MacBook Pro - XP - Labview

[RL]

Craig,

I looked at those articles.  I assume that "How Do I Connect to a LabVIEW Real-Time (RT) Controller with a Crossover Cable?" is outdated and for an old OS. I rate it 1/5

"Suggest Values" button in MAX  I can't find it.  Perhaps I need to upgrade to Firefox for the visually impaired.  Therefore I don't know what values to use.  I looked at the DHCP Clients List on the router but cRio does not show.

I am amazed that there isn't a program or VI that can validate a system for the CompactRio communications.  Pretty soon it will have wasted more time than the cost of the unit, not a great selling point or is it an IQ test?

At this point I don't know if:
- CompactRIO 9012 is faulty
- Instructions are not adequate
- Network not right - even though we are using it
- inherent problem with MacBook-XP communications
- it takes a NI certified programmer to hook up a CompactRIO

My current computer does not have a serial port. So my diagnostics resources are limited.

Raymond

[Craig_D]

RL,

The suggest values button is meant for after you see your target in MAX so if your target is not even showing up, you wouldn't be seeing this.  I would ensure that you have the most up to date version of NI-RIO (2.3.1) and MAX.  There is a problem specific to MAX 4.2 which may be causing your target not to be seen so I would make sure that your MAX version is later than 4.2 and then explicitly follow these steps:

1. Make sure you have a crossover cable and not a straight through cable--you can tell by turning both connectors clip side down and looking at the wire colors second from the left--one should be orange and one should be green.
2. Configure your computer with a static IP address.  If you have any other network adapters (ie, wireless) disable these.  Make sure you are changing the IP address for the adapter you are going to connect the CompactRIO to.  Follow the directions in this KB for how to do this in Windows XP.  Never mind the fact that it is written for Fieldpoint, just follow the directions for configuring Windows XP.  Use the 192.168.0.1 IP address and 255.255.255.0 subnet mask on your computer.
3. Power up and connect the CompactRIO to the computer.
4. Slide the IP reset DIP switch over and reboot the CompactRIO controller.  Take note of the status LED and use page 12 of the 901x manual to decode any blink codes.
5. Launch MAX and you should see the controller show up in MAX with a 0.0.0.0 IP address.
6. Configure with a static IP address

If this still does not work, I would try these same steps on another computer if possible to rule out the parallels setup as a potential cause.

Regards,

Craig D
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[minnellac]

I am also a user of Parallels on a Macbook. I have used 8.01, 8.2.1, and 8.5 without any problems, but I haven't used the RT module or tried to connect to external data acq equipment. I think I can offer a couple Parallels specific suggestions though. One, you'll want to disable the firewall on the OS X side as well if you are using a shared ethernet connection, but if you are using that type of connection I'm not so sure that you will see the rio. Parallels acts as it's own gateway when used in shared mode, and that puts you and the rio on different subnets (I think). If you haven't tried yet, switch to Bridged Networking, where parallels will receive an IP directly from the router. When looking at the router log, you should see separare IP's assigned to OS X and Windows on the same computer.

let us know how it goes.

Chris