MAXServerUnknownError when connecting to cRIO 9074 in MAX after NI-DAQmx update to 3.6.1

[R.i.c.h]

Hello, I have been working with NI Support (SR: 1706249) since yesterday but was wondering if anyone else has ran into this issue:

We have a couple USB cDAQ-9172s and a few cRIO-9074s in the lab.  After researching a Error 50405 (http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/3EA2432762C45B298625734D0061D527?OpenDocument) with a cDAQ I decided to update one of the computers from DAQmx 9.0.2 to DAQmx 9.3.0f2.  This appeared to fix the problem so we updated some of the other development computers in the lab.

Now it seems that any computer that has had the DAQmx update installed cannot fully communicate with any cRIO on the network (With the exception of one PC that was down a day while I checked the cRIO/network/reinstalled software). 

On most PCs I get "MAXServerUnknownError" and can only see the IP and SN of the cRIOs.  In the attached screenshots I was only working with one cRIO at the time but the issue is the same across all three in MAX.

We have 5 computers in the lab with MAX and each one is acting a little different:

1. Dev Computer 1 - Now working after a day of updating drivers and other related programs in an attempt to fix the issue (Forum, KnowledgeBase).  Unfortunately, this shotgun approach will not work for the other computers as they are currently being used to run tests/develop.  What finally got it working was running the "MAX Database Corruption Tool" referred to by NI support. (https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-12805)

2. Dev Computer 2 - "MAXServerUnknownError" - The MAX Corruption tool did not fix the error.

3. TestBed Computer 1 - "MAXServerUnknownError" - Not needed for cRIO development but had the DAQmx Driver update applied.

4. Laptop - Cannot see any remote systems in MAX.  (Plus sign disappears when tree is expanded) - the MAX Corruption tool did not fix the issue.

5. TestBed Computer 2 - The one computer that has not had the DAQmx update - can still read/write to all 3 cRIOs.

On the surface, there appears to be a driver conflict or something causing corruption to the MAX database.  Has anyone else had issues connecting to a cRIO with the newest version of DAQmx?  Should I consider rolling back the driver update and try another workaround for the original Error 50405?  Any help is greatly appreciated.

-Rich

[Stephen_Moore]

Hi,

I had some very similar problems a while back, with the same error messages.  I eventually found out that it was a Silverlight problem.  Try checking your Silverlight installation.  My SR was 959578 but I do not have all the details now, but I do know that I fixed it.

Cheers

Stephen

[JoshuaP]

MAX 4.7 had a few known issues that could cause you to see the MAXServerUnknownError and most of them have been addressed in MAX 4.8.  You can install MAX 4.8 from the NI System Configuration 1.2 distribution on ni.com.

http://joule.ni.com/nidu/cds/view/p/id/2328/lang/en

After upgrading and restarting the system please let me know if this fixes the issue.

[JoshuaP]

Sorry I just realized that you already installed DAQmx 9.3, which should include MAX 4.8.  You can try to reinstall MAX 4.8 using the NI System Configuration 1.2 distribution, however I'm not sure that will fix your issue since you already seem to have 4.8 installed. 

[R.i.c.h]

Just to update:

I've been told this issue is currently in NI R&D.  I'll be sure to update the the thread with what they find.  Right now it is looking like a possible problem with MAX 4.8 which was included in the DAQmx update.

Luckily we can still deploy to the cRIOs in LabView but this is still quite the inconvenience.

[MKr]

Hello all, we had very similar problems. All started when MAX got it's slick new design using MS Silverlight. Looks soooooo cool... if it works... Isn't it funny that this problem only affects the right hand screens designed using MS Silverlight? ALL other stuff still works (left hand side, everything that can be expanded in the device's tree). Although the situation got better a little bit with MAX 5.0 now, it STILL gives us this error from time to time. One can hardly believe that this STILL is not resolved after more than A YEAR passed. Again: We're using LV 2011 (i.e. MAX 5.0), and the cRIO 9074 I'm just at this moment experiencing that behavior with has been equipped with the very latest cRIO-Software (also coming from LV 2011). When will this problem be solved?? One more thing: Even IF it works, the MS-Silverlight parts are soooooo slow! It often takes HALF A MINUTE until anything appears there -- whereas all other info (e.g. left hand side data in the tree) is being displayed almost instantaneously). Best regards MKr

[Andrew_B]

Hello MKr,

This is Andrew Brown, an Applications Engineer from National Instruments. An important settings that MS Silverlight uses within MAX is the proxy server (if any) used within Internet Explorer. A resource on these settings is Change proxy settings in Internet Explorer.

Do you currently have a proxy server set up in Internet Explorer?

If so, can you try disabling the proxy server and attempt to detect your cRIO 9074?

Regards,

Andrew Brown

[Stijn_Schacht]

Hi everybody,

is there already a solution for this? We have exactly the same issues: only 1 PC manages to upload software to our sbRIO targets, all the rest (several laptops and desktops) do either not see the targets at all, or when connected with them - they throw a MAXUnknownServerError ...

We only have this error when the targets are completely wiped out (format disk). Whenever some software distribution is installed on them, it works fine on all PCs.

We are an alliance member of NI so we work only with the latest software tools (LV2011SP1, FPGA, RT, RIO drivers, ... etc).

Current situation is: we do not dare to change anything on that one PC that actually works (ie MAX enables software distribution) but what will happen if we really need to change anything on this PC or if that PC gets broke?!?

best regards

[Stijn_Schacht]

Maybe to give some additional information regarding the problem:

sbRIO attached to DHCP enabled network: it does not configure itself with a network IP address, it always returns a link local IP (169....): why?

sbRIO attached via cross cable to static IP addressed PC: same as above (link local IP is logic here, but not when DHCP is on!)

in both situations, only 1 PC is able to actually fully configure the sbRIO devices (set the IP, upload software distribution) so that all others can work with the sbRIOs. Strange but it is what it is.

[Stijn_Schacht]

OK,

after reading a bunch of information I might have found out a working solution for us:

1) make sure Internet Explorer is the default browser

2) if you have a 64 bit system (the only PC that actually worked here, is a 32 bit system!): make sure you have the very latest version of Silverlight and IE9

I will keep you guys posted if these things keep working well after say 20 deployments or not. Maybe I am just lucky after 20 times toggling services on/off and playing around with software settings of IE and all possible networkconfigurations :-). I will also try this on all other non-working PCs to found out if this is the fix for 64 bit PCs or not.