Why does my PCI232-16 card crash my computer when 7 or more attached devices are powered on simultaneously?

[dale]

We use a PCI232-16 serial card in a Windows 2000 computer. When there are seven or more identical devices attached and they are powered on simultaneously, the computer crashes even though none of the serial ports has yet been opened. No software applications are running at the time of the crash. The card is installed correctly and all 16 ports have been tested. The connected devices are GSM cellular handsets. They send a small number of characters to the serial port upon power-up. Apparently the simultaneous arrival of these characters from multiple devices causes a problem in the PCI232-16 card. We also have a 16 port Digi-Board RS232 adapter and it has no proble
ms under these conditions.

[Geneva L.]

We are working on a fix, which we believe addresses this problem. If you want to be a beta tester for this, please go to http://www.ni.com/ask, choose E-mail NI, and provide your contact information (name, company, phone number, e-mail address, mailing address).

Regards,
Geneva L.
GPIB/Serial Product Support Engineer
National Instruments
http://www.ni.com/ask

[dale]

Thank you for this information. We are indeed interested in Beta testing a fix. I sent the requested contact info by following the above directions.

[dale]

Can you advise as to whether the fix is hardware or software based, and the estimated availability of the Beta version of the fix? Thank you.

[Geneva L.]

Thanks for your e-mail. I have addressed your questions in it. At this time, I don't have a good estimate for the Beta software version, but we can try our best to work with you based on your timeframe.

In the meantime, here is a possible hardware solution.

For the hardware solution, there is a KnowledgeBase 2NBH82YY that describes terminating the unused ports on the breakout box. In this KnowledgeBase, the interrupts caused a decrease in performance, and thus could be causing the crash on your particular machine.

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/3efedde4322fef19862567740067f3cc/8ec9c4f8c18d025e86256bf4007fd19c?OpenDocument

Regards,
Geneva L.
GPIB/Serial Product Support Engineer
National Instruments
http://www.ni.com/ask

[Geneva L.]

The beta software is ready, and I have e-mailed the appropriate file and instructions.

Regards,
Geneva L.
GPIB/Serial Product Support Engineer
National Instruments
http://www.ni.com/ask

[dale]

We have tested the Beta 1.5 driver and it completely eliminates the crash problems observed with the 1.45 driver. No functional problems or any other unexpected behavior has been observed.