error occurs, repair DMM software, error goes away - rinse and repeat

[jcarmody]

This error first happened early last year, then it occurred last month and now it's popped up twice this week.  What could cause a missing library to repeatedly go missing?

The error is in TestStand, but the origin in in LabVIEW:

I can't recall what I did the first time I saw this error, but the last three times it happened I fixed it by repairing the NI-DMM installation:

[Taki1999]

Just a wild guess, but maybe this KB article is pertinent?

NI-DMM and TestStand Issue

[JÞB]

Jim,

What's the hardware?  TS Version and license type?  LV version?  Adaptor? (might help point to the bug)

What are the TS step settings for load/unload? (thinking that you might be unloading the DLL in a rarely executed step then trying to reload)

Are the sequence modules all LabVIEW code or are you calling into DMM or DAQmx from other languages as well

I notice that your drivers are a bit out of date.  Consider upgrading DAQmx and DMM to latest. (lots of bugs have been removed in DAQmx and DMM)

But do try setting the regisrty key first

[jcarmody]

---

@Taki1999 wrote:

Just a wild guess, but maybe this KB article is pertinent?

NI-DMM and TestStand Issue

---

• You could have a bad installation of drivers.

This wouldn't explain an intermittent problem.

• The reference that you are using has become corrupted.
• There also could be a conflict with memory addressing within NI-DAQ and Visual Basic.
• Specific to NI-DMM: There are known DLL collision issues with the Visual Basic debugger and National Instruments device drivers.

These seem to be specific to VB.

• This issue can also occur when using Teststand with a 4050 or 4060 DMM.  A support DLL used by NI-DMM fails to load if Visual Basic has already loaded another DLL into the same address space.

This is the only interesting one, but the KB link doesn't go to the KB so I can't follow it.

[jcarmody]

---

@Jeff Bohrer wrote:

Jim,

What's the hardware?  TS Version and license type?  LV version?  Adaptor? (might help point to the bug)

What are the TS step settings for load/unload? (thinking that you might be unloading the DLL in a rarely executed step then trying to reload)

Are the sequence modules all LabVIEW code or are you calling into DMM or DAQmx from other languages as well

I notice that your drivers are a bit out of date.  Consider upgrading DAQmx and DMM to latest. (lots of bugs have been removed in DAQmx and DMM)

But do try setting the regisrty key first

---

I'm using a PXI-4065 DMM in a PXI-1042 chassis.

TestStand 4.0 Development System License.

LabVIEW 8.2

LabVIEW Adaptor

TestStand load/unload settings don't seem to apply.  This is a well-established production sequence that is running on two ATEs and I only have trouble with this one.

All modules are LabVIEW.

I'm leary of updating DAQmx & DMM, but I will once I image my HD.

I don't want to edit the registry because the problem is intermittent on only one machine and repairing the DMM installation temporarily fixes the problem.

[JÞB]

Jim,

Looks bad for DAQmx upgrade. (double check me but I think 9.2.2 removed support for 8.2) -edit I have 8.2 and DAQmx 9.2.2 so I'll look and......Yup no DAQmx palette in 8.2 so don't upgrade to the latest!

Hmmmm duplicate stations and only occurs on one.... does not seam like they are really duplicates.

NEXT I would run a Technical report on both machines.

<Instructions for the community > ("MAX>File>Create Report" brings up the report Wizard.  Chose "Technical Support") 

see what IS different- If you can.  If no differences are seen there, then, its time to prove to your boss that you were right about making the company shell out $ for the SSP.

[Sean_F · Accepted solution]

Hi Jim,

I looked through the technical report and nothing really stands out. One obvious thing we could/should do is to upgrade NI-DMM to 3.0.2, which is compatible with LV 8.2.1. From your technical report, I noticed that you have LV 8.5, which does support DAQmx 9.2.2 and  the latest versions of our drivers. You might check to see if you experience the same problem when the VIs are saved in LabVIEW 8.5. To do so, you would just open your project and mass compile, or if it's just one VI go to Tools » Advanced » Mass Compile. Let me know if either of these steps resolves the problem.

Regards,

[jcarmody]

I followed your suggestion and upgraded DMM to 3.0.2 over a month ago and haven't had any trouble since.  I planned on upgrading my symptomless ATE 'later' until it developed the same error this morning.  I upgraded that one also and am back in business.

I'm not happy about this being the solution because it doesn't explain the cause, but I guess that I'll forget about it soon enough.  Thanks for the help.