[Etherlab-users] Timeout while setting state INIT.
Gavin Lambert
gavin.lambert at tomra.com
Thu Mar 26 03:53:32 CET 2026
The command trace that Richard had you try seems to indicate that the slave did manage the INIT -> PREOP transition but is refusing a subsequent PREOP -> INIT transition, without giving any error code. (Though also check the syslog around the time that you issue the "ethercat state" command -- some versions of the master will automatically acknowledge and clear the error code register, so the syslog is the only place you'll see it.)
Slaves are pretty much always required to accept any state -> INIT without error, and the configuration shouldn't be a factor because the point of going to INIT is to tell the slave that you want to reconfigure fundamental communication properties.
This might be working coincidentally in TwinCAT because it doesn't happen to issue that particular transition sequence during the test, but it is something that even TwinCAT will request at some point in the network/application lifecycle.
You can try asking the vendor for their EtherCAT Conformance Test Tool report (make sure it's for the same model/revision that you're using) -- they're required to test their devices, and I'd be surprised if a device that failed something so basic could pass as conformant. Or send the device back to the vendor as faulty and try another one; maybe it was just a bad firmware in that particular device or batch.
The device reporting itself as product code 0x00000000 seems highly suspicious, although I don't think it's technically illegal.
If you have a working device from the same family, have you tried fetching the on-device SII from both and comparing? Differences aren't necessarily problematic, but might be interesting. An incorrect SII or firmware could cause the device to misbehave, but in this case it would not help to soft-override the SII on the master side as that patch does; you'd have to install a correct SII or firmware into the device itself. (It may not be safe to use the working SII on the non-working device, however, especially if they are from different revisions -- doing so might brick the device or worse.)
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Etherlab-users <etherlab-users-bounces at etherlab.org> On Behalf Of Bilko
> AS, Oguz Dilmac
> Sent: Wednesday, 25 March 2026 10:56 pm
> To: Richard Hacker <ha at igh.de>; etherlab-users at etherlab.org
> Subject: Re: [Etherlab-users] Timeout while setting state INIT.
>
> Hi Richard,
>
> First of all I'd like to thank you for your patience with me.
>
> I agree that I will most likely see the working slave respects to INIT command. In
> fact, I already demonstrated to our customer that it works fine with our
> controller.
>
> But unfortunately, I can't persuade our customer that the one I have in my desk is
> broken. Because I just connected it via twincat, it goes to OP mode and I can see
> the process data :(
>
> Yesterday I asked the manufacturer about the model of the ESC used in this
> device. Not received a reply yet. Maybe it can tell us something?
>
> Also I'll try the commands you sent, while the master uses the SII binary file
> instead of reading directly from the device.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Oğuz.
>
>
> On 25-Mar-26 10:25 AM, Richard Hacker wrote:
> > Hello Oguz,
> >
> > As far as I can see, your slave is broken! You are not even at the
> > application level.
> >
> > The "ethercat" commands I sent you show that the slave will not go to
> > INIT even on an idle bus. Try those commands again with your working
> > slave and you will see that it respects the INIT command.
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, 2026-03-24 at 12:31 +0300, Bilko AS, Oguz Dilmac wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi Richard,
> >>
> >> Here are the outputs of the commands after a fresh start. No
> >> application is running.
