Create a new 9870 port (MAX Refuses)

[MarkBowles]

Hi, all,

I have recently taken over LabVIEW support for a laboratory that uses cRIO 9067, including a 9870 RS-232 module.  Many units are in production, using LabVIEW 14.1; we have our own FPGA code.  Everything works, and I have been making changes to the code for about 9 months.  I am a multi-decade unix geek, but am new to LabVIEW.  The production units currently have working RS-232 connections to two external devices.

My problem is the cRIO I use for development.  I've been debugging cRIO RT and FPGA code on it successfully, but now I'm stuck attempting to develop a serial connection to a new power supply. According to MAX, it has exactly the same software inventory as the production machines, but it is missing the four VISA ports for the 9870.  MAX refuses to create them ("Either NI-VSA is not installed on this system [it is], or NI-VISA does not support creating new resources on this type of system").  BTW, I get the same message if I attempt to create a new serial port on a working production unit.

I think the development cRIO I inherited is simply not fully configured, as it's possible nobody yet had to test serial comms on it. The dev cRIO's module configuration is identical to the production units.

I notice there are /dev entries for the ports on the working systems (such as /dev/ttyNIRIOslot8port1), but not on my dev unit. 

If MAX is not the method to create NI-VISA serial ports on this configuration, what's the alternative?

Thanks for your help!

-- Mark

[MarkBowles]

I suppose these ports could be automatically configured, e.g. when the cRIO boots up.  Clearly, the system has all the information it needs to do that.  I've searched NI's online documents through Google and can't find any mention of how they are configured -- perhaps that's because there's no user interaction required.

If this is the case, perhaps the 9870 on the development system is dead, or at least, missing in action.

Thoughts welcome.

[rolfk]

Hardware problems can happen but can be tested very quickly if you have more than one system. Just swap the module for a second and see if another module will appear in NI MAX (or your module will appear in the other system that has such modules).

But I would first check to make sure that you have installed the NI-VISA software AND the NI-RIO IO Scan Engine AND the NI-Serial 9870 and 9871 Scan Engine support software on your cRIO chassis. They are both needed in order to let you use the serial port C modules.

Also NI-VISA Server support needs to be available too in order to make the serial ports accessible from your computer.

[MarkBowles · Accepted solution]

Solved my own problem, with Rolf's help.

The ports are automatically configured by the cRIO, probably when it boots up.  If the ports don't show up, it could be that some of the software required is missing.  But, in my case, it was apparently because the specific 9870 module was dead.  I proved this by replacing it with a new one.

After power cycling the cRIO, and addressing it with MAX, I found the VISA addresses for the ports were already there.

[DahlmanR]

For future you as well if you decide to start running in Hybrid mode on the CompactRIO (some modules programmed in FPGA, but the serial module (9870) in Scan), this will be very helpful!

Using the NI 987x Modules in Hybrid Mode on CompactRIO: https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDet...