Motor Pilot application is not starting

[MLang.7]

The Motor Pilot 6.0.0 application is not starting. I have testet it on Windows 10 on a real machine and on a Windows 10 virtual machine. When I start the application the course briefly shows that the machine is working but then nothing happens. No error messages.

Has anyone experienced similar issues?

[gazzatav]

Yes, I am using Windows 10 and have tried the motor pilot and motor profiler using 6.0.0, 5.4.8 and 5.Y.4. None of them will connect. They give garbled or useless error messages. The profiler says that it cannot find mfc100.dll. I installed that from the 2014 and 2017 redistributables but it still fails.

After wasting too much precious time on these applications, I have given up trying to use them - because on Windows everything just works. Not!

Not quite sure what you mean by 'the course briefly shows that the machine is working'.

As an alternative to Motor Profiler I used the datasheet from the motor manufacturer which hopefully gives the inductance, resistance of a phase and nominal current. As an alternative to Motor Pilot, I found that the monitor in Motor Control Workbench can connect and control the motor. That allows you to establish that the motor works and test some rev up parameters.

[MLang.7]

Sorry for the misconception here. By "the machine works" I meant that my computer is trying to run the application, but in the end it doesn't show up at all. The problem is, that although the generated code works, there is a fault condiotion occurring when letting the motor accelerate. I hoped to be able to debug this prolem wia the Motor Pilot application.

[gazzatav · Accepted solution]

You should be able to observe that on the monitor in Motor Control Workbench. (Needs a com port connected). I discovered that I would get a speed control error if I accelerated faster than 1 rpm / millisecond and an over voltage error if I slowed down too quickly. Alternatively you could capture state in your program and transmit it through the usart/uart. I've found that 'real term' works well with the com port. Sorry I can't be more helpful, I'm something of a beginner at this but the last three weeks of pain have taught me this much 🙂

[MLang.7]

Thanks for the advice with the monitor in the old motor control workbench. It helped a lot!

[Muthanna]

I'm facing the same problem with Motor Pilot (6.2.1) on my Windows 10 Pro 22H2. I've tried installing Visual C++ packages, it didn't help.

When I open the application or launch it via the Workbench. The Application opens briefly in the background but not launches, nothing comes on the display. 
I can MotorPilot.exe run on the Task Manager for a few seconds and vanish.

Please Help.

[LHOUE]

Hello Muthana,

in the Motor Pilot directory, you can find a MotorPilot.log file which can give you some information. Could you post it the content please?

Do you run the application on a real PC or in a VM?

BRs

[pgreenlandbc]

Hi @LHOUE 

Just starting to work with the motor control SDK.

I suspect I'm experiencing something similar to @Muthanna .

I run Motor Pilot (from 6.3.0 SDK), the process starts then immediately exits.

A log file is generated:

2024-05-10 17:56:44.596 INFO-:Application is starting : MotorPilot version:1.2.9
2024-05-10 17:56:44.596 INFO-:ini file path=C:/Users/User/AppData/Roaming/ST Microelectronics/ST Motor Pilot.ini
2024-05-10 17:56:44.609 INFO-:Polling time out is set to 200 ms
2024-05-10 17:56:44.609 INFO-:new version detected -> set Default qml : qrc:/GUI/defaultApp.qml
2024-05-10 17:56:44.616 INFO-:Loading registers bank desciption file C:/Program Files (x86)/STMicroelectronics/MC_SDK_6.3.0/Utilities/PC_Software/STMotorPilot/RegisterList/RegListMinimal.json
2024-05-10 17:56:44.625 INFO-:Registers bank description loaded successfully
2024-05-10 17:56:44.625 INFO-:Load Application qrc:/GUI/defaultApp.qml
2024-05-10 17:56:44.871 INFO-:QML Application ready
2024-05-10 17:56:44.875 INFO-:sdkPath=C:/Program Files (x86)/STMicroelectronics/MC_SDK_6.3.0

But the main window doesn't open.

I'm running in a VM as don't have access to a physical Windows machine. I've previously used CubeMX on Linux, doesn't seem the Motor SDK has a Linux build available yet :-(.

I was able to generate an CubeMX project, so the main workbench application is working just fine.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Phil

[pgreenlandbc]

Resolved my issue.

It appears that OpenGL or similar hardware acceleration is required, presumably for the graphs / dial displays (I'm not a graphics expert).

Found references online to installing https://github.com/pal1000/mesa-dist-win which appears to be a software renderer.

With the above package added to the VM, MotorPilot starts up and works normally.

[LHOUE]

Yes Motor Pilot need some graphic resources to run inside VM

please take a look on this spost :

https://community.st.com/t5/stm32-mcus-motor-control/using-mcsdk-motor-pilot-in-a-virtual-machine/m-p/58420

BRs