Tek WaveStar can't see NI-488.2 USB to GPIB but Explore GPIB can - any ideas on what might be the problem??

[DanNoreck]

Not sure if you can help but I'm trying to use Tek's Wavestar to get to my TDS220 scope. Installed NI's USB drivers for the NI-488.2 USB to GPIB and Explore GPIB can see the instrument fine. Wavestar can't.

Any ideas on what the problem might be? Just thought I'd ask ...

[AaronK]

Hi Dan,

Well obviously I can't say that I am familiar the Tek GPIB card, but I certainly can make some general suggestions for you. The first thing I would say is that the Tek card (unless they did some sort of hacking) will not let you see your devices in the Measurement and Automation eXplorer (MAX). That being said they might have some similar device, or at least a test program you could use.

Secondly check to see if the device shows up in the device manager. If this is where you are having trouble, try switching PCI slots (sometimes PCI ports on the other side of a PCI bridge do not support bus mastering which can cause problems).

Lastly you might consider trying to only have one driver installed at a time. It could be that the NI-488 driver
is somehow crowding out the Tek driver.

These are a few things to try. As I said, I am not really familar with their product, but these might get you going down the right road.

Hope this helps out Dan!

Best Regards,
Aaron K.
Application Engineer
National Instruments

[DanNoreck]

Aaron,

There is no TEK GPIB card plugged into the system. The only GPIB port is an NI-488.2 USB->GPIB device. The GPIB side is connected to a TDS220 Tektronix oscilloscope.

WaveStar is all software that is supplied by Tektronix to control and display the scope on your PC. It uses an installed GPIB referring in its documentation to NI GPIB interfaces. It appears, though, that the Tek Wavestar software doesn't know how to deal with you USB device.

I guess I'm just going to take measurements and write'em down.

Thanks for the response.

Dan

[NI-488.2 master]

Hi,

I remember someone had the same problem with the Tek's wavestar software with the GPIB-USB-A. In my recollection, the wavestar application is a 16-bit application. NI-488.2 for the GPIB-USB-A does not support 16-bit apps on any OS. NI-488.2 for Windows v2.0 does support 16-bit apps on Windows 2000 and XP, but does not support 16-bit apps on Windows 98/Me. I would reccomend using this software on a 2000/XP machine with NI's 2.0 driver.

Hope this helps!

[AaronK]

Hi Dan,

I guess I can't say too much about the wavestar program, but we do have instrument drivers available at www.ni.com/idnet that will allow you to control your instrument from LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, Visual C++, or Visual Basic.

Sorry I can't tell you more about the Wavestar Program.

Best Regards,
Aaron K.
Application Engineer
National Instruents