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daqmx base osx PXI

Hello, I'm trying to use DAQMX Base to talk to a few PXI modules on a PXI which is connected to a mac pro.  I'm running Labview 2011, with DAQmx Base 3.4.5 installed and NI-VISA 5.1.1.  What I can't seem to do is get my PXI-6289 to show up in the mxbaseconfig, to create a task.  However, using the NI Datalogger, I'm actually able to read the voltages on the channels just fine.  For some reason, when I try to create a new task for the PXI-6289, all of the aquisition types are greyed out, implying those types of functions are not available on the card.  Seems like there's a mistake in the driver definitions or something like that.  I tried reinstalling the drivers, but had no luck.  Thoughts anyone??  How can the standalone NI Datalogger read the analog inputs, but I can't anywhere else in labview....

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A side note, maybe a clue to the problem, in labview, when I make a control or constant task object to connect to a DAQmx Base vi, i.e. "Read", nothing shows up in the dropdown window.  I can type things in of course, but no devices ever seem to be found using this method.  At the moment, I'm not really convinced that NI's drivers really work on OSX like they claim they do.  I have the most up to date version of everything installed and none of it seems to work as NI claims.

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Hi Colin,

 

It does seem strange that the Datalogger would work without the device showing up under mxbaseconfig especially since the Datalogger is just a LabVIEW executable. What version of the MAC OSX are you using? How are you connected to your PXI system?

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I am running OS X 10.6.8, using Labview 2011, with DAQmx Base 3.4.5, with VISA 5.1.1.

 

I'm connected to a PXI-1042Q module via a PXI-8360 PCIe connection.  The modules in the PXI-1042Q I'm trying to use are a PXI-6289, PXI-6052E, and PXI-6711.  Using the "lsdaq" application yields the following results : 

 

NI 6711: "Dev1" (PXI5::12::INSTR)

NI 6052E: "Dev2" (PXI5::13::INSTR)

NI 6289: "Dev3" (PXI5::14::INSTR)

 

However, nothing shows up in labview unless manually entered in.  And mxbaseconfig used to open but not see anything, now it just crashes!

 

What I've ended up doing for the moment is simply writing into the I/O something like "Dev3/ai0" depending on what I'm using.  I'm just creating a new task and adding channels to it via the labview VIs rather than creating a larger task.  Maybe you can't do that in DAQmx Base like you can in the Windows DAQmx ?  Either way, even though I can manually type in Dev3/ai0, and it is recognized, I can't seem to poll it in any way.  Any thoughts?

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Hi Colin,

 

I've found record of a similar issue where a reinstall of the driver software fixed the issue. You might try that. If you do, make sure the card is not installed during the driver install.

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Hi Alisha, 

 

Which driver software would that be??

 

The 8360 PCIe card came with a PXI platform cd, but it only runs on windows.  Do you mean reinstall DAQmx? or VISA?  or both?  Or is there an actual PCI driver out there for the mac.  (I expected there to be one but never found one).

 

Thanks!

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Oh sorry - I was talking about the DAQmx Base 3.4.5 driver software. (PCI cards use the DAQmx driver)

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Thanks for the idea, didn't work unfortunately.  Same results.  Something to add that I think is strange, I removed the card from the bay, turned on the computer, installed the software, restarted the computer, then shut it down again.  Then I installed the card, turned on the computer, and just like the first time I did this a week ago, nothing was recognized.  Even in the System Profiler, the only PCI card that showed up was my graphics card.  However, the power and link leds were illuminated on my PXI-1042Q.  Then I restarted the computer and it showed up like it did before.  However, still having the same problems with mxbaseconfig.

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Hi,

 

I have a few pieces to add that I think will help. A bit of news and then some answers 🙂


colin-aerospace wrote:

 

I am running OS X 10.6.8, using Labview 2011, with DAQmx Base 3.4.5, with VISA 5.1.1.


First the news: this week we released NI DAQmx Base 3.5 for Mac [1]. This driver now supports the 64-bit kernel in OS X 10.6.x and 10.7.x. LabVIEW is still 32-bit, which confines applications to 32 bits, but those applications can now communicate with the 64-bit kernel. While it doesn't have any bug fixes, I don't believe you've encountered any bugs either. If you can upgrade, I would encourage it, but I don't think it will affect your situation.

