Win98->Win2k

[Steve]

I curently have a PCI-GPIB card working using the version 1.7 driver in
an older (166MHz) PC with Win98. I have been given a much newer PC
(400MHz) to replace it, but the new PC has Win2K installed. If I
understand the NI website properly, in order for me to install that
PCI-GPIB card into the Win2K machine, then I must download the Win2K
driver AND purchase a license to get it to work. The driver that came
with the PCI-GPIB card is only good in Win9X/ME.

Can a software support engineer please confirm or give the proper
interpretation?

Thanks
Steve

[Geneva L.]

Steve,

Please use the following webpage as a reference for determining the appropriate NI-488.2 versions to use for particular hardware and Operating System versions:
http://ni.com/support/gpib/versions.htm

Another way to find this page is to go to http://www.ni.com/support and click on the GPIB link under Option 2. On the main GPIB support page, under Top Ten Solutions, there is a link for Current GPIB Driver Versions.

This Current GPIB Driver Versions page will show that you can use either 1.7 or 2.0 with the PCI-GPIB card on Windows 2000. When you click on the link of the table, you'll be directed to a note that discusses which version is better for your situation. The PCI-GPIB license comes with the hardware, so you do not have to worry about
extra purchasing. Only the GPIB-ENET or GPIB-ENET/100 require a purchased license for the software.

What page were you looking at that started the confusion? I want to make sure that we address that so other users won't be confused as well.

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

[Steve]

Appreciate the quick response. I had found my way to the page
http://ni.com/support/gpib/versions.htm and thought that was it. I have
4 PCI-GPIB cards in 4 different PCs and 2 are using the driver dated Aug
1998 (GPIBTNT.VXD ver 1.30.0011) while the other 2 are using the driver
dated August 2000 (GPIBTNT.VXD ver 1.60.0011). I was checking to make
sure that the 2 older cards with the version 1.30 driver are compatible
with the new version 1.7/2.0 drivers. Somewhere in that search, I
happened upon the page "NI-488.2 (Win32) Version 2.0 for Windows
2000/98/ME/XP -- GPIB External Controllers" which mentions "The driver
is available for download but you must purchase the license to be able
to use it." I gather I should assume that all revisions of PCI-GPIB
cards will work with either the 1.7 or 2.0 driver. I have the following
3 revisions out of the 4 cards; X15, X18 & X25.

Thanks again,
Steve

"Geneva L." wrote:
>
> Steve,
>
> Please use the following webpage as a reference for determining the
> appropriate NI-488.2 versions to use for particular hardware and
> Operating System versions:
> http://ni.com/support/gpib/versions.htm
>
> Another way to find this page is to go to http://www.ni.com/support
> and click on the GPIB link under Option 2. On the main GPIB support
> page, under Top Ten Solutions, there is a link for Current GPIB Driver
> Versions.
>
> This Current GPIB Driver Versions page will show that you can use
> either 1.7 or 2.0 with the PCI-GPIB card on Windows 2000. When you
> click on the link of the table, you'll be directed to a note that
> discusses which version is better for your situation. The PCI-GPIB
> license comes with the hardware, so you do not have to worry about
> extra purchasing. Only the GPIB-ENET or GPIB-ENET/100 require a
> purchased license for the software.
>
> What page were you looking at that started the confusion? I want to
> make sure that we address that so other users won't be confused as
> well.
>
> Regards,
> Geneva L.
> GPIB/Serial Product Support Engineer
> National Instruments
> http://www.ni.com/support

[Steve]

The installation of both GPIB card and the driver appeared to have gone
fine. There is a small problem though. When I go to my application
that uses the GPIB, it generates an error when trying to do any
communication over the bus. However, if I use the N.I. MAX to find the
connected equipment first, then all my software works fine from that
point on.

Any suggestions or hints?

TIA,
Steve

"Geneva L." wrote:
>
> Steve,
>
> Please use the following webpage as a reference for determining the
> appropriate NI-488.2 versions to use for particular hardware and
> Operating System versions:
> http://ni.com/support/gpib/versions.htm
>
> Another way to find this page is to go to http://www.ni.com/support
> and click on the GPIB link under Option 2. On the mai
n GPIB support
> page, under Top Ten Solutions, there is a link for Current GPIB Driver
> Versions.
>
> This Current GPIB Driver Versions page will show that you can use
> either 1.7 or 2.0 with the PCI-GPIB card on Windows 2000. When you
> click on the link of the table, you'll be directed to a note that
> discusses which version is better for your situation. The PCI-GPIB
> license comes with the hardware, so you do not have to worry about
> extra purchasing. Only the GPIB-ENET or GPIB-ENET/100 require a
> purchased license for the software.
>
> What page were you looking at that started the confusion? I want to
> make sure that we address that so other users won't be confused as
> well.
>
> Regards,
> Geneva L.
> GPIB/Serial Product Support Engineer
> National Instruments
> http://www.ni.com/support

[Geneva L.]

