Win XP Keeps re-detecting PCI-GPIB

[fords181]

I have a PCI-GPIB card installed under Win XP - I installed it absolutely by the book - install went good.
After I shut the machine down and reboot, it keeps redetecting the card and asking for a driver.  When I point it
to the GPIB driver - it complains that the driver is not digitally signed.   I have other cards form other vendors
that it does not "redetect" -  so  why does it keep complaining about this one ?

[JasonSmith]

I have a few questions which will help to clarify this problem:

1. You said the installation went by the book.  At the end of the installation, did you receive an "Intallation Successful" message, or some other message? 

2. Does the device work after installing the driver upon bootup?

3. Are you logged into the machine as an account with full administrator privelages?

4. When you say "point it to the GPIB driver," are you telling  the wizard to install the driver automatically, or manually pointing it to a driver location?  If you are manually pointing it to a location, where are you pointing it to?

Jason S.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[LandyRover]

Funy that, I have a very similar wrinkle with this XP laptop.

I originaly installed this older PCI card (wide connector) and all was well.  Since an update, recomended by NI after looking for some other info, though it works just fine so long as it is in the PC when it's booted, when it's inserted after a boot, Winderz thinks it's new hardware and off it goes looking for drivers.

It eventualy finds them, and re-installs it all again, then normal service is resumed.  I just tolerate it, but it is a swearing point at times..

Windows XP, SP2 + all updates, on a Tosh M30 laptop.  I forget the exact NI driver versions, and I don't want to wait for it to re-install it all again, but if needed I will dig and find it.

Other than that, it all works fine, even with Win16 applications, so long as not using NiSpy at that time.

All good fun.

Dave B.

[fords181]

Answers:

1. Yes - by the book - card installed - success - verification tool success.

2. Application does indeed work fine - once the driver installs.   Driver will keep working after reboots - it is shutdowns that kill me.

3. Yes the account has admin priviledge.

4. Usually windows pops up and says that it has found a "PCI Simple Communications Controller" and I have to browse to identify the GPIB card.  Once I saw it say that it found a GPIB card, but it would not install the driver automatically because it was not digitally signed.   I do not browse to a location per se - I do "select device from list" and navigate to the PCI-GPIB.

5. PC is a CyberResearch industrial PC - WinXP Pro SP2 - latest NI488.2 driver - brand new PCI-GPIB card.

[JasonSmith]

Can you explain what you mean by reboots working fine, but shutdowns killing you?

Assuming that you have a good card and a properly installed driver, you should never have to select PCI-GPIB from a list of drivers.  Windows should automatically identify the PCI Simple Communications Controller as a PCI-GPIB interface.

Please try the following items to see if they change the behavior of your system:

1. Move the PCI-GPIB adapter to a different PCI slot.  Try the card in the PCI slots at either end of the motherboard, this will ensure that if the slots use different PCI bridges, that we have tried the card on each bridge.
   
   
2. Move the card to another computer to determine if the problem occurs on another computer.
   
   
3. Assuming that step 1 did not change the behavior, and the card worked fine in step 2, then try reinstalling the driver using the following steps:
• In the Windows Device Manager, right click on the PCI-GPIB adapter and select "Uninstall"
  
• Remove the NI-488.2 Driver through the Windows Control Panel
• Shutdown the computer and remove the PCI-488.2 card
• Download and install the latest version of NI-488.2 from our website (Do not install from a cd, in case minor release have been made to the driver)
• Shutdown the computer when prompted and install the PCI-488.2 adapter.

Let me know the results of trying the steps above.

Regards,

Jason Smith
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[Collin M]

In addition to the other suggestions, can you look at the Details tab of the PCI-GPIB in the Device Manager, select the Device Instance ID and reply with the value shown? It should start with something like PCI\VEN_1093....

[fords181]

Easy ones first.

1) The distinction is that if I shutdown the computer and come back the next day (i.e. cold start) it will usually re-detect the card.
     If I just reboot the machine ( i.e. warm start ) it will usually be fine.

2) Current driver version is 2.4.0.3500

3) Device is in PCI Slot5, Bus 1, Device 12, Function 0

4) ID is PCI\Ven_1093&DEV_C801&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_02\4&3AB31F7F&0&60F0

Moving card around will be a problem, I will have to check into that

[JasonSmith]

Will the card redect if you perform a complete shutdown, power down the computer, then power up the computer again, without waiting overnight?

[fords181]

Sometimes it will do it without waiting overnight.

It does not happen every time but it happens enough to make my client angry.

I of course suspected the PC at first but it does not re-detect any of the other 3 cards in the system.  It also bothers me that it will ask for the
driver again - Windows is usually pretty good about recognizing cards once a driver has been loaded.

[JasonSmith]

If you have another PCI-GPIB card I would recommend that you try replacing the card.  Otherwise, trying this card in another computer would be very useful, to confirm that the card is all working properly.

You mentioned that the PCI-GPIB card is new, but is the computer new as well?  If the computer is new and in a state that you could easily reinstall Windows, I would be interested to know if a fresh install of Windows solves this problem?  I would definately try removing and reinstalling the NI-488.2 driver (as mentioned in my previous post) before reinstalling the entire operating system.

Jason S.
Applications Engineering
National Instruments