WinCC 7.3 Online Trend Control: Fix TABLE DOES NOT EXIST Error

WinCC 7.3 Online Trend Control: Fixing the TABLE DOES NOT EXIST Error After System Restart

The TABLE DOES NOT EXIST runtime error in WinCC V7.3 Online Trend Control is a startup-dependent fault that surfaces when the WinCC Explorer activates the runtime immediately after a Windows reboot. The same project subsequently opens correctly if the operator deactivates runtime, exits WinCC Explorer, restarts the project, and reactivates it. This article collects every documented root cause, the field-proven computer-name workaround, SQL Server commissioning checks, configuration-database repair paths, and a commissioning verification matrix so that control-room engineers can restore trend visibility without escalating every case to OEM support.

1. Problem Description

1.1 Symptoms at Runtime Startup

After a normal Windows shutdown/reboot, when the engineer activates the WinCC runtime the following behavior is observed:

• A modal dialog titled "WinCC OnlineTrendControl" with the text TABLE DOES NOT EXIST appears on every screen that hosts a WinCC OnlineTrendControl ActiveX control.
• The trend window pane renders as empty: no value axis ticks, no time axis, no archive data buffer.
• Tables configured beneath the trend curve (the data-window table view) likewise remain blank.
• Other WinCC runtime controls on the same screen (alarms, value inputs, buttons) continue working.
• After workaround: If the operator deactivates Runtime, closes WinCC Explorer fully, reopens WinCC Explorer, opens the same project, and re-activates Runtime, the trend control populates correctly and continues to do so until the next full system shutdown.

1.2 Why This Is a Cold-Start Defect

The defect only reproduces after a cold start — not after a warm restart of WinCC Explorer alone. This strongly indicates that a Windows-side subsystem required by the WinCC runtime is not yet in a ready state when WinCC attempts to instantiate its archive back-end. Once WinCC has successfully initialized once (and the underlying handle is held by an active process), subsequent activations in the same Windows session succeed.

2. Affected Versions and Configuration

3. Root Cause Analysis

3.1 Primary Cause: Configuration Database Read Failure at Activation

WinCC V7.3 stores trend control layouts, online configuration tables, archive tag assignments, and time-range presets in the project-specific configuration database (the file set opened by WinCC Explorer on activation). The dialog text TABLE DOES NOT EXIST is emitted by the WinCC OnlineTrendControl ActiveX when its internal query against the configuration database returns zero rows for the requested trend-view table.

When the SQL service backing the WinCC instance is either:

• still in the Starting state because the SQL Server service start-up dependency on the WinCC service has not resolved in time, or
• the WinCC instance (default WINCC in MSSQLSERVER) has been started under a non-LocalSystem account whose token lacks SeLockMemoryPrivilege for the configured tempdb path, or
• the configuration database primary file <Project>.mdf was placed on a network share that has not yet been reconnected post-reboot,

then the WinCC runtime begins activation before SQL Agent has marked the WinCC database as ONLINE. The Trend Control fires its open-table query and the SQL engine returns an empty result set rather than a delayed 0x80131904 — yielding the cryptic TABLE DOES NOT EXIST dialog.

3.2 Secondary Cause: Computer-Name Service Principal Name Mismatch

SQL Server authentication, when the WinCC project is configured for mixed-mode and uses the machine account to attach the configuration database, depends on the service principal name (SPN) MSSQLSvc/<FQDN>:<InstancePort> being registered against the SQL service account. After a Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 reboot the SQL SPN can be re-registered under a stale machine name, especially when the Windows computer name was changed previously via the Computer properties dialog and the SQL Server service was never restarted afterwards.

This explains the field-proven workaround of renaming the computer. Changing the machine name forces sp_dropserver / sp_addserver operations during the next SQL service start cycle (or, more commonly, forces the WinCC project to re-resolve the SPN binding through NetBIOS announcements) and silently clears the stale principal. Renaming back is not required; a single rename cycle is usually enough.

