New Romer Arm hard probe issue

Is the laser picked up by PC-DMIS?

Checked the firewall so it is not blocking?

laser works fine, hard probe works fine in Polyworks.  both use the same RDS, change from hard to laser with the switch on the RDS control menu.  Pcdmis instantly dumps to the 'email report' screen when you try to toggle to the hard probe.

This seems silly to ask, but you are using the "switch down/up" button on the arm (or in RDS) right?
Also while the Demon is sleeping, try swapping RDS to advanced mode, then there is a diagnostic mode that will show you all the sensor inputs and status of the entire arm. 
Make for sure the arm itself is reading everything correctly. 

in the RDS

Yes, without Pcdmis running, the RDS shows the correct "probe" (scanner or hard probe) depending on which you choose.  Remember, this same RDS runs the arm when using Polyworks, and Poly accepts the change without crashing.

Maybe the probe file is corrupted? Have your tried purging it all and recreating it? 

Also, I do really appreciate how polyworks literally does not care what's connected to it. If only it offered the same finite control that the Demon maintains on alignments and the more complex GD&T situations. 

Do you have created an "environment" file for the arm? I am not sure, it might have been created during the installation of PC-DMIS, I suppose you chose the correct (arm) interface while installing PC-DMIS?

poly enjoys the probe files, can't imagine that if they were corrupted (3 of them, 3mm, 6mm, 'master') that it would work for one and not the other.  also, all 3 of them work just fine on the old POS laptop (same RDS version, same Pcdmis version)

everything works on POS win10-pro laptop (no polyworks on this one, only Pcdmis), ONLY hard probes will not work in win11-pro laptop in Pcdmis.

Did you do the install on the WIN11?

came right from HexMet with Poly installed and 'ready to run'.  The HexMet representatives that came for setup day installed Pcdmis on the laptop.

came right from HexMet with Poly installed and 'ready to run'.  The HexMet representatives that came for setup day installed Pcdmis on the laptop.

Well, they should have done it correctly I'd assume.

What I am getting at with the environment configuration is this:
https://nexus.hexagon.com/documentationcenter/en-US/bundle/pcdmis-2024.1-core/page/01_intro_topics/Creating_and_Editing_an_Environment.htm

Strange that the laser works, but not the hard probes. Check in the folder where the PC-DMIS probes are located, RDS dumps the probes in that folder (or if PC-DMIS fetches them from RDS, unsure of which) to see if your hard probes exist there. The laser should be in there since it is working.

I did try copying the probe files to the search folder, didn't help.

also, didn't have to copy/create the hard probes on the old laptop to get them to work.  AFAIK all that info is stored in the probe module itself.  It may copy it to the computer when used, but it is in the module.

Tried switching from laser to hard probe - without a hard probe mounted? Just to see if it crashes out.

the RDS does nothing when you try to change to hard probe without a probe mounted.  Pcdmis won't execute a loadprobe command and tell you to mount the probe (when you select it from the probe drop-down).

after 2 hours on the phone with tech, he uninstalled ALL related to Pcdmis, re-installed Pcdmis, and it works.  Go figure.

What effect is uninstalling all things PC-DMIS related doing? Was it potentially a single file? Or the registry? Did they explain what that really is doing and why that fixed it? I know a lot of applications a quick re-install works. I was just curious if they knew what they did exactly

nope.  after going through many, many things, he did the windows uninstall program thingie, then he edited the registry and deleted any hangers-on that were Pcdmis, then reinstalled the same version of Pcdmis that was there before.

but even that doesn't make sense since everything Pcdmis worked, EXCEPT the hard probe!

the biggest PITA was the fact that the (landline) phone is 40 feet from where the arm is, and the laptop doesn't have an internet plug, and no shop wifi reaches in here, so had to bring the laptop over to the desk, steal an internet cord from another PC, plug the adapter into 1 of the TWO usb ports the laptop has, unplug the mouse so a software dongle could be plugged in, he remoted to the laptop, but for tests, I had to put the phone down, go over to the arm, test it, come back, yada, yada, yada, back and forth, back and forth.

Do the romer arms have their own controllers that get firmware updates? I have never really used or seen one in person, was wondering if he also did some firmware updates to it.

We had to upgrade to PC-DMIS 2023.2. That required that update the firmware for the controller in order to use our laser scanner. Apparently due to changes to how it calculates or something like that.