error -200020 at self test

[ehudson]

Hi,

I have a PCI-6731 that has worked fine until I tried to move to another (brand new) computer.  Now it gets an error -200020 at self-test.  Here are some possibly relevant bits of information:

1)  I have put it back in the old computer and it works fine there.  Both computers are Dell Optiplex systems running XP.

2)  I have tried it in all PCI slots (I don't know if they have both 3.3V and 5V PS because Dell couldn't tell me, but they are supposedly 'universal' PCI so I guess that they do)

3)  I have the most recent NI-DAQmx (8.3.1f0).  The machine it works on has 8.3.0f3.  I installed 8.3.0f3 on the new machine and the board then worked!!  However, the next morning (without anyone touching or rebooting the machine) it was no longer working.

4)  Even though it fails the self test I am able to make it output various voltages properly in MAX.  However it is very unhappy when I try to control it from LabView (8.2), at first returning random garbage to status requests (e.g. # of samples generated) and then throwing errors.

5)  The board is less than a year old and has not been extensively used.  I doubt we have shorted it out or done anything to it that would have damaged it.

6)  I've removed the board, unisntalled the drivers, etc. but this seems to make no difference.

I've seen several people ask similar questions but they always seem to resolve the issue (if at all) by getting new hardware.  Since it works on the first computer I'd be surprised if it was a hardware (board) problem, but maybe this is just wishful thinking.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer,

Eric

[Brian F.]

Hello ehudson.

Thank you for contacting National Instruments. 

I am sorry to hear that you are having issues recognizing the PCI-6731 consistently in your new Dell Optiplex system.  On the positive side, since that card works in the old Dell Optiplex system, we know that the card is functioning just fine.  Thus, our purpose now is to find out what differs between those 2 systems.  One concern that I have is if the board is getting enough power.  Is there any difference in the 2 systems in terms of the graphics cards or other PCI boards onboard which could be occupying a significant amount of power? 

You also mentioned that you were temporarily successful in recognizing the PCI-6731 in your new system, but then it no longer functioned the next morning.  If you restart the new system now, do you have consistent temporary success after the restart or are you unable to see any success at this point? 

Let me know any other specifics on how these 2 systems vary and we will be happy to help you troubleshoot this issue further. 

Have a great day!

Brian F
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[ehudson]

Hi Brian,

Thank you for your response.  To answer your questions:

>  Is there any difference in the 2 systems in terms of the graphics cards or other PCI boards onboard which could be occupying a significant amount of power?

Not really.  I do have a higher end graphics card in the old system but not in the new system.  There are no other pci cards in the new system.  It's pretty much a bare bones optiplex right out of the box.  Same 1Gb memory, similar processor speeds (I think that the new system is a dual core processor but I'm not sitting in front of it right now to check -- the old one isn't), same size hard drives, etc.  I could download and post the packing slip from Dell if that would help.

>  You also mentioned that you were temporarily successful in recognizing the PCI-6731 in your new system, but then it no longer functioned the next morning.
>  If you restart the new system now, do you have consistent temporary success after the restart or are you unable to see any success at this point?

We have been unable to reproduce our temporary success, although we only rebooted, we didn't try to remove and reinstall.  We have put the card back in the old system and are using it there as we can't afford any more down time for now.

Thanks,
Eric

[Brian F.]

Hello ehudson. 

Because your two systems are so similar, it could be an issue with the PC itself.  I would recommend contacting Dell to see if they can offer any advice or repairs.  One final way to test this would be to try other PCI cards in the slots that the PCI-6731 isn't working in.  If the other PCI cards also do not work, we can almost be positive that the issue resides with the PC and not the PCI cards. 

Let us know if you have any further updates!

Brian F

Applications Engineer

National Instruments