LabVIEW and NI MAX problems

[Jared.Sweeney]

Good morning everyone. I have come seeking some help with a problem I have encountered this week.

I have been unable to communicate with any of my NI hardware (more of that in a minute). First, I figured I would lay out what I am working with. The system in use is a SCXI 1001 chassis with the following modules:

(5) SCXI-1160

(5) SCXI-1324

(2) SCXI-1349

I also have:

(1) USB-6259

(1) USB-6251

At the time of the "incident", I was using LabVIEW 2015 SP1, with version 17.0 of 488.2, VISA, and NI MAX.

When I opened the source code on my machine to verify that everything was working right, I noticed that I didn't have DAQmx drivers installed. So I downloaded and installed the latest version driver and rebooted my machine. Upon reboot, I received an error in MAX that I had never seen before, see NI MAX problem.png. I loaded the code to see if the DAQmx drivers installed properly, which the did. But when I tried running the program, I received another error. See NI MIG error.png. 

At this point I hit the forums here, as well as calling tech support for assistance. I have tried the following things, but so far, no resolution.

I have run the suggested fixes on these knowledge base articles, all without success.

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/2C7480E856987FFF862573AE005AB0D9

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/C3C29EC327EFB0A586257AF3007C3B7C?OpenDocument

http://forums.ni.com/t5/Example-Program-Drafts/MAX-Database-Corruption-Removal-Tool/ta-p/3521466

Yesterday out of desperation, I completely uninstalled EVERYTHING NI related. Down to deleting the root directory folder from the C drive. I then started re-installing everything. I came in this morning, and much to my dismay, still get the corrupt database error in MAX. There are only two things left I can think to do, and that is wipe everything again, and re-install with older version drivers (15 or 16?). I am also having my IT department build me a new machine to try a "fresh install" on. 

If there is ANYTHING that I have missed, or haven't tired, I am open. I can't be the only one that has experienced this problem.

[aputman]

Inside MAX, go to Tools->Reset Config Data.  Just be aware that this will delete all of the your instruments, tasks, scales, etc.  If you are able to export your config to a file, do that first. 

[aputman]

After I posted that, I see that you have already tried it?  Apologies.

Labview 2015 is compatible with everything since XP, so unless you are running WIN98 that is probably not your issue.  Labview 2015 is compatible with DAQmx 17.

I assume that you are installing Labview first. After you do a fresh install of Labview, and before installing DAQmx, are you able to open Labview without error?  If so, after installing DAQmx but before plugging in an instrument, are you able to open without error?

Do your fresh install one step at a time, restart your computer after each step and check for errors.  At what point do you start seeing the errors. 

[Jared.Sweeney]

After the fresh install of LV 2015, the code opens fine, but with the obvious errors because of the missing DAQmx. Once MAX is installed I get the corrupt database error. It doesn't matter which drivers I install first. I have done it with DAQmx first, removed everything, and then tried it with 488.2 first. I am currently uninstalling (again), and want to try going with older versions of the drivers. I'm not sure if it is going to change anything at this point ... but I feel like I have exhausted every other option.

It almost acts like a support file is not getting deleted, and/or replaced on the install, and is causing MAX to look at a bad location or file.  

[Jared.Sweeney · Accepted solution]

So I just wanted to do a follow on this, since I figured out what the problem was. During the install on the DAQmx 17.0 drivers, 3 files became corrupted. The files and locations were:

C:\ProgramData\National Instruments\MAX\Data\Config3.mxs

C:\ProgramData\National Instruments\MAX\Data Dictionaries\Last\NIMASDD.dll

C:\ProgramData\National Instruments\MAX\Data Dictionaries\Last\NISSDD.dll

The solution to fixing the problem was a painful one. I uninstalled everything NI related on my hard drive, and then started deleting any files/folders that remained, just to do a complete wipe. I found that there was quite a bit that was left in the ProgramData directory, even after uninstalling everything. This is how I found that these were the culprit files, Windows couldn't even delete them, because there were "unreadable". After a quick reboot into Safe-Mode, the files were gone, and I proceeded to start a fresh install of software and drivers. 

[aputman]

Glad you were able to figure it out and thanks for posting your solution.