Issues with Prologix GPIB to Ethernet not being recognized by MAX

[SunshineDesign]

My client has a Prologix GPIB to Ethernet interface and MAX does not recognize it. Anyone deal with this? Labview 2012 SP1 and latest Prologix drivers.

[Dennis_Knutson]

MAX is not supposed to recognize it as a GPIB controller because it's not an NI controller. It's not s standard GPIB controller of any sort.

[SunshineDesign]

Understood Dennis, but MAX is not recognizin it on the Network devices either. I would expect it to show up there. We are installing the latest driver now and will check it again. I am not sure if this is first test on Windows 8, but I presme it might be. Client is over the "pond" so I am remoting to them.

[Dennis_Knutson]

It shouldn't be a network device in MAX either, I believe. Is it listed in Windows device manager as a nic?

[SunshineDesign]

Prologix driver is not Labview compatible and you have to manually enter the network device by IP Address and Port number. But even after this and then seeing a "good" network configuration/connection in Max the device would not response to IDN? with the Visa Tools Input/Output utility. I have contacted Prologix to see if their latest driver they have on the website dated May13, 2013 is windows 8 compatible. So bottom line is it does show up under the Network in MAX....

[Dennis_Knutson]

You forced a connection but that does not mean to much, in my opinion. As the web site states, you have to use TCP/IP functions and that means you cannot use VISA functions in an instrument driver without extensive modifications. This is not any different than their usb to GPIB. I concluded a long time ago that this device was suitable for hobbyist or student use only. The time required to modify existing drivers more than offsets the small price difference between this and VISA compatible devices from NI, Agilent, and others.

[SunshineDesign]

Thanks Dennis I was wondering about it's compatability with Labview. their manual and website are very thin on information. I emailed them to see if they can help, but already adviced my client to pick known good interfaces like NI GPIB-USB for solid connectivity. Just not worth the time to try a save a couple bucks to have these kinds of issues.

[SunshineDesign]

The client was able to finally resolve the issue. The issue was a bad router and also Windows 8 setting for Network Discovery being on. This was causing lots of IP comm issues. They swapped out the bad router and also set Windows 8 network Discovery to off and the issue cleared up and they were able to connect to and read the power meter.