Steve,

What error are you getting when you run your application? Also, are you able to run the Getting Started Wizard (Start menu >> Programs >> National Instruments >> NI-488.2) without any trouble? Note that you should not have anything connected when you run the wizard. What application software are you using?

When you say you use MAX to find your equipment first, I assume you are using the Scan for Instruments. One thing you can do is run NI Spy before you run the Scan for Instruments and compare that with what your application does when it initially runs. You can run NI Spy before you run your application, also, to see what errors you are getting along with the commands.

Regards,
Geneva L.
GPIB/Serial Product Support Engin
eer
National Instruments
http://www.ni.com/support

[Steve]

I am using application software that I wrote. I haven't ruled my
software out as a possibility but that I have used it for 3 years now
without error. However, that was on PCs with Win98SE and this new one
has Win2k and it also has the Version 1.7 driver while the others have
version 1.6. I chose not to install the newer version 2.0 driver
because it included a new header file to be included with applications
written to use the new driver.

I disconnected the GPIB cables & did a fresh boot to Administrator, then
started NI 488.2 Getting Started Wizard. I clicked Versify Your hardware
and software installation and it displayed 1)NI 488.2 software presence
verified 2)NI 488.2 hardware presence verified 3)GPIB interfaces
sequentially verified. No errors indicated.

I then start my application. The 1st call is to SendIFC() and it
returns ibsta= and iberr=0 EDVR and ibcnt=2. The 2nd call is
to FindLstn() and ibsta, iberr and ibcnt all have the same values.

At this point, I start MAX and Scan for Instruments and it finds all of
them. I then close MAX and start my application and the function calls
mentioned above work properly with no errors and all the rest of the
function calls work as well.

Thanks,
Steve


"Geneva L." wrote:
>
> Steve,
>
> What error are you getting when you run your application? Also, are
> you able to run the Getting Started Wizard (Start menu >> Programs >>
> National Instruments >> NI-488.2) without any trouble? Note that you
> should not have anything connected when you run the wizard. What
> application software are you using?
>
> When you say you use MAX to find your equipment first, I assume you
> are using the Scan for Instruments. One thing you can do is run NI
> Spy before you run the Scan for Instruments and compare that with what
> your application does when it initially runs. You can run NI Spy
> before you run your application, also, to see what errors you are
> getting along with the commands.
>
> Regards,
> Geneva L.
> GPIB/Serial Product Support Engineer
> National Instruments
> http://www.ni.com/support

[Steve]

I thought I had found my error, but it was not to be. I had compiled
and linked my apps using the OBJ file provided with the AT-GPIB driver.
I only replaced the last of the AT-GPIB cards with a PCI-GPIB card about
a year or so ago and I did not change the reference to that OBJ file in
my projects. I changed the project files today to include the OBJ file
that came with the version 1.7 PCI-GPIB driver. After recompiling &
linking, same GPIB errors.

Thought I would let you know I was still working on my problem and I
hope you are as well.

Steve

"Geneva L." wrote:
>
> Steve,
>
> What error are you getting when you run your application? Also, are
> you able to run the Getting Started Wizard (Start menu >> Programs >>
> National Instrum
ents >> NI-488.2) without any trouble? Note that you
> should not have anything connected when you run the wizard. What
> application software are you using?
>
> When you say you use MAX to find your equipment first, I assume you
> are using the Scan for Instruments. One thing you can do is run NI
> Spy before you run the Scan for Instruments and compare that with what
> your application does when it initially runs. You can run NI Spy
> before you run your application, also, to see what errors you are
> getting along with the commands.
>
> Regards,
> Geneva L.
> GPIB/Serial Product Support Engineer
> National Instruments
> http://www.ni.com/support

[Steve]

Still more symptoms ..........

