GE has recently published a Technical Information Letter (TIL 1480-2) in which it tells about the release of a Firmware upgrade for Speedtronic MARK V system, to enhance reliablity... We have a Speedtronic Mark V system for past four years but so far we haven't come across any troubles... Can any one - who has gone for the upgrade - advise if this new firmware upgrade in necessary and what are the likely troubles I can face if I don't go for it...

thanks and best regards.

au revoir
Rahul

 

Hi Rahul,
We also received TIL 1480-2, two years back only our units are commissioned. We are using daisy chain communication and we are facing lot of communication issues. One of the unit we have observed in <S> core and <C> core many diagonistic alarms like
DCC IO CARD COULD NOT CONFIGURE
DCC UDM:NO BMS BUFFER AVILABLE

In <C>processor
BAD EEPROM CHECKSSUM
484 DCC ERRORS

In <S>processor
QST DPM TIMED OUT
QST DPM NO MEM

once <C> core communication lost. After rebooting we do markv make and down load user to all cores and the issue solved. Still the issues are not solved , GE experts are saying EFT issues, We already raised one Purchase Order for Firmware upgradation.

Please contact me if you wish to communicate with me again
Thanks & regards
Joy

[email protected]

 

DCC UDM: NO BMS BUFFER AVAILABLE generally refers to a problem with RAM, no Basic Message Service buffer is available for User Defined Messages. Checksum errors are usually caused by "corrupt" downloads, which can happen if someone initiates a download and then aborts it before it's completed.

What do you mean when you say "daisy-chain communications?" Are you referring to the StageLink (ARCnet) between the &lt;I&gt;s or HMIs and the Mk V turbine control panels? Generally, GE advises that no more than two HMI Servers be configured to communicate with a Mk V turbine control panel. (This is because HMI Servers request a LOT of data, and more than two requesting LOTS of data of a single Mk V can cause the &lt;C&gt; processor to indicate that no Dual-Ported Memory (DPM) is available.) Incorrectly configured CIMPLICITY projects can also cause a similar problem by requesting data for points which don't exist or from units which don't exist.