I am getting continued errors with the lakeshore 340 controller drives on NI's website

[zerosum79]

Hello,

I am having trouble getting even the gettingstarted.vi to work.  I downloaded the origional files from http://sine.ni.com/apps/we/niid_web_display.download_page?p_id_guid=E3B19B3E9415659CE034080020E74861.   There is an error with the origional initialize function.  It no longer contains the old visa open but it still does not work.  It continues to output an error -1073807343 which I have searched and indicates that a proper delay is not being given to the instrument.  I have the instrument set on remote (actually tried it with and without remote) so it should communicate, however I even get this message when the unit is off indicating that it might not be communicating at all.  I also have other instruments communicating with no problems including a lakeshore 455 gaussmeter. In the block diagram there was an insturment descriptor that is now broken and I have removed.  It was connected to a terminal that does not exist on the new initialize.vi.  Previous threads on this subject said to connect a visa resource name to this terminal but I can not do that if the terminal is not a valid terminal in initialize.vi.

Does anyone have any experience with this controller and have a good fix?  I've been searching for the last two days and would really like to resolve this quickly.

Regards,

Greg Jones

[zerosum79]

Oh, and I would also like to mention that I am trying to control the 340 using gpib.

Regards,

Greg Jones

[Dennis_Knutson]

I don't know where you were given the impression that the error code means a timing problem. Should be be getting the description "Insufficient location information or the device or resource is not present in the system." You've not provided the correct VISA Resource Name and this is probably because you've deleted the old VISA Open. Did you just delete it or did you replace it with the VISA Open on the palette? What is the resource name you are using now?

Since you've modified the initialize function, it would help if you attached the modified file to see what might be wrong.

[NathanT]

Hello Greg,
       In addition to the great suggestions from Dennis, I would like to ask if you can communicate with the controller in Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX).  It looks like the instrument should respond to a "*IDN?" query, so when you choose to "scan for instruments" the controller should show up.  After doing that, you can choose to "Interactive control" and try sending commands to the controller.  It is important to verify that the GPIB communication is working properly before looking into the driver for possible problems.

Also, which version of the driver are you using?  There is a LabVIEW Project-Style Plug and Play driver that was released in 2005 that uses the current VISA Open.  If you are using LabVIEW 8.0 or higher, I highly recommend that you use the Project-Style driver.

Cheers,

NathanT