My application is a Quattro Pro add-in DLL. I have written several
add-in DLLs that use the GPIB to collect data from instruments and put
it directly into spreadsheet cells. For Quattro Pro 8 under Win98,
everything runs fine. I start QP8 and run the macros containing the DLL
functions issue the GPIB calls and the instrument data is returned
properly. However, for Quattro Pro 8 under Win2000, I have found that I
must 1st start QP8, run N.I. MAX, scan for instruments and only then can
I run my macro that accesses those DLLs. If I exit QP8 and then restart
QP8, then I must start MAX and scan for instruments again before I can
use the DLL functions containing GPIB calls.

I am submitting queries to QP news
groups also.

N.I., are you still there?

Steve

"Geneva L." wrote:
>
> Steve,
>
> What error are you getting when you run your application? Also, are
> you able to run the Getting Started Wizard (Start menu >> Programs >>
> National Instruments >> NI-488.2) without any trouble? Note that you
> should not have anything connected when you run the wizard. What
> application software are you using?
>
> When you say you use MAX to find your equipment first, I assume you
> are using the Scan for Instruments. One thing you can do is run NI
> Spy before you run the Scan for Instruments and compare that with what
> your application does when it initially runs. You can run NI Spy
> before you run your application, also, to see what errors you are
> getting along with the commands.
>
> Regards,
> Geneva L.
> GPIB/Serial Product Support Engineer
> National Instruments
> http://www.ni.com/support

[Geneva L.]

Steve,

I apologize for the delay in my response. It's been really hectic for me this past week that I did not get a chance to check for your latest posting.

Your error message at SendIFC points to the possibility that the Board Index you are using in your application (i.e. GPIB3) is different from something you may have configured in MAX. This may have happened where you had one setting on the Windows 98 computer, and when you installed onto the Windows 2000 computer, another setting was automatically assigned.

Here's something to check.
1) Launch MAX and NI-Spy.
2) Start the NI-Spy capture.
3) Run your application to capture the failure and error messages.
4) When done, save the capture.
5) Clear that out
and start a new NI-Spy capture.
6) In MAX, run the Scan for Instruments.
7) When done, save the capture.
😎 Post both captures to the Developer Exchange.

We can examine the captures to see if the problem is indeed with the Board Index or with something else. If it is with the Board Index, you can change that either in your application or with the GPIB Configuration on your system.

GPIB Configuration Wizard: Setting GPIB Properties in Windows 2000
http://www.ni.com/support/gpib/max/prop2000.htm

I will be out of the office next week, but I'll have my backup check for your next posting, so we can figure this out!

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

[Steve]

attached is a zip file containing 3 GPIB capture files. The 1st is "app
with error". THis file contains the GPIB call made by my application
that generates an error. I then start MAX and capture all the calls it
makes when scanning for instruments and stored those in the file "MAX
instrument scan". I then rum my application again and capture the calls
it makes and I stored those calls in the file "app without error".

newsgroups typically don't encourage attached files, but since you
specifically asked me to do that I have done so. hope this makes sense
and appreciate the help.
Steve

"Geneva L." wrote:
>
> Steve,
>
> I apologize for the delay in my response. It's been really hectic for
> me this past week that I did not get a chance to check for your latest
> posting.
>
> Your error message at SendIFC points to the possibility that the Board
> Index you are using in your application (i.e. GPIB3) is different from
> something you may have configured in MAX. This may have happened
> where you had one setting on the Windows 98 computer, and when you
> installed onto the Windows 2000 computer, another setting was
> automatically assigned.
>
> Here's something to check.
> 1) Launch MAX and NI-Spy.
> 2) Start the NI-Spy capture.
> 3) Run your application to capture the failure and error messages.
> 4) When done, save the capture.
> 5) Clear that out and start a new NI-Spy capture.
> 6) In MAX, run the Scan for Instruments.
> 7) When done, save the capture.
> 😎 Post both captures to the Developer Exchange.
>
> We can examine the captures to see if the problem is indeed with the
> Board Index or with something else. If it is with the Board Index,
> you can change that either in your application or with the GPIB
> Configuration on your system.
>
> GPIB Configuration Wizard: Setting GPIB Properties in Windows 2000
> http://www.ni.com/support/gpib/max/prop2000.htm
>
> I will be out of the office next week, but I'll have my backup check
> for your next posting, so we can figure this out!
>
> Regards,
> Geneva L.
> GPIB/Serial Product Support Engineer
> National Instruments
> http://www.ni.com/support