3.3 Tertiary Cause: Configuration Database Corruption

Hard power-loss or a WinCC process killed during a write into ConfigDatabase.mdf can leave the trend-config tables in a torn state. In this case TABLE DOES NOT EXIST reappears immediately on next activation regardless of how many warm-restart cycles are performed on WinCC Explorer.

4. Diagnostic Procedure

Execute the following checks in order. Each one is independent and resolves a distinct subset of cases.

4.1 Validate the Underlying SQL Instance Health

1. Open SQL Server Configuration Manager and confirm that SQL Server (WINCC) service state is Running with Start Type = Automatic.
2. Switch to SQL Server Services pane and double-click SQL Server (WINCC). On the Advanced tab, read Startup Parameters. The default is -dC:\SQL\WINCC\DATA\master.mdf -eC:\SQL\WINCC\Log\ERRORLOG -lC:\SQL\WINCC\DATA\mastlog.ldf.
3. Inspect ERRORLOG (the file located in the path above). Search for:

   FCB::Open failed: Could not open file C:\SQL\WINCC\DATA\<ProjectDB>_RT.mdf
   Recovery is writing a checkpoint in database '<ProjectDB>_RT'
   Database '<ProjectDB>_RT' cannot be opened. It is in the middle of a restore.

4. If you see in the middle of a restore or Recovery is writing a checkpoint lines that have not been completed, the SQL instance is the bottleneck and is the right place to start.

4.2 Force SQL Service Dependency on WinCC SysTray Service

1. In regedit, navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SQLAgent$WINCC.
2. Create / modify the multi-string value DependOnService and add both:

   MSSQL$WINCC
   RPCSS
   EventSystem

3. Navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinCC_<ProjectName> and ensure DependOnService contains SQLAgent$WINCC and MSSQL$WINCC. The WinCC installer normally writes these keys; missing values are caused by custom service-account changes.
4. Reboot and re-test.

4.3 Test with a New Minimal Project

1. In WinCC Explorer choose File → New. Accept the wizard defaults and create C:\Projects\TestTrend.
2. Insert a single OnlineTrendControl on the start screen, configure one tag, and save.
3. Reboot. Activate the test project runtime and verify trend visibility.

If the new project exhibits the same defect, the WinCC installation is the suspect, not the project. Skip ahead to §5.4. If the new project works correctly, the original project database is corrupt — proceed to §5.5.

5. Solutions

5.1 Solution A — Computer Rename Workaround (Field-Proven)

The fastest restore procedure, confirmed by multiple WinCC V7.3 sites:

1. Open Control Panel → System and Security → System → Computer Name/Domain Changes.
2. Click Change… and modify the computer name. Example: from USERPC1 to USERPC2. The change requires a single reboot.
3. During the reboot, Windows rebuilds the NetBIOS browse list and re-registers the SQL SPN under the new machine name. The WinCC configuration database is automatically relocated and re-bound on the next activation.
4. After the reboot, activate the WinCC runtime once. Verify the trend control populates.

5.2 Solution B — Delay the WinCC Runtime Activation

If renaming is operationally blocked (audit trails, GAMP5 controls):

1. Disable the WinCC autostart shortcut from C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.
2. Create a scheduled task with the following parameters:

   Program:   C:\Program Files (x86)\Siemens\Automation\WinCC\bin\WinCCExplorer.exe
   Argument:  C:\Projects\<ProjectName>.mcp /activ
   Trigger:   At startup, delay 90 seconds, repeat every 1 minute up to 5 attempts
   Run as:    <domain\user> with Log on as batch job right

This injects a 90-second warm-up so that the SQL instance has time to complete recovery on the WinCC configuration database before WinCC opens the configuration.

