devices not showing in Max

[sgiitk]

I just tried to install a USB-6251 in my Laptop (Toshiba Tecra S2). The units is detected and the driver installs. It shows up in the device manager as a properly installed device. However, MAX does not show the device. The Laptop has WInXP-Pro, 2GB RAM and LV 8.20.

When I tried the same thing on my desktop, the 6251 installed in the same way, and then the option to run Test Panels showed up and the

unit ran happily.

Incidentally, I have a minor problem with a PCMCIA 6024 which takes a long time to show up under DAQmx in Max,  and a PCMCIA -16E4 which insists on showing up under DAQmx as a 6024 (16E4 is not supported by DAQmx). Both show up promptly and work fine under traditional DAQ.

I suspect there is some problem in the device registration part of the WinXP - NI interface. These boards do not list under the add-remove hardware icon either.

Thanks in advance

Sanjay Gupta 

[David L.]

Hi Sanjay,

Lets take the hardware 1 piece at a time.

For the USB-6251:

What versions of both Traditional DAQ and DAQmx do you have? Does the 6251 not show up in MAX at all, or does it just show up as a USB device? Does this problem happen on all USB ports of your laptop? If you are using a hub, please try connecting the 6251 directly to the laptop in order to eliminate external hardware. Although you say the 6251 shows up in Device Manager, does it show up under “Data Acquisition Devices”?

For the 6024: Although the device may take some time to appear in MAX, once it appears, does it pass the self-test and function properly?

For the 16E4, I assume you are referring to the DAQCard-AI-16E-4. Is this correct? Are you plugging this in at the same time as your PCMCIA 6024 (you have 2 pcmcia slots) ? What happens when you plug it in alone? Can you post a screen shot of MAX, showing the 6024 and 16E-4 both showing up as 6024’s ?

[sgiitk]

Hi David,

Thanks for the response.

The basic issues of DAQmx & DAQ version had been taken care of much earlier. I have LabVIEW 8.20 with the August 2006 distribution of the drivers.  As for the 6024 and DAQCard AI 16-E-4 they were all  plugged in and run separately.

The problem has been solved by repairing/reinstalling DAQmx as suggested in info-labview. In hindsight the clue was there - my GPIB+ did not give problems, so problem should be in the DAQ/DAQmx area. Apparently, the 6024 is based on the 16E4 so it being recognised as a 6024 by DAQmx is not totally unexpected.

Somehow I feel 8.20 install while easier, not as stable as the version 7 installs. As we are running a teaching lab as well, we routinely need to make about 15-20 installations.

On my desktop I had to manually repair MAX as LV was closing as soon as I tried to open a project. The fix was at

http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&message.id=169352&req

On my laptop the 8.20 installation messed up the Network Connections and I had to manually re-register two files ole32.dll and netshell.dll in Windows (this is a  known Windows-XP Bug).

Both these systems have had LV 7. and 8.0 and (in Laptop) an internal early release of 8.20 in the past. However, I had deinstallled all NI software before installing 8.20.

Thanks

Sanjay

[sgiitk]

Vanishes again!

The behaviour is even more odd. When I tried my PCMCIA-6024 it did not show up in DAQmx. DAQmx was showing the 6024 as Dev1 and the 6251 as Dev2, both disconnected. I removed the 6024 entry. When I plugged in the 6251 Windows gave the option of configuring. But when I entered DAQmx it was again 'disconnected'. No trick worked to get it to show up.

Also, I do not recall installing the 6024 after reinstalling DAQmx. Thus obviously a stub remains somewheer and I have to probably clean up DAQmx fully beforew reinstalling. Any suggestions as to what additional files/directories need to be removed.

[David L.]

Sanjay,

Although you repaired DAQmx, I believe you may still have a problem with Measurement and Automation Explorer. Please see this KB and follow step 4, where it tells you to delete the MAX folder.

If this does not fix the problem, please post some screen shots exhibiting the cards showing up improperly or mislabeled. What version of DAQmx do you have? Please go here and install DAQmx 8.5 for windows (latest DAQmx driver).

[sgiitk]

David,

Thanks. I will try it out. Yesterday I had again installed DAQmx and both the boards showed up and worked. For how long is the question! As suggested I will try the fully clean up and then install v.8.50 of DAQmx.

Incidentally a colleague of mine (identical hardware and software except that he is on 1GB RAM) had an interesting problem. If the 6251 was powered up then the USB cable connected he could not get it to show up in MAX. However, if he plugged in the USB cable and only then powered up the device and accepted the 'configure' pop up everything worked. If he 'cancelled' the configure pop up to  he was back to the old problem.

