Emerson Exchange 365

KVM issues

Hello Emerson Community,

Having some kvm issues with one of our  DeltaV Op Stations. It is intermittently locking up on the Control Room Operator. Only way to bring it back up then is to forcefully power down the box and reset. 

The kvm set up is as follows- the monitors/keyboard/mouse are tied to two Avocent HMX2050, which are connected to an ADDERView CATx Switch. On the back end, the Op Stations are tied to two Avocent HMIQDHDD interface modules which in turn ties to ADDERView CATx Switch

We have tried powering down the avocent transmitters and that didn't fix the issue. We are thinking its the adderview receiver. Since the machines are in the rack room which is further away from the rack room, we don't really have a means to directly tie the mouse keyboard to the Op station itself to verify the theory.

I just wanted to post this and see if anyone has had any similar issues or any helpful info, before we actually go and replace the receiver. 

We have had these for a couple of years now. The Op Station itself is a Dell Precision 7910.

I know this is sort of a random question, but a shot in the dark nonetheless.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks-

.

• adder
• avocent
• kvm

imh301

• 20 Jun 2019 10:37 PM
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2 Replies

• BruceSchaller

  

  • 24 Jun 2019 6:55 PM

  Hi There,
  
  Just out of curiosity - is it the operator station, or the KVM that's locking up?
  
  The first thing I'd check is that the firmware of the KVM is updated to the most recent.
  Here's a link to do just that.
  www.vertiv.com/.../
  
  If this is updated to the most recent firmware, and you are still experiencing a problem, then it might be time to look into alternatives. When you say a couple of years- has it been two years, or ten? It looks like these have been discontinued for two years already. It also looks like the newest firmware is from about 2014 or so.
  
  Rather than using a KVM, which adds several points of failure to the system, considered using Thin Clients? These very frequently have a lower total cost of ownership (particularly if you've been spending time troubleshooting KVMs!) The Emerson supported Pepperl & Fuchs thin clients are a bargain for their capability. We like that they don't need management software to use them. A new, smaller, version just came out recently.
  
  In general, I like to see at least one physical station in a control room as a kind of emergency measure (depending of process hazards of course!). These add additional maintenance time and cost of course- so it's important to consider access and system availability.
  
  We did have one other solution which was tried, when a customer NEEDED a console session remotely and didn't have a KVM. We used a 5-port anywhere-USB. This was able to serve VIDEO, via a USB to VGA adapter, and simultaneously connect a keyboard and mouse via another port. Effectively, we used the anywhere USB as a KVM; a console session at a distance. That particular system was NOT a deltav system, but we proved out that it worked. YMMV.
  
  Bruce

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• imh301

  

  • 24 Jul 2019 10:03 PM

  In reply to BruceSchaller:

  Thanks Bruce. We ended up going with a new Wyse P45 (those old advocents are quite expensive). Firmware could've well been the issue, we've had those kvms for about 3.5 years now.

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