Fieldbus CM does not see PCMCIA interface

[vpmeister]

Just installed NI_FBUS CM version 3.1 on Win2000. I do not see the NIFB item in the NIFBUS program group as described in the documentation and the CM does not see the interface. I went through the installation of the software, Found new hardware, and enabled the device. Still no luck. The port is configured as Bus Master and there are no other devices on the FB network.

[fieldbus]

After NI-FBUS CM 3.0 installed, the NIFB item should be in the NI-FBUS program group as described in the documentation. But if you forget to close the NIFB when you uninstall the previous version of NI-FBUS, it might cause you have such problem. In that case, probably you need to close all NI-FBUS programs, and reinstall it (uninstall first).

When you say the CM can not see the interface, is there any error message?

[vpmeister]

This was a brand new install. There was no CM 3.0 on the machine before. The error message from the CM is "Unable to initialize interface: board 0, port 0. Click OK to continue with startup, or CANCEL to exit." If I click OK, I get another dialog. NI-FBUS cannot access the Fieldbus because it could not locate any usable Fieldbus interfaces. Click OK to exit." I click OK, and it exits.
More information: In the configuration utility, the Type is PCMCIA (good), the Base Address is FFBFC000, and the IRQ is 10. The Polled Mode is checked. The board is enabled. The Port0 is configured as
Interface Name: interface0
Device Tag: Jupiter
Device Address: 0x10, fixed
Device Type: Link Master Device
Usage: NI-FBUS

If I go to the Device Manager, I
see the PCMCIA-FBUS(Series 2) entry for the card. The Device Manager thinks the device is working properly. The Interrupt Request is 10, the Memory Range is FFBFC000-FFBFDFFF. The Driver Version is 3.1.0.4003. However, when I show the hidden devices, there is no nifb device. All of the documentation seems to be about version 3.0. There was something about a new WDM driver in the release notes for version 3.1, so I don't know if that means I should not expect to see the nifb device in the list. When I try to do a "NET STOP nifb" , I get a message that says, "The requested pause or stop is not valid for this service".

Any more ideas?

[fieldbus]

The settings looks good, but I suggest you check whether there is any conflict/sharing in hardware resource, especially IRQ conflict/sharing with the Cardbus Controller.

The driver version is 3.1.0.4003, and you can check its file version from "WINNT\System32\Drivers\Nifb.sys", the correct driver has file version 3.1.0.4023.

On the other hand, you can check NI-FBUS registry entry, you will find the registry items from "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Nifb". You can export it to a registry file, and I suggest you send it to "fieldbus.support@ni.com" for further support.

[vpmeister]

I made a mistake about the version number before. The Driver Details panel of the Device Manager does report the version of the driver as 3.1.0.4023. There are no conflicts as reported by the Device Manager. I have sent the registry tree to the fieldbus.support e-mail address. I downloaded the version 3.0 of the CM last night. I plan to uninstall the 3.1 version today and try the 3.0 version.

I built the sample program from nifbtest.c. When I run it, it complains with "Open session failed.\nHit a key to exit".

[vpmeister]

I am now trying version 3.0 of the CM. Still the same results.

Clarification of previous version data: On Win2000, in the device manager, if you right click on the card, then choose properties, you get the dialog with General, Information, Driver, and Resources tabs. When I choose Driver, I get a panel that describes the Driver version as 3.1.0.4003. (Even now that I have installed CM 3.0, I still get that same number). This was the number I reported earlier. However, if you click the "Driver Details..." button on that page, then you get the details for the Driver files themselves--in this case %SYSTEMROOT%\System32\Drivers\nifb.sys. The version information for _that_ file is 3,0,0,313 for the CM 3.0 and the previously reported
3,1,0,4023 when the CM 3.1 is installed. One curious thing, when I click the Driver tab, it takea a while (20-30 secs) for the information to be displayed on the screen. Almost like it takes a long time to communicate with the driver to get the info.

Do I need to import the nifb device description file using the interface configuration utility before the CM will see the board? I tried that anyway with no luck (but have not rebooted yet)...OK, I just rebooted--same results.

[fieldbus]

As I know, the new PCMCIA-FBUS Series 2 card only works with NI-FBUS 3.1 version, so you can not make it work with 3.0 version.

And you have to start NI-FBUS CM, otherwise your example will not run. Because the applications have to call through NI-FBUS CM.

The "nifb" DD files are FF standard DD files, you don't need to import it, this problem should have nothing to do with DD files.

Maybe you can try the Series 2 card on another laptop.

[vpmeister]

This issue has been resolved. After working with NI support, we tried a replacement PCMCIA card. The second one worked right out of the box like expected.