TKDS50XX driver waveform acquisition fails

[DGM]

I am using the TKDS50XX IVI driver under LabView 7.0. Cannot get it to retrieve a waveform from a TDS3052B using supplied "tkds30xx Getting Started.vi" front panel. Driver communicates with instrument, resetting and setting up trigger level etc, but does not retrieve waveform. Tried increasing timeout to no effect. Get following error: "Error -1073807339 occurred at tkds30xx Read Waveform.vi. Possible reason(s): Driver Status: (Hex 0xBFFF0015) Timeout expired before operation completed. Primary Error: (Hex 0xBFFA2003) Maximum time exceeded before the operation completed." Can retrieve waveform using non-IVI driver. Anyone seen this/have a solution?

[AdamKemp]

I've tried this with my tktds 3054B scope and it worked for me (using the probe comp square wave output from the scope as an input). If your signal is different, try changing the range settings on the Getting Started front panel. If your range and trigger level settings aren't suitable for your signal then the waveform acquisition will time out. The trigger setting is especially important, because there must be a trigger before a waveform can be acquired.

[DGM]

I too am using the probe comp square wave as a source. I can set the FP parameters such that I get a captured waveform displayed on the instrument screen, but never get the corresponding data back to the IVI driver. Any thoughts?

[AdamKemp]

When did you download the driver? There may have been an update at some point. I just downloaded it today.

Also, if the instrument is set to the "Auto (Untriggered Roll)" run mode, then it is possible that you will see a waveform on the instrument's display even if a trigger event has not occurred. In that case, the acquire waveform VI will timeout. Try running the VI and then on your instrument change the trigger run mode to "Normal" and see if you're still getting triggers. If not, adjust the trigger level until you do get triggers and then set the trigger level control on your front panel to that value.

I hope that helps.

[DGM]

Thanks for the suggestions and for your time. Still no progress though: driver is straight off the website; trigger run mode makes no difference; trigger level on front panel is correct for waveform. Do not have this problem with the corresponding Getting Started example of the tktds3k non-IVI driver run under identical setup. Only potential issue I can see is that the instrument is plugged into a remote GPIB-ENET/100 rather than direct through a PC card. Bit of a mystery really!

[Ray K]

Hello,
You wrote that you are using the TKDS50XX IVI driver. That driver does not support the TDS3052B. Assuming that the driver name was a typo and you are downloading Tektronix TDS 30xx LabVIEW Certified Plug and Play Instrument Driver and Tektronix TDS 30xx Multi-Environment Certified IVI Instrument Driver you can try running NI-Spy in the background while using both drivers.

NI Spy Tutorial

In spy, you can go to spy>>options>>View selections, you can choose to only display NI-488.2
calls. Once you get captures from both drivers you can see what messages are actually being sent over the bus with each driver.

Message Edited by Molly K on 02-18-2005 11:12 PM

[DGM]

It was a typo: meant the TKDS30XX driver as you surmised. NI-Spy gives the attached captures for the IVI and VXIPnP drivers. It looks like the IVI driver does not get as far as asking for the waveform (it seems to get a timeout error waiting for completion after setting the acquisition mode to RUN).

[Ray K]

The error in the capture is timeout error while waiting for an SRQ. The timeout set by the driver is 5 seconds. If you perform the same operation on the instrument manually, does it take more than 5 seconds? If so, how long does it take?

Note that the PnP driver does not use SRQs, And it also uses a timeout of 10 seconds.

[DGM]

The operation takes substantially less than 5 seconds (it's practically instantaneous) when performed manually. Upped the timeout to 60 seconds with identical result, as shown in attachment.

[Ray K]

If you don't have a GPIB analyzer, try attaching a scope/dmm to the SRQ line to see what value the line has during that timeout period. (The SRQ line is pin 10 and ground is Pin 24.) <0.8V is asserted. If the line is asserted, then something is wrong with the GPIB card/driver. If it is unasserted something is wrong with your instrument or cables (ie SRQ line is not connected). Please post captures with VISA unchecked, so only the NI-488.2 calls are captured.

As a side note, your last spy capture does show the wait on event waiting 60 sec, however, I can't find the driver call where you set that value. When I look at the previous SetAttribute calls, all I find is a timeout of 5 seconds being set on line 3. Do you have
any idea why?