pxie-1062q remote power up and power down

[wwwqi]

Hi All

I'm using a PXIe-1062q chassis with PXIe-8108 controller. I plan to mount the chassis inside a cabinet, therefore it will be difficult to gain access to the small white power on/off button on the front of the PXI chassis. Is there a way I can gain access to the power on/off by way of the DB9 connector on the back of PXI chassis?

I've already tried the inhibit switch on the DB9 connector and it simply cuts the power to the PXI and does not shut it down properly.

Thanks in advance

Ming 

[The_Red_Barron]

Hi Ming,

Pressing the on/off button on the front  of the PXI chassis will cut power to the chassis just like the inhibit line.  Since the PXIe-8108 controller is basically a Windows computer (I'm assuming this is not a RT controller) you need to shut it down properly through the Windows user interface like you would any other PC.  After the controller has gone through the shutdown process you can safely use the inhibit switch to power off the chassis.

Information about using the inhibit switch begins on page 32 of the NI PXIe-1062Q User Manual.

Regards,

[wwwqi]

Hi Barron

Just to give a little bit of background. I'm running windows 7 and I've definitely confirmed that upon the first button press, the system starts up into windows. I am able to open up a program, say labview, and run a VI. I then press the white button again and the machine goes into hibernation mode as all the lights on the front panel switch off. I then unplug the power cord for 10 seconds to confirm that the machine has shutdown properly.  I then plug the power cord back in and press the white button again and the machine boots up to the last working screen with my VI where I left it.

This is the functionality I would like to obtain, through some sort of remote interface. I was wondering if it is possible.

Thanks in advance

Ming 

[The_Red_Barron]

Hi Ming,

Do you have the inhibit mode switch set to the Default or Manual position?  According to the User Manual for the Remote Inhibit signal to control the On/Off (standby) state of the chassis, the
Inhibit Mode switch must be in the Manual position.

Regards,

[wwwqi]

Hi Barron

I've tried both setting the inhibit mode switch to Default and Manual

In the Manual mode: 

I short pin 5 of the DB9 to GND then PXI won't power up. As soon as I remove the short, the pxi powers up upon application of mains power to the chassis. That's all good for powering up the PXI, but when I wish to shutdown the PXI, I would prefer to be able to re-apply the short and see that the PXI powers down properly, but instead if I re-apply the short, it simply cuts the power to the PXI. And just to prove that windows did not shutdown properly. I remove the short again, and watch the PXI bootup and I would see the "Windows Error Recovery" screen where it tells me that windows did not shutdown successfully.

In the Default mode:

Pin5 on the DB9 has no effect. Powering on and off the PXI is controlled by the white button. Its power on/off behaviour is as I have described in the reply above.

Regards

Ming 

[The_Red_Barron]

Hi Ming,

I apologize for my confusion regarding the functionality of the DB9 inhibit switch versus the white power button.  I must have misinterpreted the descriptions in the User Manual.  It seems that the white power button can hibernate the system whereas the DB9 inhibit switch just cuts off the power.  In order to properly shut it down without using the white power button you will need to first hibernate or shutdown the computer through the Windows interface, then you can use the DB9 inhibit switch to remotely cutoff the power to the chassis and later turn it back on.  I am not aware of another simple 'one press button' type way to remotely hibernate the PXI controller.

Since your chassis is located in a cabinet you could run keyboard and monitor cables to the device to interface with it.  Alternately, you could connect the chassis to the internet and use Remote Desktop to shut it down.

Regards,