 


colin-aerospace wrote:

 

Using the "lsdaq" application yields the following results: 

 

NI 6711: "Dev1" (PXI5::12::INSTR)

NI 6052E: "Dev2" (PXI5::13::INSTR)

NI 6289: "Dev3" (PXI5::14::INSTR)

 

However, nothing shows up in labview unless manually entered in.  And mxbaseconfig used to open but not see anything, now it just crashes!


Now, some answers 🙂 Since your devices are listed by lsdaq, the driver has been correctly installed and successfully associates with them. The behavior you see in LabVIEW when the I/O Nodes do not populate with device names is intended [2], the main reason being that DAQmx Base does not install background services that notify LabVIEW of available devices.

While mxbaseconfig should not crash, my suspicion is that its data file has become corrupt. You may be able to restore the utiltity by deleting this file [3]. Another caveat to know is that this file may be corrupted when accessing it from different verisons of LabVIEW [4].

 

The readme [5] outlines the different ways a task can be configured. The best method, which appears to be what you are now doing, is to dynamically create a task using 'DAQmxBase Create Task.vi' and not the mxbaseconfig utility. Combining LabVIEW examples is an efficient way to implement more complex operations with DAQ hardware.

 


colin-aerospace wrote:

 

Either way, even though I can manually type in Dev3/ai0, and it is recognized, I can't seem to poll it in any way.  Any thoughts?


At this point, I'm unsure what you mean. Would you describe what you want to do, how you are trying to implement it, what you expect to observe, and what happens instead?

[1] NI DAQmx Base 3.5 for Mac OS X

http://joule.ni.com/nidu/cds/view/p/id/2892/lang/en

 

[2] NI-DAQmx Base Tasks and Physical Channels Are Not Listed in the LabVIEW Task and Channel Constants and Controls

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/57393FEDF313E99B86256F0B0010AD2D

 

[3] DAQmx Base Error -1: DAQmx Base Driver Failed to Initialize

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/F06AD247A0A792D8862575FA007E3DEE

 

[4] NI-DAQmx Base Task Configuration File Incompatibility Across LabVIEW Versions

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/E576040989D3499B862575A6005416F4

 

[5] NI DAQmx Base 3.5 readme

http://ftp.ni.com/support/softlib//multifunction_daq/nidaqmxbase/3.5/Mac%20OS%20X/ReadMe.rtf

Joe Friedchicken
NI Configuration Based Software
Get with your fellow OS users
[ Linux ] [ macOS ]
Principal Software Engineer :: Configuration Based Software
Senior Software Engineer :: Multifunction Instruments Applications Group (until May 2018)
Software Engineer :: Measurements RLP Group (until Mar 2014)
Applications Engineer :: High Speed Product Group (until Sep 2008)
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Thank you Joe!

 

Thanks for the heads up on DAQmx_Base 3.5, I'm installing now.

 

I see now what you're saying about listing the devices, I assumed DAQmx_Base worked like DAQmx, but as the knowlege base points out, that kind of automatic listing of tasks is done only in DAQmx.

 

As for setting up tasks, I'll keep doing what I've been doing, creating the tasks dynamically, as you pointed out this appears to be the best approach.

 

The problem I was having with mxbaseconfig was that for the default tasks "ai finite buffered", etc.  I was unable to choose a Device from the dropdown menu.  None were listed.  I was however, able to see the devices when I would click "Create New Task".  Unfortunately, when I would select my device "NI 6289", I was unable to choose any of the possible acquisition types, because the "OK" button would be disabled for all types.  My guess is this is a bug in mxbaseconfig, or possibly some definition of the 6289 features.  I really don't know, but at this point, not sure I care too much either.

 

One more issue I'm having though, and this could very well be a hardware problem on my side, but frequently since installing the PXI-8360 PCIe card which talks to the PXI-1042Q, when shutting down or restarting the computer, I get the "grey screen of death", or the kernel panic screen from OS X[1].  I'm really hoping the 3.5 update fixes this, but I also think it might be a bad connection to the pci bus from the card, which I have encountered before from other devices.  Have you ever encountered this?  Additionally,  when I left a program reading from the PXI-1042Q for a day and came back, the device was no longer responsive.  This is when mxbaseconfig was crashing.  I restarted, got the kernel panic screen, manually shut down, restarted, and everything worked as before.  So that's where I'm at today, will it crash? will it not crash?  Thanks again Joe!

 

[1] OSX Screen of Death

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Panic10.6.png

 

-Colin

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