The System Is in an Unknown State Error When Formatting Remote Target in MAX

Issue Details

When trying to Add/Remove the software via MAX after reformatting the remote target, the following error message pop-ups

Error formatting the disk: The system failed to restart after the hard drive was formatted. The system is in an unknown state. You may have to manually restart the target. 

Solution

Things to check for investigation

• Ping to the remote target to make sure network settings are correct.
• Check the Status of the target in MAX
• Try testing with turned off Firewall and Security system
• Check the Status LED of the target
• Try to connect with the target directly avoiding connections via network devices
• Check if none of the UDP and TCP ports are blocked using cmd commands (netsh firewall show state and netstat -ano | findstr -i SYN_SENT)
• If they have another similar working device, you can try to get the system image from it and set it to a nonworking target using LabVIEW shipping example Get and Set Real-Time System Image VI .
• Install the latest NI System Configuration    
• In case of you are facing the issue with LabVIEW (2019, 2020) versions and cRIO 2020 Q2 base image please check Error when Formatting Disk on cRIO Target in Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX) - NI article. This bug is fixed in the version 20.5 image. 

Steps to implement to solve the issue

• Try restarting the target manually 
• Try formatting the target from the command prompt
• Try using the recovery file with a USB Flash Drive. 
• Alternatively, you can try to downgrade the LabVIEW version on the host PC along with the relevant drivers and firmware (you have to downgrade the firmware as well). After this, you can try to connect to your device and carry out a new system installation. 

If none of the above helps the unit is probably in a corrupted, unrecoverable state. A unit repair/replacement process has to be started with the NI RMA team: Request Repair or Calibration for NI Hardware