9862 XNET does not appear in MAX on cRIO9024

[cbuckma2]

The XNET CAN 9862 device once in a while disappears from MAX along with my ability to detect the interface in XNET session setup.  (LV2014, XNET 1.8, MAX 14.0, cRIO9024 with 9862module in FPGA mode, RIO14.0  (August 2014 device driver).  Sometimes it comes back after I rebuild the FPGA code.  Most of the time it doesn't appear.  If it doesn't appear in MAX, it doesn't necessarily mean I cannot use the interface when creating an XNET session.  Right now, the interface is absent, an FPGA VI rebuild won't work produce a CAN icon in MAX, and I can't run my XNET CAN  

[RyanPoPo]

Hey cbuckma2,

The 9862 XNET module requires a special set of drivers to be loaded to the FPGA to be able to access the module as an XNET interface, as well as see the interface in MAX. These drivers are automatically built into an FPGA VI when it is compiled if the module is included in your LabVIEW project. 

Because the drivers are built in to the compiled FPGA bitfile, they are only loaded when the FPGA bitfile is deployed and ran once on the FPGA (interactively), or an 'Open FPGA VI Reference' is used in your Real-Time code. The FPGA VI itself does not have to remain "running" for the drivers to remain loaded and usable. Compiling a blank FPGA VI that does nothing will work fine to load the drivers. However, if you use a "Close FPGA VI Reference" or "FPGA Reset" method in your Real-Time code, this will cause the drivers to unload and the interface will disappear from MAX and no longer be usable with XNET.

Try compiling a blank FPGA VI in your project, and the run it once interactively. The 9862 should load and appear in MAX automatically and remain there until you run something else on the FPGA. During this time, the 9862 will be usable with XNET in your Real-Time code.

To prevent the issue you are seeing, ensure that you are only running the FPGA VI that was compiled with the 9862 module(s) in your LabVIEW project. Then just make sure that you aren't closing the FPGA VI reference in your Real-Time code while you are using the 9862.

Regards,

Ryan