Error 200018 using PCI-6259 and Labview 8.5

[psangior]

Tobias -

I have moved the board to a different PCI slot in the same computer (no difference) and to a different computer.  The second computer I used was very different from the first computer.  It runs Labview 7.1 (not 8.5) and windows XP (not Vista).  Still, it produced roughly the same results.  Instead of getting error 200018,  I would occasionally get error 200016 (buffer underflow).  By changing the output frequency from 1MHz to 500 KHz, I could get it to output 4 simultaneous AO channels, occasionally.  Sometimes it would work, sometimes not.  If I changed the Update Method to Interrupts instead of DMA, it seemed to work better, but still not perfectly.

I guess at this point all I can do is contact NI Switzerland, but really, given how "random" and therefore software-related the problem seems, I don't see how a new board will solve anything.  It seems like the problem is with the interface between the software and the hardware.

Thanks for your help,
Paul

[saller2k]

Hi Paul!

I'm having the very same problem here.

But two differences: I'm using Labview 7.1 and the maximum frequency seems to be about 100kHz.

I tried to change the Transfer Method to Interrupt, but with no effect.

HAve you been able to get some new information?

[saller2k]

My solution is simple:

My waveform had dt of 0.1µs which was too fast for my PCI-6251

I decreased to 1µs, works fine for me. 

No error 200018

Hope this will helps someone 😉

[Electromecha]

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psangior wrote:

At any rate, the main point is that the problems I am seeing are non-deterministic.  Sometimes it outputs, sometimes it doesn't.  Sometimes it reports an error, sometimes not.  Thus, it really suggests to me that this is a software issue or at least a software/hardware interface issue and thus something that should be easily solveable.

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Paul,

I've had similar issues with an AO that I update the Amplitude and Offset on the fly using non-regenerative AO methods. 

Anyway, without getting into the details, I too painfully learned that the DAQmx Write VI's do not report DAC Error -200018.  

I found a work around by adding a DAQmx Is Task Done.vi after the DAQmx Write VI.  This will catch Error -200018.

I certainly doesn't solve the problem, which I agree at the root is a lack of determinism due to software, but it will at least allow you to be notified of the error and handle it.

Steve