> >>
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo /usr/local/etc/init.d/ethercat restart
> >> Shutting down EtherCAT master 1.6.8 done
> >> Starting EtherCAT master 1.6.8 done
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ ethercat slave -v
> >> === Master 0, Slave 0 ===
> >> Device: Main
> >> State: PREOP
> >> Flag: +
> >> Identity:
> >> Vendor Id: 0x6167656d
> >> Product code: 0x00000000
> >> Revision number: 0x00000000
> >> Serial number: 0x00000000
> >> DL information:
> >> FMMU bit operation: no
> >> Distributed clocks: yes, 64 bit
> >> DC system time transmission delay: 0 ns
> >> Port Type Link Loop Signal NextSlave RxTime [ns] Diff [ns]
> >> NextDc [ns]
> >> 0 MII up open yes - 811350812
> >> 0 0
> >> 1 MII down closed no - -
> >> -
> >> -
> >> 2 N/A down closed no - -
> >> -
> >> -
> >> 3 N/A down closed no - -
> >> -
> >> -
> >> Mailboxes:
> >> Bootstrap RX: 0x1000/1024, TX: 0x1400/1024
> >> Standard RX: 0x1000/1024, TX: 0x1400/1024
> >> Supported protocols: CoE, FoE
> >> General:
> >> Group: SSC_Device
> >> Image name:
> >> Order number: Megatec_ESC_NLCH
> >> Device name: Megatec_ESC_NLCH
> >> CoE details:
> >> Enable SDO: yes
> >> Enable SDO Info: yes
> >> Enable PDO Assign: no
> >> Enable PDO Configuration: no
> >> Enable Upload at startup: no
> >> Enable SDO complete access: yes
> >> Flags:
> >> Enable SafeOp: no
> >> Enable notLRW: no
> >> Current consumption: 0 mA
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0000
> >> 0x98 152
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0001
> >> 0x01 1
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0002
> >> 0x0001 1
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0004
> >> 0x08 8
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0005
> >> 0x08 8
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0006
> >> 0x08 8
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0007
> >> 0x0f 15
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0008
> >> 0x01cc 460
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0120
> >> 0x0002 2
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0130
> >> 0x0002 2
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0134
> >> 0x0000 0
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat state -p0 init
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ ethercat slaves
> >> 0 0:0 PREOP E Megatec_ESC_NLCH
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0120
> >> 0x0001 1
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0130
> >> 0x0002 2
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0134
> >> 0x0000 0
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat state -p0 preop
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ ethercat slaves
> >> 0 0:0 PREOP + Megatec_ESC_NLCH
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0120
> >> 0x0001 1
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0130
> >> 0x0002 2
> >> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0134
> >> 0x0000 0
> >> lynca at lynca:~$
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> The documents of the slave is mostly focused on the application. I
> >> screen copied the Ethercat related section below. The rest describes
> >> the content of the PDOs
> >>
> >> ----
> >>
> >> 1 Introduction
> >> This document describes a communication protocol between the CNC
> >> and the processing optic using the EtherCAT bus.
> >> All information is transferred inside cyclical process data objects
> >> (PDO). Specific data in PDOs is referenced as following: TxPDO 4 –
> >> TxPDO, word 4 TxPDO 2/3 – TxPDO, word 2, bit 3 Words and bits are
> >> counted from 0.
> >> After the power is switched on the processing optic’s controller is
> >> booted up and references the lens motor. This takes approx. 10
> >> seconds. Afterwards that the optic is ready for operation and does
> >> not need any additional initialization.
> >> 2 EtherCAT protocol description
> >> The processing optic is an EtherCAT slave device. The minimum cycle
> >> time is 1 millisecond.
> >>
> >>
> >> -------
> >>
> >> Below that point, the document describes the PDO content...
> >>
> >> By the way, I will ask which ESC controller is used. What else do you
> >> suggest to ask?
> >>
> >> Best regards,
> >>
> >> Oguz.
> >>
> >> On 24-Mar-26 11:23 AM, Richard Hacker wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>>
> >>> OK, the slave does not transition to INIT, regardless (0x130 should
> >>> match 0x120).
> >>>
> >>> Next test:
> >>> with a fresh restart (no application running)
> >>> ethercat slave -v
> >>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0000
> >>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0001
> >>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0002
> >>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0004
> >>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0005
> >>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0006
> >>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0007
> >>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0008
> >>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0120
> >>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0130
> >>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0134
> >>> ethercat state -p0 init
> >>> ethercat sl
> >>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0120
> >>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0130
> >>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0134
> >>> ethercat state -p0 preop
> >>> ethercat sl
> >>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0120
> >>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0130
> >>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0134
> >>>
> >>> The important address is 0x0134 (AL Status code). Can you check in
> >>> the documentation what the manufacturor writes about the status code
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Tue, 2026-03-24 at 10:36 +0300, Bilko AS, Oguz Dilmac wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Hi Richard, Graeme,
> >>>>
> >>>> I was out of the office. Thank you for the suggestions. Graeme I'll
> >>>> try to look into it.
> >>>>
> >>>> Mr Richard, here are the outputs of the commands after I powered
> >>>> both PC and the slave:
> >>>>
> >>>> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo /usr/local/etc/init.d/ethercat restart Shutting
> >>>> down EtherCAT master 1.6.8 done Starting EtherCAT master 1.6.8
> >>>> done lynca at lynca:~$ ethercat slave
> >>>> 0 0:0 PREOP + Megatec_ESC_NLCH
> >>>> lynca at lynca:~$ ethercat slaves
> >>>> 0 0:0 PREOP + Megatec_ESC_NLCH
> >>>> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat state -p0 init lynca at lynca:~$ ethercat
> >>>> slave
> >>>> 0 0:0 PREOP E Megatec_ESC_NLCH
> >>>> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat state -p0 preop lynca at lynca:~$
> >>>> ethercat slave
> >>>> 0 0:0 PREOP + Megatec_ESC_NLCH
> >>>> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint32 0x900
> >>>> 0x0af50b04 183831300
> >>>> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint64 0x910
> >>>> 0x00000051a7927504 350703744260
> >>>> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x120
> >>>> 0x0001 1
> >>>> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x130
> >>>> 0x0002 2
> >>>> lynca at lynca:~$
> >>>>
> >>>> And these are executed while the application is running:
> >>>>
> >>>> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat slave
> >>>> 0 0:0 PREOP E Megatec_ESC_NLCH
> >>>> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x120
> >>>> 0x0001 1
> >>>> lynca at lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x130
> >>>> 0x0002 2
> >>>>
> >>>> The installed ethercat master is 1.6.8 with Mr James Benway's patch
> >>>> for reading sii from a file (
> >>>> https://github.com/DSI-Gleeble/ethercat/tree/sii-from-file).
