NI 488.2 software failing Troubleshooting Utility

[slindblo]

I am unable to control my instruments using my known good software and a known good GPIB-USB-HS controller.  I am using Teststand to call VB6 and VB.NET code which is working on other PCs.  I am running Windows 7 and using NI 488.2 version 2.8.

NI MAX identifies the controller and my instruments.  I am able to communicate with my instruments through NI MAX.  However, the Troubleshooting Utility shows that the software is failing. 

The "Help" button provides the following:

Unknown NI-488.2 Software Error
An unknown NI-488.2 software problem has occurred. Try the following to resolve the problem before calling National Instruments:

Restart your system.
Run the NI-488.2 Troubleshooting Utility again.
If you still have the problem, try the following:

Repair the NI-488.2 for Windows software.
Restart your system.
Run the NI-488.2 Troubleshooting Utility again.

Obviously, these steps did not solve the problem.

My software is unable to get a handle to the controller and my function calls do not populate anything in NI-SPY.

I tried installing the latest 488.2 version (3.1.1) which did not help.  I tried uninstalling all NI software and then re-installing only the 488.2 software.  That did not help either.

Any thoughts?

[Evan_S]

Hi,

The best place to start would be to follow this KnowledgeBase article:

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/8311FFF18B5308ED86256C0200653B3B?OpenDocument

Specifically verifying that the key "GPIB-32.dll" is present. Once this is ruled out, additional issues can be investigated. If this does not work could you also show a test which fails with NI-488.2 (3.1.1)?

[slindblo]

Hi Evan

Here is the NI-488.2 version 3.1.1 result.

 

I verified that gpib-32.dll is contained within the C:\Windows\System32 folder.

Today we swapped out the PC and have the system up and running.  I feel like wiping the hard drive on this affected PC and starting over will probably get it going.  I was hoping someone had run accross this failure and had a known fix.

thx

Steve

[slindblo · Accepted solution]

I found the solution to this problem.

We are using an ICS Electronics modbus to GPIB converter to talk to a Watlow F4 thermal chamber controller.  The ICS module comes with a utility and drivers.  We don't need that software but our technician installed it anyway.  Part of that install includes a file called "gpib-32.dll".  The NI software also uses a file called "gpib-32.dll".  Our NI software was failing because it was accessing this library and finding something completely unexpected.  I replaced the .dll with one from a working install and that corrected the problem.

Interesting that neither the "Repair" nor "Uninstall/Re-Install" could correct this problem.

By the way, gpib-32.dll is not in C:\Windows\System32 on my Windows7 installs.  It is in C:\Windows\SysWOW64\.

Steve