"new hardware found" on every re-boot?

[gschmied]

Hello.

I'm running LabVIEW 8 under Windows XP and am installing a GPIB-USB-HP interface.  After following the installation instructions I confirmed that everything was working by communicating with one of my GPIB instruments via LabVIEW.  However, after re-booting the computer I received a "new hardware found" message and was prompted to re-install the drivers etc.  If I ignored this step the system would not recognize the GPIB card.  If I followed the same installation process everything worked fine...until the next re-boot.  Except for the re-booting process everything stays the same: same GPIB card plugged into the same USB port and connected to the same instrument (the hardware remains untouched).  There are no other USB (or other serial, or parallel) devices connected to  this computer.

I am new to these forums so please forgive me (and point me in the right direction) if this problem has been addressed in detail elsewhere (I did my best to look).  Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions you may have.

Cheers.

[Chris_R.]

Hello,
I just responded to your e-mail, but wanted to post here as well.  Do you have administrator privledges on that computer?  I have seen this happen before when the user is not logged in as the administrator.  Also, do you see this problem if you unplug and replug the device while the computer is on, or do you just see this issue when rebooting?  What if you unplug it and plug it into a different USB port?  I am going to try to find a USB-HS and do some testing.  I will let you know what I find.

Chris R.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[BenBabb]

I am having a similiar problem.  I have a Dell Latitude D610 with Windows XP Pro.  If the laptop is turned off, or the USB cable is unplugged and plugged back in, it causes the new hardware wizard to come up.  This laptop only has the GPIB dirvers installed, this laptop is being used with Matlab to control the insturments (Not my choice, demanded from a different engineer).  I downloaded the recent GPIB-USB drivers from NI today and that hasn't fixed the problem.  I have a desktop PC with LabVIEW 8.0 Full Development installed and it doesn't display the found new hardware wizard.  You can plug and unplug the GPIB-USB device repeatedly into the desktop and it recognizes the GPIB-USB and works fine.  If I plug it back into the laptop the wizard always comes up.  Sometimes the found new hardware wizard will run twice in a row.  The laptop used to recognize the GPIB-USB cable when the engineer first started using it.  The found new hardware wizard didn't use to pop up, now it does.  Nothing extra has been installed on the laptop since, I am not sure what the problem is.  Please help!
Thanks in advance for your input,
Ben Babb

[Chris_R.]

Hi BenBabb and gschmied,

This issue has been seen on some computer and not others, so it is likely a result of individual computers assigning the drivers to the USB devices differently.  One thing you can try is to update the BIOS of your computer.  If there was an issue with a particular BIOS version, updating it may help if it was fixed in later versions.  Also, if the Windows installation was corrupt for some reason, it may affect the way the drivers are assigned.  So, reinstalling a fresh copy of Windows has resolved this issue in some cases.  This is a problem seen with many USB devices, not just your GPIB interfaces.  Since it is a problem on the computer side, it is hard to point you to potential causes.  Another thing you can try is uninstalling the NI-488.2 drivers completely and reinstalling the latest version downloaded from our website (have the USB device removed from your system during this process).  Ben, since you see this problem with one computer, but not the other, I suspect the driver uninstall/reinstall will not change anything.  As for the issue of it reinstalling the hardware just by unplugging and plugging it back in, that sounds like you may not have administrator privileges on the computer, which has been known to cause this issue. 

Chris R.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[fivestar]

Windows can exhibit some odd behavior with USB devices, particularly with laptops and with non-Administrator users.  I would say your best chance of solving this problem is to log in as an Administrator and install the GPIB-USB device.  Unless you then specifically delete it from Device Manager, Windows will reuse that device's registration information every time it is connected by any user, thus avoiding the "Found New Hardware" Wizard.

Laptops can sometimes have this problem anyway if they are also used in a docking station.  It seems that when USB hub and host controller hardware is added or removed, Windows sometimes clears out the USB device registration information.

[bgillman]

I see this also on 2 separate Dell computers running Windows XP SP2.  This is the only USB it happens with, so it is not some vagary of Windows - it is specific to the NI 488.2.  XP is much more predictable about USB than
98 or '2000.

[fivestar]

I wouldn't classify the behavior people are seeing as a "vagary of Windows"--there is a system, but the system has a lot of variables, and they can sometimes combine to produce unexpected behavior.

XP has indeed made a lot of improvements to USB, particularly with XP SP2, but it also complicates things with driver signing, which is yet another variable in the hardware installation process.  Whether or not the driver associated with the hardware is signed by Microsoft makes a big difference in how the hardware is treated by Windows XP.  NI-488.2 is not signed, which is why Windows shows the wizard if hardware is connected and there isn't any device information in the registry.

The hard part is keeping the hardware information from being cleaned up from the registry.  Windows does this in some situations, such as when the USB host controller hardware changes.  Also, if a program registers with Windows to be notified of Plug and Play events (MAX does this, for example), the Found New Hardware Wizard will be shown every time as long as that program is running.  Even NI-488.2 clears device information from the registry if you install other GPIB hardware while your GPIB-USB is disconnected.

[BenBabb]

I have checked the administrator privlages, and this user is an administrator on his machine.  I am not able to reload his laptop with a clean install of windows.  This engineer uses his laptop as his company workstation, so it is pretty busy most of the time.  I haven't heard back from my IT department on a BIOS update yet.  What I find confused about is when this engineer first started using this device it worked properly.  He could disconnect and reconnect without havint the wizard pop up every time.  It just started doing this within the last few weeks.  You will have to forgive my ignorance on Windows OS, but is there a registry entry that could be made manually to let Windows know what this device is?
Thanks,
Ben Babb

[Chris_R.]

Hi Ben,
Another possible reason that you may see this happen is if for some reason, there is something wrong with how Windows handles the serial number . If the device doesn't have a serial number the operating system will detect it as a new device every time you unplug it and plug it back in.  It may also be a problem with the actual USB port on the machine.  Have you tried multiple USB devices and different USB ports (if you have them).  I suggest trying the hardware on a completely different computer as well and see if you still see the problem.

Chris R.

[Les__Bartel]

I'm encountering this same problem as well.  I don't have a docking station for the laptop involved.  Running LabView 8.0.1, CardBus controller and PXI 1045 chassis.  It frequently asks to load drivers for the "new GPIB hardware".  The pattern appears to be if I power up the laptop without powering up the 1045, this will trigger the "new hardware" dialog the next time the laptop is powered up with the chassis powered up.  If I cancel the "new hardware" dialog, I am unable to communicate with the GPIB devices.