Problems using the 5112 board on PXI

[Station]

Hi

I've got a PXI running Realtime 7.1 and I'm using Labview 7.1 to communicate to it. I want to use the 5112 digital oscilloscope as a spectrum analyser.

Whenever I try to load any of the example programs for the 5112 I get the error "Labview:failed to load shared library niscope_32.dll on RT target device". I tried to copy niscope_32.dll from the computer running labview to the PXI (I put it in the system folder where lots of other dlls seemed to be) but I still get the same error. 

On a side note, I tried running Scope-SFP but that just seems to a bunch of simulated data...

[Kyle_A.]

Hi Station,

I found this article in reference to the error code you are seeing.  Confirm in Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX) that your drivers are successfully installed on your PXI system.  If you have all the correct driver software on your machine and PXI system, then it is recommended to do a reformat and reinstall of the drivers to see if that remedies the issue.  

Message Edited by Kyle A. on 05-12-2010 12:21 PM

[Station]

Thanks for the advice, things are getting closer to working. I ended up having to install NIscope 3.2  on the PXI using MAX like you suggested, I didn't seem to have the option to install NiScope 2.6 which is the version that came with the  labview I'm using. Not sure why that is.

No when I try to use one of the example NI scope programs I get an error "Error -1073807343 occurred at  niScopeInitialise.vi   Insufficient location information or the requested device or resources is not present in the system"

The resource name I am using is PXI2::14::INSTR which is what MAX called the 5112 card.

[Kyle_A.]

Hi Station,

Your error seems consistent with this article that I found.  You need to change your descriptor from the PXI descriptor to the DAQ descriptor. The paragraph most important from the link is this:

These errors usually occur when you address the instrument with a VISA resource descriptor (e.g. PXI1::15::INSTR) instead of a DAQ resource descriptor (e.g., DAQ::1::INSTR for Traditional DAQ, Dev1 or PXI1Slot1 for DAQmx). Since the NI Modular Instrument drivers use NI-DAQ to detect and communicate with the boards, you must use the DAQ descriptor to open a session to them with these drivers. 

Let me know if this change solves your issue, thanks!

[Station]

Ok so now I don't know what resource name to use. I can see the 5112 in MAX under the Devices/PXI/Chassis where it is called PXI::14::INSTR, which I now realize is a VISA description. However it doesn't appear under the NI-DAQmx Devices tag where presumably I could get it's resource name. I can see the other card I have on the PXI (a 6070E). 

I've tried calling it DAQ::14::INSTR and PXI1Slot3 (and lots of variation of these things). But I keep getting the same error as before. 

[Kyle_A.]

Hi Station,

The DAQ::14::INSTR descriptor is for Traditional DAQ only, per the linked article above, and you should be using either a descriptor such as Dev1 or PXI1Slot1 (depending on what MAX identifies your card as). The descriptor is to the right of the name on the hardware, encompassed by "" quotations marks.

Some other things to check on your side will be to see if you can see your device in Device Manager, make sure that your Chassis is properly identified in MAX, and make sure you are in slot 3 of your PXI chassis.  Have you tried changing slots in the chassis?