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MAX detects PXI-MXI-4, but fails to detect non-NI chassis

MAX detects PXI-MXI-4, but fails to detect non-NI chassis. My system is as follow:

NI PCI-6552 (NI DAQmx device)
NI PXI-MXI-4/ PXI-8331 (PXI system)
Elma chassis, with CompactPCI backplane (chassis and cPCI)

When I run MAX, it successfully detects PCI and PXI with the model number listed. However, the chassis is unidentified. Although my chassis is made by Elma, not NI, it has been confirmed that my Elma chassis, as well as the CompactPCI backplane that comes with the chassis, is compatible with the PXI.

When I clicked on "other chassis", the chassis.ini (driver) file is asked. But I've confirmed with Elma that no driver is required for the chassis.

What might be the problem? Thank you very much.

Manson
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Hi Manson,

The chassis.ini and pxisys.ini files are not drivers in a typical sense. They are text files that allow software programs such as MAX to identify the chassis.

Each manufacturer must provide its' own files.

Please review the following document online for further information regarding these crucial files:

What Are PXISYS.INI and CHASSIS.INI?
http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/websearch/862567530005F09C862566A0005EAB87?OpenDocument

Should you have any further questions, please feel free to reply to this posting, and I will be able to further assist you.

Best Regards,

Evan R.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments
http://www.ni.com/support
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I'm having a similar problem, and from reading the above, it's not clear what one is to do if the chassis and link vendors say "there are no driver files, and none are needed" and NI says, "you must have the appropriate files, which are provided by the vendor."  Specifically, I have a Jasper Electronics PXI chassis and a Hartmann StarFabric link (PCI bridge).  My NI devices in this chassis (6071E, 6533) have always worked fine, and MAX displays them correctly under Traditional Devices and under DAQmx Devices.  The PXI chassis shows up as "unidentified" in MAX, but this has never caused any problems before (and I've seen the same benign error with other non-NI PXI chassis).  However, now that I'm using DAQmx, I'm trying to do the following:

 

    DAQmxConnectTerms("/Dev3/PXI_Trig0", "/Dev3/PFI5", DAQmx_Val_DoNotInvertPolarity);

 

where Dev3 is a PXI-6533.  When I start my task, I get the error message "Driver cannot complete the route, because the only way to make the route requires a trigger bus line, and no trigger bus has been configured in MAX for this device."  The documentation seems to imply that identifying the chassis will automatically create or recognize the appropriate PXI trigger

 lines.  Since the vendors don't supply any ini files, I tried faking it out as as PXI-8150 system with a PXI-1000 chassis, using the NI ini files; this resulted in entries for both NI cards appearing under "Chassis 1 (PXI-1000)", e.g.

 

PXI5::11::INSTR (PXI-6533)

PXI5::12::INSTR (PXI-6017E)

 

although their properties (in the pane to the right of the tree view) show their chassis and slots as "unknown."  When I run my code, I still get the error message about needing to configure a trigger bux in MAX.  Just for grins, I tried the same thing but with RTSI0 instead of PXI_Trig0, and got the same error.  I created an RTSI cable under DAQmx Devices in MAX, and that made no difference.  Help!

 

Thanks,

Larry

 

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Larry,
 
Have you contacted Jasper about the usage of their trigger lines?  How many slots are in the chassis?  If there are different segments, you may need to configure the trigger lines as described here(http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/websearch/CA9A49FA50393C4186256DC200774E2B?OpenDocument).  Also, depending on how many slots your chassis has, we may be able to fake it out by assigning it an equivalent slotted NI chassis.  Lets start there and see how it goes.  Thanks and have a great day!
 
Regards,
Lon
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