USB-8451 shows up as a RS-485 COM port

[Martin.Griffiths]

Hi, 

A system I've been working on for about 6 months has just had a strange problem... I set up a USB-8451 device in MAX with a VISA alias, and was able to use it for the last few months without any problems.

Last week I noticed errors when the device was called in LabVIEW, so I checked its configuration in MAX. It is now identified as a RS-485 COM port, not as a USB device.

It is also identified in Windows (Vista) Device Manager as a COM port:

I'm working remotely from the system at the moment, so all I've tried doing is un-installing and reinstalling the device in Device Manager. I was thinking next of getting someone on site to disconnect the card, remove it from MAX then try again.

Any others suggestions?

Thanks, 

Martin

[Ashish_Naik_NIUK]

Hi Martin,

Thanks for using the forums!!

I am wondering if there is an issue/corruption with the onboard firmware. One thing you can check remotely is the vendor id etc. If you go to device manager, the NI device >> right click and go to properties.. On the details tab, go to Hardware Ids. Can you list/screenshot the data from there please? 

Also please check the driver is up to date ( http://joule.ni.com/nidu/cds/view/p/id/2041/lang/en )

Let us know how you get on!

Ash

Hi Martin,
Thanks for using the forums!!

I am wondering if there is an issue/corruption with the onboard firmware. One thing you can check remotely is the vendor id etc. If you go to device manager, the NI device >> right click and go to properties.. On the details tab, go to Hardware Ids. Can you list/screenshot the data from there please? 
Also please check the driver is up to date ( NI-845x 1.1.4 - Windows 7 64 bit/7 x86/XP/Vista x86/Vista x64 )

Let us know how you get on!
Ash

[Ashish_Naik_NIUK]

Hi Martin,

I was just wondering how you were getting on with the issue.

Take care,

Ashish

[JasonSmith · Accepted solution]

Are you sure you don't have a USB-485 device attached to the system in addition to the USB-8451? In order for NI-Serial to recognize a device as a a USB-485, it would have to be able to successfully load the USB-485 firmware to the device and communicate properly with it. The USB-485 and USB-8451 are very different hardware architectures, so I would find this to be very unlikely.

-Jason S.

[Martin.Griffiths]

Hi All, 

Thanks for your replies, I've been a while getting back because my guy on site has been on holiday.

It seems there was an RS-485 port in the system, and that the USB-8451 had been disconnected. Simple as that!

Thanks again.

Martin