I guess v.8.5 of DAQmx will fix this. I will pass it on to my colleague as well.

Incidentally, I happen to be a very old user of NI stuff - GPIB-PCII in 1986, LabWindows/CVI in 1995, before swithcing switching LabVIEW (3.1) a couple of years later. I coordinate the IITK-NI VI Cell here. You may also find me as a winner in Aerospace & Defense in NIWeek 2000. So I guess I should have a fair idea of what I am doing, and the screen shots may add much to what we know!

Some of this stuff will normally be on private e-mail but David L does allow me to decipher your NI login.

Thanks

Sanjay

[David L.]

Sanjay,

I have DAQmx 8.5, and did testing with the USB-6501, and did not have the results which you describe about whether it has power or not and then is plugged in. Every time I plugged it in/ powered it on or powered it on then plugged it in, it booted correctly and was recognized in measurement and automation explorer. Please let me know the results after installing DAQmx 8.5 Please do not forget about deleting the data folder first, to see if that fixes the issue you are seeing.

Amazing background, and congrats on the award! NI week is always amazing, and nice to see new products and product demos. Have a great weekend!

[sgiitk]

David,

Things have gone from bad to worse. I tried the upgrade in the Laptop with no success, and now the desktop is also playing up.

I have a ner full installation of the Academic Site License- PDS, RT, RIO ... (the works) on both my systems, as I am a regular user of cRIO for almost 1-1/2 years:

The Laptop story now:

1. After upgrading to 8.50 (no problems in the install), MAX still not ssing anything.

2. I tried to close the Configuration Manager it did not even do that. One process (I think mxssvr) did not close.

3. Tried removing MAX. Removed a lot of other things, incl. LabVIEW.

4. Removed the entire NI Install. Removed all NI directories in Program Files, Documents and settings > ... etc. Also, the FPGA directories in c:\ etc.   

5. Using Regedit cleaned up virtually all National Instruments entries in the Registry. In otehr words removed all traces of NI software I could.

6. Reinstalled LabVIEW .....

7. Reactivated everything.

8. MAX (4.1) still not working

9. Checked in Admin Tools > Services. Found Configuration Manager and nidevldu not active.

10. Tried to start them. Config Manager does not start (Error 1067: The process terminated unexpectedly). nidevldu does start if started manually.

The Desktop:

1. Everything was fine.

2. Upgraded to DAQmx 8.50 incl MAX 4.2.

3. Now MAX does not work.

4. Admin > Services shows both processes running.

5. Still to try to shut down and manually try and clean up Data.

6. I was looking at some examination solutions and was able to run code (LV legacy) in LV. Could not try out DAQmx as could not do the easy reset from MAX.

I may add that the Laptop has had LV 7.1 (also possibly 7.0), 8.0 (incl. beta), and 8.2! The desktop did not have the 8.0's.

Any ideas! What do I do now. I always have the option of reformatting drive C and starting from scratch, but am loathe to do so. Will take a full working day at least.

Thanks

Sanjay.

[David L.]

Sanjay,

Please email support@ni.com, with the email category being DAQ or Multifunction DAQ, and request for me (David L). I will send you further instructions on what you can do to clean up your NI Software.

[sgiitk]

David,

I just could not reach you on  e-mail. An e-mail to support@ni.com elicited a response asking me to go through a query form. When I did so it was redirected to your support in India. Almost all the people in Ni-India know me by name, and a majority fo them by face as well. I asked them to transmit my id to you for a response, which I am told they did.

I have finally managed to cure the problem in my laptop -

Solution: The good old Bill Gates solution - namely reformat Drive C. In my veiw what was the problem - Daxmx 8.50 creates conflict(s) with some rgeistry keys in Win-XP. Hence all my problems. There is no way that NI can test software for all permutations of other software.

I have installed the Core CD and MAX 4.1 is working fine. Boards / devices are being recognised etc. Now I am  in the process of installing the other CD with RT, FPGA, etc. I do not expect any problems here.   It will be impossibly to persuade me to upgrade to MAX 4.2 and DAQmx 8.50 now.

I shall wait for a few days uintil my Laptop is fully functional before attempting the reformat in the Desktop. Teaches me not to try and upgrade and fix something which is working! I must hasten to add that this is the first time when an NI upgrade has failed me. I am a LV'er since v.3.1 and a NI customer since 1986!