nipal32.dll

[sunnyvm]

Hi all,

I am setting up a relatively old EMG Data Acquisition system that uses NI's DAQCard-516 (PCMCIA) on DELL LAPTOP with Windows XP. 

I get the following error message while installing NI DAQ driver version 6.6 (comes in a CD with the equipment):

"This application has failed to start because NIPAL32.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.".

The installation process still goes through without crashing. However, the DAQCard-516 is not detected in the Measurement and Automation Explorer. If I try to access the DAQCard-516 via EMGWorks (Delsys' Data Acquisition software), I get a "blue screen" with physical memory address, etc. -- SYSTEM CRASH.

I am stuck at the very beginning of my project. I have never had any fun installing anything from NI so far and feeling is getting worse with experience.... from LabView to simple drivers. Its very frustrating!

Please help me out.

Thanks in advance.

-Sunny

[Dennis_Knutson]

You would have a much more pleasant experience if you were not trying to use obsolete hardware and software. The driver you are trying to install is not supported under XP. The latest driver that supports that device is 6.9.3 and it is supported under XP. You could try that or check with Delsys to see if they have an update.

[Corby_B]

Hello Sunny,

As Dennis mentioned the DAQ 6.6 driver was not intended or made for the Windows XP operating system. So installing this driver on a non supported OS will more than likely give you problems such as the blue screen you are seeing.  Follow the 6.9.3 driver link in Dennis's post to get the driver you need. It is a Free Download form our the ni.com website. Let us know if this helps you get your card recognized. I would remove the 6.6 DAQ driver from your computer before installing the 6.9.3 version. Here is the link to a document that talks about the support of the DAQCard-516 driver.

NI-DAQ Driver Support: Legacy Portable Devices

I feel that after you get the 6.9.3 version of the driver installed your experience will improve. Let us know if this helps.

Cheers!

Corby_B

http://www.ni.com/support 

[sunnyvm]

Thank you Dennis and Corby. First, I removed all the installed NI drivers from and tried installing the right driver (version 6.9.3) on the same machine. It still gave me some errors and asked to restart the installation procedure and I did just that. The installation worked fine. However, the card was never detected by the Measurement and Automation Explorer. I started questioning the laptop (Dell) I was using. So, I switched to another laptop (Toshiba).

On the Toshiba Laptop: 

Installing the right driver (version 6.9.3) had no installation problems. I did this during winter break (last week). After installation, I was able to test the card from the Measurement and Automation explorer. There was some problem faced while testing but I was able to download a bug fix called visa320runtime.exe (http://joule.ni.com/nidu/cds/view/p/id/283/lang/en). Running visa320runtime.exe solved the problem. I was able to test the card successfully.However, after the break (a week later) I am trying to acquire data via the same daq-516 card in both EMGWORKS (software provided by Delsys Inc.) and MATLAB but both have failed. I just realized that the card is not even detected by the Measurement and Automation Explorer. However, the operating system does recognize the card.

I am not quite sure whats going on with this system. Any suggestions on what to do? 

Thanks in advance.

-Sunny 

[Corby_B]

Hello Sunny!

Thanks for your post back. I am sorry to hear that your card is not being recognized any more. I have not seen this happen very often before but I have a few steps that could fix this issue for you.

Did you change any thing on the machine? I.E. install any other software, do a windows update, or change any hardware configurations? One thing to check is to make sure that the NI Device Loader service is started in the back ground. See this knowledge base article that talks about how to check for this.

NI Device Loader (nidevldu) and NI Configuration Manager Services Not Starting

Another option would be to un-associate the card wit the computer. By doing this it will force the computer and MAX to re find the card and re associate it with the computer and DAQ driver.  You can do this by going into the Computers Device Manager and right click on the 516. Select to un install the card and then restart the system. When the computer starts up your computer should find the DAQ-516 hardware. 

Let me know if this helps and please post back with your findings. 

Cheers!

Corby_B

http://www.ni.com/support