Resolving TIA Portal V13 TP1900 HMI Linker Value Object Error

1. Problem Overview

When compiling a SIMATIC TP1900 Comfort HMI station inside TIA Portal V13 (Totally Integrated Automation Portal), the HMI compiler aborts with a generic, non-navigable error string:

Internal ERROR (detail: Linker: data of a value object referenced by a value relation is not the specified type)

The message is reported by the HMI compilation pipeline (WinCC Comfort/Advanced V13 backend), not by the S7 CPU compiler. The diagnostic has three properties that make it particularly painful to triage in the field:

1. The message is emitted at the linker stage, after the individual HMI tag tables, screens, scripts, and alarms have already been parsed successfully. The fault is therefore in the cross-reference graph between compiled objects, not in source syntax.
2. It is wrapped in the generic prefix Internal ERROR (detail: ...) rather than a TIA-specific SE#### diagnostic code, so the standard Siemens error-code lookup in the portal's Information pane does not return a Knowledge Base article.
3. The "Goto" / "Go to" context action is not offered for the offending line because the linker does not retain a back-pointer to the original HMI source object that produced the malformed value relation. Double-clicking the error row yields nothing.

In typical field reports, the error appears after the operator has:

• Added an additional HMI device to an existing multi-panel project (the "3rd HMI" case), or
• Copied/pasted a screen, tag, or faceplate between HMIs, or
• Migrated a project originally authored in TIA V12 SP1 or earlier to TIA V13 without performing a full Software (Rebuild all).

2. Environment & Affected Versions

3. Anatomy of the Linker Error

The HMI build pipeline in TIA V13 is a four-stage sequence. Understanding where the linker sits clarifies why the message is opaque to the user.

The value relation is the internal data structure the WinCC engineering server creates to model each cross-reference between a graphical property (e.g. a button's ProcessValue) and a tag, a script parameter, or a structure element. If the target object exists in the project tree but its datatype does not match the relation's expected type, the linker raises the message above and refuses to emit an HMI image.

4. Root Cause Analysis

Field evidence and the WinCC V13 compiler source (as documented in the public TIA Portal help) point to four distinct root causes, each producing the same surface-level error string:

RC1 and RC2 together account for the overwhelming majority of field cases; RC3 and RC4 represent the residual fraction that requires either project repair utilities or a Siemens support request.

5. Solution Procedure A — Software (Rebuild all)

Always perform this step first; it is non-destructive and resolves RC1 without touching source code.

Prerequisites

• Project is open in TIA Portal V13 (any update level of V13 SP1 acceptable).
• Project has been saved at least once successfully (i.e. *.ap13 archive is current).
• Local user has write permission to the project directory and to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Siemens\Automation\.

Step-by-step

1. In the project tree, expand the HMIs node and right-click the TP1900 device entry (e.g. HMI_3 [TP1900 Comfort]).
2. From the context menu select Compile → Software (Rebuild all).
3. Wait for the Compile progress dialog to reach 100%.
4. Inspect the Information pane. A clean rebuild reports Compile finished without errors. If the linker error reappears, the cache is not the source of the fault (RC1 ruled out, continue to RC2).

6. Solution Procedure B — Delete the IM (Intermediate) Folder

When the project path contains the HMI compiler's intermediate files, deleting them forces a cold regeneration. This resolves RC2 (locked/stale IM cache).

Locating the IM folder

1. Right-click the HMI in the project tree → Properties → Path. Note the absolute project path, e.g. D:\Projects\Plant42\Plant42.ap13.
2. In Windows Explorer, navigate to the directory one level above the .ap13 file. You will find the working folder (same name as the archive, without extension) containing:

   Plant42\
     IM\                  <-- HMI intermediate (delete this)
     IM_EXT\              <-- HMI extended intermediate (delete this)
     Logs\
     SystemData\
     ...
   

3. For HMI projects the IM subtree typically contains sub-folders named after the HMI device, e.g. IM\HMI_3\. The exact naming follows the device name configured under Devices & Networks.

Safe deletion procedure

1. Open an elevated cmd.exe prompt.
2. Run the following (adjust the project path):

   cd /d "D:\Projects\Plant42\Plant42"
   attrib -r -s -h IM\*.* /S /D
   attrib -r -s -h IM_EXT\*.* /S /D
   rmdir /S /Q IM
   rmdir /S /Q IM_EXT

3. Re-launch TIA Portal V13, open the project, and repeat Software (Rebuild all) on the TP1900 device.

7. Solution Procedure C — Diagnose a Genuine Project Defect (RC3)

If both Solution A and Solution B fail, the project database itself contains an orphan value relation. Three field-proven diagnostics help you locate it without opening a support ticket.

