Trouble with NI USB-9162 Measurements

[ColterM]

Hello,

I am having trouble with my USB-9162 operating to how I want it too. I have a 9125A module connected to it and what we would like to do is measure the force of a compression gun for quality purposed. We have a program to run the exe. file, but when I start the program and run it, nothing happens. It sys the program is there and operating fine, but we are receieveing no data in return. How can we solve this issue? Is there some driver that we do not have? We have the latest version of the NI DAQmx. Any help would be appreciated! Thank you.

[Bob_Schor]

You've described the hardware, say nothing about the software (other than you are using an executable), and want us to help you.  The following information would certainly help:

• Post the (entire) LabVIEW Code that you are trying to run.  If it is a single VI, post the VI.  If it is a LabVIEW Project, compress its folder and post the resulting .zip file.
• What is the relationship between the PC with LabVIEW on which this software was developed and the PC on which the Executable is running?  How did the Executable get there?  Is the LabVIEW Run-Time Engine installed?
• You say nothing about LabVIEW Versions nor describe the PC.  With the LabVIEW code posted, we can figure out the Version ...

Bob Schor

[ColterM]

Bob_Schor,

Thank you for this quick response. I wanted to post the initial question to get a discussion going. 

1) I am currently working on getting the code used in the VI, I will post that shortly. There is a problem finding it, which may just end up being our problem. 

2) When you ask for a relationship between the PC and the LabVIEW software, it is quite a messy one. The code was created on a PC about 4 years ago, but we are trying to run the VI on a brand new computer with LabView 2016 installed. The code was written in house on a PC and we currently want it to run on the same version PC (but obviously newer).

3) Current LabVIEW is 2016 but this program may have been written for the 2012 version? Would that make a difference? I have posted a document showing what drivers have been installed.

We are also using an NI USB-9162 carrier attached to a NI 9125 module which then runs a cable to our test equipment.

Thank you for your time Bob. 

[Bob_Schor]

OK, here's some advice that you probably will not like.  Unless you are dealing with really large sets of data, too much to fit in a 32-bit address space, installing 64-bit LabVIEW can cause problems, as not all of the toolkits and drivers are available in 64-bit versions.

Sadly, the most reliable, and usually in the long run quickest, way to "reinstall" LabVIEW is to remove all NI Software from your PC, and "start over".  You may be fortunate that your code will run on a 64-bit LabVIEW platform, in which case I apologize for raising this issue.  Note that I've tried at least a dozen times to do a "reinstall the latest version", and ended up doing a "Remove All" and "Reinstall All", but only after trying 2 or 3 times to do "fixes".

If you have the 2012 LabVIEW code, you should be able to bring it into LabVIEW 2016 and have it largely compile (and run) without change.  There are some new features in LabVIEW since 2012, and once you save any of your 2012 code in 2016, you will not be able to open it in earlier versions of LabVIEW, so here comes another Strong Recommendation:  Be Sure To Use Some Form Of Version Control!!!  Many of us use Subversion (you need access to a Subversion Server, of course), and Git is also relatively popular.

Once you have your code in LabVIEW 2016, you should be able to run it in "Development Mode" (i.e. with LabVIEW open, looking at the Front Panel(s) and Block Diagram(s), using Probes, etc.  When the kinks have been ironed out, you can build an Executable.  I don't personally have experience with building an Installer -- I generally simply port the LabVIEW Run Time Engine to the other PC and copy the Executable (but I've also not often ported code that handles hardware).

Bob Schor

[ColterM]

Bob,

That answers my problem. Thank you for answering me. I unfortunatly don't have access to the code, so this will all be irrelevant if I cant manage to switch my code from the 2012 version to the 2016 version if I dont even have the actual 2012 code. 

Thank you for your help.

[Bob_Schor]

When you said the program was created "in house", I assumed that meant that the LabVIEW 2012 code existed and you had access to it.  If so, put a copy on your 2016 machine and simply open it.  If not, then either become a LabVIEW expert pretty quickly or find one ...  If you do need to "start from scratch, all over again", I strongly recommend doing the best job you can to write a document describing what you need, what the variables are, what the inputs and outputs should be, sampling rates, as many of the "messy details" as you can.  Also, if possible, get screen shots of the existing User Interface as a starting point for new Development.

Bob Schor

[ColterM]

The LabVIEW, which actually is a 2011, is the version the software was created on. However when I try to look up the exe., LabVIEW states that it has been deleted, moved, or put on a disk. However, we have an adjacent lab that uses the same code and and are testing the same subject, but on a 2011 version of LabVIEW, and it works! BUT, when I go to look up the code on their computer, it says the same thing, that it has been deleted, moved or copied onto a disk. Very strange. Other than a different piece of hardware (The hardware is used for the same purpose) and different versions of LabVIEW, everything is the same and it works for them, but not for us. Is this only due to the fact that they are running the original version of LabVIEW in which the exe. was created? 

Is the solution simply to get a 2011 LabVIEW to run on our computer to make it it function properly like our adjacent lab? 

[Bob_Schor]

This is very confusing.  Am I correct that all (or almost all) of the LabVIEW Developers have "moved on", and you are left with "something that seems to work, but we really don't understand it"?

What is sounds like you are describing is a LabVIEW Project, written (possibly) in LabVIEW 2011 and possibly ported to a second PC running LabVIEW 2012, that (a) was at once point compiled into an Executable, which is now missing, (b) is currently been run in "Development Mode" (which means you start LabVIEW, load the program, and push the "Run" arrow in the upper left corner of the Front Panel), and (c) have no local help to explain things.

Please describe the process you go through when you (successfully) run the program.  I am interested in the following:

• What is the OS on the PC you run the program?  Windows or Mac?  What Version?  32-bit or 64-bit OS?
• When you go to run the program, what steps do you take?  What Icon do you first double-click?  If you start LabVIEW first, which Version?  Then what do you do?  Do you need to browse somewhere and Open Existing?  Are there files that you click to load and whose Run button you push?
• If you do start LabVIEW and use it to start your program, stop LabVIEW and use Windows File Explorer to browse to the place on your system that the code you ran in the previous step is located.  Look at the folder that contains these files -- is it filled with files having the extensions .vi, .ctl, .lvproj (I'm especially interested in this one!)?  Are there sub-folders?  

If I'm correct and you are working in a Development environment, we should be able to demonstrate that from the answers to these questions, and can then make sensible recommendations for how you should proceed.

Bob Schor

P.S. -- if you want to discuss this "off-line" over the telephone, send me a Private Message.

[Bob_Schor]

Check your Private Messages ...

Bob Schor

[ColterM]

Bob,

Unfortunately, we have not solved the issue with our compression equipment. I went to check over at our computer that runs the program, copied all relevant files over to the non-working computer, and it had no affect. We also un-installed LabVIEW 2016 and got 2011 on there, but still no results. I have been with our IT staff here and we have narrowed down the problem (hopefully) to the NI MAX Configuration Manager running into an error and not working properly. We reinstalled that software, but nothing changed. We still receive the error with this MAX program. Do you have any solutions for this error? The error message is MAXTerminatedServiceError

Our next move would be to completely re-create the .exe that we need for the compression test. 

Thank you,

Colter