> >>>> But I
> >>>> removed the binary sii files so that the master can read from slave
> >>>> as normal.
> >>>>
> >>>> Can you see something?
> >>>>
> >>>> Best regards,
> >>>>
> >>>> Oguz.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> On 20-Mar-26 6:34 PM, Richard Hacker wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> My suspicion is that your problem is way before the master tries
> >>>>> to configure the slave, as I have said before.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> When the master is activated, it jogs the slave through the INIT,
> >>>>> PREOP, SAFEOP and eventually OP states. A slave gets configured
> >>>>> (SDO parameters, PDO setup) between the PREOP and SAFEOP state --
> >>>>> but your slave never gets there. Your slave might go into INIT,
> >>>>> but somehow the master does not get this state change.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Can you change the slave state from the command line? With your
> >>>>> slave attached but without your application running (i.e. idle
> >>>>> free- run bus), what is the output of:
> >>>>> ethercat slave
> >>>>> ethercat state -p0 init
> >>>>> ethercat slave
> >>>>> ethercat state -p0 preop
> >>>>> ethercat slave
> >>>>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint32 0x900
> >>>>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint64 0x910
> >>>>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x120
> >>>>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x130
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Now start your application and:
> >>>>> ethercat state
> >>>>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x120
> >>>>> ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x130
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> -p0 assumes the affedted slave is the first slave in the network.
> >>>>> Adjust accordingly if that is not the case.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> On Fri, 2026-03-20 at 00:02 +0000, Graeme Foot wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Hi Oguz,
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> If this is a potential fix for your slave, you would require more
> >>>>>> separation, plus I’m not sure you got your reads vs writes
> >>>>>> assigned quite right. i.e. from your log 0x6000:01 is being
> >>>>>> assigned to domain 0 when it looks like it should be assigned to
> >>>>>> domain 1.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> The issue with the Texas Instruments ESC’s in particular is that
> >>>>>> if you use one domain the writes (control) and reads (status) are
> >>>>>> too close together for the ESC’s syncs to handle gracefully.
> >>>>>> E.g.:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> + domain 0 -------------------+
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> [slave 0 write][slave 0 read]|
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> If you split them into two domains you get:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> + domain 0 -----+ domain 1 ----+
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> [slave 0 write]|[slave 0 read]|
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Which timing wise is no real difference and still a problem.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> But if you add a few more slaves (they don’t even need to be
> >>>>>> online)
> >>>>>> you get:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> + domain 0 -------------------------+ domain 1 --------------
> >>>>>> ----
> >>>>>> ----
> >>>>>> --+
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> [slave 0 write][slave 1 write][...]| [slave 0 read][slave 1
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> read][...]|
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> You can see you now have more separation between the slave 0
> >>>>>> write and read.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> In your example (apart from the potential incorrect allocation
> >>>>>> which could itself cause issues) I don’t think the EL2008 would
> >>>>>> be enough to give a big enough separation (only 1 byte?). Try
> >>>>>> adding two or three more of your problem slaves (they’re around
> >>>>>> 78 bytes each).
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Here’s some background info on the Texas Instruments
> >>>>>> issue:
> >>>>>> https://www.ti.com/lit/an/spracj7/spracj7.pdf?ts=1669243747147
> >>>>>> * section 3.1.3 describes the TI ESC not working with non-
> >>>>>> overlapping PDOs
> >>>>>> * Section 3.6 describes a malformed packet issue and its
> >>>>>> workarounds, due to overlapping PDOs
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> In our cases where we’ve had problems with slaves our symptoms
> >>>>>> were:
> >>>>>> 1. On assigning the FMMU configuration the slave would stop
> >>>>>> forwarding on frames
> >>>>>> 2. I think we had one that got stuck in INIT, but can’t
> >>>>>> remember for sure
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Regards,
> >>>>>> Graeme.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> From: Bilko AS, Oguz Dilmac <odilmac at bilko-automation.com>
> >>>>>> Sent: Thursday, 19 March 2026 23:49
> >>>>>> To: Graeme Foot <Graeme.Foot at touchcut.com>;
> >>>>>> etherlab-users at etherlab.org
> >>>>>> Subject: Re: [Etherlab-users] Timeout while setting state INIT.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Hi Graeme,
> >>>>>> I connected a EK1100 bus coupler and a EL2008 digital output
> >>>>>> card.
