I am currently experiencing an issue with my PanelView 6+ running a Machine Edition (ME) program. Lately, I have noticed that my HMI graphics are displaying question marks across the screens. A simple solution seems to be restarting the panel/system, which resolves the issue. Do you have any insights on what may be causing this problem?
It appears that there may be a disconnect between the HMI and the PLC, as indicated by the display of question marks instead of values from PLC tags. Multistate indicators will also show an 'Error' indication when failing to read values. This issue could be due to a loss of connection between the HMI and PLC.
When question marks appear, it indicates that the PV is unable to retrieve data from the PLC. This issue could be due to a faulty tag name, expression, or loss of communication. Since the question marks are intermittent, it is unlikely to be a problem with the expression/tag. The most probable cause is a loss of communication. Start by checking the connections at the PV, PLC, or switches to troubleshoot the issue.
A few months ago, I encountered a recurring issue at work with the HMI system. After proposing various potential problems and their solutions, my boss's innovative fix was to install a toggle switch to reset power to the HMI. This simple solution successfully resolved the issue, allowing operations to continue smoothly until the facility eventually closed down.
If the Human Machine Interface (HMI) is experiencing connectivity issues with the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), all tags may display an "Error" instead of a question mark. This situation could arise if the "Application Language" has been switched to a language different from the one used during the application's development. For example, changing the Application Language from "English (United Kingdom), en-GB" to "English (United Kingdom), en-US" resulted in a similar issue for us. Our machine was originally developed in Great Britain, where English is used but dates are formatted as Day-Month-Year instead of Month-Day-Year. Switching the language to US caused all text in the application to display as "?" (including buttons, messages, alarms, etc.), although the application continued to function properly.
It sounds like you're experiencing a glitch that occasionally happens with PanelView systems. Question marks usually appear when communication between the HMI and its PLC gets interrupted, or when the HMI cannot locate a tag it's intended to use. Given that a restart temporarily resolves the problem, the issue may be related to your memory resources being overstretched. Consider checking your PLC and HMI tag databases for any mismatches or broken links. Also, try to inspect your HMI's memory usage and see if you can streamline your ME application to be less demanding.
It sounds like your PanelView 6+ may be experiencing memory issues which are causing the graphics to fail. The shutdown and restarting process clears the memory which would explain why the problem temporarily resolves after a reset. It's worth looking into ways to conserve memory usage or consider increasing the memory capacity. Also, check if there are any software updates available, as these often rectify such issues with improved efficiency.
It sounds like a communication issue between the PanelView and PLC. The question marks usually appear when the HMI is not receiving data from PLC. I suggest checking your RSLinks configuration to ensure everything is set up correctly. Also, since you mentioned a simple restart resolves the issue, it could be an memory overflow problem. Always consider implementing good program practices, like closing screens not in use, to avoid overloading. Check for any software updates too, there might be a patch for this issue.
It sounds like you might be facing a character encoding issue, which can sometimes cause the graphics to display incorrectly as question marks. This can happen if the font being used isn’t supported or if there’s a mismatch in the language settings of your project. It might be worth checking if any recent changes were made to the language settings or fonts in your ME program. Additionally, ensuring that all files are properly loaded and that there aren’t any corrupted resources could help prevent this issue from recurring. If you haven’t already, consider backing up and updating to the latest firmware as well—sometimes those updates can resolve unexpected glitches!
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Answer: The appearance of question marks on the HMI graphics could be due to a communication error or data corruption within the FactoryTalk ME program.
Answer: One simple solution that often helps is restarting the panel or the entire system. This can sometimes clear any temporary glitches causing the problem.
Answer: It is recommended to check the communication settings, connections, and the integrity of the FactoryTalk ME program. Verifying the data transfer and ensuring no corruption in the program may help resolve the issue.
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