task manager to kill the process. The driver station is receiving input from the roboRIO since I can see the battery voltage level continuously updating but I cannot click anywhere inside the driver station box, not even the red "X" to terminate the application. There are no errors and the roboRIO works with other computers. Is there any technical support resource I may contact for this application?

Thank you,
Patrick

[Kevin O'Connor]

Re: Driver Station ignores user input after connecting to the roboRIO

Hi Patrick,

Welcome to the FIRST Forums. The likely cause of the issue you are describing is related to a firewall blocking FTP traffic. The solution I would recommend is to try the Offseason DS update which contains a fix for this issue: http://wpilib.screenstepslive.com/s/...driver-station

[plengel]

Re: Driver Station ignores user input after connecting to the roboRIO

Thank you for the advice. I have been away from the robot for awhile because it is summer. I loaded the off-season driver before posting this question. What is the next step that I can use to get information that can be used to analyze this problem?

Thank you,
Patrick

[Greg McKaskle]

Re: Driver Station ignores user input after connecting to the roboRIO

Can you click on the DS Setup Diagnostics tab to report the version of the DS that you are running?

Also, does this happen after a particular control or tab is clicked on? Or is it like this immediately?

The version of the DS that was used for most of the season performed an ftp request in the timeout frame of the UI event structure. Late in the season, it was discovered that some field setups had ftp ports blocked in a way that would let the ftp session start but not finish. When this happened, it prevented the DS from processing any further UI events. This was why Kevin wanted to ensure that you ran the offseason one. Similarly, an even earlier version of the DS had the mDNS requests in the timeout frame, and it would cause the DS to ignore clicks for a few seconds if firewall issues caused the mDNS to take a very long time to run.

So, please let me know exactly what you click on, or what steps cause it to hang, and let me know the version number of the running DS.

Thanks,
Greg McKaskle

[plengel]

Re: Driver Station ignores user input after connecting to the roboRIO

Thank you for responding. Here is what I can say, I am starting the DS without RoboRIO communications in place. I can click on all the buttons and everything is responsive. I clock on the diagnostics tab on the left and see the versions display.
DS:09021500
I have the team number entered into the settings tab and the protocol is set to: '15 DS & FMS
Then I connect the wireless link to the RoboRIO and I see the communications indicator go green and I see the batter voltage display show voltage. The batter is green and everything appears to be well. I happened to have the diagnostic window open and I can see the "Bridge" light go green and the "Robot" light go green as well.

However I could not click within the DS window at all. However, I was able to click the red "X" on the upper right-hand side of the window to close the application.

I tried a second time and I was in the diagnostic window and after a REALLY long time the driver tab came up. So I clicked on the diagnostic tab again to see what would happen and it went back to the diagnostic tab. However, there was not "Bridge" or "Robot" light and the tab showed the word "Pinging" above the status buttons where it should show "Communications". The system stayed like that for about two-minutes time again and then finally the driver tab came active again. I could connect to the RoboRIO and control the robot.

So I clicked on the diagnostic tab again and let it sit to see how long it takes to go back to the driver tab. It seems like it sits on the diagnostic window for two-minutes before I can change to a new tab. I think the system is just stuck trying to ping the RoboRIO.

Something has changed with the laptop from earlier since I was not able to do anything, even close the window. So it is interesting that I keep getting stuck on the diagnostic tab for two-minutes. Maybe this machine did not have the summertime update. I had two HP machines that were broken and the one just started working and the other one is the one stuck on the diagnostic tab for two-minutes time. The other HP machine that was broken and now works shows DS version 09021500 as well.

So clicked on the diagnostics tab and it sits there just saying "Pinging" where it should show "Communications" and I know that there is good connectivity. The battery status is updating the voltage. And after about two-minutes the system shows "Communications" again where it should and the window works properly. So it seems clicking away from the diagnostic tab and going back into the diagnostic tab causes an issue.

What are your thoughts?

[jross]

Re: Driver Station ignores user input after connecting to the roboRIO

Thank you for responding. Here is what I can say, I am starting the DS without RoboRIO communications in place. I can click on all the buttons and everything is responsive. I clock on the diagnostics tab on the left and see the versions display.
DS:09021500

This doesn't sound like it's running the offseason driver station that Kevin linked to.