[W] GPIB problems: HP-IB 82341d, VISA and Labview 5.1f1

[Johannes Niess]

------- Start of forwarded message -------
To: info-labview@pica.army.mil
Subject: [W] GPIB problems: HP-IB 82341d, VISA and Labview 5.1f1
From: Johannes Niess
Date: 24 Oct 2000 19:57:25 +0200
Message-ID:

Hello wireworkers,

I've an urgent problem (deadline on thursday):
I have to use the above mentioned board with Labview 5.1f1 (English)
under Windows 95. Hardware detection is ok. Using the HP VISA
configurator I can communicate with some of the devices I plan to
use. But detecting external GPIB devices causes trouble: One device
(talking 488._1_ only) is not detected at all and other devices need
an autotedect by hand from the
HP I/O configurator.

Labview's find VISA Resources behaves strange:
Old values are cached and not deleted after the cable to the device is
removed. The 448.1 device is not detected.

There is no way to communicate to the devices with Labview. Using the
known VISA resource names does not help. Even the non-VISA 488.1
VI's return errors.

An update of HP drivers to version J0.02.01 from 2000 did not
help. And NI VISA 2.5 didn't help either. So both tips from the
NI knowledge base are unsuccessfull. Any ideas?

Johannes Niess
------- End of forwarded message -------

[Johannes Niess]

Update:

I´ve deinstalled everything (including LV) and removed the remaining
pieces by hand. After that I've installed the latest HP I/O libraries
including HP VISA. Then I installed LV 5.1 without NI-VISA. The update
to 5.1f1 was next. After successfull tests with the HP VISA
Configurator I was able to get things going in LV.

The results from "find VISA resources" still behave strange, so
autoconfiguration won't work. One instrument (Leader LF 827) still
remains quiet with all tools. What should I try to get it going?

Johannes Niess writes:

> ------- Start of forwarded message -------
> To: info-labview@pica.army.mil
> Subject: [W] GPIB problems: HP-IB 82341d, VISA and Labview 5.1f1
> From: Johannes Niess
> Date: 24 O
ct 2000 19:57:25 +0200
> Message-ID:
>
> Hello wireworkers,
>
> I've an urgent problem (deadline on thursday):
> I have to use the above mentioned board with Labview 5.1f1 (English)
> under Windows 95. Hardware detection is ok. Using the HP VISA
> configurator I can communicate with some of the devices I plan to
> use. But detecting external GPIB devices causes trouble: One device
> (talking 488._1_ only) is not detected at all and other devices need
> an autotedect by hand from the HP I/O configurator.
>
> Labview's find VISA Resources behaves strange:
> Old values are cached and not deleted after the cable to the device is
> removed. The 448.1 device is not detected.
>
> There is no way to communicate to the devices with Labview. Using the
> known VISA resource names does not help. Even the non-VISA 488.1
> VI's return errors.
>
> An update of HP drivers to version J0.02.01 from 2000 did not
> help. And NI VISA 2.5 didn't help ei
ther. So both tips from the
> NI knowledge base are unsuccessfull. Any ideas?
>
> Johannes Niess
> ------- End of forwarded message -------

[Johannes Niess]

The GPIB interface was dead... A replacement works. Thanks for your
help.


Johannes Niess writes:

> Update:
>
> I�ve deinstalled everything (including LV) and removed the remaining
> pieces by hand. After that I've installed the latest HP I/O libraries
> including HP VISA. Then I installed LV 5.1 without NI-VISA. The update
> to 5.1f1 was next. After successfull tests with the HP VISA
> Configurator I was able to get things going in LV.
>
> The results from "find VISA resources" still behave strange, so
> autoconfiguration won't work. One instrument (Leader LF 827) still
> remains quiet with all tools. What should I try to get it going?
>
> Johannes Niess writes:
>
> > ------- Start of forwarded message -------
> > To: info-labview@pica.army.mil
> > Subject: [W] GPIB problems: HP-IB 82341d, VISA and Labview 5.1f1
> > From: Johannes Niess
> > Date: 24 Oct 2000 19:57:25 +0200
> > Message-ID:
> >
> > Hello wireworkers,
> >
> > I've an urgent problem (deadline on thursday):
> > I have to use the above mentioned board with Labview 5.1f1 (English)
> > under Windows 95. Hardware detection is ok. Using the HP VISA
> > configurator I can communicate with some of the devices I plan to
> > use. But detecting external GPIB devices causes trouble: One device
> > (talking 488._1_ only) is not detected at all and other devices need
> > an autotedect by hand from the HP I/O configurator.
> >
> > Labview's find VISA Resources behaves strange:
> > Old values are cached and not deleted after the cable to the device is
> > removed. The 448.1 device is not detected.
> >
> > There is no way to communicate to the devices with Labview. Using the
> > known VISA resource names does not help. Even the non-VISA 488.1
> > VI's return errors.
> >
> > An update of HP drivers to version J0.02.01 from 2000 did not
> > help. And NI VISA 2.5 didn't help either. So both tips from the
> > NI knowledge base are unsuccessfull. Any ideas?
> >
> > Johannes Niess
> > ------- End of forwarded message -------

[aldo_hoyt@qwest.net]

Which VISA is primary? Agilent or NI?

If the only interface you are using is the Agilent 82341D, perhaps it would be best to use Agilent I/O libraries alone (without the NI drivers).

If you are using a mix of interfaces, some of which require NI drivers, you can go with either Agilent or NI software as primary VISA. Unfortunately it is not possible to have both NI-VISA and Agilent VISA as primary.

Rev J of the Agilent I/O libraries has a "secondary" VISA which is accessed through the agvisa32.dll. However, this would be relatively difficult to do in LabVIEW (as compared to the standard VISA function calls).

To work through some of these issues, you can read a document I posted at ftp://ftp.agilent.com/pub/callpub/ddt/misc/IO_rev_k.doc

If
you need further assistance, feel free to e-mail me at aldo_hoyt@agilent.com

[aldo_hoyt@qwest.net]

Another thing to keep in mind is that rev J is not the latest revision of the I/O libraries. You can get rev L from ftp://ftp.agilent.com/pub/mpusup/pc/binfiles/iop/index.html