I lost communications using Perkin Elmer 4100 AAS and NI GPIB....

[mariosapm]

I have this PE atomic absorption instrument which communicates with a windows loaded pc and a NI GPIB card. While I was measuring some samples, I noticed in winlab (the software) that it was not proceeding to the next steps of analysis. I rebooted and ever since the software states that there is an error in IEEE communication.

I tried a different cable. Nothing.

I tried my older hard drive with an older state of windows installed. Still the same.

Do you people have any ideas do things I should be trying to troubleshoot?

Is it common for such a card to go bad? Its diagnostic software by NI tells me it is fine.

Any suggestions?

[Albert.Geven]

Hi

Maybe the gpib is correct but the winlab software maybe lost track of the interface.

Try to initialise the program again, check the manual what should be done  for gpib.

[mariosapm]

Hi,

thanks for the suggestion. As I said in my original post, I have two different hard drives I connect to the same pc both with different installations of Winlab. Both of those installations are almost the same. Could they have lost track of the GPIB card simultaneously?

The Winlab software has a re-set IEEE function, but now that it doesn't communicate, it freezes before it loads up and I cannot really access that. 😞

[Dennis_Knutson]

You should have MAX on the pc and could try communicating from there. Unless the hard drives are your windows disk and where the GPIB driver is, reinstall NI-488.2. It could be the pci slot or the card. Move to another slot and if you have a spare GPIB card, swap that out.

[mariosapm]

Well, I don't really know where I can download MAX to try it out!

The driver is on the hard drives so indeed no point in re-installing.

However changing the PCI slot is an option to explore. I don't have a spare GPIB card. Only an HPIB card which is not supported in NT windows environment in which WINLAB runs exclusively...

The NI card has a diagnostic software installed, and according to it, it is functioning properly. Also there is a program called NI SPY which I cannot really figure out easily.

[Dennis_Knutson]

Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX) is the diagnostic/configuration utility that comes with NI-488.2 software. Perhaps your installation is to old for it?

What version of NI-488.2 are you running and which NI GPIB controller are you using?

[mariosapm]

Yes my installation is from 1999-2000 so it is probably too old for this software. My card is a 488.2 that has 1998 stamped on it. Is there a way I can get this software for my card somewhere?

After a few hours of intense troubleshooting and swapping the PCI card between a fews slots, it worked when put back in its original place...

So it seems all is back to normal... Hopefully this is not necessarily a sign that my card is going bad..

Is it a good idea to use contact cleaner on the PCI and GPIB contacts?

[Albert.Geven]

contactclener sometimes makes it worse, simply cleaning with a clean cloth or piece of paper is better.

[mariosapm]

thanks for your interest guys!!!

[mariosapm]

Apparently the fix was random. Started doing the same thing again..

The problem is that I cannot come to safe conclusions because the behavior was always changing.

Re-setting the instrument and the pc sometimes did the trick but not always...

The diagnostic still shows that the card is ok. But should I trust the diagnostic?

I cannot determine really where the problem lies here. PCI slot, PCI card or instrument...