Applies To:
  • CitectSCADA 5.xx
Summary:
If CitectSCADA runs on start-up using the WinRT service (device) to talk to a Allen Bradley PKTX card using the CIKT driver, CitectSCADA will display the usual "Hardware settings have changed" dialog and asks the user to start CitectSCADA fully then reboot the machine. Upon reboot, CitectSCADA brings up the same dialog box and never starts correctly.

Solution:
It appears Windows XP will start services in the background after explorer starts to give the impression of faster boot time. This causes problems with services that have not started when CitectSCADA requires them to be running. This problem was most pronounced on a machine running Windows XP Professional (SPK 1) with an onboard network card that was not plugged in to any network. Disabling the networking and disabling some redundant services solved the problem. The problem could be simulated by manually starting and stopping the WinRT service (Device Manager | Show Hidden Devices | WinRT) and making sure it conflicts with the memory area that is allocated to the PKTX card. When the WinRT service conflicts with the PKTX card, Citect will start up correctly. This is why CitectSCADA and RSLinx cannot run at the same time. The particular PC in question would start WinRT correctly only after waiting 2-4 minutes after Windows start-up. 
Keywords:
XP PKTX WinRT  

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