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ISSUE — Windows Background Update Corrupts EtherCAT Timing

CONFIRMED DANGEROUS RESOLVED BOTH BOLT

WARNING — AXIS TRIPS AND SERVO NOISE FROM CORRUPTED TIMING

A Windows background update, received silently from a networked second PC, caused axis acceleration trips on both arm and track axes, along with severe servo feedback noise. The Flair PC required a complete wipe and rebuild to fix. Never network the Flair PC for file sharing.

Summary

A Windows background update, silently received via a local file-sharing network connection from a second PC, corrupted InTime real-time timing and EtherCAT positional data on the Flair PC. This caused axis acceleration trips on both arm and track, severe servo feedback noise, and ultimately required a full OS wipe and rebuild. The Flair PC must never be networked for file sharing with any other computer.

Symptoms

  • Axis acceleration trip-outs on both arm and track simultaneously
  • Horrible servo feedback noise from track and arm
  • Inconsistent timing on EtherCAT positional data
  • Issue developed gradually over ~3 weeks; not a sudden single-event failure
  • Not resolved by reboots or cable checks
  • Required swapping to backup PC mid-shoot to recover

Systems Affected

  • Bolt on Track (Riley Morgan — confirmed)
  • Applicable to any EtherCAT Bolt system with Windows on the Flair PC

Software Environment

BOTH

This is a Windows/InTime interaction issue — affects both Flair Classic and Flair 7 running on Windows.

Root Cause

The Flair PC (no internet access, no WiFi) was networked with a second PC for file sharing and time synchronisation. The second PC was online. Windows performed a background update on the Flair PC via the local file-sharing network — without any explicit permission or notification.

The update disrupted InTime timing and EtherCAT real-time positional data consistency, causing axis control instability.

"Despite the flair PC not having Internet access, not even a WiFi card, something went wrong on the windows end of things... Windows does sneaky things like that. Be careful." — Riley Morgan

Solution — Full PC rebuild + isolate Flair PC from all local networks

CONFIRMED BOTH

Contributor(s): ~ Riley Morgan — 2023-12-28

Steps (immediate recovery)

  1. Swap to the backup Flair PC immediately if available.
  2. The affected Flair PC requires a full OS wipe and fresh install of Windows, InTime, and Flair — partial fixes did not work.
  3. After rebuild, verify InTime timing using the Adjusting Intime Clock document in \FlairClassic\Documentation\.

Steps (prevention)

  1. Never network the Flair PC for file sharing with any other computer.
  2. If a second PC must be on the same physical switch, ensure no Windows file sharing, NetBIOS, or update services can reach the Flair PC.
  3. Disable Windows Update permanently on the Flair PC:
  4. services.msc → Windows Update → Disabled
  5. Or use a tool like ShutUp10 (registry-level update suppression)
  6. Consider physically preventing internet and local network access — keep the Flair PC fully isolated.

Notes

"Going forward, we will not keep the two PCs networked for file sharing." — Riley Morgan

"There's a way diving into services.msc [to disable updates]." — Niko

"Check out a program called ShutUp10. Registry editor that lets you turn off a bunch of windows update stuff." — Josh M

The Flair PC should be treated as a dedicated real-time controller — not a general-purpose computer. Network isolation is mandatory.

Timeline

Event Date Contributor
Incident occurred; full PC rebuild required 2023-12-28 ~ Riley Morgan

Official Documentation

Document Section Notes
Flair Classic Documentation folder Adjusting Intime Clock Step-by-step manual for checking and correcting InTime clock accuracy

Flair Classic Manual — Ch.14A High Speed Robots / EtherCAT — p.235

Flair Classic Manual — Ch.22 Network Direct — p.313

Flair 7 Manual — Ch.11 High Speed Robots / EtherCAT — p.195

Flair 7 Manual — Ch.19 Network Direct — p.263

WhatsApp Excerpts

[28/12/2023, 6:37:46 am] ~ Riley Morgan: Hey guys I wanted to talk about an issue I had on a recent job (Bolt On Track) and what we had to do to resolve it.

Our flair cart recently got an upgrade - a second computer (for online tasks and other things). This second computer was networked with the flair PC over both InTime network (for Osc), as well as local network (windows network, for file sharing, and time synchronization).

The flair computer did NOT have Windows updates paused, as it hasn't been connected to the Internet in well over a year, and was planned to be kept offline forever.

However, despite the flair PC not having Internet access, not even a WiFi card, something went wrong on the windows end of things. This presented as axis acceleration trip outs on both the arm and track due to inconsistent timing on the ethercat network positional data. Horrible servo feedback noises from the track and arm - not good. We swapped to spare PC quickly during some downtime to resolve the issue.

The flair PC had received a background update over local network from the online PC after being networked for about three weeks... Windows does sneaky things like that.. be careful.

This required a full wipe and setup of the main flair PC to fix.

[28/12/2023, 6:38:21 am] ~ Riley Morgan: Going forward, we will not keep the two PCs networked for file sharing.

Revision History

Date Change Editor
2026-05-24 Initial extraction Tom D / Claude Code