Visible to the public Restart computersConflict Detection Enabled

Submitted by sprinkle on Wed, 04/12/2017 - 4:52pm

You may have to restart some or all of the computers if:

  • You accidentally turned off the car and just turned it back on
  • Some of the DC-powered computers (rtd2 or rtd4) were accidentally turned off
  • You forgot to turn on the AC power supply

​How to restart the computers

  • rtd2 and rtd4: (1) switch off the DC power supply and switch it back on or (2) switch off the black power switch at the base of the machine
  • ironwood: Open the right panel, and press the red button. 

After computers are started

Make sure you Synchronize Clocks of all the computing devices.

Why restart the computers?

You accidentally turned off the car and just turned it back on. Turning off the cat switches off the AC powering UPS, and it must be manually turned back on. The DC power supply and its devices (rtd2, rtd4, the Velodyne, and the GPS) turn on as soon as the car is started. However, the ByWireXGV wifi router, and the rack-mounted wired switch are powered by AC power. This means that the DC machines will not have a network connection when they start up. Turning on the AC power later might help your laptop, but the DC powered machines may never run DHCP again, so you could end up debugging for hours trying to figure out whether a cable got pulled out.

Some of the DC-powered computers (rtd2 or rtd4) were accidentally turned off. The ROS Master is rtd4.local, and if it is switched off, it may mean that other machines will start to go bonkers. Whenever you switch off a machine's power, it may lose its time synchronization, and you will need to rerun the process to ensure time is synchonized. In any case, try restarting the machines and setting up from scratch.

You forgot to turn on the AC power supply. The machine ironwood, the SICK laser (frontlaser), the ByWireXGV wifi router, and the rack-mounted wired switch are powered by AC power. If the AC power supply is not on, it means that the DC machines will not have a network connection when they start up. Turning on the AC power later might help your laptop, but the DC powered machines may never run DHCP again, so you could end up debugging for hours trying to figure out whether a cable got pulled out. Go ahead and bounce the DC machines (at least) after you turn the AC power on.

 

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