NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT: (Hex 0x80054450) Error on VeriStand Deployment

Issue Details

I am trying to deploy my VeriStand System Definition. When doing so, I receive the following error:

NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT: (Hex 0x80054450) The slave device cannot be found. The position addresses within the LabVIEW project are inconsistent with the actual network topology. Ensure that each slave device's positional address matches its actual position within the EtherCAT network. Removing your slave devices from the EtherCAT master and rediscovering the slave devices resolve this issue but you lose all customised properties on these devices.

NI VeriStand: NI VeriStand Engine.lvlib:VeriStand Engine Wrapper (RT).vi >> NI VeriStand Engine.lvlib:VeriStand Engine.vi >> NI VeriStand Engine.lvlib:VeriStand Engine State Machine.vi >> NI VeriStand Engine.lvlib:Initialize Inline Custom Device.vi >> Custom Devices Storage.lvlib:Initialize Device (HW Interface).vi

NI VeriStand: Error occurred at the following location:
"Targets/Controller/Custom Devices/Scan Engine and EtherCAT"

Solution

This error comes from one or more of the EtherCAT slave devices that are configured in the System Definition not being correctly visible to the master and thus unable to be communicated with. 
Power-cycle all slaves and ensure that all of the EtherCAT slaves are correctly communicating. 

If all slaves appear to be communicating properly, create a LabVIEW project targeting the Real-Time target with EtherCAT slaves. Deploy the EtherCAT master and then try to transition each slave to Pre-Op individually using the "Online Device State" property window accessible by right-clicking the slave devices. You will find that one slave does not transition or appears disconnected.

Note: With Scan Engine in configuration mode, you can only transition between Init->Pre-Op. To enter Safe-Op and Operational mode, change the Scan Engine to "Active", which will transition all slaves at once.

If this does not resolve the issue, please contact NI Technical Support.