nipalk.sys BSOD

[Tristen]

For a while now I seem to be getting the BSOD under Windows XP 32-Bit while running a LabView 8.6 program. I cannot narrow down to any change to the system that could have started this problem. It seems to have started happening out of nowhere, which leads me to believe it could have been a subtle software change that the drivers didn't like. I get the BSOD when I try to print a report of data I collected from a test; as I go to generate a report, the computer freezes and eventually I see the BSOD. What's strange is that this does not always happen. When it does though, I lose all data I had been collecting during the test. My program uses Serial, SCXI, and GPIB. I can provide more details if necessary. I did a full RAM diagnostics check and OS reinstall and am still having this problem. 

I haven't narrowed this problem down to hardware or software (driver), however, I got the minidump file and ran the WinDbg program and it seems to indicate that the problem is with nipalk.sys; The last line from WinDbg says "Probably caused by : nipalk.sys ( nipalk+5cf3d )". Every Dump file shows the same thing. I've attached the WinDbg and Minidump text files and a jpeg image from NI MAX showing the software and their versions I'm running. I can provide a dxdiag report if helpful.

Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

[muks]

See this

[Tristen]

I still seem to have the same crash. After looking into detail all my power management options, nothing in any of my hardware is set to sleep. This problem does seem to be hardware related and I seem to be inclined to blame everything on my PXI-MXI-4 Card. Also, I found my PC's Marvell SATA RAID Controller did not have a Windows driver installed. Has anyone had problems related to unrecognized RAID controller drivers?

[Kyle_A.]

Hi Tristen,

When you generate a report, are you using the Report Generation Toolkit?  Do you have a spare MXI-4 card to test in your system?  I could see the system BSOD when the link is interrupted in some way, since it is an extension of your PCI bus.  I would be inclined to say it is not if you are always seeing the error after trying to generate a report.  Could you provide some extra clarification as to how you reproduce this crash?  Thank you!

[Tristen]

Hi Kyle,

Yes we are using the Report Generation Toolkit, and we do have an extra MXI-4 card. Even as I can’t always reproduce the crashes since they are intermittent in nature, I have noted certain things I do that always precede a crash. Here are three things that seem to happen right before a BSOD:

1)    After completing a test when the report generation function is called, the system sometimes freezes (losing control of the mouse). After a minute, the mouse finally moves, but a few seconds later, we get the BSOD. I included the MiniDump files in the first post.

2)    Sometimes when we exit LabView, we get the BSOD and the system automatically reboots. Examining the MiniDump file (Attached to this message), the problem seems to be the same as with the first condition. After running WinDbg on the MiniDump file, the problem shows as most likely being cause by nipalk.sys, just as with the crash from #1.

3)    The computer randomly shouts down. I haven’t checked for a MimiDump file after this problem yet. If this happens again, I’ll be looking for a crash dump log.

I’ve attached a new DxDiag output file because I added a driver for my RAID controller thinking that this could have caused my system instability as it was showing up as an “unreconzied” PCI Card. We have had several BSOD’s since adding the RAID driver, so I think it’s safe to say the RAID driver was not the problem.

It seems that every MiniDump file I’ve investigated points to the NI-PAL (via WinDbg). What’s interesting is the PXI is not always being used, and just as in #2 from above, the crash doesn’t always happen when generating a report or even while LabView had been running a test. Let me know if you need additional details or if there’s anything else I can look at.

Thanks!

[Verne_D]

Hi Tristen,

Do you have another PC that you could set up all this HW on to make absolutely sure the issue is independant of equipment? Also, have you tried uninstalling your DAQ drivers and reinstalling them? Alternatively, have you tried upgrading the DAQ driver? This looks suspiciously like a corrupted install.

[Tristen]

Hi Verne,

I do not have another PC available to test my system. I did format my hard drive, performed a RAM scan, and reinstalled Windows XP and LabVIEW. The same problems are still present. I have not tried upgrading my DAQ driver since the reinstall and probably will look into doing just that.

Thanks

[Verne_D]

Hi Tristen,

Are you moving out of traditional DAQ into DAQmx? It looks like you're NI-DAQ 7.4.4 from the software screenshot you've provided.  Are you experiencing significant slow down or other functional limitations in your program even when it does not crash? Is the use of the RAID array essential to the system or could we try to see if the error appears in absence of it? Also, this may be a little pedestrian, but what is your program actully acquiring and publishing?