Occasionally, the time and date on my UR5 will reset itself to midnight on Jan 1, 2012. I’ve had to reset it to the current date and time at least 3 times in the last couple months. It is a pain, because when I correct the date again, I can’t just type the current date in; I have to cycle through the dates, month by month, until I get to the current month of 2020.
This matters to me because I often rely on log files to troubleshoot. If I hear that the robot went down, or find it sitting idle, I want to be able to review log messages from my program and find out when and why something went wrong. When the date and time is completely incorrect, this becomes more difficult.
I am not certain why the robot resets its own time like this, but it may have to do with magic files. I use the program backup magic file periodically. I just tested this theory by setting the current date and time and then plugging in a USB with the program backup magic file. The time settings did not change while I was using the magic file or before I powered down, but the next time the robot booted it had reverted to Jan 1, 2012 again. I have not tested this with other magic files; only the backup_programs one. I am also not certain whether the magic file is really the cause; it is only a theory.
The affected robot is a UR5 CB3, serial number 2017354139, running the 3.13.1.10297 URSoftware. The only URCap installed (but not currently used) is “Web dashboard” version 1.8.1, which I installed some time ago on a trial basis.
Hi @anna,
Whilst I cannot offer any help as to what the cause is for this, if it is the magic file, I can suggest a work around. In polyscope, If you navigate to the log screen and click “Support File” you can save some key information about the robot, logs and flight paths etc. Importantly, this support file also contains a full programs backup, nd as a result will eliminate the need the programs backup magic file. I think this feature was introduced in 3.13 or earlier, so should be available to the you.
Update: I planned to try the support file suggestion, but I wanted to test possible causes in the process, so I planned the following steps, and after each step I would check the time/date settings, and correct them if needed:
Correct the time and restart without changing anything else.
Remove the old Web Dashboard URCap, since I’m not using it anyway, then restart.
Use the program backup magic file, then restart.
Use the support file magic file, then restart.
I also planned to repeat step 1 if any of the subsequent steps caused the time/date reset.
Results:
After step 1. no change in date/time after restart.
After step 2. date/time changed to Jan 2012 after restart.
(1.) Step 1 repeated…correction sticks after restart.
After step 3. no change in date/time.
After step 4, no change in date/time.
I have to conclude that the old Web Dashboard URCap was somehow the culprit, and using magic files while it was installed would trigger this issue. Removing it triggered the issue one last time, but now using magic files no longer resets the time.
I’m considering this issue solved for me, but if it pops up again I will update further.