Having downloaded and installed the latest PACProject I am now getting some problems with its use.
Firstly, after install and then running PACDisplay Runtime I get an error message indicating that the Scanner can not be found. I then have to uninstall PACProject and start PACDisplay Runtime again once PACProject has been reinstalled, this time Runtime opens without the previous Scanner error. This has happened on two PC’s so far running different PACProjects but the same updated version of PACProject. I have another 5 machines to upgrade yet!!!
Secondly, once I have PACRuntime open, switching between screens is slow and cumbersome, not instant like it was with the previous PACProject version. Also hovering over graphics which should highlight the graphic to show it can be selected takes an age with a long lag taking place. Changing a PID loop via a PACRunime graphic from Manual to Automatic for example takes far too long a time until the graphic updates.
Thirdly, in a Combined trending graph the ability to see a value and time stamp when clicking on the trend line in Historic mode seems to have disappeared altogether for some reason.
To further add to this post, the mouse pointer now seems to have a mind of its own when being used within PACRuntime. Sometimes clicking on a graphic can cause the mouse pointer to disappear and then reappear somewhere else on the screen. This only happens within PACDisplay Runtime.
If a window is opened it seems to take an age to show the values within text graphics. It may take 5 to 15 seconds for the graphics to update and then show the values associated with them.
I have just been studying your downloads section to see if I can decide which PACProject is the latest one.
At present there is one version of PACProject, one version of PACDisplay and one version of PACControl.
All three seem to indicate that they will install PACProject. They were all created on 2nd Oct 2018. It seems that the most up to date PACProject file is indeed entitled PACProject but I don’t understand why the other two updates would be left on the download site if they are no longer of any use, it just seems to add to the confusion of which is the latest update.
Any help with these problems would be greatly appreciated.
Kindest regards
Paul
I had similar issues with 10.0a and I found that in my case Opto Data Link (ODL) was causing an issue “overscanning” the host port and making the contoller response VERY slow. When I went back to ODL 9.6 the controller was fine, even with Pac Display 10.a. If you are not using ODL then that may not be your issue.
Last week I opened a ticket on another issue having to do with the controller getting slow or flat locking up the host port, and was told that if you upgrade a project from 9.6 to 10a the strategy can get corrupted. If you go 9.6 to 10b it is supposed to be ok.
Still sorting this one out with tech support. I hope they document this soon in the KB’s
I would get hold of our product support group for the first part of your post.
If you have not worked with them before, its the right process to help you through trouble shooting the install process. You can email them support@opto22.com and you will get an issue tracking number so you can always get help and updates on the issue.
The last part of your post… Many of our users just use parts of PAC Project, they don’t want the whole package, so we split PAC Project into its parts and offer them as downloads as stand alone packages.
We try and keep the versions the same, so the latest of anything can be downloaded either as a package, or as part of PAC Project Basic or Pro.
I have sent the upper contents of the post to the email address you supplied, unfortunately the email came back with a ‘email address does not exist’ error.
I then copied the upper part of the post to support@opto22.com yesterday, 7th Nov but I am still waiting for a reply, even an acknowledgement that they have received my email. Meanwhile the errors listed above still exist!
We’re transitioning from Win 7 to Win 10, just downloaded same PAC Project build and having an issue where something in PAC Display continually takes focus away from whatever else is selected. So very difficult to enter data into a data field, can’t use any other programs because PAC Display just keeps stealing the focus back from the other programs.
I’m going to go back one build (I think that’s the one we had tested before, which had worked for us, need to check version number) to see if the problem goes away. Otherwise I’ll start messing with the Opto Data Link mentioned above. I’ll keep you posted!
11/20/2018 Update: Looks like we have a corrupted file in our PAC Display project that’s causing this problem. Not sure what it is, but does not look to be related to the current build. Same thing happens in the last build of PAC Project 10.0.
11/27/2018 Update: see my new post below. Looks like it’s an issue with the docking station/multiple monitor combo.
@paulmatty1 If you have PAC Project Pro, it is included and will be in your start menu.
If you have PAC Project Basic (the free version), then you will need to buy Opto Data Link. https://www.opto22.com/products/optodatalink
No the many issues I am experiencing with the latest version of PACProject are still not fixed even though I have supplied my Project to the help team.
Hi Chen, After more troubleshooting, it seems to be related to the Laptop docking station with 2 monitors we’re using. It’s a Dell Latitude 7490 with the Dell D6000 docking station. This problem happens with two different brand names of monitors. I can prevent the behavior from happening if I start PAC Display with the laptop screen open, or with at least one monitor disconnected. If the laptop is closed and both monitors are plugged in, I get the problem. This ONLY happens when I start PAC Display, so there must be some incompatibility with the way PAC Display refreshes and this monitor configuration? I think I’ve gotten this problem with two different builds of PAC Project, so it’s not unique to this build.
So we’re limping along for now – I can prevent the problem from happening if I jump through some hoops. It’s annoying, but workable. Please let me know if you have any insight into the problem!
Mine causing was due to “Remote Desktop Connection”. When I was controlling another PC via remote desktop and run the PAC Display Runtime, problem occurred.
Still having problems with the latest PACProject, to riterate these are my main problems,
• Very slow response when clicking on a selectable object, graphic, text, etc. within PACDisplay Runtime.
• Very slow response when changing PID mode in PACDisplay Runtime using selectable objects, in this case, text. It takes about 5 to 6 seconds to change the PID loop status, it was instant with previous versions.
• Mouse pointer seems to jump to random places on the screen within PACDisplay Runtime.
• No selection line in Historic Trending. The appearance of the trend graphs has now returned to normal once I deleted the problematic graph and created it again from scratch, originally I had copied and pasted.
• When a window opens with PACDisplay Runtime it takes 5 to 6 seconds to refresh any values within the window. It was instant before the latest update.
Also count down or up timers are only refreshing after about 4 to 5 seconds not every second as with previous versions of PACProject.
Am I the only one having these problems? If I am I may swap my Project to a different PC and try that as I am running out of ideas and patience as this isn’t the first time I have encountered problems after an update.
Do you by chance log any data to a database (like MSSQL) on a server that requires a network connection?
For example logging Operator actions or trend data to a table.
I have had the issues you are describing ever since early on 9.5. Several times I have checked my ODBC configurations and found that they are either missing or not correct. When this happens it seems that the system gets very slow.
I just noticed that in the latest release 10.2 if you open a project in runtime and you have an active alarm it can cause the scanner to crash and the tags don’t update. If you have alarms in your project you may want to try disabling them and see if it helps. I have a ticket open on this but the developer was out today.
I don’t log anything to any databases.
I do however have alarms within the Project and will bear this in mind when I eventually download the latest PAC Project.
I have now fully reverted back to a 9.6 version of PAC Project, not sure what the build is but I will use that until I have chance to install the latest version of PAC Project which has some fixes for DLL’s. With version 9.6 I see none of the issues I was seeing with version 10.2.
It has all been very frustrating to get these problems when an upgrade occurs and unfortunately as I said previous its not the first time. Hopefully with this latest release everything will go back smoothly when I update the software in the new year.
I have finally sorted this problem by downloading Google Earth and letting it run in the background as someone else mentioned in other posts. Everything is now running as i would expect, quickly!
Maybe OPTO should look into this to see what is going on and why another program needs to run to allow PAC Display Runtime to run correctly.
