Fix S7-300 CPU 315-2AH14-0AB0 Upload Error 13:77 Caused by Missing ProTool HMI

This technical reference covers the diagnosis and resolution of STEP 7 event 13:77 raised when an engineer attempts to upload a complete project from a SIMATIC S7-300 CPU 6ES7315-2AH14-0AB0 into SIMATIC Manager V5.5 SP1. The error blocks the upload of the hardware configuration (HW Config) and indicates that a ProTool-generated HMI configuration is referenced inside the offline system data blocks (SDBs) of the CPU but the corresponding ProTool / WinCC Flexible runtime software is not installed on the engineering station.

The symptom pattern is consistent: the upload completes for the program blocks (OB / FB / FC / DB), but HW Config shows only a subset of the connected drives (1 SINAMICS S120 instead of 4 SINAMICS G120) and the HMI station is missing. Once the missing HMI editor is installed, the missing PROFIBUS GSD files are registered, and the upload is repeated, the full configuration reappears.

1. System Topology and Hardware Reference

The reported machine consisted of one S7-300 CPU, one SINAMICS S120 drive, four SINAMICS G120 drives, an HMI panel, and the PG/PC used for upload. The relevant catalog data is summarised below.

The CPU 6ES7315-2AH14-0AB0 belongs to the 6AG1 / 6ES7 315-2 generation with firmware version range V3.x. It provides 384 KB of work memory, 2 PROFINET ports, one MPI/DP combined port, and supports both rack-internal and distributed I/O via PROFIBUS DP. Its SDB container is the on-board system database that stores hardware configuration, communication connections, and HMI links.

2. Decoding STEP 7 Event 13:77

When the user selects PLC → Upload Station to PG in SIMATIC Manager, the engineering tool requests the following objects in sequence:

1. Passive link table and project metadata
2. Program blocks (OB, FB, FC, DB, SFB, SFC, UDT)
3. SDB container (SDB 0 through SDB 4095) - this carries the hardware configuration and the HMI/CP connections
4. Diagnostic and forced-variable tables

Event 13:77 is reported as "Error while uploading the configuration to the programming device" when the SDB container contains references to an HMI device that was originally built with ProTool, and STEP 7 cannot resolve the ProTool HMI object on the local PG. The same SDB also references the G120 / S120 PROFIBUS slaves; if their GSD files are missing, the upload skips those slaves and only retains the ones that the local STEP 7 installation can resolve through its built-in catalog.

3. Root Cause Analysis

Two distinct issues compound in this failure mode:

1. Missing ProTool HMI editor. The original machine was programmed in an era when ProTool was the HMI configuration tool. The HMI project stored in the CPU's offline SDBs references the ProTool integrated database. When STEP 7 reads the SDBs and cannot find a matching HMI editor, the upload is aborted with event 13:77. The dialog "Do you want to continue" only allows partial upload (program blocks only); the HMI station and any slave that was configured through that station are silently dropped.
2. Missing PROFIBUS GSD file for the G120 drives. The S120 drive is represented inside HW Config as a Starter object module and is therefore recognised by STEP 7 even without an external GSD. The four G120 drives, however, were added with a GSD-based DP slave. With GSD 6SL3244-0BA21-1PA0 V3.2X not installed in S7GSD, STEP 7 cannot decode the corresponding SDBs and the slaves are filtered out of the uploaded configuration.

Combined, these two missing software components explain the field observation that only 1 S120 drive appears while the 4 G120 drives and the HMI station are absent in the uploaded HW Config, even though both block-level program logic and the Accessible Nodes view show the correct connected devices.

4. Required Software Stack

The minimum software set to perform a complete upload of the affected project is listed in the table below. Versions are chosen so that each tool is from the same engineering era as the original ProTool project, which avoids a version-mismatch error during the HMI re-resolve step.

WinCC Flexible 2008 is the official migration target for ProTool projects. It can read the legacy *.pdb files and re-export them as *.hmi integrated HMI projects, which is exactly what STEP 7 needs to embed the HMI configuration into the offline S7 project.

5. Installing the SINAMICS G120 PROFIBUS GSD File

The GSD file 6SL3244-0BA21-1PA0 V3.2X is delivered as a self-extracting Windows archive. The standard install path is Program Files\Siemens\Automation\S7GSD\SIEM8112.GSD. The installation procedure is:

1. Download the GSD from Siemens Support entry 109740945 or the SINAMICS G120 product page.
2. Run setup.exe from the archive.
3. Confirm the target STEP 7 installation directory.
4. Restart SIMATIC Manager.
5. Open HW Config and check Catalog → PROFIBUS DP → Drives → SINAMICS → G120. The Control Unit 6SL3244-0BA21-1PA0 must now be visible.

