Why are the GPIO status indicators not working on my Element power supply?

Scope

This document applies specifically to the power supply and GPIO unit used with Axia Element consoles and discusses the GPIO status indicators on the GPIO page. These units carry Axia part number 2001-00170.

NOTE - These units are currently discontinued. While we can still repair them, there is no longer any active software development.

Description

The Element GPIO / PSU has eight physical GPIO ports on the back of the unit. You configure them using the GPIO page in the web interface. Historically this page would display the status of the GPIO pins a green dots. Five dots to represent the GPI inputs, and five dots to represent the GPO outputs. Here is a sample of that status page.

This status page requires the use of Java in order to function. Many browsers have removed support for Java altogether and the ones who have not removed it have removed support for Java that doesn't have a valid security certificate. The Java used in the Element GPIO/PSU is unsigned.

This means that in any modern browser you will likely not be able to view GPIO status on these pages. If you have kept some older browsers installed you may be able to see the status. Also, as of this writing, the Pale Moon browser still supports Java.

While we did update software in the classic Axia nodes there has been no update to the Element. There will not be an update to the Element GPIO/PSU to address this.

Alternatives

Here are a couple of alternatives.

  1. Use a Telnet program like PuTTy.

    1. Run PuTTy and connect to your Element GPIO on TCP Port 93

    2. Type the command (all in CAPS) ADD GPI and ADD GPO

    You are now subscribed and will see in text form the status of any GPIO changes.

  2. Using the Windows version of Pathfinder you can use the Pathfinder PC Client software and right-click on any GPIO port. This will show you the current status of the GPIO pins.

  3. Using custom Panels in Pathfinder PC or Pathfinder Core Pro you can monitor the status of the GPIO pins.

Let us know how we can help

If you have further questions on this topic or have ideas about how we can improve this document, please contact us.