intermittent com with Agilent thru USB/GPIB interface

[wb2nvy]

I created an executable and installer for my vi and installed it on another pc. The vi involves com with an Agilent 34970A thru an Agilent 82357A USB-GPIB interface. I ran the vi and got error message 1073807343 associated with the VISA Open vi in H34970A Initialize.vi. (Insufficient location information or resource is not present in the system.) After racking my brain I remembered on another project I had to activate Tulip DLL to get something working, so I did, and the first time I ran the vi it worked.  I stopped the vi and started it again and got the same error message. Repeated starts and stops result in some success and some failures, about 50/50. What is my problem?

[wb2nvy]

Additional info on this problem- the vi works reliably on my development laptop. The problem seems related to the executable and/or installation. Both are running Windows XP & I'm using Labview 8.2.1

 I have successfully used these Agilent vis and equipment on another piece of test equipment in another program in an identical pc without this problem, however that was Labview 8.20.

[Brian F.]

Hello. 

Thank you for posting to the NI Discussion Forums. 

This is an interesting issue that seems to be caused by one of two things.  The first is incorrect configuration of the VISA address in the program.  So, for example, ASRL1::INSTR would point to the com port on the computer.  However, since your program is working 1/2 of the time, it seems logical to assume that this part of the program is correct. 

The other cause of this error that I have found are 3rd party drivers conflicting with the performance of our drivers.  So, do you have any Agilent VISA drivers installed on the target PC or any other Agilent drivers?  This has been shown to cause issues if multiple versions of VISA are installed.  All you should need is NI-VISA installed to make the program work properly.  As evidence of this issue, please refer to a Tektronix software issue that has been identified as well here: 

My Tektronix Instrument Driver Generates VISA Open Error 1073807343

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/05B3379FE563416A86256633005BE2D5?OpenDocument

Since we have a working solution on your original computer, I would examine the differences in software installed on these 2 computers.  It could certainly lead us to the answer. 

Brian F
Applications Engineer

National Instruments

[wb2nvy]

Thank you Brian. I'll try what you suggest. A problem I have is the target pc is a "panelpc", which is a touch screen with a pc built in, and it has serial and com ports but no CD drive. I have been transferring all installation files by way of flash memory. I see on one of my 4 Labview disks there is a heading NI-VISA 4.1 and it's a folder full of files. Can you direct me to which files I can transfer by flash memory onto my panelpc & execute to install NI-VISA? Also, regarding what's different between my development laptop and the target panelpc, the laptop has all kinds of drivers installed on it, so it seems it would be a worst case environment for the conflict you describe, but the VI works properly there.

[Brian F.]

Hello. 

Instead of transferring the files from the CD, you can download VISA 4.1 directly onto your panelpc from our website at:

VISA 4.1

http://joule.ni.com/nidu/cds/view/p/id/348/lang/en

Let me know if this works for you!

Brian F
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[wb2nvy]

Thanks again Brian. My panelpc isn't configured to work on our LAN so I'm using a flash drive. I installed the Agilent I/O Libraries Suite v14.2, after uninstalling v14.0, and it works ok now. This was on the advice of an Agilent Tech. He said v14.2 corrects problems with Agilent & NI VISA drivers conflicting.