PCI DIO 96 DRIVERS

[Jim77215]

I have successfully installed a PCI DIO 96 card and am currently trying to update old 90's software to work with the hardware. When I tried to load the older sofware LabVIEW 8.5 froze, it would not load the vi. I finally traced the problem to the sub vi's; DIO Port Write.vi and DIO Port Read.vi. If I even attempt to put these vi's on a blank vi diagram LabVIEW freezes. This only happens on the computer with the DIO hardware. If I use the palette vi's DIO Write.vi and DIO Read.vi instead the vi loads just fine. Is it ok to substitute DIO Write.vi for DIO Port Write.vi and DIO Read.vi for DIO Port Read.vi?

[Jorge_Amaral]

Hi,

Current DAQ Labview drivers must be able to control DIO96.

So, why don't you create a backup of your current project and then replace to vi's with the new ones from the function pallette.

[Jim77215]

Actually I did do that. Both DIO Write.vi and DIO Read.vi were found on the 8.5 Data Acquistion palette. The problem is they don't appear to be all that compatible with the older DIO Port Write.vi and DIO Port Read.vi drivers that don't work anymore. For example the older drivers have a control called 'line mask' which the newer DIO Write.vi and DIO Read.vi do not have. Also data representation on the older driver is U32, but U8 on the newer driver.

[smercurio_fc]

It seems that you're dealing with the Traditional DAQ drivers. Unfortunately, you have 2 problems: (1) the code you have was using an older version of Traditional DAQ, and (2) NI has pretty much stopped further development with Traditional DAQ. Traditional DAQ has been replaced with DAQmx. This means that you will either have to update your code to use the version of the Traditional DAQ that was installed from your Device Drivers CD when you installed LabVIEW 8.5, or you can update your code to use DAQmx. The latter is the best solution as it's simpler coding and it's supported.

[Dennis_Knutson]

DIO Port Write is not the same thing as DIO Write and DIO Port Read is not the same thing as DIO Read. They are not interchangeable but all of these functions have always been part of the driver. None are 'newer' than any others. I have traditional DAQ installed and have no problem placing any of these old functions on the block diagram. What is the version of traditional DAQ that you have installed and do you have the traditional DAQ driver selected in MAX? You should be able to use the old driver but as mentioned, at some time, you should consider switching to DAQmx.

Message Edited by Dennis Knutson on 07-15-2008 03:56 PM

[Jim77215]

Thanks for the response!

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "do you have the traditional DAQ driver selected in MAX". If you mean does it show up in max then,  yes, it shows up in MAX under both DAQmx devices as well as Tradional NI-DAQ (Legacy) Devices. Within MAX, using Traditional panels I'm able to write/read the hardware. However, when I try to drag a DIO Port Write or Read vi onto the diagram, LV 8.5 freezes and I have to use windows to shut it down. All this occurs on a laptop connected to the DIO hardware via a PCI extender.

On my desktop computer, which has no DIO PCI hardware, I can freely work with any vi on the palette, including DIO Port Writes and Reads.

If I disconnect the laptop computer from the DIO hardware I still have the freeze issue so its not related to DIO hardware I guess.

As far as Traditional DAQ version goes, where can I see that information?

[Jim77215]

Let me add on more thing: if I comment out the dll call to "C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 8.5\vi.lib\Daq\lvdaq.dll" the panel loads just fine, so its the dll call that freezes things on the Laptop connected to the DIO hardware. This freeze happens regardless of whether the DIO is connected or disconnected.

[Dennis_Knutson]

I don't remember the exact procedure but I think that the device would appear under both traditional DAQ and DAQmx. You needed to right click and select Make Active or the selection was in the properties.

There version is shown in MAX. Expand the software listing and select Traditional DAQ. Information will be displayed in the window on the right side.

All of the traditional DAQ funcitons call into the same dll so I don't know why placing one specific one on the block diagram would cause a problem and others not. What's your OS? It's not Vista is it? Assuming you have the latest version of traditional DAQ (7.4.4) you could try doing a repair or reinstall.