The GSD version must be equal to or higher than the version that was used in the original project. The field report specifies V3.2X, which is the latest released for the 6SL3244-0BA21-1PA0 G120 Control Unit with firmware V3.2.

6. Step-by-Step Resolution Procedure

Use the following ordered procedure to recover the upload. The procedure assumes you have a working backup of the project, even an older one. STEP 7 uses the backup only to align the GSD version and the HMI editor before the actual upload.

1. Verify the backup project. If a backup .s7p file is available, open it in STEP 7 and check whether the project still opens. If it raises a "missing HMI component" error, the backup is already in the same degraded state as the CPU.
2. Install WinCC Flexible 2008 SP3. This is the replacement for ProTool. Do not skip SP3; SP2 is reported to still raise event 13:77 on this CPU firmware.
1. Mount the WinCC Flexible 2008 SP3 installation image.
2. Run Setup and select PC / PG runtime and configuration.
3. Select the ProTool migration add-in during the custom install step.
4. Restart the PG.
3. Install Starter V4.3.1.2. Required for the S120 drive object module. Without it, the S120 will also be dropped from the upload.
4. Install the G120 GSD file 6SL3244-0BA21-1PA0 V3.2X. See section 5 above.
5. Open the project and the CPU online. In SIMATIC Manager, double-click Accessible Nodes and confirm that all 5 drives and the HMI appear. This proves the CPU holds the full project; the missing devices are a PG-side limitation.
6. Re-run the upload. PLC → Upload Station to PG → OK. Accept the target S7 program name and folder. The upload must complete without event 13:77 this time.
7. Open the new HW Config and confirm the device list. All 4 G120 drives, the S120, and the HMI station must be visible. If a G120 drive is still missing, double-check the GSD version with Options → Install GSD File.
8. Save, compile, and archive the new project. This becomes the new master for the machine.

7. Verification Procedure

After the upload, perform the following checks to confirm a clean recovery:

1. Block count parity. Compare Program Blocks in the uploaded project against Accessible Nodes → CPU → Blocks. The count, name, and timestamp of every OB / FB / FC / DB must match.
2. HW Config parity. Right-click the CPU in HW Config and select Compare → Offline / Online. The dialog must report 0 differences for the rack and the DP slave list. Any reported delta usually points to a missed GSD or HMI editor update.
3. HMI re-integration check. Open the WinCC Flexible project embedded in the S7 program. Right-click the HMI station and select Compile → Check Consistency. The compile must finish with no errors.
4. Drive object module check. In Starter, open the S120 project referenced from the S7 program. Confirm the S120 firmware version reads the actual drive (i.e., goes online). This validates that the Starter OM was correctly resolved during the upload.
5. Connection test. Run PLC → Diagnostic / Setting → Communication → Test Connection from each HMI station and each DP slave. All must report OK.

8. Edge Cases and Field Notes

Three patterns are worth flagging because they re-appear in similar field reports:

• Partial upload after event 13:77. Pressing Yes on the dialog lets STEP 7 continue the upload, but the resulting project is missing the HMI SDBs and any DP slave that was linked through them. The visible "1 of 4 G120" symptom is the direct consequence. Always treat the partial upload as a stub; never use it as a backup.
• PROFIBUS vs MPI upload. The user reported using both MPI and PROFIBUS. The result is identical because event 13:77 originates in the SDB container, not in the physical transport. Repeating the upload over a different cable will not fix the error.
• SDB corruption secondary fault. If the upload of the SDBs was interrupted at the site (e.g., pulled cable or power loss), the SDB container can become inconsistent. In that case the missing software fix will not work and STEP 7 will return to event 13:71 (SDB read error) or 13:82 (CP error). The recovery is then a full re-download from a known-good backup, not another upload.

9. Inline Topology Diagram

10. Related Error Conditions and Cross-References

11. Preventive Recommendations

• Maintain a project archive that bundles the STEP 7 program, the WinCC Flexible / ProTool HMI project, the Starter commissioning file, and the GSD/GSDML files. The archive must be updated every time the configuration is downloaded to the CPU.
• Lock the engineering environment: every PG that has access to the CPU must carry the same STEP 7, WinCC Flexible, and Starter version. Mixing versions is the leading cause of re-upload problems in multi-engineer plants.
• Use the Read / Compare diagnostic workflow instead of full Upload Station to PG when only the SDBs need to be inspected. The lighter workflow reads the SDBs into a temporary project and avoids polluting the master project with a partial upload.
• Document the HMI tool that originally generated the project. If a ProTool HMI must be touched after the migration to WinCC Flexible, do not run ProTool alongside WinCC Flexible on the same PG; the two tools can corrupt each other's project databases.

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