Problem regarding NI USB-9161

[Tom_W_[DE]]

Hi M D'Souza-

Great- it sounds like we are making better progress now.

In order to enter a name manually you may have to enable the 'Allow Undefined Names' attribute for the control by right-clicking the device control and opening the "I/O Name Filtering" menu.  You should note that the device name is actually "Dev1" (without the space).

The "C" interface I referred to is the NI-DAQmx Base C interface .dll.  I wasn't sure if you were using LabVIEW or not, but now that it appears you are, you can disregard my "C"-related comments.

Hopefully this helps-

[M D'Souza]

Hi Tom,

Find attached a screenshot. I think it explains the problem being not able to locate the physical channel "ai0" on the device. You can also see the window of NI-DAQmx Base List Devices, where the device seems to be detected and I managed to manually enter the name "Dev1/ai0" as per your advice. The thermocouple is indeed connected to the "TC0+ & TC0-". Just to be sure I changed the letters "ai0" to "tc0" with no luck. Any ideas?

Apart from that, I tried fitting the NI-9215 into the USB-9161 carrier. But the device was only recognized as NI-USB-9161 carrier in the "Device Manager" in My Computer and in NI-DAQmx Base List Devices. Atleast in the case of NI-9211, it has been detected. Now irrespective of the NI-9215 connected or not, I see only the NI-USB-9161 as recognized. Why would this happen? I am under the impression that NIDAQmx Base 2.2 suffices for both devices.

So I have two different difficulties above. I hope you have helpful advice. Thank you.

Best regards,

M D'Souza

[Tom_W_[DE]]

Hi M D'Souza-

Your new problem with the example is that you are trying to run an NI-DAQmx example (you can tell from the error text that mentions DAQmx Create Channel).  You need to open an NI-DAQmx Base example, as those two APIs are not interoperable.  You can find the NI-DAQmx Base examples in the locations mentioned here.

You are right- both the NI 9211 and NI 9215 should be compatible with your USB-9161.  Can you please clarify your post?  Are you saying that after trying the 9215 you are no longer able to use the 9211 or 9215?  Or if you reinsert the 9211 does it still work?  If you haven't already, please try unplugging and replugging the USB cable to your device, as the functional firmware on a per-module basis is loaded when the device is inserted.  Re-enumerating the device will give that process another chance to complete successfully.

[M D'Souza]

Dear Tom,

Thank you. Actually, a colleague of mine told me the same as what you told me about the DAQmx Base examples, before I saw your response. So I tried a DAQmx Base example file which he sent me. Only later I realized from your email that the .vi are available in the folder mentioned in the link you sent. When I tried opening the file my colleague gave me, it took unusually long to open and finally showed a broken arrow, indicating errors. After that I tried to run the examples from the folder your link mentions, and now none of the DAQmx Base examples are loading. I know that they were loading perfectly before. See the attachment for the error. I even reinstalled DAQmx Base 2.2 without any avail. Can you think of what the problem could be and what I could do?

About the NI-9215, when I connect it, as mentioned before it is not recognized as NI-9215 in the "Device Manager" in My Computer and in NI-DAQmx Base List Devices. Both before and after connecting the module, the detection stays unchanged from NI-USB-9161 carrier. There is no issues of the NI-9211 not being detected in the "NI-DAQmx Base List Devices", even after trying to connect the NI 9215.

Thanks and regards,

M D'Souza

[M D'Souza]

The DAQmx Base example I first tried was from this page: http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/epd/p/id/2223

[Tom_W_[DE]]

Hi M D'Souza-

The long loading time you mentioned is expected.  Of course, the broken Run arrow is not.  It appears, as you noticed, that your DAQmx Base API VIs are broken.  Can you "drill down" through those errors a few levels to find where the actual breakage is occurring?  It is very difficult to troubleshoot from that highest level of broken VIs, but I may be able to offer some suggestions if you can click through a couple of levels to find the real breakage.

As for the 9215 issue, this is just a guess, but do you have a 9215 with BNC terminals or screw terminals.  Only the screw terminals version is supported in NI-DAQmx Base 2.x, unfortunately.

[M D'Souza]

Hi Tom,

I have good news. Without any intelligent reasoning, I uninstalled DAQmxBase 2.2 and installed DAQmxBase 1.3 and tried the example. Now everything is working just fine, although I did get a warning saying "LabVIEW 8.0 changed a constant that was wired to a Case structure to a hidden control to maintain compatibility with LabVIEW 7.1 and earlier." But I think that's perfectly fine? And I am able to see the temperature graph. So the NI 9211 issue is solved. Unlike you the local tech support team, after seeing the screenshots which you saw too, misled me by saying how the device is not showing up in MAX was strange and are now avoiding all communication. If not for your reassurance I would have never been able to sort this out. Thank you very much.

About the NI-9215. I have the one with BNC terminals. And now that I have DAQmxBase 1.3 and from what you indicated, the device is not supported by neither that or the 2.x versions. What do you suggest I could do to get this working?

Best regards,

M D'Souza

[Tom_W_[DE]]

Hi M D'Souza-

You're right- the Case Structure warning is innocuous.  I would still like to know why your VIs were broken, but there probably isn't an appreciable difference between those two fairly old versions of NI-DAQmx Base.  If you want to update and have the time (without any guarantees whether it will work or not, unfortunately), I would recommend uninstalling 1.3 and then deleting these directories if they weren't deleted already:

C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW xxx\vi.lib\_DAQmxBase

C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW xxx\vi.lib\_dmxb

Of course, if you're getting the results you want from your measurements then you may just want to leave it as-is.  As for supporting the 9215 BNC, I'm sorry to say there aren't really any options with your USB-9161.  You could update to a USB-9162 or USB-9171 and use it with NI-DAQmx for Windows if you really need to.  Or you could acquire another 9215 with screw terminals to use with your USB-9161.

Glad to hear you're up and running now-

[M D'Souza]

Hi Tom,

Thank you for your continuous support. You saw me through this.

Cheers,

M D'Souza