RTAPI error and realtime delay at EMC launch

hcb wrote:

Looking through the errors the seemingly relevant entry is: insmod: error inserting (path to rtai_smi.ko): -1 No such device 2641

Can you pastebin the dmesg output?

Try googling that error message and you might find clues. It might actually be that there is no SMI for the smi.ko module to disable, though.

Andy, thank you for your reply. Here is the PasteBin link:

pastebin.com/0h839dbM

I had done a search for that "rtapi no such device 2641"

I did it on Google. I got squat (although, repeating it now I get a couple of links to my post here).

I noticed a problem at bootup (I'm only setting this computer up when I have time to try to work through this problem). I got a CMOS Checksum bad error and I had to reset the date and time. I skipped the step and Ubuntu ate itself on start up claiming that there was some disk error. It attempted to mount the drive and then the system rebooted. I entered setup on the second boot and set the date and time and removed the floppy disk (disabled it) as it was back to being enabled (I had disabled it when I first set this system up).

I don't know if the CMOS battery going bad (probably the cause of a bad checksum error, in my experience) could cause the EMC2 errors I'm seeing. But, a problem is a problem, so I'm going to replace the battery tomorrow, just in case. It'd be nice if that's all the problem is.

Thank you again and Merry Christmas.

--HC

Okay, I found I already had a spare battery that was the right one for the motherboard, thank God. Saved waiting until tomorrow. I checked the voltage (it's been in a drawer a while) and got just over 3.1 volts. I pulled the old one and got barely a quarter volt. I installed the new one but got the errors still. I reloaded the system from the Live CD and re-installed the video card driver but I still get the "unexpected realtime" error and the RTAPI error. Not both all the time, sometimes just one or the other, sometimes both at the same time (over multiple close/open cycles of the EMC2 software.

I was hoping for the best with the battery but, no, not happening. I posted the latest dmesg in case it changed.

pastebin.com/Ath2mj13

I have the one functional system, but I need a second for to use on the plasma table I'm working on. If this gets to be too big a pain in the butt I'll see about building a new system (I see BigJohnT posted a motherboard he has had good luck with) but it'd be nice to figure this out just in case I run across it again sometime (or someone else runs across it).

Thank you.

--HC

I would run the latency test again and get some better numbers to configure you base thread with.

[ 354.666439] 940: ERROR: Unexpected realtime delay: check dmesg for details.
[ 354.666444]
[ 354.666445] In recent history there were
[ 354.666446] 2203191, 2194775, 2425582, 2199540, and 2204762
[ 354.666447] elapsed clocks between calls to the motion controller.
[ 354.666450] This time, there were 2863966 which is so anomalously
[ 354.666451] large that it probably signifies a problem with your
[ 354.666452] realtime configuration. For the rest of this run of
[ 354.666453] EMC, this message will be suppressed.

Actually many others have had good results with the D510MO before I purchased mine. NewEgg runs them on special from time to time. The case I picked is only 13" x 8 1/2" x 5 which is mighty small.

John

Hey, John, thanks for the reply. I reran the Latency Test and still got a maximum base thread jitter of just over 28,000. I had that before but ran the Stepconf Wizard again anyway, repeating the value (always trying something, particularly when someone trying to help suggests it).

I ran the EMC2 software and got NO errors. I got excited and then closed EMC2 and relaunched it with no errors. Really excited and repeated the restart with no errors and actually turned on the power source to the table and randomly ran it around a bit with no occurrence of errors. Relaunched the EMC2 software a fourth time and got the "unexpected realtime" error. Over several more relaunches I got a combination of the RTAPI error and unexpected realtime error, some times just one or the other, some times both. The successful runs are a first on this system, but it still had the errors. It's sporadic now. I'll try rebooting, just for grins.

As I've found little else about this in general Google searches (at least that I either understood or seemed relevant) and I've got you and Andy (who both seem to have large amounts of experience with EMC2 and Ubuntu and getting this stuff to work properly) unable to simply say, "oh, that, here do this...". I am thinking that maybe there is some low-level problem either inherent to my hardware or to this computer in general. This is a hand-me-down PC and perhaps there is a problem with it (although nothing was indicated to me by the previous guy who handled this system). The point being, it seems to be an aberration. I am tempted to just say the hell with it, I have several more systems to try before I build one and the cost of a new motherboard is so small (the Intel Atom D510MO you mention) that I may just build one for the other CNC system I'm going to work on.

My point is that would like to understand and solve the problem but I don't want to waste your or Andy's time if it's likely a hardware problem inherent to this computer.

Thanks again for your time and Merry Christmas.

--HC

HC,

Not sure if this has anything to do with your sporadic error situation. One of the computers I use has a large latency in the first 3 or 4 minutes of use. I simply turn it on and let it "warm up" for a couple of minutes before I start EMC, after that no errors. If I start right away I will get the unexpected realtime error.

Rick G