Machine Vision
Can get GigE images from one NI 8234 card, but not the other
Hello,
I have a PXIe-based image acquisition system:
- Chassis: PXIe-1071
- Controller: PXIe-8840
- Slot 2: NI 8234
- Slot 3: NI 8234 (initially not present)
- Slot 4: PXIe-6612
- Software: LabVIEW + IMAQdx 2016
- Cameras: Basler aca1600-60gc
Initially, we only had 1x NI 8234 (in slot 2). Slot 3 was empty, and everything was working fine. Later on, we added another NI 8234 into slot 3. This was when trouble began.
When we first booted the PXI controller after inserting the new card, Windows automatically tried to install drivers, but failed:
Device Manager had trouble with the new card:
Notes:
- "Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Dual Port Server Connection" #3 and #4 are the Ethernet ports from the new card (Slot 3).
- "National Instruments GigE Vision Adapter" and "National Instruments GigE Vision Adapter #2" are the Ethernet ports from the first card (Slot 2)
- The other "National Instruments GigE Vision Adapter" is the secondary Ethernet port on the PXIe-8840 controller. The IMAQdx Device Driver installer did this automatically.
I was able to "fix" Device Manager's complaints by right-clicking the device icons and manually updating the drivers:
However, this does not seem enough. When I try to snap/grab images from a camera connected to the new card, I get this:
(image taken from http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/4D0ECFAA9AD9FF3E8625792600551A1E instead of my own screenshot)
Jumbo frames is enabled by default, and my firewall is completely disabled.
Here's what I've tried:
- Checked the network adapter settings in Windows Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center -> Change Adapter Settings. As far as I can see, all 4 Ethernet ports on the 2 cards have identical settings.
- Checked the camera attributes, acquisition attributes, etc. in NI MAX. As far as I can see, all cameras are the same model, and all have the same settings.
- Swapped the cameras around. A camera plugged into the old card in Slot 2 can acquire images; when I moved it to the new card in Slot 3, it cannot acquire images.
- Swapped the cards around. The old card could acquire images in Slot 2; when I moved it to Slot 3, it could no longer acquire images. The new card was unable to acquire images in Slot 3; when I moved it to Slot 2, it gained the ability to acquire images.
- Uninstalled and reinstalled drivers: I ran the NI Device Drivers installer again, and opted to Remove the "National Instruments High Performance GigE Drivers". I rebooted, re-installed the High Performance Drivers, and then re-booted. In the end, the cards still behaved the same way.
I'm out of ideas at this point. What could the issue be?
Thanks in advance!
OK, in my case it looks like a problem with the PXI chassis.
Our GigE cards (NI 8234) work when plugged into slots 2 and 4, but not when plugged into slot 3. We checked with a PXIe-6612, and the outcome was the same.
Slot 3 is dead.
@BlueCheese wrote:
I am suspicious there may be some other failure mode other than broken hardware, such as a bug in the BIOS of the controller. Would you be able to try a quick test of setting the camera to a 1x50 AOI and see if it can acquire an image? Then try 1x100, 1x200, and 1x300 (all in Mono8). This would help narrow down if it an issue of packet sizes on the bus being DMA'd.
Eric
Thanks Eric, I didn't think of that possibility.
I can't test it at the moment because our customer is using the system with 2 (out of 4) cameras, while awaiting the replacement chassis to arrive -- we've already initiated the replacement process with NI Australia. When the new chassis arrives, I'll try your test before swapping the chassis.
If it does turn out to be an issue on the controller rather than the chassis, what are the things I could try to fix it?
FWIW, I did try snapping a 100x100 Bayer RGB (8-bit) image at one stage, but still got the "The system cannot acquire images" error.
EDIT: One last thing I tried before concluding that it was a chassis issue: I swapped the hard drive for a brand new one with a pristine copy of Windows. I installed the IMAQdx drivers with all cards in their respective slots, then rebooted and ran NI MAX. The outcome was the same -- I can acquire images on all slots except the middle one.
@BlueCheese wrote:
Definitely let me know how your test goes with the new chassis. It is hard to imagine a particular hardware failure condition that would lead to the set of observations you saw, so that is why I am a bit unsure if a new chassis will help.
The replacement chassis arrived today, and I expect to have access to the customer's system sometime next week. I'll keep you updated.
One thing my colleagues suggested, which I now wish I had checked earlier, is that perhaps a pin inside the chassis got bent. It is hard to imagine that those can bend without impacting my ability to insert/remove a card though. Does this sound plausible to you?
@BlueCheese wrote:
However, a colleague tried reproducing a similar setup and was unable to see the same issue (same chassis, controller, and 8234's in slots 2 and 3 [but no PXIe-6612]).
Thanks for checking!
This is the 4th almost-identical system that we've assembled for this particular customer. The differences are:
- System 1 used PXI-6602 instead of PXIe-6612 (counter/timer card)
- Systems 1, 2 used PXIe-8135 instead of PXIe-8840 (controller)
- Systems 1, 2, 3 used LabVIEW 2014 SP1 + IMAQdx 14.0, instead of LabVIEW 2016 + IMAQdx 16.0
- We bit the bullet and did a major upgrade to clear this compatibility break: https://forums.ni.com/t5/Machine-Vision/IMAQdx-14-5-breaks-compatibility-with-IMAQdx-14-0/td-p/31684... . After System 4 proves itself in the field, we plan to upgrade the software on Systems 1-3 too because our customer wants new features.
In all cases, we used a PXIe-1071 chassis, and had the PXIe-8234 GigE cards in the first 2 slots. Systems 1-3 didn't have any problems with acquiring data from a particular slot, but System 4 did.
@BlueCheese wrote:
Definitely let me know how your test goes with the new chassis.
Your suspicion was correct -- we are getting exactly the same behaviour on the new chassis! 
The same camera can acquire images from Slots 2 and 4, but not Slot 3.
I also tried acquiring a tiny image (Mono8, 2x2) from that slot, but got "The system cannot acquire images". Reducing packet size from 8000 to 1500 didn't help either.
Any ideas what I should try next? The only thing left I can think of is to try a new controller altogether. Our current controller is:
- Model: NI PXIe-8840 Quad-Core
- Firmware Version: 2.0.1f5
- Hardware Revision: A
- OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (SP1)
This is the same model as System 3 which worked fine, but we didn't record its firmware version or hardware revision.
Note: I found out that my earlier test with a PXIe-6612 in Slot 3 was flawed. I had updated the Physical Channel of the DAQmx Linear Position Task, but forgot to update the digital inputs for the A/B/Z channels, so those were pointing at the wrong slot. That's why I was getting routing errors.
