Desktop PC real time target set up

[Ben Barry]

I am trying to set up a Dell GX280 desktop PC as a real time target. All the PC configurations are set according to the NI stated PC requirements for a desktop target but after installation with the ETS deployment license format floppy disk, the machine boots, displays "Loading Labview Real Time ....." and goes no further.

The GX280 onboard ethernet is of the 915 chipset and is not one of the listed supported ethernet chipsets for the ETS. To account for this I also purchased the NI recommended Intel Pro/100S ethernet card. It is stated in the PC deployment license instructions that users of gigabit should install with the license provided ETS PC deployment disks, but users of 10/100 ethernet should install with the RT PXI tools created disks.

The boot of the system seems to stall at a stage when it would invoke ethernet and given the NI instructions I think it likely that my problem arises from a mismatch between the recommended Intel Pro/100S and the ethernet support with the provided disks. Has anyone else encountered this problem?

The obstacle is that in Measurement & Automation 3.1 on my host PC the creat disk options under RT PXI tools are all grayed out and unavailable. So is the User Preference option in this menu. My host does not have an internal floppy drive but it still does not allow selection of the option with a USB floopy connected. Even after installing Measurement and Automation on another PC with an internal 3.5" drive this problem persists. Has anyone encountered this problem? Any suggestions as to how to obtain a disk image of these PXI utility disks via email or ftp?

As a further query, the Dell Optiplex GX280 only shipped with the latest Intel numbered series processors (in my case a 550: P4 3.4GHz, 800MHz FSB). On the intel website these processors are listed as having the 915 chipset rather than the old x86 chipset, although both are still 32bit. The Pharlap website that manufacture the ETS used by NI only explicitly lists 32 bit x86 processors as being supported. I hope that my boot problem is not instead due to this hardware issue as the PC was purchased specifically for the purpose of a desktop target and the NI websote only specified an Intel Pentium 4 based PC, with no reference to the different processor chipsets. Has anyone set up a desktop target with a PC that uses the latest series Intel numbered processors?

[Ben Barry]

I just talked to an Ardence engineer, the company that manufacture Phar lap ETS. He assured me that although the 915 chipset is not explicitly listed as being supported on their website, as it is Intel Pentium 4 32 bit based it will work fine. I think it increasingly likely, therefore, that my problem arises from the 10/100 ethernet I am using not being supported by the license provided Real Time deployment disks, but (hopefully) instead the Measurement & Automation created boot disks.

[Ricardo_SR]

Hello Ben,

In order to have the RT PXI Utilities available you need to install LabVIEW RT for ETS on that host computer. Once you have it installed, you should be able to use those utilities.
About the hardware, what we support is what is on the document, because that is what has been tested thoroughly. Any other hardware might work but we cannot assure that.
Hope this answers your questions.


Ricardo S.
National Instruments

[Ben Barry]

Thank you for the suggestions Ricardo. I have solved the problem. I did have the ETS real time module installed and done so in the correct order. As suggested by another NI engineer, it was just a bad install. Removing it and installing it again worked. I made the disks and all worked well. So a Dell GX280 with an Intel 550 processor, a serial ATA HDD set in bios to compatibility mode and a PCI Intel Pro100s works fine - the onboard ethernet for this PC did not work.

As a caveat to the install disks. The system still stalled after installation of the Phar Lap ETS when the RT PXI Format disk was used. Using the RT PXI Boot disk worked.

I checked regarding the support of the latest Intel processors with an engineer at Phar Lap and he indicated that while this series of processors (915 chipset) is not explicitly listed on their website, being Pentium 4 it would be expected to work.

[Ricardo_SR]

Hi Ben,

Thank you for the update. I will pass this information so that we can add it to the supported specs. Thank you.

Ricardo S.
National Instruments

[chatonda]

Ben,

What was the BIOS version on your PC? My (limited) experience with ETS on desktop (or single board) computers seems to indicate a high sensitivity to BIOS. I'm interested because I would like to try this 915G chipset out.

Thanks,

Chatonda Mtika
Algis Autograding, Inc.

[Ben Barry]

I am presently away from the lab and can't verify this, but I believe it was BIOS revision A04

[wsallamy]

Hello

I have a problem with converting into real time target, i have 10 full license for Labview 8.0 version 2006 then upgraded to LabView 8.2.

U want to convert the PC into a real time target do I have a deployment license with my package. If this is not the case can I have a deployment license which support Labview 8.2 without upgrading to Labview version 8.5

Thanks

[chatonda]

You don't need the deployment license. However, you might have some problems because LabVIEW RT is very finnicky about ethernet chipsets as well as motherboards. Based on my experience I can almost guarantee you that most of the new motherboards will not work if you don't upgrade to 8.5. Almost every motherboard with a multi-core processor will fail. I tried this several times and gave up. But LV8.5 seems to work very well. It supports a lot more ethernet chipsets and has been developed using newer motherboards as test benches.

Thanks,

Chatonda
Algis Corp
Vancouver

[GerardoG]

Hello,

I'd like to clarify the post above. If you are converting a 3rd party PC or PXI Windows controller to be a LabVIEW Real-Time target, you are required to purchase a deployment license for each system. The LabVIEW Real-Time development seat does not include deployment licenses. Only NI Real-Time hardware, such as CompactRIO and PXI Real-Time controllers, include a deployment license.

Here's a link to the PC RT deployment license.

I hope that clears things up. Please post if there are any questions or concerns.

Gerardo Garcia
Senior Product Manager
NI