Launching NI-DCPower SFP fails and leaves behind dcpowerSFP_Launcher.vi

[awooster]

We have a PXI-8820 controller running in a PXIe-1075 chassis.  Installed are the following pieces of hardware:

PXI-4130 (x2), PXI-4110, PXI-GPIB, PXI-4065, and PXIe-2529

When attempting to run the NI-DCPower soft front panel, rather than launching, the following VI pops up off-screen (when pressing the run arrow on this VI, it disappears and then comes back off-screen again):

We have uninstalled and reinstalled ALL NI software from this machine, and the issue persists.  During debug of this issue, I also discovered that the NI-DMM SFP cannot be run either, and results in the following error when trying to run from the start menu:

When trying to run the NI-DMM SFP from MAX by right-clicking on the NI-4065 and selecting "Test Panels", the following error is returned:

In this same system, the NI-Switch Soft Front Panel can be run with no issues.  The system now has a fresh install of NI-DMM 14.0, NI-DCPower 14.0, LabVIEW 2014 SP1, etc.  I'd like to avoid doing a restore on this controller if at all possible, are there any other options?

[benthere]

Hi Awooster, I was doing some digging into what could be cuasing these errors and everything seems to point to an issue with the drivers. I understand you did clean installes of NI software already, so it is off that this is still happening. One troublehooting step I did find is to install the software BEFORE plugging the card in. It sounds like a long shot, but I think it would be worth a try. 

Also, has this worked before and this just started or is this the first time you are using this equipment? What version of PXI Platform Services do you have?

[awooster]

Ben,

This is a PXI chassis that we've been using for quite some time, including usage of the NI-DCPower SFP.  There is nothing noteworthy we can recall that would have introduced this problem (i.e. it worked one day, and the next day it didn't).  If your recommended solution is to reinstall the drivers again, I'd rather just wipe the whole system and start from scratch (this is not my preferred solution).

PXI Platform Services 14.0 is running on this system, since it was a fresh install with everything else.

-Andrew

[benthere]

Hi Andrew,

I am looking into other possible solutions so you do not have to start from scratch. I found someone how had a similar issue, and they ended up reformatting their computer to get everything working. The suspected cause of the error was the dcpower_32.dll being somewhere that SFP could not locate. Try searching for this dll in C:\Program Files (x86)\IVI Foundation\IVI\Bin. 

Another option is a force reinstall of the driver. It is slightly different from uninstalling and reinstalling and I have seen it fix issues that reinstalling did not. I suggest you just do force reinstall on NI-DMM, so it should be quicker than starting over. http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/ADD22E807D5A12AD862579EC00760F79

[awooster]

Ben,

I was able to find nidcpower_32.dll in C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\IVI\Bin, but there is no dcpower_32.dll (I presume nidcpower_32.dll is what you meant).

I just completed a force reinstall of the driver per the KB, but the same behavior persists.

Thanks,

Andrew

[kirsch]

Hello,

• Is this a 32-bit or 64-bit OS?
• If 64-bit, is LabVIEW 32-bit or 64-bit?
• In MAX, does self test pass for your NI-DCPower devices?
• Can you run any examples for your NI-DCPower devices in LabVIEW?
• In MAX, does self test pass for your NI-DMM device?
• Can you run any examples for your NI-DMM devices in LabVIEW?

[awooster]

Marcos,

Thanks for the reply, here's the answers to your questions in red:

• Is this a 32-bit or 64-bit OS? 32-bit
• If 64-bit, is LabVIEW 32-bit or 64-bit? N/A
• In MAX, does self test pass for your NI-DCPower devices? Yes, self-test completes successfully for all installed NI-DCPower devices.
• Can you run any examples for your NI-DCPower devices in LabVIEW? No, but there's some interesting observations when trying to do this.  When attempting to open a shipping example (I opened "NI-DCPower Source DC Voltage.vi"), the following window pops up and LabVIEW scans for nidcpower_32.dll:

I clicked on "Browse..." and located the file in C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\IVI\Bin.  The VI then loads successfully, but none of the device names for my 3 NI-DCPower devices populate in the "Resource Name" front panel control.  I reattempted launching the NI-DCPower SFP at this point, but still got the same failure that prompted this forum thread.

• In MAX, does self test pass for your NI-DMM device? No, the following error is returned:

"The self test failed.
-50251
NI Platform Services: The specified software component is not available. The component was not loaded."

• Can you run any examples for your NI-DMM devices in LabVIEW? No, and the observations were similar to that of trying to run a DCPower shipping example.  The following window appeared:

I manually located nidmm_32.dll in C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\IVI\Bin, and the VI loads.  Just as in the case of DCPower, the NI-4065 device name does not populate in the "Device Name" front panel control.

[kirsch]

So it appears the DLLs aren't being found. I wonder if the IVI directory is missing from the system's Path environment variable.

Go to (Win7):

Start -> Computer -> Properties -> Advanced System Settings -> Environment Variables -> System Variables -> Path -> Edit...

and paste the contents of Variable Value here. I expect to see C:\Program Files (x86)\IVI Foundation\VISA\WinNT\Bin\;C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\VISA\Win64\Bin\ somewhere in there.

[awooster]

Marcos,

Here's the value for the Path environment variable on this system:

C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath;
C:\Python27\;
C:\Python27\Scripts;
c:\Program Files\Intel\iCLS Client\;
%SystemRoot%\system32;
%SystemRoot%;
%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;
%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;
C:\Program Files\Intel\OpenCL SDK\2.0\bin\x86;
C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;
C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\IPT;
C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\IVI\bin
c:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\VISA\WinNT\Bin\;
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Acronis\SnapAPI\;
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\TypeScript\1.0\;
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\120\Tools\Binn\;
C:\Program Files\Atmel\Atmel Studio 6.2\atbackend;
C:\Program Files (x86)\Atmel\Atmel Studio 6.2\atbackend;
C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\VISA\WinNT\Bin

As you can see, I've highlighted the ones associated with IVI.  Since this is a 32-bit OS, the "Win64" entry is not there.  You'll notice one entry in there related to Atmel has "Program Files (x86)"; however, this system only has a "Program Files" directory.

I'm not sure why the C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\VISA\WinNT\Bin entry was duplicated.  I removed one of the duplicate entries to no avail.

[kirsch]

I'm just going to summarize the problem:

1. System cannot find nidcpower_32.dll nor nidmm_32.dll in the search path.
2. Both DLLs are in C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\IVI\bin as expected.
3. C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\IVI\bin is in the PATH environment variable, as expected.
4. In LabVIEW, if you open a VI referencing either DLL, LabVIEW cannot find it, prompts you to locate it, and after that everything works as expected.

I'm a bit stumped. Let me look around and talk to some people to see if they can come up with any ideas.