Image Acquisition - getting started

[whbit]

Hello,

   This seems like it should be the most basic of problems with a very easy solution, but I have had no luck looking through the available manuals and help menus.

I have been trying to install the NI-IMAQ Vision Acquisition Software. I have followed and re-followed the installation instructions to no avail. When I reach the point of having the "measurement and automation" (ie. MAX) application open with my Intel Pro 1000 quad port card installed, and my GigE Vision camera connected, the instructions tell me to expand the "devices and interfaces" section in the configuration tree of the MAX program. This is supposed to bring up all the IMAQ and IMAQdx devices, from which i can select a camera file to begin acquiring images. However, in the "devices and interfaces" section, there is only "PXI system (unidentified)" and "serial and parallel"...this means NO "NI-IMAQ devices" section, which in turn means I cannot see my camera. Also, within the MAX configuration tree, the "My System" section only contains "Devices and Interfaces" and "Software" unlike all the screen shots in the NI support that show "Data Neighborhood", "Scales", and "IVI drivers" as well.

    Am I missing a piece of Hardware/Software? Am I forgetting a step of some kind?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

[GiGe]

Hi,

Thanks for you using the NI Disscussion Forums.  I don't know if you have already tried these steps, but here is a KB with several potential solutions. It sounds like you have already taken care of the first two (using a GigE Vision compliant camera, and installing IMAQdx).  But one of the other three other soltutions should take care of the problem.  If you have installed any aditional software make sure you look at case 5.  It could be that the two drivers are conflicting.  If these steps don't work let me know.  Also what camera are you using?

Regards,
gg

[whbit]

Thanks GG...but I tried out this link and looked at all the different cases and none of them worked. 

Case 1) The camera (Jai/Pulnix TM 1327-GE) documentation says that it is GigE Vision compliant and I have talked to the company I bought it form to make sure that it is actually is (although I may ask them again for extra assurance).

Case 2) The software section of the "My System" tree has all the NI-IMAQ/NI-IMAQdx software listed, so it seems like it is installed. But they still do not appear in the Devices and Interfaces section.

Case 3) The local area connection status reads: Limited or no connectivity, as it should.

Case 4) In the network connections, “Obtain IP Address Automatically” and “Automatic private IP address” are selected.

Case 5) There is no other software installed that has any connection with the camera.

Do you have any other ideas about what it might be that is causing this lack of recognition?

Thanks Again.

W

[BlueCheese]

Hi whbit,

It sounds like you have done a good job trying to debug all the possible problems. Unfortunately, I am thinking the problem is with your camera. We have had more than a few customers who have purchased the 1327-GE camera expecting GigE Vision compatibility but have not had success. I believe that camera comes in more than one revision and the earlier revisions do not have firmware that is GigE Vision compatible (though the newer ones do work fine). Given the debugging you have done, it is very likely your camera is under this same category. There is a separate driver that should have come with the camera that uses a proprietary protocol that should work, but if it does not have the GigE Vision firmware it will not work with IMAQdx. Your best bet would probably be to talk to JAI/Pulnix and try to confirm GigE Vision compatibility for your camera's specific serial number and perhaps try to get a newer revision camera or an update to yours if that is possible.

Hope this helps,

Eric

[whbit]

Thanks....that helped a lot. I found a GigE Firmware Updater on the Jai/Pulnix website. Apparently "With the adoption of the GigE standard it is necessary to update the firmware inside some JAI, Inc. Gigabit Ethernet cameras to be GigE Vision compliant. This upgrade brings the cameras into compliance with the standard and allows proper access to GigE Vision control software." So as far as I can tell this is the solution I have been looking for. However, I am still running into problems *sigh*.

The Updater requires that you uninstall Cam2net (the camera software), but before doing so you have to make several changes to the settings of the NIC. However, I am having issues seeing the Intel Pro 1000 NIC in the Cam2net interface. Although it works fine as an ethernet port (appears as "wokring normally" and provides me with internet) the Cam2net software has it listed as "uninstalled". This means I can't change any of the settings and thus cannot proceed to update the firmware of the camera.

Is there any chance that anyone here has used the Jai Cam2net program and knows what might be causing this issue. I'm so close to sorting this out I can taste it....

Thanks

W

[michaeld]

W,

I saw that you had two seperate threads for the same problem. For future reference, it's easier for us to keep track of issues if they remain under one thread. Having said that, I mentioned in the other thread that it is possible that some active port on your ethernet card may be preventing your Cam2net software from being able to communicate with it. Have you tried disconnecting the port from all other active devices and tried the software again?

[whbit]

Sorry about the double thread thing...I didn't know where I should post the problem (category-wise) and once I posted it in two places, I got different responses, and so I didn't want to lose the possible aid from either source.

In response to your question, I have tried disconnecting the card from everything else and it still comes up as "uninstalled!" in the Cam2Net Driver Installation Tool Panel. I've read through the manual and it seems that they don't have much of a solution:

"The PRO/1000 Adapters panel, shown in Figure 1, lists all the Intel PRO/1000 NICs (which Intel refers to as network adapters) that are available on the host computer, including those with no driver installed."

The possibility of an NIC not showing up in that panel isn't even mentioned....so I am at a bit of a loss...

Let me know if you have any ideas.

Thanks again,

W

[michaeld]

W,

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find anyone that is very familiar with the Cam2Net software. This may be an issue that you might want to contact JAI directly for as they'll be able to answer your questions about Cam2Net much faster than we can.

[whbit]

I am almost there, I think. I was given the advice (against the instructions in the firware update .pdf) to uninstall Cam2Net 2.2.x, before changing the settings of the Driver. So now I have Cam2Net 2.3.1 installed and the Firmware Update instructions mention that I have to change the Device Class of the Intel Pro 1000 NIC from "grabber device" to "ethernet controller" prior to upgrading the camera. They mention that it will be harder to do once you uninstall the Cam2Net 2.2.x, seeing as it has a "driver installation" tool, and the newer version doesn't.

So my question is: Does anybody know how to change the device settings of the NIC without this driver installation tool? Or, alternatively, is it absolutely necessary to do this? (ie. can i use a regular ethernet port as my "ethernet controller"? or do i need one at all?)

Thanks

W