> >>>>>> The first slave is the EK1100, and my device stay at the end.
> >>>>>> I created two domains
> >>>>>> Unfortunately the device still don't go to INIT.
> >>>>>> Here, I put my test code and the dmesg output:
> >>>>>> https://we.tl/t-Dj1MtId6LA
> >>>>>> Best regards,
> >>>>>> Oguz.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> On 19-Mar-26 1:16 AM, Graeme Foot wrote:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Hi Oguz,
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> It’s not looking likely to be an SII problem then.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> From the log it looks like you’re using a single Read/Write
> >>>>>>> domain. I don’t recall if you mentioned, have tried putting it
> >>>>>>> in separate read and write domains? If you try this, also
> >>>>>>> ensure that there are at least two other separate read and write
> >>>>>>> domain slaves also configured in your system.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> I’ve had a few slaves in the past (generally with Texas
> >>>>>>> Instruments
> >>>>>>> ESC’s) that work well with overlapped PDO’s in a single
> >>>>>>> Read/Write domain (TwinCat’s default method), but fail when the
> >>>>>>> PDO’s are not overlapped (EtherLab’s default). If this is the
> >>>>>>> case you can put them in separate read and write domains to
> >>>>>>> separate them within the EtherCat frame. But, you need to
> >>>>>>> ensure there’s a couple of other read and write domain devices
> >>>>>>> also configured to ensure there’s enough separation in the
> >>>>>>> frame.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Graeme.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> From: Bilko AS, Oguz Dilmac<odilmac at bilko-automation.com>
> >>>>>>> Sent: Thursday, 19 March 2026 02:33
> >>>>>>> To: Graeme Foot <Graeme.Foot at touchcut.com>; Richard
> >>>>>>> Hacker<ha at igh.de>; etherlab-users at etherlab.org;
> >>>>>>> james.benway at gleeble.com
> >>>>>>> Subject: Re: [Etherlab-users] Timeout while setting state INIT.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Hi,
> >>>>>>> I noticed, the correct path with option is: "--enable-sii-
> >>>>>>> override=/lib/firmware"
> >>>>>>> This way, the master can find my ec_xxx.bin file. But still at
> >>>>>>> the end, slave doesn't respond to go INIT command.
> >>>>>>> Here is the dmesg output:
> >>>>>>> https://we.tl/t-BGDmNzZv2b
> >>>>>>> Best regards,
> >>>>>>> Oguz.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> --
> >>>>>> Oguz Dilmac
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Bilko AS, R&D Manager
> >>>>>> ====================================
> >>>>>> Perpa Ticaret Merkezi B Blok Kat 13 Nr. 2536
> >>>>>> TR-34384 Okmeydani Istanbul Turkey Tel : +90 212 563 00 00 e-mail
> >>>>>> : odilmac at bilko-automation.com web site :
> >>>>>> http://www.bilko-automation.com
> https://www.youtube.com/@LyncaCNC
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> Oguz Dilmac
> >>>>
> >>>> Bilko AS, R&D Manager
> >>>> ====================================
> >>>> Perpa Ticaret Merkezi B Blok Kat 13 Nr. 2536
> >>>> TR-34384 Okmeydani Istanbul Turkey
> >>>> Tel : +90 212 563 00 00
> >>>> e-mail : odilmac at bilko-automation.com web site :
> >>>> http://www.bilko-automation.com https://www.youtube.com/@LyncaCNC
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>
>
> --
> Oguz Dilmac
>
> Bilko AS, R&D Manager
> ====================================
> Perpa Ticaret Merkezi B Blok Kat 13 Nr. 2536
> TR-34384 Okmeydani Istanbul Turkey
> Tel : +90 212 563 00 00
> e-mail : odilmac at bilko-automation.com
> web site : http://www.bilko-automation.com
> https://www.youtube.com/@LyncaCNC
>
>
> --
> Etherlab-users mailing list
> Etherlab-users at etherlab.org
> https://lists.etherlab.org/mailman/listinfo/etherlab-users
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