MAX 4.1 failure

[Tariah]

I wanted to add an NI device using MAX 4.1 and while the MAX splashscreen was opening my firewall trapped an attempt to access the internet. I "blocked all access" and then MAX  closed completely. Now it won't open at all.

I'm not sure how to reload just MAX without installing LabVIEW again also(version 8.2).
Is MAX a dowload like NI-DAQ?
Has anybody else had this problem?

[TCPlomp]

Hi Tariah,

You should reset your firewall to allow MAX to connect to itself (that's what it's probably doing).

Look in you firewall configuration for MAX.exe and set everything to allow, after that you should be able to run the program again.

Ton

[bburress]

Hey Tariah,  
    MAX automatically installs with most of NI's device drivers, including DAQmx.  It should still be installed.  Whenever you open MAX, it scans your system for supported devices, including scanning your ethernet connection for any of our devices that can be configured remotely.  That may be the root of what was happening. 

[Tariah]

Thanks,
I use McAfee and set it to allow everything from NI to access the internet but MAX still dies after showing the splash screen for a few seconds. 

I don't feel like uninstalling and then installing everything again, but that may be my next step.   There doesn't  seem to be any repair option on the LV installation CDs.
There is no reason whatsoever that MAX should completely fail if it can't "call home"!!!
 
I've been using LabVIEW for over fifteen years and this nonsense is just not acceptable. There's a group in NI's programming department that are determined to sabatoge the efforts of a lot of skilled people who have built one of the most amazing languages in the history of computing.  LabVIEW is destined to be just a memory if NI doesn't eliminate the morons who have injected nonsense like this into applications that USED to work beautifully.

Amazing.

[bburress]

Hey Tariah,
    It seems that MAX has become corrupted in some way, and reinstalling it should fix your issue.  I apologize for the inconvenience this issue may have caused you.  MAX uses TCP to communicate with its database, and this may have also been the root of your virus scan blocking in addition to the program scanning for remote systems.  That program needs to be able to access the internet in order to provide customer support for our ethernet-configurable devices.  I'm not sure why not allowing access would have caused the program to not open any more, but it is possible that the database was being written to and became corrupted when the communication channel was blocked.
    Measurement and Automation Explorer is listed as a program to repair if you navigate through the Windows Control Panel to the Add/Remove Software program.  I suggest not trying to repair it, but instead uninstalling MAX, then reinstalling ANY NI driver.  All of our drivers come with MAX, and installing any of them should put it back on your system.  If this does not solve your issue, please repost and we'll get it resolved quickly. 
    Again, it's regretful that this simple software error has left such a bad taste in your mouth about NI products.  If you've been using our products for 15 years, then surely you've seen more good than bad.  We try to make our products as multi-functional as possible, and sometimes in striving to do so we create errors that were not there previously. 

[Tariah]

Hi Brian,
I am going to try an uninstall/reinstall today.  If that doesn't work I'll try using another PC. I'll post my results. 

As far as a bad taste in my mouth, it's a taste I don't enjoy and one I'm not used to.  LabVIEW is a programming language that still amazes me everytime I use it to control a single relay or dozens of motors and sensors.   I even write a small utility to do my taxes with it!  I also make my living from it.
Thank you National Instruments!

And I've returned the favor by constantly using NI hardware in every job I possibly can....many thousands of dollars worth over the years.


But this is not a bug nor is  my contempt for the outcome overly harsh. In this day and age, any serious computer user  has a firewall or he's going to eventually get burnt.   When an application wants to access the internet and I feel it shouldn't, I block it.  That aspect of MAX should have been tested before release...many times.  How on earth do I know it's trying to access a database?

I don't like the idea of trying to explain to my customer that "there must be a bug" in his PC  or some other tall tale. And I find myself making these little "excuses"  more often lately; the activation process fiasco (lots of fun if you don't have an internet connection), the fact that LabVIEW now holds the World record for being the slowest application to launch,  and now MAX giving up the ghost without even leaving a note to console the next of kin.

Like I said, there are those at NI that are working against LabVIEW. And their heads should roll.

[Tariah]

Well, I uninstalled LabVIEW and and put her back in and then unplugged the internet connection after activation. MAX now opens and works fine.

Of course, after building my executable for the first time and launching it, it wanted to access the internet (sigh). 
My customer is spooked by all of this and is going to stipulate that no internet connections will be allowed while the tester is working.


Thanks for the replies and assistance.