GPIB resource name not shown in drop-down list

[JoshT]

GPIB resource name is not shown in the resource name control drop-down list.  I am connecting an HP 6653A programmable power supply using a GPIB cable connected to an Agilent GPIB-PCI (82350B card).  This card is inserted into a computer running Labview 7.1.  While in the block diagram window for Labview, when I right click the resource name terminal for the “Initialize VI” from the instrument specific driver VI palette, and click to add a control, the resource name control does not include the GPIB interface in the drop-down list.  When I type in the Logical IVI name directly into this box and run the program, an error saying “ERROR-1073807343 occurred at hp66xxa Initialize with options.vi – resource is not present in the system”.  When I Go into MAX, the IVI Drivers tree seems to be setup properly for this instrument with the resource name pointing to GPIB0::5::INSTR.  This matches the address saved in the power supply.  One concern is that no GPIB interface is listed in the “Devices and Interfaces” category of MAX.  When I try to create a new one, it steps through the wizard to add a GPIB-PCI card but nothing gets added when finished.  Also, I have installed the Agilent IO Libraries driver for the GPIB-PCI card and this software lets you send commands directly to the instrument.  The instrument responds perfectly when used this way.  Any ideas how I can start using the Power Supply Instrument Driver VI’s in Labview?  They look so simple but I can’t seem to link with the device.

[Matt_S.]

Hi Josh,

It sounds like the error you're seeing isn't related to the instrument driver. It's related to our driver not seeing that Agilent GPIB card. By default, our VISA driver only looks for National Instruments GPIB cards. There is a way to get this to work though.

Check out this Knowledge Base.

Hope this helps!
 -Matt S.

[JoshT]

I tried to impliment some of the changes suggested in the link you provided.

Changes made are:

- Agilent VISA installed in side-by-side mode with NI VISA (Can't figure out how to uninstall Agilent VISA completely without uninstalling the entire IO suite.  I guess Agilent IO Suite 14.1 doesn't allow this anymore)

- Changed Agilent VISA interface ID from GPIB0 to GPIB1

- Enabled Passport for Tulip Checkbox

Now, I can see the GPIB port using the VISA Interactive Control and this responds to commands when I send through this controls interface.  However, the Devices and Interfaces list in MAX still doesn't show any GPIB interfaces.  Still can't choose this resource in Labview front panel.

I tried restarting computer and opening MAX again with the same result.

Also tried to create a new device under Devices and Interfaces for a PCI-GPIB card, this did not create a new entry unfortunately.

Any ideas?

Josh

[JoshT]

Got it working well enough now.

It looks like those fixes I did last message worked to solve the major problems anyway.  Once I physically typed in the Logical IVI name into the pull down resource name box in the front panel it seemed to work.  I'm not sure why the logical name isn't one of the optional choices in the pull down list still.  Also, I'm not sure why my device still doesn't show up in the Devices and Interfaces tree.  But I am able to communicate with the instrument using the downloaded instrument driver.  If anyone knows how to fix these minor problems please let me know.

Thanks,

Josh

[Makoto]

For stable operation with Agilent GPIB-PCI (82350) with LabVIEW, I highly recommend to use Agilent IO Libraries Suite 14.1 and you should uninstall NI-VISA.  (Side-by-side VISA install is one of difficult topics.)  Instead of using NI-MAX, Agilent provides Agilent Connection Expert application for I/O connection configuration.  Once Agilent Connection Expert has recognized your GPIB INSTR address on it, VISA viFindRsrc() functions finds the VISA address causing LabVIEW to show the VISA address dropdown list correctly.

[JoshT]

I am hesitant to uninstall NI-VISA because I use it in other VI's I am currently using.  Any advice on using both VISA's concurrently?

If I uninstall NI VISA, do I still have access to the VI's in the block diagram of Labview?  I thought that these would be removed after uninstall?

Has anyone seen the issue where they can see the device in the 'NI-VISA Interactive control' window but not in the 'Devices and Interfaces' tree?  Is there an easy way to display the GPIB device in Devices and Interfaces as well?

Josh

[Chris_R.]

Hi Josh,
If you uninstall NI-VISA, you will not be able to use the VISA functions in LabVIEW, so if you still need them for LabVIEW, do not uninstall NI-VISA.  There is a known bug in the driver that does not display the hardware in MAX.  This issue has been fixed in the newest release of NI-VISA (v 3.6) which will be available within a few weeks.  If you have any questions, please let me know!

Chris R.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[JoshT]

Thank Chris,

I will download NI-VISA 3.6 as soon as it comes out.

Josh

[haadi20]

Has the NI-VISA 3.6 come out yet ? i seem to have the same problem, that my instrument is not showing up in MAX and i am using the Agilent 82350B PCI GPIB card....

Kindly let me know..

Thanks and Regards

Sorry for the trouble...just searched once again..and found the 3.6 version...will install it and see how it goes..!!

Message Edited by haadi20 on 07-12-2006 09:49 AM

[Chris_R.]

Hi haadi20,

Yes, it has come out.  Let us know if you have any questions!