USRP Software Radio
USRP driver for 2945 problems
I have an application running with an USRP 2945(MXI), LabVIEW 2019(64bit), USRP-driver 19.0.
I use it in the RIO mode and have several DMA data streams to the host where I receive the data with the acquire read region method. The hole application runs very reliably for days and weeks without problems.
When I update the USRP driver to 19.1,19.5, 20.0 or 20.5 I get an error after some data has been streamed:
I checked carefully any mistakes for the release data regions but there nothing I can spot.
So we decided to be stuck with the USRP-driver 19.0
Now we wanted to duplicate the system to increase our throughput and bought a new USRP 2945 device. But now I get this error message:
Therefore we need now to solve the error with the blocked read regions.
Is there anything known to have changed in the USRP driver from 19.0 to 19.1 that could explain the error and give a hint how to work around?
Has anyone else experienced a similar problem?
Is there a simple demo program that uses DMA with the acquire read region method that we can try out as an example to nail down the problem? otherwise I would have to write a minimal example to demonstrate the failure.
Any info, help or comment is welcome.
I tried to update the image with the USRP utility. I get the following error message:
( I tried with USRO 19.0 first, then with USRP 20.5 installed. both time this error message)
Is there a newer USRP driver than 20.5 ?
By the way, in Package Manager, for USRP 20.5, there is a link:
that leads to nowhere:
Then I tried to update the firmware from MAX:
But it leads me to a directory with no usrp firmware:
I browsed to …/USRP/images/usrp_x310_fpga_HG.lvbitx and updated successfully the image:
I run my the software under LV 2020 SP1 and after some successful streaming of data (ca 30 sec) I get this error message as originally posted:
The same error when I open and run the software under LV 2019 SP1
Conclusion: updating the image of the FPGA on the device did not solve the problem nor did it change any behavior. It was very unlikely that the error is related to the image. The error happens on the host side of the dma streaming. Somehow the acquired read regions are not released. This is a software that runs nicely under USRP 19.0 but shows this error with USRP 19.1 and higher. This is critical bug that needs to be solved. What has changed in the driver from 19.0 to 19.1 that could explain this? is there a simple example with dma streaming to host using the acquire read region that proves it is working or shows the error?
in the meantime we could work with running the software under version 19.0. But we would need to downgrade the device firmware to 19.0 which we can't. So, can we exchange the usrp device to an older one?
The USRP utility shows that the FPGA image version is higher than the driver version.
it is possible to check with basic commands:
- Search in the Start menu NI-USRP Utilities folder (basically, the path is C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\NI-USRP\utilities)
- copy the path, press Win+R, type cmd
- change the directory cd C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\NI-USRP\utilities
- after all please type uhd_find_devices and you could see something similar:
- the next step is firmware checking:
- in the same window please type uhd_usrp_probe
After the Image update, you need to turn off/on the USRP after which restarts the PC.
ok I tryed it again:
USRP 20.5 was insatlled:
The USRP update utility finds correctly the device:
(note, it says rev 12!)
trying to write the image:
Please check USRP EEPROM:
The default location for the utilities is
C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2015\vi.lib\LabVIEW Targets\FPGA\USRP\niusrprio_tools.llb
Note - edit path accordingly if you have a different version of LabVIEW and/or you have installed the x64 version
Use the initialize Examine Flash.vi and share the response in this conversation.