5.3 Solution C — Force Database Recovery on SQL Startup

1. Stop SQL Server (WINCC) in SQL Server Configuration Manager.
2. From an elevated command prompt run:

   NET START "SQL Server (WINCC)" /f /m /T3608 /T3419

   • /f — minimal configuration (no WinCC connection attempts).
   • /m — single-user mode.
   • /T3608 — skip recovery on every database except master.
   • /T3419 — permit recovery with RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE.
3. In sqlcmd execute against the WinCC instance:

   ALTER DATABASE [<ProjectDB>_RT] SET EMERGENCY;
   DBCC CHECKDB ('<ProjectDB>_RT', REPAIR_REBUILD) WITH NO_INFOMSGS;
   ALTER DATABASE [<ProjectDB>_RT] SET ONLINE;

4. Restart the SQL service normally, then reboot.

5.4 Solution D — Repair / Reinstall the WinCC Installation

1. Run Setup.exe /Repair from the WinCC V7.3 installation medium.
2. The repair operation rebuilds the WinCC Runtime ActiveX (OnlineTrendControl.OCX) and restores registry bindings for HKCR\CLSID\{275E2D2E-...} which is the OnlineTrendControl class ID referenced by the trend control ActiveX wrapper.
3. Reboot twice — the first reboot finalizes registration; the second is the verification cycle.

5.5 Solution E — Project Database Reconstruction

When the project, not the installation, is the source of the corruption:

1. Locate the configuration backup created by the WinCC Project Duplicator:
   C:\Program Files (x86)\Siemens\Automation\WinCC\ProjectDuplicator\<Project>\*.zip.
2. Extract the archive to a fresh <NewProject> directory.
3. Open \\<NewProject>\<Project>.mcp in WinCC Explorer and run Project → Migrate if migrating across service packs.
4. Re-import graphics. The Trend Control configuration tables will be re-created on first save.

6. Preventive Configuration

• Change SQL Server (WINCC) Start Type from Automatic (Delayed Start) to Automatic — this shifts the startup so that the WinCC service waits for SQL recovery before it begins its database attach.
• Set the WinCC project's Computer Properties → Startup parameter Activate Runtime to no, and use a startup script that calls DMActivateRT() only after confirming the archive back-end is healthy. A minimal C-action verifying OnError is 0 on DMGetRuntimeStatus prevents the trend dialog from being shown if the database is still preparing.
• Mount the configuration database .mdf/.ldf pair on local disk only. UNC paths to NAS shares introduce reconnect delays of 5–20 seconds that mimic the cold-start defect.
• Disable Windows Fast Startup. Hybrid shutdown persists Service Control Manager handles across boots and is known to leave SQL service in a Stop-Pending state.

7. Verification

8. Comparison: WinCC V7.3 Trend Control vs. WinCC Unified Trend Control

Engineers planning upgrades should note that the runtime model differs significantly. The Siemens documentation for the Trend Control (RT Unified) states that WinCC Unified exposes a script-driven interface in which a VB / C / JavaScript function can manually populate the trend with array data sourced from an external HMI tag, bypassing the SQL configuration database entirely. Because Unified holds its runtime configuration in the TIA Portal project and not in a separate MSSQL instance, the cold-start defect described in this article does not have a direct Unified equivalent. Migrating to Unified is therefore the long-term resolution path, but it requires re-engineering of the trend views because the configuration database tables for layouts, time-range presets, and value columns are not backward-compatible.

9. Troubleshooting Matrix

10. Field-Proven Variant: Trend Table Column Width 0

Some operators report that the TABLE DOES NOT EXIST dialog is followed by a fully empty trend area even though the underlying archive contains values. In almost every report the cause is a column-width reset: the OnlineTrendControl stores its column widths in the same configuration database table that fails to materialize. After the workaround in §5.1, run Online → Configuration Dialog → Axes → Columns and double-click each column to reset the width to auto. This step is required because the toggle from the empty state to the populated state does not auto-restore column widths.

11. Frequently Asked Questions