Multi-camera vision job lost after a software update: restore it

The vision software update finished clean, the line restarted, and the job that opened holds one camera out of four. The cameras are fine and still on the network. What broke is the job: installers manage the directory your job files live in, and a fresh install starts a default job that contains the first camera it finds. This guide shows how to confirm that cause in a minute, restore the full multi-camera job from backup or rebuild it in place, and set up the backup that turns the next update into a non-event.

What a software update does to the job

Multi-camera vision software keeps each job as files in a jobs directory under the application's install folder, and loads the active job to the cameras when you switch into run mode. The installer owns that folder. When an upgrade or reinstall lays down a new application tree and does not find your job files in its own jobs directory, the application builds a default job containing a single camera. The other cameras stay reachable on the network; they are simply not members of the job that opened. Nothing on the cameras changed. The job's membership list did.

That symptom splits your diagnosis in two. Cameras absent from the job but reachable on the network point at the job itself, and the fixes below cover it. Cameras missing from the enumeration screen as well point at addresses or drivers, which change a camera IP address and update tools stuck on the default treats.

Two near-neighbours fail differently. A job that loads but loses settings at runtime is a storage and load-order problem, covered by camera configuration lost after job load: fix storage and load order. A job that drops after a robot fault is a handshake problem, and vision job lost after a robot fault: re-handshake at cycle start walks that path.

Likely causes, in order of probability

Work the tests top to bottom. The first two take under a minute together and cover the common case. Rank 3 announces itself: the cameras are absent everywhere, not just from the job. Rank 4 is the expensive one, and the prevention section below exists so you never meet it.

Fix A: restore the backed-up job

Restoring is a copy, a load and a verification. Expect minutes, not hours:

1. Take the station out of run mode and close the vision application.
2. Open the software's settings and read the job directory path, listed under the job or workspace directory. Write it down: this is the folder the running application actually reads.
3. Go to your backup location and take the newest dated copy.
4. Copy the backup job file into the current job directory. A file of the same name replaces the one already there, which is the intent.
5. Copy any custom scripts or macros the software loads from the install area as well.
6. Start the application, open the restored job and switch into run mode.
7. Verify the restore: the camera list names every camera on the line, and a known-good part passes every tool.

Fix B: rebuild the job and re-add the cameras

No backup, and the old directory is gone? Rebuild. Calibration work dominates the effort: as a rule of thumb, count half a day for a four-camera station and under an hour for a single camera.

1. Create a new, empty job.
2. Add cameras from the enumeration screen, identifying each by serial or MAC address rather than by IP. Serials survive reinstalls; addresses do not.
3. Rebuild or reload each camera's calibration. If a backup folder holds exported calibration files, load them instead of redoing the grid.
4. Rebuild the inspection tools. Where the software exports tool or recipe settings, import them rather than re-entering values by hand.
5. Save the job under its production name in the current job directory, then point the auto-load setting at it. The set your vision sensor to auto load its job on startup procedure shows the setting and the startup check.
6. Save a dated backup outside the install folder immediately. The fresh rebuild is now the master copy.

Worked example: a four-camera line, one camera left after the update

The case is a typical controller-based line: four GigE cameras on one vision controller, updated last weekend. The inputs:

• Cameras on the line: 4 GigE cameras, the count the production job listed before the update.
• Cameras in the job that opened after the update: 1, the default job the installer created.
• Controller: MV-VC3301H-128G66, which prints 5+ LAN ports and 4 built-in light channels.

The rule, in words: a restored job must list every camera on the line, and each GigE camera occupies one LAN port on the controller. Ports minus cameras is the margin left for the next camera or a service spare.

The arithmetic: cameras to re-add = 4 - 1 = 3 cameras. Spare camera ports = at least 5 - 4 = 1 port, because the controller prints five or more LAN ports. The same line on a controller with 3-4 LAN ports computes 4 - 4 = 0 spare ports, and only at the top of that range.

The result: the four-camera job fits the 5+ port controller with a port in reserve. The four-port class fits it with none, so the next camera forces either a controller change or a downstream network switch, which brings its own wiring and failure points.

The decision: restore the whole backed-up job whenever the backup lists all 4 of 4 cameras, because one restore reloads every camera's settings and calibration in a single step. Re-add cameras individually only when the backup predates a camera added later - a backup listing 3 of 4 is restored first, then the fourth camera joins it. The threshold: the cameras missing from the backup are the only ones you rebuild by hand.

Controllers sized like this example - camera ports in reserve and built-in channels to drive the station's lights:

Prevention: the backup set that makes updates routine

An update should never be able to cost you a job, and it cannot once the backup lives where the installer does not write. The set below takes ten minutes to maintain:

• Copy the whole jobs directory plus any scripts or macros folder the software keeps in the install area into a dated folder outside the install root. Keep the last three.
• Drop a five-line manifest into each backup: job file name, camera serials with addresses, auto-load target.
• Prove each backup once by restoring it into a test job. A copy you have never restored is a hope, not a backup.
• Stage the update on a spare controller first where one exists. The vision application runtime deployment to a target machine procedure covers staging to a target.
• Export the on-device job before a smart camera firmware update, and file the export with the station backups.

For the fuller pre-failure routine, vision reader configuration backup before troubleshooting lists what to capture before any invasive work.

Checks before you run the next update

• Backup dated today, outside the install path - the updater can rewrite the folders inside it.
• Manifest with camera serials, addresses and job file name - they are the first items you re-verify.
• Auto-load target recorded - an update can leave it pointing at a fresh default job.
• A known-good part within reach - the closing proof of any restore is a part that passes.
• Time booked with production - Fix A costs minutes; Fix B, with calibration, costs half a day.

When to move the job onto the camera

If this failure keeps costing you update days on a single-camera station, change where the job lives. A smart camera stores and runs its job on the device, so updating software on a PC or controller never touches it. The discipline transfers to the camera's firmware updates: export first, then update. The MV-SC3050XC-16M-ATN-H is a 5 MP color vision sensor with a global shutter that runs its inspection on the device.

For multi-camera lines that stay on a controller, the answer is the runbook plus hardware margin: dated backups outside the install folder, auto-load on the production job, camera ports in reserve. Three controllers that span that need, from a compact model to a PoE model with more light channels:

Sizing a controller for a rebuilt line starts at the vision controllers category; single-camera jobs that fit on the camera start at smart cameras. The vision systems topic page gathers the rest of the startup, load and backup fixes. Bring your camera count and update schedule to the contact page and we will size ports, light channels and storage so the next update is a copy, a load and one good part.