CP5613A2 Driver Installation on Windows 2000 SP4: Troubleshooting

Problem Summary

Engineers maintaining legacy SIMATIC installations frequently encounter a recurring failure when attempting to install a Siemens CP 5613 A2 communications processor (CP) on a host running Windows 2000 Professional SP4. The operating system ships with a generic PCI Communications Device class driver that does not expose the card to the SIMATIC NET configuration tools, and the original Simatic Net 07/2001 + SP4 install media bundled with WinCC 5.1 cannot detect the newer A2 hardware revision. Typical symptoms include:

• The CP 5613 A2 is visible in Device Manager only as a generic PCI Communication Device with a yellow warning icon.
• Launching the SIMATIC NET Configuration Console does not list the CP 5613 A2 under installed modules.
• Forcing a manual driver update through the Add/Remove Hardware wizard causes an immediate, unprompted system restart (STOP 0x7E / STOP 0x7A kernel-mode fault during s7onlinx.dll initialization).
• The PG/PC interface assignment in Set PG/PC Interface (or in the WinCC project) shows the slot as -- not available --.

Because the CP 5613 has been discontinued by Siemens and the CP 5613 A2 is the lowest-cost field replacement, the only viable remediation on a Windows 2000 host is to align the driver stack and licence key with what the A2 hardware expects.

Hardware Identification: CP 5613 vs CP 5613 A2

The two cards are mechanically and electrically similar, but the silicon and firmware differ enough that older SIMATIC NET releases cannot enumerate the A2 revision. The table below summarizes the practical differences for field engineers:

Detection is performed through the SIMATIC NET DP-RAM interface driver (cp5613a2.sys). Pre-V6.2 builds of the driver do not include the matching .inf file for the A2 PCI device ID 0x1302:0x5613 (rev. 0x10 or higher), so the host kernel never instantiates the device object that the user-mode Configuration Console expects.

Root Cause Analysis

Three independent failures typically stack to produce the reported behaviour:

1. Driver version below hardware baseline. The Simatic Net 07/2001 + SP4 release corresponds internally to SIMATIC NET V6.0 + SP4, which predates the CP 5613 A2 driver package. The PnP enumerator loads the Microsoft serenum.sys/msser.sys shim instead of the SIMATIC cp5613a2.sys.
2. Licence-key / Edition mismatch. The original SIMATIC NET licence bound to the WinCC 5.1 install uses an automation licence manager (ALM) key generated for the V5.x/V6.0 driver. Starting with the Edition 2005 release, Siemens moved to a new AX SSE-NN key class. Trying to install the newer driver over the older licence causes the configuration service to reject the binding, and on Windows 2000 the rejection path is not gracefully handled — the service terminates the process, which during the Plug-and-Play enumeration phase manifests as the immediate restart.
3. OS Plug-and-Play quirk on Windows 2000. Windows 2000 Professional was the first client Windows to expose Active Directory-aware features, but its PCI hot-plug and resource-rebalance code paths predate the APIC-based enumeration of the A2 card, so a driver crash during initialization bypasses the standard Stop-screen reporting and reboots directly.

SIMATIC NET Version Compatibility Matrix

The matrix below captures the release train that applies to the CP 5613 A2 on a Windows 2000 Professional host. It is the operating envelope the engineer must stay inside:

According to the official Siemens SIMATIC NET support notice, Windows 2000 with SP3 or SP4 is officially supported and the driver CD shared with the Windows XP branch is the correct media to use for the CP 5613 A2 modules. The recommended ceiling is the Edition 2006 build — any newer release drops the Win2K HAL from the test matrix and will fail to load cp5613a2.sys on startup.

Prerequisites

Before the installation procedure is started, confirm or obtain the following items. None of them are optional; skipping any one of them re-introduces the original failure mode:

• SIMATIC NET Edition 2005 or Edition 2006 install CD (the same physical disc used for Windows XP). The FMS-5613 Edition 2005 bundle is functionally equivalent for the FMS protocol path.
• Valid Automation Licence Manager (ALM) key matching the chosen Edition. The older WinCC 5.1 key is not portable — a new AX SSE-NN licence is required.
• Local administrator credentials on the Windows 2000 host (the install service must stop and restart the S7DOS and PNION services).
• At least 1.2 GB of free disk on the system partition (the SIMATIC NET install fully expands before committing).
• BIOS set to Plug & Play OS = No for the duration of the install; switch it back to Yes after the CP is enumerated.
• PCI slot capable of 5 V signalling (the CP 5613 A2 is a universal-card, 5 V keyed device; do not seat it in a 3.3 V-only slot).

