PCI-to-PCI bridge confilct under Win2000

[masson]

I tried to install the PXI-1000B chassis under Win2000 through MXI-3 interface without success. From the device manager I found that there is a yellow question mark on a standard PCI-to-PCI bridge. It reports that there is a conflict in IO-port range assignment which was pre-occupied with the other device. But I can not find the device. There is not any other device which uses the same IO-port area. And from the advice of knowledge base, I have edited the registry of my video adaptor(NVidia,AGP), but failed to detect the PXI-cards. The MXI-3 optimization works well(It does not report any error and whenever I run it, the LED of the chassis blinks.). But the devices in the chassis do not show in MAX and device manager. I can find
two more PCI-to-PCI bridge from the device manager. One is occupied by the AGP video adaptor(PCI bus 1). The other is on the PCI bus 2. A new PCI-bridge was shown after I inserted MXI-3 card, which was linked to the PCI-brige on bus 2 as subsidary, which reports the conflict. How can I solve this problem? The attachment is MXI3.log after running the optimization software.

[rtamblin]

It sounds like your MXI-3 kit is working properly, but the cards behind the link are not linking properly with their drivers. I would recommend booting with the chassis empty of all cards but the PXI-MXI-3, run the optimization software, and check Device Manager to make sure everything is working properly. Then install the appropriate drivers for the cards you want to use in the chassis (NI-DAQ, NI-488.2, NI-VXI), shut down, install the cards, and reboot. The cards should be detected and link with their drivers on the first boot up.

Ryan Tamblin
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[Inpriser]

I continue this topic since I have a similar problem :

I use a PXI 1045 chassis with a MXI-4 link to a HP Workstation running Windows XP. I installed NI-DAQ drivers first, booted the PC with the chassis turned on and all PXI cards have been detected and installed correctly.
Nevertheless, in Windows device manager a PCI-to-PCI bridge and also the "NI Trigger Routing Module" are shown with a yellow exclamation mark.

I tried to free almost all possible resources of the PC (disabling USB, SATA...) but I still have this problem. I also tried to boot with no PXI card plugged in the chassis (except the MXI card of course), but the resource issue is still there.
The only other PCI card plugged in the PC is a SCSI controller, that i cannot disable since it is linked to the PC HD...
I also tried almost all cards/PCI slots combinations without better results.

I would be pleased if someone could suggest me any tip to solve that.

[SnarrVIEW]

Check out the following KnowledgeBase on our website and see it the issue pertains to your hardware. If not please let me know and I will further assist you.

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/websearch/292DDA21837903D686256C3E005C3045?OpenDocument

Thanks and have a great day!

[Inpriser]

Thanks BryanS for your answer.
Unfortunately, this did not help. We use a HP workstation xw6200 whose chipset is Intel E7525. There is actually no AGP but PCI Express.
The problems seems not to be a "conflict" issue, but rather a resource lack in the PC : the device managers says that there is no resource available for the device.

We tried to install another OS (Win2K), and uninstalled the SCSI drive and replaced it with a SATA, but the problem is still there.
We reached our NI support, pointed out a possible driver issue with the MXI card and our hardware, but I have no feedback yet.

We did further investigations and discovered that actually our 6 first PXI cards worked in the rack, but not the others (between position 7 to 18). This seems linked to the PCI-to-PCI resource lack...

[Robert__R]

This looks like 1 of 2 things: the BIOS or the chassis.

I have a similar setup that I've used without problems: a Dell 470 (E7525 chipset), MXI-4, and a 1045 chassis.

Your symptoms point to a problem configuring the first bridge in the PXI chassis. Slots 1-6 are in the first segment. A bridge connects that segment to segment 2 (slots 7-12), and a second bridge connects segment 2 to 3 (slots 13-18). If the first bridge isn't operational, then slots 7-18 will be non-functional.

I'd try the setup with a different PC. Ideally you'd have a second 1045 to swap out as well. If the second PC shows the same behavior you'll probably need to have the chassis repaired.

MXI-4 is just a PCI-PCI bridge. It doesn't need a driver to function. The driver that's provided is for a connection monitor that's built in, but it doesn't affect the functionality.

[Inpriser]

Hello Robert,

Thanks for your explanations. I also understood the purpose of the PCI-to-PCI bridge.
I have actually two PXI 1045 chassis used in two similar configurations.
I initially did not see the resource problem when using my first rack equiped with 6 PXI cards (1 MXI link and 5 DAQ cards), since everything looked fine within MAX and I had access to all I/O channels under LabView.

It is when I setup the second chassis fitted with 10 cards that I discovered that cards 7 to 10 had a resource lack. This rack is linked to an identical HP PC as the first configuration.
There was also a resource lack for the NI trigger routing module and one PCI-to-PCI bridge.
The first configuration had the first resource issue conerning trigger module and PCI-to-PCI bridge.

We tried to use the chassis with another old Dell computer running Win2K, and it worked fine. So it is probably not a rack fault.

I guess MXI-4 needs a driver, since it adds these bridges that need I/O memory resources.

We use the last Bios for the HP workstation. I really do not understand why the cards have this resource problem, and how to investigate further.

[chericks1]

Hi lnpriser,

In reference to your comment stating the MXI-4 needs a driver, this is not true. The OS is already equipped with the necessary software to handle the MXI connection.

I know of another customer who is having the same problem with the 1045. When they use a Dell computer, there configuration also works perfectly. I'm assuming it is a problem with the HP BIOS, and the MXI-4s are exposing this problem. Contacting HP and asking them if they've dealt with this before may be of assistance in resolving this issue.

Chad AE
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[Inpriser]

Hi Chad,
I agree with you : the driver is already included in the OS. I actually noticed that 2 drivers were possible to handle MXI bridge : either Standard PCI-to-PCI bridge or Intel 21154 PCI-to-PCI bridge. That is why I imagined that other drivers (maybe updated) could exist, that may solve our problem.

Do you know if the customer that you spoke about had solved its problem with HP ?
Maybe this customer is actually ourselves, since we reached HP and NI supports just before Christmas !

I also try through this forum to see if other people also encountered the same problem. Indeed, the solution seems to be on HP side, nevertheless it is quite difficult for us to deal with them all technical issues linked to the possible BIOS incompatibility... I think NI tech people would be more efficient to point out with HP all this...

Feedback or suggestions are welcome.

[chericks1]

Inpriser,

I believe I was working with this before. What we need to do is work through your branch if it is a regional build of the OS. Usually, it is a BIOS fix on the HP end that will fix this issue. We're here for you, and we want to get your issue resolved, and I'm sure your branch will assist you every way they are able. We would be happy to help, but we are kinda coming in from the outside.

Thanks!

Chad AE
Applications Engineer
National Instruments