How to update the VISA serial driver

[Stuby]

I just reinstalled LabVIEW 6.1 and with it a version of VISA that doesn't handle my USB / quad RS-232 box properly. I've fixed this once before, by upgrading the VISA, but there was some trick involved. A registry entry or a DLL that had to be deleted to force the problem driver to be changed out. Just downloading and installing the new VISA doesn't fix the bug.

[JoshuaP]

I would suggest first upgrading to NI-VISA 3.2.

http://digital.ni.com/softlib.nsf/webcategories/85256410006C055586256BBB002C0E91?opendocument&node=132060_US

Then tell us what is not working. Are you getting errors? Do the ports show up in MAX? Does your device work in hyperterminal? What is the make and model of your USB-232 device? Was it made by NI? Do you have the 3rd party driver installed (if it was not made by NI)?

-JoshuaP

[Stuby]

I have already upgraded to 3.2 by downloading from web and running the auto installing .exe. I have a RockPort (COMTROL P/N 3000147). Device works in HyperTerminal AND it works with the old NI (non-VISA) serial drivers. AND the VISA functions all work on the native COM 1 port. Initialization function seems OK, but reading or writing returns VISA: (Hex 0xBFFF003E) ... I/O Error. ###### As I said, I've been here before with phone assistance from an NI tech who had me do something special to turn off an old driver or registry setting as part of the upgrade. And I don't remember what it was. Thanks.

[JoshuaP]

There are several USB serial devices out there that don't support all of the functionality found in a native port. Give this a try.

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/websearch/0C2ABA463217342686256E2E006DF187?OpenDocument

If that doesn't work, run NI-SPY with logging to a file enabled when you run a LabVIEW example. Then post the spy capture and labview program that you used. Hopefully this will give us enough information to find the problem.

-JoshuaP

[Stuby]

I replaced the VISA Configure Serial Port.vi with a direct property node settings. i wasn't using any of the fancy stuff anyway. Kept whittling it down (and re-closing the port between tries) until all I have left is the baud rate (9600). How can I verify that there is no old VISA driver lurking around? I tell you I've fixed this before. I just changed computers. I have LabVIEW 7 in a box on my shelf, but I can't get ahead of my clients so I need the fixed VISA running with LV 6.1. Thanks for your patience.

[Ricardo_SR]

Hello,

VISA should do all the registry update but you can check if there is anything left by checking yourself the registries.
Check the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\National Instruments\NI VISA.
If there is anything left of the previous one you can just delete it.
You can also check the following registry and see if this is where you actually had installed VISA.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\VXIPNP_Alliance\VXIPNP\CurrentVersion
Hope this helps.

Ricardo S.
National Instruments

[JoshuaP]

What happens if you don't try to set the baud rate with VISA. Just open the port and then try to perform a write. Note that you may need to set your baud rate in the Windows Device Manager first. Also, try changing from the default asynchronous to Synchronously by right clicking on the VISA Write.vi. That's another feature that your device might not be able to support.

It would be great if you could find the information that the previous AE told you. Do you know what your service request was?

-Joshua