7.1 Binary search by HMI scope

1. Make a working copy of the project (File → Archive → Save as archive).
2. Temporarily remove screens, faceplates, and scripts from the TP1900 in groups of 5–10 and re-compile after each removal. The smallest group that suppresses the error contains the orphan.
3. Within that group, export each screen to *.hmi via Right-click → Export to file and inspect the resulting XML for dangling references:

   <Relation Target="Tag_DB10.HMI_RecipeData[0]" Type="Property" />
   <!-- Target tag is missing from HMI tag table -->

7.2 Tag-table consistency check

Cross-reference the HMI tag table against the PLC tag list:

1. Open HMI tags → Show all tags.
2. Right-click the tag table header → Find → Cross-references.
3. Any tag whose only reference is from a value relation that points to a deleted PLC DB element is a candidate. Re-create the DB element, or re-bind the relation to a valid tag.

7.3 Project repair utility (TIA V13 SP1+)

TIA V13 SP1 ships an offline repair tool that scans and re-indexes orphan relations:

1. Close the project.
2. From the Windows Start menu, launch SIMATIC TIA Portal V13 SP1 → Project repair.
3. Point the wizard at the *.ap13 file and accept the default repair set (HMI relations, DB pointer map, alarm routing table).
4. Re-open the project and re-compile.

8. Solution Procedure D — Version Mismatch (RC4)

1. Select the TP1900 device in Devices & Networks.
2. In the Inspector, open Device version. The required baseline for TIA V13 is V13.0.1.0 (TP1900 Comfort panel image).
3. If the installed image is older, run Device → Update device version → V13.0.1.0 using the HSP (Hardware Support Package) distributed with TIA V13 Update 5 or later.
4. Recompile.

If the panel is locked to an older image because the physical TP1900 on the shop floor has not yet been updated, you may temporarily set the engineering target to the older image (right-click HMI → Change device / version) and recompile to confirm the error is image-driven.

9. Verification

After applying any of the procedures above, confirm the fix with the following checks before returning the project to production:

1. Clean compile: Right-click TP1900 → Compile → Software (Rebuild all) must complete with no Internal ERROR entries in the Information pane.
2. Image generation: Confirm that a *.img file is produced for the TP1900. Its file size for a typical mid-size project is between 6 MB and 22 MB. A size of 0 bytes is a strong indicator that the linker still failed silently.
3. Cross-reference integrity: From the menu bar, Tools → Cross-reference → Display. The cross-reference view should list every HMI tag exactly once as a target and at least once as a source (unless the tag is intentionally unused). Dangling entries with a red exclamation mark are unresolved relations.
4. Simulator download: Start → Run → RT Simulator. The TP1900 simulator should boot into the start screen within 25 seconds. Any popup containing "Reloader: data of a value object" indicates that the runtime — not just the compiler — still references a malformed relation; revisit RC3.
5. Panel download: Transfer the produced image via Online → HMI device maintenance → Download to device. A successful transfer ends with Transfer completed successfully in the Inspector log.

10. Escalation to Siemens Technical Support

If the error persists after all four procedures, treat the project as defective and prepare a Siemens support request.

Required information for the support ticket

Submit via the Siemens Industry Online Support portal under My Support → Support Request. The typical first-response SLA for a TIA V13 portal issue is two business days; if the project is on a paid support contract, a hotline callback is available 24/7.

11. Prevention & Best Practices

1. Always perform Software (Rebuild all) on the HMI after any cross-project copy/paste between HMI devices. The incremental compiler will not flag a value-relation mismatch until the next full HMI build.
2. Never store a TIA project on a sync-enabled cloud folder (OneDrive for Business, Dropbox, SharePoint). The IM cache is rewritten on every compile; sync clients that lock files mid-write are the most common source of locked-temp-file defects (RC2).
3. Add antivirus exclusions for the project directory and %LOCALAPPDATA%\Siemens\Automation\ to prevent on-access scanners from briefly taking a write lock on the IM files.
4. Standardize on one HMI image version across the project tree. A mixed fleet (e.g. one TP1900 at V13.0.1.0 and another at V12.0.0.0) will compile in V13, but linker errors surface intermittently when faceplates cross-reference each other.
5. Use the project repair utility (Section 7.3) as a quarterly maintenance task, especially on long-lived projects. It re-indexes the value-relation graph and is non-destructive.
6. Document every HMI version-downgrade in the change log. Downgrading a TP1900 image to a level older than the linker expects is a known cause of Linker: data of a value object ... is not the specified type with no apparent configuration change.

12. Related TIA Portal HMI Compile Errors

The following errors share the same root-cause family (incremental / IM / version mismatch) and are often confused with the linker fault described in this article:

Note that runtime errors in a S7-1200/S7-1500 program block (e.g. DB access out of range) are handled by the GET_ERROR / GET_ERROR_ID basic instructions described in the SIMATIC S7-1200 manual collection. They are unrelated to the HMI compile-time linker error but are sometimes invoked inside the same escalation procedure to add runtime diagnostics to faceplates that fail when bound to broken relations.

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