Hi,
Have you made sure to also hook up the parallel cable as shown on page 4-17 of the December 1996 SCXI 1200 User's Manual? Take a look at the configuration, if you just connect the serial cable and not the parallel, you would be able to see the chassis but not the card.
http://digital.ni.com/manuals.nsf/websearch/BA1C5207CD9AFF078625665F00558779?OpenDocument&node=132100_US