Unknown channel or repeated capability name - MAX IVI settings

[NDAL]

Hi Dave,

FGen1 is the logical that points to FGen which is the rsource descriptor for the old hp33120a device (that stopped working for some reason), as with DMM1 pointing to DMM. That hasn't been an issue in the past, ie it ran as is. Nothing has changed in the configuration apart from adding the new device driver ag3352x ('FGen2' as resource descriptor) and pointing the Fgen1 logical to it. Still, I'll try and see what happens.

Cheers

Nick

[aTammy]

Hi NDAL,

        Here's a workaround: Shorten the channel name string in driver session (See attached figure).

        Give it a try and if the problem remains, let me know.

Regards

Tammy               

[Anthony_F]

It looks like there is a communication problem with the device named FGEN.  If you look at it there is an exclamation point.  What is going on with this device?

[Lars_L]

Hey NDAL,

We've done some testing and found that the error that you are experiencing is indeed a bug in the software. We have fixed the bug and I believe that a new version of the driver will be released tomorrow or soon thereafter. The NI bug ID is 316063 for your reference. The issue stemmed from the code incorrectly requiring specific virtual names as mentioned by Tammy. Feel free to try testing out her workaround today or you can also wait until the updated version of the driver is released. Let us know if this does indeed end up fixing your issue.

As for the problems that you are having with the 33120a and the installer dialog that you mentioned seeing when running your TestStand sequence, feel free to post back with more details and we can try and troubleshoot those other issues.

Lars L

National Instruments

[NDAL]

Hi Lars,

Sorry guys for the late reply, been snowed in with other stuff at the moment and this is the first opportunity I've had to get back to it. Thanks for performing the tests. Unfortunatey the workaraound that Tammy suggested didn't work although it has changed the error to a time-out rather than the repeated capability name error. See attached. Any word on when the driver update will be released?

As for the installer dialogue, this pops up when launching TestStand (a few times where I need to cancel them, about 3), sometimes when editing a step/IVITool and most of the time when running a sequence. Also attached.

Regarding the hp3120a problems, the steps associated with the driver pass, but nothing actually happens.

To clarify for Anthony, the device FGen is the hp3120a that is now disabled. The FGen1 logical used to point to this but is now pointing to FGen2, which is enabled.

Cheers

Nick

[Anthony_F]

NDAL,

I checked the status for CAR 316063 and it is still pending.  

If you have LabVIEW, can you run an example for that ag3352 instrument?

The installation dialog for TestStand sounds like a previous installation never completed (or it thinks it never completed). 

What happens if you let it install? 

[Lars_L]

Hey Nick,

The new driver is out and now live on the web. In order to use it you will need to remove the current version of the 3352x IVI specific driver from your machine and then install the updated one. It should be listed under Add/Remove Programs under "National Instruments IVI Specific Drivers". Here is a link to the driver download page:

http://sine.ni.com/apps/utf8/niid_web_display.download_page?p_id_guid=A1C02CABC2854F97E0440021287E6A...

Try this new driver and see if you are still experiencing the same error. If the issue still occurs then here are a few troubleshooting steps/questions:

1. How often does this error occur? Does it happen every time you execute?
2. Does the error still occur if you create a new TestStand sequence and drop down an IVI Tools step with the same settings?
3. What settings do you have in your IVI Tools step? (send a screenshot if that's easier.
4. Does the error still occur if you switch it to be in simulation mode?

Finally, as for the hp3120a issues, my first recommendation for troubleshooting would be to run a shipping example for the instrument to see if that still functions. This will help you isolate the problem down to being either with your TestStand sequence or with the instrument itself. I'm not sure what development environement you have but if you have LabVIEW or CVI then you can find examples here:

LabVIEW

"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2011\instr.lib\ag3352x\ag3352x.llb\ag3352x Example - Generate Std Wfm.vi"

CVI (or any ANSI C environment)

"C:\Program Files\IVI Foundation\IVI\Drivers\ag3352x\ag3352x_standardwaveform_example.c"

Let me know how it goes and we'll take it from there.

Lars L

NI IVI/Instrument Drivers R&D

[NDAL]

Hi Lars, long time no blog.

Thanks for the link and the troubleshooting tips thus far.

I managed to run the tests on the new driver to no avail. Now I'm getting timeout errors instead of repeated capabilty errors. See attached. In answer to you questions:

How often does this error occur? Does it happen every time you execute?

Every time.

Does the error still occur if you create a new TestStand sequence and drop down an IVI Tools step with the same settings?

Yes.

What settings do you have in your IVI Tools step? (send a screenshot if that's easier.

Attached.

Does the error still occur if you switch it to be in simulation mode?

'using specific simulation' fails. Using 'simulation' passes, as does setting the driver to simulate with 'specific driver'.

When it does fail both with no additional initialization options and using specific simulation, I can hear the device click and beep, so there is definately a connection there, it just doesn't pass the step. This was the case with the previous version of the driver also. I mentioned that now the errors are timeouts. Is there an editable timeout parameter in the program or is it hardcoded? I'm inclined to believe this wouldn't help anyway since I can hear the device almost immediately when the step runs, so I doubt its due to heavy network traffic.

As for the hp3120a, unfortunately we don't have LabView or CVI. We were assured that it wasn't necessary to use TestStand, which I suppose is technically correct, but is needed to setup logicals in MAX. We used the evaluation version to do this but this expired long ago. To add to the complexity of the issue, we cannot easily migrate the test environment to another PC as it was a bit of a nightmare to set up initially, wrt the link I posted earlier, explaining the inability to have both Aglilent and HP drivers installed on the same PC? Or something to that effect, I'll have to double check the details, but the point is it won't be easy to simply move to another PC so that I can just run the evaluation LabView again.

You mentioned any ANSI C environment. Does this mean I can use any such compiler to run the example? This is a secondary priority as we have a working 34410A.

[NDAL]

BTW, I managed to find the install disk and let it run during the intallation prompt. It read the disc for a little while then TestStand just ran normally. After removing the disc from the drive, it has started up normally so far, so thanks for the suggestion Anthony..

[2Welcome@]

Hi everyone,

I am new to NI test stand, please excuse my ignorance. I am trying to interface Agilent power supply [agn6700] with NI test stand via LAN.

I am also facing the same issue Unknown channel or repeated capability name - MAX IVI settings and Time out error. 

Attached screenshots of IVI settings and NI sequence.

Please let me know a solution to get out of this issue.

Thanks in advance.