How to set up ETS

[Nicolas PRIVAT]

According to the specifications, all the hardware is supported :
Intel P4, Hard drive formated in FAT 32 (parallel ATA), a network card  Broadcom with a BMC5751chipset.

My computer is connected to the network of my company. Could it be a problem if there is a server between my target and the host ?

[Efosa O.]

Nicolas Hello.

Based on your last post, everything should work smoothly, especially if you have the required hardware as you state.

I am not sure what you mean by a "there is a server between your target and host." Do you simply mean you are connected to a network and not using a crossover cable? Please expound on that. Thanks

Efosa O.

[Nicolas PRIVAT]

Hello,

Indeed, I don't use a crossover cable, I am connected to the network of my company. So I think that the connection between the target and the host is done through a server. Could that be the origin of my problem ?

[Efosa O.]

Nicolas Hello.

That should not be a problem at all as I have spoken with quite a few customers who have their Desktop ETS set up this way.

While I don't think this will make much of a difference, one thing you can do to eliminate this is to use a crossover cable to connect the host and the target.

I still feel there might  be a configuration issue if you are not even able to boot up properly. Take an extensive look at the documents Prashant referenced in his post.

Thanks,
Efosa O.
NIAE

[RobDekker]

I too have had a number of problems getting  RTOS to work on a desktop PC.  The first PC I tried would not work (was a Pentium 4, parallel hard drive <32GB formatted as FAT 32, with Intel 8255X network card).  I took the same harddrive & network card and put it in another computer and I was able to get it too boot up.

My problem now is that I can not get the boot.exe program to work.  The computer always goes into safe mode when booting from the hard drive or floppy.  I get "Searching hard disk for boot program... not found.  Using safe mode program on hard drive".  I know that the boot program is there (I can see it if I boot up using a WIN98 bootdisk).  Is there something wrong with version 8.0  of boot.exe?  There is another computer in my lab running 7.1.1 and it does not seem to have any problems.

I also can not download software to the Target using MAX.  I get error code 56 (Timed out while communicating with remote target).  I am using a crossover cable and was able to change the Target name & IP address, but downloading the software does not seem to work.

I have already gotten the bootdisk executables from NI but they have not solved my problem.

[RobDekker]

I switched over to a host with the 8.0.1 update installed and it seems to have solved my problem.  It is a LabVIEW miracle.  I finally have a functional target and it only took me 1 week to get it set up.

[Nicolas PRIVAT]

Hello,

I'va solved my problem thanks to the technical support of NI. In fact, thats my ethernet card which didn't work, even if it was a Broadcom 5751 chipset supported by Labview. So I use an other card and the RT Target works well.

[Tommy R.]

This thread is headed right down the path I need it to . . . I've got an Optiplex GX260 with 256MB ram and a 20 GB HD formatted Fat32.  This particular MB has an Intel 10/100 chipset that is compatible with the RT ETS (the NI 8.2 compatibility disk evaluates the system, finds the intel 8254x network card successfullly, and says that the system is compatible).  I successfully format the HD, the boot.exe, etc. files are written, but I get the "Searching hard drive . . . not found" and even the safe mode won't work.  I have 8.0.1 installed - that's where I'm making the boot disks.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[SimonH]

Tommy,

Could let me know the full error message you are getting and at what point in the boot procedure are you getting it?

That would help me make some more helpful suggestions than just posting the generic links I've posted below (which I'm sure you've already seen).

Requirements for a Desktop PC as a LabVIEW Real-Time Target

Using a Desktop Computer as a LabVIEW Real-Time for ETS Target

Regards,

Simon H
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[trouinky]

10/100 -> PXI?
Gigabit -> PC?
This is the recommendation from the documentation, correct?

Well I installed all updates (8.0.1 etc.) for all the modules installed on the host and still nothing.  Then on a whim, I used the format hard drive install disk for the pc and safe-mode came up and allowed me to set the IP address.  Once that was done, software was transferred and now I'm  building a couple of starter VI's . . . NOTE: the install instructions say to "use an FTP program to copy lvalarms.dll to . . ."  Well I went to do this and the file was already there.  Same file size and date, so I guess this is an outdated step.

I'll write more to share whether VI's run.  The hardware card to be placed in this machine should be available soon (donated from another lab).

Tommy R.