Resolution Procedure

1. Pre-flight: stage the new media. Insert the SIMATIC NET Edition 2005/2006 CD. Do not run setup.exe yet. The Setup routine will fail if the old WinCC 5.1 Simatic Net V6.0 service is active. Open a command prompt and stop the legacy services:

net stop "S7DOS"
net stop "PNION"
net stop "Simatic Net Configuration"

2. Remove the old driver tree. From Control Panel → Add/Remove Programs, uninstall SIMATIC NET 07/2001 + SP4. Reboot. This step is required because SIMATIC NET installs its DP-RAM shim into \WINNT\system32\drivers and does not always replace it during an upgrade.
3. Power down and seat the CP 5613 A2. With the host off, install the card into a free 32-bit PCI slot. Power on, but do not let Plug-and-Play auto-assign a driver. If the Found New Hardware Wizard appears, cancel it.
4. Boot into Safe Mode to clear phantom bindings. Press F8 during POST and select Safe Mode. Open regedit and delete the following keys (created by the failed earlier attempts):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\PCI\VEN_1302&DEV_5613&SUBSYS_...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\cp5613a2

5. Install SIMATIC NET Edition 2005/2006. Reboot into Normal Mode and run setup.exe from the new CD. Select Custom Install and explicitly enable: CP 5613 A2 driver, SIMATIC NET Configuration, Automation Licence Manager, and OPC Scout. The installer will create the cp5613a2.sys shim and register the matching .inf for PCI device ID 0x1302:0x5613.
6. Transfer / acquire the new licence. Use ALM → Transfer Licence to move the AX SSE-NN key onto the host. If no key is available, contact your local Siemens representative — Edition 2005 and Edition 2006 keys are still available for order against the CP 5613 A2 hardware serial number.
7. Force the PnP re-enumeration. With the card still seated, open Device Manager → Action → Scan for hardware changes. The CP 5613 A2 entry should now appear under SIMATIC NET Communication Processor with the matching driver version (e.g. 6.4.0.12 for Edition 2006).
8. Assign the PG/PC interface. Launch Set PG/PC Interface and select CP5613A2(MPI) or CP5613A2.PROFIBUS as the access point, depending on the bus you will scan. Apply.

Hardware Installation: Device Manager Walk-Through

If the wizard re-appears after the SIMATIC NET install — typically because the PCI device ID matches the generic Multifunction adapter class first — complete the manual update by hand:

1. Right-click the unknown device → Update Driver.
2. Choose Display a list of the known drivers… → Show All Hardware.
3. Manufacturer: Siemens AG. Model: SIMATIC NET CP 5613 A2.
4. Click Have Disk and browse to \Program Files\Siemens\Automation\SIMATIC_NET\Drivers\CP5613A2.
5. Confirm. The cp5613a2.sys driver version should match the install build; a mismatch indicates the old V6.0 tree was not fully removed and Step 2 must be repeated.

Driver Configuration Parameters

Once enumerated, the following registry/INI parameters in cp5613a2.cfg under \WINNT\system32 control the card. The defaults are correct for most MPI/PROFIBUS scans but must be reviewed for time-critical DP-V1 traffic:

Verification Procedure

Once the card is enumerated, run the following checks in order. All must pass before the workstation is returned to production:

1. Device Manager clean. No yellow or red icons in SIMATIC NET Communication Processor. Driver date matches the install CD.
2. Configuration Console self-test. Open SIMATIC NET → Configuration Console → right-click CP 5613 A2 → Diagnostics → Test. Expected result: OK — Hardware self-test passed in 1.6 s.
3. Bus scan. In Set PG/PC Interface → CP5613A2.PROFIBUS → Properties → Test. With the segment terminated and at least one slave powered, the bus scan should report the live node list (e.g. Node 2 — ET 200M, DP-V0).
4. Live link to a S7 CPU. In STEP 7 V5.5, Accessible Nodes (target = CP5613A2.PROFIBUS) should display the connected CPU's MPI/PROFIBUS address within 4 seconds of the scan.
5. Event log clean. eventvwr.msc → System log → filter Source = cp5613a2. No error or warning entries from the previous 10 minutes.

Licensing and Procurement Notes

The most common reason the procedure above is abandoned is licence unavailability. The relevant facts that the field engineer needs to understand:

• The Edition 2005 and Edition 2006 ALM keys for the CP 5613 A2 are still orderable through the local Siemens representative against the hardware serial number, even though the card itself is no longer in production.
• The legacy V6.0 / WinCC 5.1 licence cannot be upgraded in place. It must be retired and replaced.
• Some distributors still keep the Edition 2005 DVD in their archive; asking explicitly for the Win2K-compatible build is the fastest path to media when the customer's internal copy has been lost.
• For the FMS protocol (PG/OP routing into older HMI stations), the FMS-5613 Edition 2005 bundle is the officially recognised replacement for the discontinued V5.x FMS-5613 release.

Troubleshooting Matrix

Field-Proven Caveats

• USB-to-PCI bridges are not supported. The CP 5613 A2 needs direct PCI bus master access; external chassis will not enumerate the card correctly under Windows 2000.
• Hyperthreading/SMP HAL mismatch. If the host was upgraded to an SMP HAL after the original install, the SIMATIC NET V6.x services will fail to start. Switch back to the uniprocessor HAL before installing the new driver.
• DEP must be off. Windows 2000 SP4's Data Execution Prevention option (via the /NoExecute=AlwaysOff boot flag) must be cleared for the cp5613a2.sys driver to load — the driver issues int 1 debug instructions that trigger a DEP fault.
• Antivirus real-time scan. Exclude \Program Files\Siemens\Automation from real-time scan. The OPC Scout service performs tight read/write loops that the scanner can stall, producing spurious watchdog trips on the CP 5613 A2.

FAQ