NI-IMAQ FOR IEEE 1394 Cameras random boot-time driver problem

[SoSo]

Hi,

I am using the NI-IMAQ FOR IEEE 1394 Cameras Windows 98/ME/2000, V 1.5 with a Sony XCD-SX900 (Firmware 1.05) under Windows XP (SP1), and I am experiencing a random boot time problem:

On 80 % of the times the PC boots up, the driver recognises the camera all right and everything works perfect. However, 20% of the times the driver
would not recognise the camera, and if I look in device manager, I see an error �Driver failed to start�. The only way to cure it seems to be to
disconnect the camera cable, wait a bit, and plug it back in, than start Max and press F5. Most of the times this would fix it, however some times
it would require a reboot.

So far I tried changing the following windows settings: P
erformance Options
/ Adjust for best performance of background services, and also I disabled the graphical interface at boot time, but none of those had any effect.

Also I tried reinstalling the driver in every possible way, but again it did not fix it.

I would really appreciat if anyone could let me know if there is any solution to this problem. Changing to
Windows 2000 is not really a solution, since XP has been specified as required operating system for the end product.

Thanks a lot,
Sorin

[PNHorn]

Hi Sorin,

It's Pete from National Instruments technical support department here. Thank you for your enquiry. I have consulted with our Vision expert in the office and we have come up with a couple of things we would like you to try which should at least help to narrow down the problem.

The latest version of the 1394 driver is 1.5.1 so you should upgrade to this. You can't download this from our website like most drivers but it is a free order. If you give our sales department a call they will be able to help you out with this.

Also, can you check that your camera is OHCI compliant, as if not, this will cause problems.

I look forward to speaking to you soon.

Cheers,

Peter H.
Applications Engineer.
National Instruments.

[TommyBoy]

I have exactly the same problem !
But the driver doesn't start 2 times on 3 !

What can I do?

Tried everything.

WinXP,
Texas Instruments OHCI firewire card
IEEE 1394 1.5.2 driver + 1.5.3 update
tried putting cards in different slots.

[Dan_Quinn]

Hi TommyBoy,

Thanks for using our discussion forums. Go ahead and take a look at your C:\Program Files\National Instruments\MAX\UI Providers directory and see if you have a file called "imaqcfgui" in there. If it isn't there, try just running the IMAQCFG.msi from the installation CD.

Regards

Dan
National Instruments

[TommyBoy]

Hi DannyQ,

I took a look at the directory and there's a file called IMAQCFGUI.MXX

Can you please advise further?

thanks in advance !
Thomas

[Dan_Quinn]

TommyBoy,

Try deleting that file. Then run IMAQCFG.msi from the installation CD.

Dan

[TommyBoy]

Hi,

I replaced the file and ran the installer. But when I run the installer and select the option to install imaqcfg, the installers pops up a window "Please insert disk 2" 😞
If I do not select this option, the imaqcfg file is not created.

Now what?

In the mean time, I've tried uninstalling everything from NI. After that, I deleted the National Instruments folder in the program files folder. Did a restart and then reinstalled everything.

Still same problem : Most of the times that I start up, two of the 4 firewire cameras are not active. I can start their driver by going to the device manager, and selecting disable and then enable.

The driver for the firewire card (texas instruments OHCI complient) is always loaded correctly.

Can you advise. the machine has to be delivered to our client shortly, and I really want to solve this problem by then.

Thanks in advance,
Tommy.

[Dan_Quinn]

TommyBoy,

Am I correct in that 2 cameras on the same board are working fine but 2 others have trouble loading their drivers at startup? What kind of cameras are they?

Regards

Dan
National Instruments

[TommyBoy]

Yes that's correct. They are all firewire MARLIN F-033 camera's.

[Dan_Quinn]

Wow, all the same camera? This is even more strange than before. When you move cameras around to different ports does the error follow the camera or the port?

Dan
National Instruments