set-up issue and no communications problem

[JarettM]

My company is looking at upgrading our test fixture computers.  We've started testing new computers with Win2K and the GPIB-PCI card, vice the WinNT and the ISA GPIB card.  I'm having some issues getting our LabWindows test software to communicate with our test equipment.  I think it maybe possibly be within our test software, or maybe I installed the card incorrectly.  One thing that I've noticed is that I do not have a control panel icon to setup the individual devices.  Is this necessary?  Also, all of the devices are recognized when I scan the bus, but my test software is not recognizing some of them.  The test equipment does use the relatively old non-computer style GPIB cards.  Are these cards functional with the newer GPIB cards?

When I start up our test software, there was both EDVR (0) and EHDL (23) errors in NI Spy.

Thanks for any assistance.

[Andy F.]

JarettM,

Usually those two errors occur when the handle passed to a device-level function is not valid.  This means that it might be something as simple as the address that the test program is using is no longer valid.  I would recommend verifying the address of the PCI-GPIB card and make sure that it is the same in the software.  It sounds like you are using an earlier version of the NI-GPIB drivers, so I might also recommend upgrading those as well. 

For a driver reinstallation, I would recommend uninstalling the drivers, removing the card, installing the new version, then replacing the card.  The newer versions of NI drivers install with a configuration and testing utility called Measurement and Automation Explorer, which will greatly help in troubleshooting any further problems.  Hope this helps!

Andy F.

[JarettM]

I deleted all the programs and drivers.  I turned off the computer, removed the GPIB card and rebooted the computer.  I then went through the registry and did a quick scan for any National Instruments entries and deleted those.  I rebooted the machine again.  I downloaded the new drivers and installed them.  I shut the computer off, installed the card and turned it back on again.  Everything on the bus is showing up in the Measurement and Automation like before, but I'm still not getting any National Instruments icons in the control panel to set up the individual devices.

Here's a copy of the NI Spy window when I attempt to run my LabWindows software, along with what the NI Spy export to TXT files says.

[Andy F.]

Do you know the previous version of NI-GPIB that you were using?  The current drivers do not have the option to set up the individual devices in the Control Panel.  What options were you able to set?  The NI Spy errors look like they are caused by aliases that were previously set up, but have not reconfigured.  I would recommend either changing your software to reflect the new addresses of the instruments, or give the instruments the aliases that you are currently using.  You may need to change your software to reflect address of the board to prevent the EHDL errors, instead of using "?board?".

To assign aliases, open Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX) and expand the Devices and Interfaces tree to access your PCI-GPIB board.  All of your instruments should be present in a tree under your board.  If you single click on each instrument and select the VISA Properties tab at the bottom of the right pane, you can add an alias.  Hope this helps!

Andy F.

[JarettM]

The computer that I'm working on hasn't had a GPIB card in it, nor has it had the test software until now. The version of software that we are using for our ISA style cards is 1.7. I'll pass this along to our software engineer, and I'll try renaming the equipment in the Automation and Measurement program. Thanks a ton!