NI-488.2 v2.3 mac os x installation failing

[tdaverett]

I am trying to install NI-488.2 v2.3 for Mac OS X v10.4.1. I install the package, which wants to reboot. Once rebooted, I get two error messages saying that

/Library/StartupItems/nipal
/Library/StartupItems/coldplugenum

don't have the proper permissions. Upon inspection, these symbolic links and the files they point to don't have the proper permission (or group). According to Apple's online help, for items in the /Library/StartupItems folder:

"Directories and executable files should have permissions of "0755," with the owner set to "root" and group set to "wheel." Other (non-executable) files should have permissions of "0644," with the owner set to "root" and group set to "wheel.""

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300962

I changed these links and files accordingly (and also some of the parent directories for these files). The message about permissions is not coming up anymore, but when I try to run the NI-488.2 troubleshooter, it says NI-488.2 isn't installed correctly and must be re-installed. I have tried putting these two files directly into /Library/StartupItems, but no luck. I must have installed this software 20 times with no luck. I tried installing as root user too, but same trouble.

Any ideas? Is this a new problem with Tiger?

Thanks,
Todd

Message Edited by tdaverett on 05-17-2005 11:37 PM

Message Edited by tdaverett on 05-17-2005 11:37 PM

[ScottieB]

Todd,

Tiger was release after our NI-488.2 driver was, and so we were not able to test on the final release version of Tiger. We have since made some changes to an underlying NI driver that should fix this. I know it sounds weird, but loading NI-VISA 3.3 for Mac OS X will upgrade this driver and may get everything working. Depending on how much you've modified your NI-488.2 install, you may need to follow the uninstallation steps to start fresh with NI-488.2. 

Please report back here, I'm interested to know if this fixed your problem.

Scott B.
GPIB Software
National Instruments

Message Edited by ScottieB on 05-18-2005 09:15 AM

[ScottieB]

I'd like to add one more step to adding VISA 3.3 to Tiger...after you've installed NI-488.2 v2.3 followed by VISA 3.3, at a terminal, run this command:

/Library/Receipts/nivisaruntimei.pkg/Contents/Resources/palModuleMgr.sh -i -t userDaemon -s boot /Library/Frameworks/coldplugenum.framework

Let me know.

Thanks,
Scott B.
GPIB Software
National Instruments

[tdaverett]

Dear Scott,

We are making progress. We successfully installed NI-488.2 v2.3 for Mac OS X, followed by NI-VISA v3.3. The command that you requested we run after installing failed on removing the coldplugenum directory because it was a symbolic link and also the directory wasn't empty.

/Library/Receipts/nivisaruntimei.pkg/Contents/Resources/palModuleMgr.sh -i -t userDaemon -s boot /Library/Frameworks/coldplugenum.framework

We deleted these ourselves and re-ran the command with no errors. The troubleshooting wizard said the NI-488.2 was installed and the PCI-GPIB card was detected. However, the firmware needed updating. We ran the firmware update package and it said the package failed to run properly and try again. But now, the NI-488.2 folder is completely gone. Suggestions? The chip on my card is a TNT4882C-BQ and there is a sticker on it which says 183617G-01.

Thanks for all of your help this far,
Todd

P.S. The link you gave for the uninstall instructions was not correct, but we have the correct instructions from your website already. You might just want to update your previous post for others.

[ScottieB]

I'm very confused by the firmware update apparently deleting the NI-488.2 folder...Weren't you running the firmware update from that folder itself? I've never seen anything like that behavior. Did VISA 3.3 survive, and is it still on the system?? Does NI-488.2 appear to be completely gone?

Since we know that you're going to have to update the firmware, let's get that out of the way first. If you have a 10.3 machine around, could you do the firmware update on that machine? It's a sure thing on that machine, and then we can move along trying to get the rest of it working.

Sounds like you'll have to reinstall NI-488.2 again. Once you do that and update the firmware on the card in the 10.3 machine, let me know where we stand.

Thanks,
Scott B.
National Instruments
GPIB Software

[tdaverett]

Dear Scott,

We are exasperated. I followed the uninstall instructions for NI-488.2 and for NI-VISA and removed the PCI-GPIB card. Note that for the NI-488.2 uninstall, most of the items we were supposed to delete weren't there. I reinstalled the two above, then ran that extra command you suggested which gave lots of error messages about files and directories not existing. The troubleshooting wizard says NI-488.2 is not installed correctly again.

I don't have another machine to upgrade the firmware on the PCI-GPIB card as it came out of an old W98 PC. It is a card from 1998. So, having nothing to lose, I inserted the card and tried to upgrade the firmware again on the Mac. It again deleted NI-488.2 and most of the stuff it installs. So, we are currently nowhere further along. I suspect that this firmware update made a real mess of something and now we once again can't install NI-488.2 correctly.

At this point, I am willing to purchase a new card if needed, but not unless I know it will solve these problems. Seems that we need to get NI-488.2 working consistently first.

Thanks,
Todd

[ScottieB]

Todd,

Thanks for your continued patience. I'm tracking down a copy of Tiger right now and will be trying to follow along your path to see what's going wrong. Bear with me, and let me know any other information if you have it. I'll keep you posted.

Scott B.
GPIB Software
National Instruments

[tdaverett]

Hi Scottie,

No problem, we appreciate all of your help. If I can suggest: We are definitely using an old card (ca. 1998) not originally meant for a Mac. So, it is no surprise that it is failing on the firmware update. But, I am not sure why, after successfully installing NI-488.2 and NI-VISA the first time, it failed the next time. My guess at the best solution is to be able to consistently get NI-488.2 installed and happy and then decide whether a new card is needed. We will wait to hear from you.

Regards,
Todd

[ScottieB]

Todd,

An update this morning: the firmware update is not going to work on Tiger. I saw your same behavior. I'll be writing a knowledgebase article on this behavior and will post the link when all is finished. I will continue working with you to get the driver itself up and going, but you'll need to either run the firmware update on another machine or find another card that doesn't require the update. If you have a Windows 98 machine around, I believe we have a utility for running the update to the PCI-GPIB card on that OS as well:

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/862567530005F0A1862569E000057C32

I'll be playing with the driver for a while today and hope to have a list of steps that will ensure proper installation. It seems that you've already gotten to that point, but your problem was the failing firmware update, which we now know isn't going to work in Tiger.

Scott B.
GPIB Software
National Instruments

[tdaverett]

Hi Scottie,

I will try the firmware update on our W98 machine (I thought I was done with that dinosaur!!). But, as you might recall, after failing the firmware update and trying to un-install and re-install NI-488.2, it failed as evidenced by the troubleshooting wizard. So, though I had succeeded before with the install, it seems that I was unable to do it again after the firmware update failed. We are looking forward to your updated installation instructions. Thanks so much for all of the prompt help.

Regards,
Todd