ENGINEERING BULLETIN NUMBER: 03699

Release Date: 06/08/10 Document Status: Released

Revision Date: Revision Level: 1.0
Page: 1 of 1

FANUC Robotics America

INCREASING AVAILABLE MEMORY
ROBOT MODEL SOFTWARE

All R-30iA robots All V7.xx versions

SOURCE OF INFORMATION: FANUC FRA · SEB - Software Engineering Bulletin

REASON FOR ENGINEERING BULLETIN

Error Correction · N/A Material Availability Mechanical Guidelines

Product Improvement · N/A New Product Release Electrical Guidelines

Other Information Software Guidelines

This Engineering Bulletin is for all robots with V7.xx software.

1. BACKGROUND
In general your controller will come configured with sufficient memory for most normal operations, however if
you add options to an existing configuration (for example an iRVision product), if your iRVision application
utilizes many vision processes, has many parts or complex vision processes, or if you are Auto updating your
controller software from a much earlier revision, your system may require additional DRAM and/or FROM
memory. If this is the case, the recommendation is to purchase additional memory for your system. Contact
FANUC Robotics Customer Service to order additional memory if required.

While you are waiting for delivery of your upgraded memory for your R-30iA controller, there are some
temporary steps that can be taken to increase the amount of available DRAM or FROM on the system. These
should only be used until additional memory can be purchased and installed or you may experience the
problem again at a later date. These temporary steps are outlined below for each type of Memory.

2. TEMP MEMORY (DRAM)

2.1. General
DRAM on the R-30iA controller is broken up into several memory pools used by the system. The
largest of these is the TEMP memory pool which is used by the system to store temporary data during
normal operations. In general, you should have at least 2 MB of free TEMP memory in your system
after you have loaded all necessary option and completed your application specific programming and
setup. This includes training all iRVision processes.

2.2. Indications that you may be low on TEMP memory

Below are a few of indicators that your system is low, or is running low on TEMP memory:

• Opening a program for background editing fails.

• Multiple windows cannot be displayed on the iPendant
• CVIS-001 Not enough memory to process
• CVIS-192 the system is low on temporary memory and cannot open the vision process setup
page.

This bulletin may be revised or updated.

THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS FANUC ROBOTICS AMERICA PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.
 ENGINEERING BULLETIN NUMBER: 03699

Release Date: 06/08/10 Document Status: Released

Revision Date: Revision Level: 1.0
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INCREASING AVAILABLE MEMORY
2.3. Remedies
2.3.1. If an error is posted on the teach pendant
Refer to the FANUC Robotics SYSTEM R-30iA Controller Software Error Code Manual or the
online Help for the appropriate Cause/Remedy information for that error. If that does not solve
the problem, then refer to the next section for other possible temporary solutions

2.3.2. Temporary Measures to Increase Available TEMP Memory

To temporarily increase the amount of TEMP memory available, any of the following may be
necessary.

2.3.2.1. Reduce the size of the RAM Disk

• The RAM disk (RD) is a virtual drive located by default in DRAM.

• By default, RD is -256 sectors (128KB), but may be reduced in size by changing
$FILE_MAXSEC to a smaller negative number.
• Making $FILE_MAXSEC a positive number puts it in SRAM (CMOS), so be
cautious of the amount of available PERM memory.

2.3.2.2. Disable Dictionary Caching

• Changing $DICT_CONFIG.$CACHE_ENABLE to TRUE will cause the controller

to only load dictionaries as the TP screens are used rather than all on startup.
• This creates a noticeable delay on some screens the first time they are
displayed.

2.3.2.3. Reduce the size of the Motion Debug Data

As a last resort, the amount of logging space available for motion debug data can
be reduced to free up additional DRAM. The defaults are as follows:

o $CPDBG.$CPIDEBUG.$MAXDATA = 15000
o $CPDBG.$CPPDEBUG.$MAXDATA = 3000
o $CPDBG.$MIDEBUG.$MAXDATA = 1500
o $CPDBG.$MPDEBUG.$MAXDATA = 500
o $CPDBG.$MGDEBUG.$MAXDATA = 500

These can be set to:

o $CPDBG.$CPIDEBUG.$MAXDATA = 1000
o $CPDBG.$CPPDEBUG.$MAXDATA = 1000
o $CPDBG.$MIDEBUG.$MAXDATA = 500
o $CPDBG.$MPDEBUG.$MAXDATA = 100
o $CPDBG.$MGDEBUG.$MAXDATA = 100

This bulletin may be revised or updated.

THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS FANUC ROBOTICS AMERICA PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.
 ENGINEERING BULLETIN NUMBER: 03699

Release Date: 06/08/10 Document Status: Released

Revision Date: Revision Level: 1.0
Page: 3 of 3

FANUC Robotics America

INCREASING AVAILABLE MEMORY
This however, significantly reduces the amount of information available for
troubleshooting, should the need arise.

