I Disconnected PCI-GPIB cable (desktop turned off) to move Equipment, Once reconnected and Desktop Rebooted, I cannot connect to instruments anymore (Windows XP OS)

[chrisq]

Hi Folks,

I am hoping someone can help me with this issue. I am currently running a Windows XP OS where I've recently been using a NI PCI-GPIB card to connect to instruments. The other day i had to power down the desktop to disconnect the GPIB cable in order to move the equipment stand - I can't recall if i had powered down the equipment which were connected via the GPIB cable before removing the GPIB cable from the desktop.

The GPIB card was never removed although i did come to notice that it was loose in the socket connection which may have disconnected it from the slot. With the GPIB cable reconnected etc there is now no connection to the instruments via the software i am using - I cannot see the equipment listed on MAX either. I had NI-488.2 v2.8 installed and following this issue and various changes to try and resolve it (such as moving to another slot, system restore to previous restore point that i knew the connection was working etc). I upgraded to V 2.8.1 and still the same issue.

In the device manager, there is an "unknown device" driver which i've tried updating and no resolve - i have even tried assigning NI PCI-GPIB driver to it which seemed to have worked but still no resolve.

Appreciate your help on this.

Chris

[RayFarmer · Accepted solution]

have you checked the GPIB card is secure in its slot in the PC?

[chrisq]

Hi Ray,

It is secure and locked firmly now but it wasn't originally. I believe what may have happened following further review of the device drivers is that there is some issue with the ISA bridge. I currently have 3 unknown drivers actually, one is an audio driver, the remaining two drivers are related to the PCI, please see below. I think the issue is the SM Bus Controller preventing the PCI-GPIB card from being recognised, not entirely sure? Any help or pointers will be great. Please see properties information on the two drivers.

Many Thanks,

Chris.

SM Bus Controller

Device Type         Other Devices

Manufacturer        Unknown

Location               PCI Bus 0, Device 20, Function 0

Device Status

The drivers for this device are not installed (Code 28)

To reinstall the drivers for the device, click reinstall driver - this has not worked.

Unknown Device

Device Type        Other Devices

Manufacturer       Unknown

Location             on PCI standard ISA bridge

Device Status

This device is not configured correctly (Code 1)

To reinstall the drivers for the device, click reinstall driver - this has not worked.

[RayFarmer]

Have you tried just uninstalling these devices plus your GPIB card then rebooting the system. Hopefully only your GPIB card device driver will be installed.

[aimee123]

Hi, I'm not sure if this thread is still active, but I am having an almost identical problem with my pci-gpib card, just wondering did you get it resolved and how?? Thanks!

[chrisq]

Hi Aimee,

I meant to post an update on this, turned out that the PCI-GPIB card became dislodged from it's socket upon reconnection of the cable thus once I connected the card properly again the connection was successful.

I hope this helps.

Chris.

[aimee123]

Thanks Chris, I'm glad you got your card up and running again.

I'm pretty sure my pci-card is fully locked into its slot - but its worth another try! Can I ask one more thing - did you ever have a "GPIB Interfaces Sequentially Verified" failure when you ran the NI-488 trouble-shooting wizard? I have tried all the suggestions from the ni website but none have worked.

[chrisq]

Hi Aimee,

I can't recall ever getting such messages during my verification process, sorry. It's been a long time since I've utilized the instruments and have since moved on from the company I was working with at the time thus I cannot check etc, hopefully you are successful in resolving your issue.

Regards,

Chris.