Install NI-488.2 for Solaris Driver works for PCI-GPIB card but fails for PCIe-GPIB card

[YetAnotherMike]

Hi All,

I'm having problems installing the NI-488.2 for Solaris Driver when using PCIe-GPIB cards under Solaris 10 5/09 s10s_u7wos_08 SPARC and was hoping for some guidance on getting this resolved.  The install process works perfectly with some PCI-GPIB cards I've got lying around.

The install fails during the post-install process like this:

## Executing postinstall script.
Installing 64 bit kernel driver
ibkeypci: Scanning NI-488 resource file /etc/ibrc
ibconf: Scanning NI-488 driver file /usr/kernel/drv/ni488
ibconf: Scanning NI-488 driver file /usr/kernel/drv/sparcv9/ni488
ibconf: Scanning NI-488 resource file /etc/ibrc
devfsadm: driver failed to attach: ni488
Warning: Driver (ni488) successfully added to system but failed to attach

Installation of <NIpcigpib> was successful.

The successes/failures are identical across various Sun SPARC hardware platforms that I was able to test.  The installed Solaris OS is identical across all platforms shown below with the exception of any required hardware-specific packages:

V215 -

  PCI-GPIB:   works

  PCIe-GPIB: fails to attach, no /dev/gpib* created

Netra T2000 -

  PCI-GPIB:   works

  PCIe-GPIB: fails to attach, no /dev/gpib* created

SunFire T2000 -

  PCI-GPIB:   no appropriate slots available so unable to test

  PCIe-GPIB: fails to attach, no /dev/gpib* created

Thanks in advance,

Mike

[muks]

See this

[Dennis_Knutson]

muks,

You might want to read the information at some of these links you post. Do you know what a SB-GPIB is and what the difference is between it and a PCIe-GPIB?

[YetAnotherMike]

Here is some additional information that may be relevant and some steps that I've taken while investigating this issue ...

The boot process for a SunFire T2000 reports that the PCIe-GPIB card is located at:

  /pci@780/pci@0/pci@8/pci@0: Device 0 pci1093,710e

Once the system is up, prtdiag reports on the card like this:

  IOBD/PCIE0  PCIE  0  /pci@780/pci@0/pci@8/pci@0/pci1093,710e  pci1093,710e

However, an ls of /devices/pci@780/pci@0/pci@8/pci@0 displays an empty directory with no actual device entries.

In the NI-488.2 for Solaris Driver v-2.4 package directory structure there is file at NIpcigpib/root/etc/devlink.tab that contains the following subset of entries:

!install
/name=NATI,pci-gpib/d
/name=NATI,pmc-gpib/d
/name=pci1093,c801/d
/name=pci1093,c821/d
/name=pci1093,c831/d
/name=pci1093,70cf/d

Since my PCIe-GPIB card is not showing up at any of those locations, and in the hopes that doing so would clear up the problems, I added the following entries in all the appropriate spots in the devlink.tab file:

  /name=pci1093,710e/d
  type=ddi_pseudo;name=pci1093,710e       \\M0
  /name=pci1093,710e/d

I then updated the pkgmap file entry for devlink.tab and re-installed the package but no joy ... although the resulting /etc/devlink.tab does contain my modifications, the install continues to fail the same way:

  devfsadm: driver failed to attach: ni488
  Warning: Driver (ni488) successfully added to system but failed to attach

And, not surprisingly, there continues to be no actual device entry in /devices/pci@780/pci@0/pci@8/pci@0 and no gpib* symlinks in /dev.

Thanks,

Mike

[pflores]

Mike,

The first posts mentions 64-bit. Is your Solaris system 64-bit?

Regards,

[YetAnotherMike]

The problem was resolved by making simple changes to three files found in the NI GPIB Driver for Solaris package.

I added the following three lines to the obvious places in the NIpcigpib/root/etc/devlink.tab file:

/name=pci1093,710e/d

$i\
type=ddi_pseudo;name=pci1093,710e     \\M0

/name=pci1093,710e/d

I then updated the NIpcigpib/install/postinstall file, changing the following line:

/usr/sbin/add_drv -m '* 0666 root sys' -i 'NATI,pci-gpib NATI,pmc-gpib pci1093,c801 pci1093,c821 pci1093,c831 "pci1093,70cf" NI,GPIB-SBus' $ni488_driver_name

to:

/usr/sbin/add_drv -m '* 0666 root sys' -i 'NATI,pci-gpib NATI,pmc-gpib pci1093,c801 pci1093,c821 pci1093,c831 "pci1093,70cf" "pci1093,710e" NI,GPIB-SBus' $ni488_driver_name

And, finally, I updated the NIpcigpib/pkgmap file with new size and checksum values for the two files mentioned above. 

After that, the pkgadd completed without errors and the ibtsta test reported that "The software is correctly installed.".  We won't have an opportunity to test the server while it's connected to an actual autoclave until early next week but I'm reasonably confident that all will be well.

Mike

[pflores]

Thanks for sharing!

[lrodney]

Hi All, I did modify the the three files, but alias I still get the same error about the driver not attached, this is a T4-1 in slot 0, trying to install NI PCIE-GPIB 488 card. any thoughts

[lrodney]

yes, 64 bit solaris 10 on t4-1. using a PCIE-GPIB card. even after modify the three files, got the same not attached message after stating the driver was install sucessfully. thanks in advance for any help.

[Jacobson-ni]

Rodney,

The last post in this thread was from 2010.  Your post may get more visibility/feedback if you create a new thread with a reference to this one.

We are still working on resolving this issue and I will make sure to post the solution on this thread in addition to messaging you personally if that is an option for us.