3. VISION POOL (DRAM)

3.1. General
The Vision Pool is a block of TEMP memory set aside for iRVision to use exclusively for image
processing. If you have very complex vision processes, you may begin to see errors indicating that the
Vision pool is being exceeded. If the vision processes requires more memory than is available in the
Vision Pool, it will use additional blocks of memory from the general TEMP pool. In general this will not
cause the system to malfunction but can have a significant impact on the amount of TEMP memory
available for the rest of the system operations.

3.2. Indications that your Vision Pool may be too small

Below is the indicator that your Vision Pool is set too small for the vision processes that you are using.

• CVIS-021 Exceed VisPool (xx Bytes) Warning

3.3. Remedies
3.3.1. Increase the size of the Vision Pool
If you are constantly getting a CVIS-021 warning when running, the size of the vision pool can
be increased to avoid exceeded it.

The default size is ~4MB (4,000,000 bytes).

$VISPOOL_SIZ can be increased to a point such that TEMP still has ~2MB free. (for
example: if there is 4MB of available TEMP, the vision pool can be increased by 2MB,
leaving 2MB of available TEMP memory.)

4. FROM MEMORY

4.1. General
FROM on the R-30iA controller is used by the system to store permanent information like the
controller operating software, vision processes, and user files. In general you should have at least 1
MB of free FROM memory in your system after you have loaded all necessary options and completed
your application specific programming and setup. This includes training all iRVision processes.

4.2. Indications that you are low on FROM memory

Below are a few of indicators that your system is low, or is running low on FROM memory:

Controller will not Load, too many options

CVIS-006 Not Enough Space on Disk

This bulletin may be revised or updated.

THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS FANUC ROBOTICS AMERICA PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.
 ENGINEERING BULLETIN NUMBER: 03699

Release Date: 06/08/10 Document Status: Released

Revision Date: Revision Level: 1.0
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FANUC Robotics America

INCREASING AVAILABLE MEMORY
FRSY-001 FROM disk is full
FRSY-013 Device is too fragmented.

4.3. Remedies
4.3.1. If an error is posted on the teach pendant
Refer to the FANUC Robotics SYSTEM R-30iA Controller Software Error Code Manual or the
online Help for the appropriate Cause/Remedy information for that error. If that does not solve
the problem then refer to the next section for other possible temporary solutions

4.3.2. Temporary Measures to Increase Available FROM Memory

To temporarily increase the amount of FROM memory available, any of the following may be
necessary.

4.3.2.1. Remote File Storage

Vision data files (.VD files) and/or log files can be stored on a USB, PCMCIA card,
or on a PC.
o Vision log file location can be specified on the iRVision Configuration
Setup screen
o Vision Data file storage can be specified by setting the system variable
$VISION_CFG.$DATA_PATH to the appropriate device. (for example
MC:\ for the memory card or UD1:\ for a USB device)
o Remote storage of the .VD or log files may impact cycle time due to
increased time to access the remote device.

4.3.2.2. Removing Unused Options

In general, only load options that are going to be used in the system.
Removing options generally requires changing the Load media memory card to
remove the options and then reloading the controller. Contact FANUC Robotics
Customer Service for assistance with this.

4.3.2.3. Vision Options

Two options that require large amounts of FROM memory are:

J871 – iRVision UIF Controls requires 4.5 MB of FROM

J872 – iRVision Online Help requires 3.5 MB of FROM

o J871 and J872 are available on the load media but by default they are not
loaded. They can be loaded from CTRL Start without a PAC Code but

This bulletin may be revised or updated.

THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS FANUC ROBOTICS AMERICA PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.
 ENGINEERING BULLETIN NUMBER: 03699

Release Date: 06/08/10 Document Status: Released

Revision Date: Revision Level: 1.0
Page: 5 of 5

FANUC Robotics America

INCREASING AVAILABLE MEMORY
require significant amounts of FROM storage. If possible these should not be
loaded.

o J871 allows the vision controls, necessary for vision setup on the PC, to be
directly loaded from the robot controller whenever a PC is connected to the
robot that does not have them installed. While very convenient they do not
have to be loaded to get the Vision Controls installed on a PC for iRVision
setup. If this option is loaded, and you invoke iRVision setup from a PC that
does not have the Vision controls loaded, the PC will fetch them from the
robot FROM and install them.

If the option is not loaded you will see a prompt which asks where the
controls are located. The default location is MC: but you can also select
USB (UD1:). You only need to insert a Memory Card with the load media on
it, into the PCMCIA slot, or a USB stick with the load media on it into the USB
connector on the front panel of the robot, then invoke iRVision setup from the
PC. In this case, the vision controls will be fetched from the memory card or
USB stick and installed on the PC. Alternatively, you can insert the media
card (USB stick or Memory Card with the load media on it) into your PC and
go to the directory ..\product\j871 and run the program visctrls.exe.

o J872 allows you to access on-line help during vision setup. Much of this
information is available in the documentation that is delivered with your
system; consequently, on-line access may not be required.

This bulletin may be revised or updated.

THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS FANUC ROBOTICS AMERICA PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.