PXI-6508 installation prevents system Boot

[A Wooten]

I have three PXI-6508 digital I\O cards that seem to be bad.  If one of these three cards is installed into the PXI chassis the system will not boot (Bios do not post).  I've verified this is an issue with the cards because I've duplicated the failure on three different PXI chassis setups and I've also installed a known good 6508 into these same chassis and the systems boot normally.

I'm trying to identify what is causing these cards to go bad, so that I don't damage any more.

Questions:

1. Any ideas what would cause this type of failure?
   1. Is it possible to damage a card in this manner via the external pins?
   2. Is it more likely that the PXI Chassis itself is damaging the cards at the back plane connection 
2. Any ideas on how to troubleshoot this type of issue?
   1. Are there common PXI related issues that would prevent system boot?

Any help would be appreciated,

Anson

[mr_]

Hello Anson--

This does sound like a peculiar issue.  It sounds like you have already done some good troubleshooting steps.  Does this issue persist if you put one of the three problematic 6508s in a different slot on the same chassis?  What if the chassis was empty aside from the controller and one of the problematic 6508s?  When did these cards start experiencing this issue?  Do you recall any particular event happening that may have caused this (e.g., voltage spike, etc).

Regarding your questions...

1. Providing external signals to a DIO device can certainly cause damage if the input specifications are exceeded. 

2. It is unlikely that the PXI chassis is causing this issue because other cards work in that chassis, as well as other 6508s (as you've noted).  Are you seeing this issue stem from the same slot of a particular chassis?  How long has this been an issue?  Have these cards ever worked in your chassis?  What kind of controller are you using?

1. I've done some research and I have not seen any trends or notifications for this kind of issue.  It may be necessary to RMA your boards.  Once they have been tested, we can learn more about what may have caused this issue.  Unfortunately I can only speculate what the underlying issue may be.  In this case, some trace could be causing a short, which forces the embedded controller to not proceed and post the BIOS.  

You may want to create a service request for this.

Regards,

Message Edited by Tyler C on 05-14-2009 04:48 PM