Agilent 34972A Error 261

[harisskriss85_85]

Hallo,

I am usinng Agilent 34972A to acquire temperatue measurement from Thermocouples and PT100. But sometimes I get an error 261.

The description of the error 261 in agilent manual

Not able to execute while scan initiated While a scan is running, you cannot change any parameters that affect the scan (channel configuration, scan interval, scaling values, alarm limits, issue a Card Reset, or recall a stored state). To stop a scan in progress, send the ABORt command or a bus Device Clear.

This error message is only shown on the Agilent Display, I dont recieve any error message in my VI. I am novice, I would learn to know more about the problems behind the error and possible solutions

[billko]

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@harisskriss85_85 wrote:

Hallo,

I am usinng Agilent 34972A to acquire temperatue measurement from Thermocouples and PT100. But sometimes I get an error 261.

The description of the error 261 in agilent manual

Not able to execute while scan initiated While a scan is running, you cannot change any parameters that affect the scan (channel configuration, scan interval, scaling values, alarm limits, issue a Card Reset, or recall a stored state). To stop a scan in progress, send the ABORt command or a bus Device Clear.

This error message is only shown on the Agilent Display, I dont recieve any error message in my VI. I am novice, I would learn to know more about the problems behind the error and possible solutions

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Are you using drivers or are you programming the device using SCPI commands?

[harisskriss85_85]

I m using drivers

[billko]

Are you trying to initialize the scanner with every loop iteration?  It seems you are trying to do some low-level stuff while a scan is in process.  I'm guessing you are getting away with it sometimes, but every so often you are trying to set the parameters while a scan is taking place.

[harisskriss85_85]

I initialise before the loop starts. This is a peculiar problem. We use two Agilent devices, the labview VI is same for both, except the ip address in the initialisation file. This problem only occurs with one instrument. Please find the screen shots of my program. 

[billko]

Are you able to swap the two instruments (and if the IP address refers to the instrument, change the file to match)?  If so, does the problem follow the instrument?

[harisskriss85_85]

Yes. I tried it and the problem follows the instrument

[billko]

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@harisskriss85_85 wrote:

Yes. I tried it and the problem follows the instrument

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So it seems to be an issue with the instrument.  I would check stuff like hardware and firmware revisions. Also, make sure the instruments are set up the same.

[Minions]

From the images you have shown, I have a few concerns.

• Are either the PROG ASSIST or the REPORT ERROR communicating with the Meter?  Both of these have no flow control as to when they must complete their tasks and may try to perform them while other functions are accessing the meter.
• The same may be true of the GET MEAS ORDER as there is not enough data in the image to tell.
• If the error stayed with the meter, (I am assuming that you swapped the modules and the GPIB addresses at the same time) then I would try to determine if you have a bad GPIB cable.

Try a simple task.  Read a single channel from one meter then the other to determine functionality without overlap.  If both meters function properly, then I would think that you are dealing with a race condition.  Make sure that you have each branch terminate within the loop and prior to perfoming the functions laid out in the case statement.

[billko]

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@Minions wrote:

From the images you have shown, I have a few concerns.

• Are either the PROG ASSIST or the REPORT ERROR communicating with the Meter?  Both of these have no flow control as to when they must complete their tasks and may try to perform them while other functions are accessing the meter.
• The same may be true of the GET MEAS ORDER as there is not enough data in the image to tell.
• If the error stayed with the meter, (I am assuming that you swapped the modules and the GPIB addresses at the same time) then I would try to determine if you have a bad GPIB cable.

Try a simple task.  Read a single channel from one meter then the other to determine functionality without overlap.  If both meters function properly, then I would think that you are dealing with a race condition.  Make sure that you have each branch terminate within the loop and prior to perfoming the functions laid out in the case statement.

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I believe the OP already swapped devices and determined that the problem followed the device.  Hence my focus on the device.