Is there any difference between a WinNT VI and a Win98 VI?

[Neumannium]

Hello!

I have been writing a VI using Labview 6.1 on a WinNT machine. When I build it into an application and place it on a machine running the run-time engine and Win98, it doesn't work.

It works fine on the NT machine, but not on the 98 machine. I've read where you should be able to transfer between the different Win versions, so I'm at a loss to explain why there would be any difference in the two.

Thanks,

Dave Neumann
d.neumann@astronautics.com

[Lab Viewer]

Hi Dave,

can you post that VI or tell us about it (used resources, external calls, what's happening when trying to use it in w98 ...) ? It may be easier to figure out what's wrong.

Best,

[Neumannium]

Oops. I guess my question was awfully open-ended wasn't it?

OK, here's the deal.

The VI I created is simply trying to toggle outputs on a digital I/O card. Nothing complicated.

On the WinNT machine, I can toggle the outputs. When I set them high, I see a high voltage from the card. It remains high until I switch it low, when the voltage drops. This is good.

On the Win98 machine, I attempt to toggle the output high, and I hear the click of a relay, and a short current spike, but the voltage does not remain high. When I switch back to low I get no response back at all. The voltage remains low the entire time, with a small impulse jump when I try to set it high.

We assume that the card is switching high, then immediately switching low ag
ain, not holding the high state.

The card on the Win98 machine, however, DOES work with the software included with the card, so we know it can toggle it's outputs.

The Win98 and WinNT machines are nearly identical in their components, with the exception of their OS.

The card I'm attempting to use is a Quatech PXB-32IO/PCI I/O card.

Hope this clears it up a little!

Thanks for the help,

Dave Neumann
d.neumann@astronautics.com

[Lab Viewer]

Indeed strange,

Anyway, I downloaded its driver from Quatech and I noticed they are using a DLL to handle card operations. While it's not the first time when runtime engine + DLL mix produces surprises, I suggest to try executing that VI in LabVIEW environment on 98 machine. I'm not familiar with the card and its drivers but the configuration file (passed to DLL) needs special attention (anyway, I assume that it is the same file used by the working application).
As I found out from board description, "The PXB-32IOD/PCI requires eight consecutive addresses (32-bit) in the PC I/O address space. No jumper or DIP switch settings are required for configuration, which is completely handled by the system BIOS. Each bit of the base address corre
sponds to a signal on one of the 32 digital input or 32 digital output channels." You may figure out if it is a DLL call related problem, trying to operate the board writing to I/O address directly.

I guess these are just ideas �.

[Neumannium]

Thanks for your help.

I actually did just install the full version of Labview on the Win98 machine, and I'm getting the same result from the I/O card, so the run-time engine being the problem is ruled out.

Also, we swapped the cards between the two PCs and they both still work the same (the new one in the NT works fine, the new one in the Win98 works like it always did).

Is it even possible that the 2 PCI cards can work fine when I use the software that came with the Quatech card, but that the second PCI card I have somehow conflicts when I try to use labview? Does this even make sense? I don't know if labview would cause any problems different than their software, but it's becoming the only option left.

I know the card has
it's own drivers and labview drivers, so 'maybe'?

Thanks for your help again!

Dave "Can you tell I'm not a software guy?" Neumann
d.neumann@astronautics.com

[TommyB]

Make sure that if you are doing any file I/O that you have access to the
directory on the NT machine. I am not sure what your error is but see if
you can monitor the state of the vi through the front panel with an error
indicator then maybe you'll see that you are experiencing a file read or
write error that is causing the crash.
Hope this helps.
-Tom

"Neumannium" wrote in message
news:506500000008000000A2490000-1021771306000@exchange.ni.com...
> Hello!
>
> I have been writing a VI using Labview 6.1 on a WinNT machine. When I
> build it into an application and place it on a machine running the
> run-time engine and Win98, it doesn't work.
>
> It works fine on the NT machine, but not on the 98 machine. I've read
> where you should be able to transfer
between the different Win
> versions, so I'm at a loss to explain why there would be any
> difference in the two.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dave Neumann
> d.neumann@astronautics.com