Can I run both Labview 6i and Labview 8.6 using NI-PCI-6503 on the same machine?

[ByronK]

I have a machine attached to a test fixture that's running Labview 6i, with a NI-PCI-6503 dio board.  I need to be able to add to that machine an application developed using Labvew 8.6 and use that same board and fixture.  This is to test a current product and one about to be released.  It's necessary, at least for awhile, to be able to test both versions of our product.  Is there anyway other than rewriting the 6i application to run both on the same machine?

Thanks

[Dennis_Knutson]

You can have both versions of LabVIEW installed. You just can't run both at the same time. If they are exe's, you just need the appropriate runtime engines. 6.0 did not support DAQmx and 8.6 does but you do not mention what driver the 8.6 app is using. If it's DAQmx, then of course you will have to install that. You may have to manually switch the active driver in MAX before you run a program.

[ByronK]

More infor...  I have both developers on another machine I'm using.  When attempting to load the 6i application I get a can't find "lvdaq.dll" can't be found error.  The digital i/o vis in 6i won't execute.  I have DAQmx installed, including "Triditional NI-DAQ".   I attempted to run the test "triditional NI-DAQ (Legacy) Devices/PCI-6503(Device 1)"  I get an error message saying "Device did not pass".  It works ok in NI-DAQmx devices.  

From the response it sounds like I should be able to select which driver to use in MAX, but I don't see the way.

[Dennis_Knutson]

Not sure why the dll can not be found. If you installed traditional DAQ after installing 8.6, support for 6.0 may have been removed. Do you have access to the traditional DAQ functions in 8.6?

To switch drivers, I believe the process is to select the card in MAX and right click and select Reset Device. I can't test that right now on the pc I'm using. It's my other one that has both drivers.

[ByronK]

I found the dll, but in MAX when I "reset the driver for traditional NI-DAQ I get "The traditional driver has been reset".   But when I then select "Test Panels" I get error dialog "The device did not pass the test. Would you like to continue anyway". 

[Chris_W.]

Hi Byron,

After you reset the traditional DAQ driver, which test panel are you using? It may be the case that the nidevldu and nipxirmu services are not running on your computer at the moment. This can make it hard for MAX to enumerate the devices. Here is a link to a knowledgebase that addresses this issue.

Chris W

[ByronK]

Thanks, nidevldu is running.

Things are working in DAXmx with Labview 8.6.  But I can't get access to I/O ports in Labview 6i.  

When I attemtp to open the test panels in Traditional NI-DAQ I get the error message report earlier  "Test failed".  Going past that there's a "Last Error" field with error number -10461.

Thanks

[Chris_W.]

It sounds like your DAQmx task in LV 8.6 might not have released the resources of the board. You have to clear the DAQmx task, using the DAQmx Clear VI before you can use that board with the traditional DAQ driver again.

You cannot use the same board at the same time with the two different drivers, even if you are using different functions of the board. If you use DAQmx first and then Traditional DAQ, you must clear the DAQmx task before you can use it in Traditional DAQ. If you use it in Traditional DAQ first, you must reset the device in MAX.

That specific error (-10461) that you mentioned is because Traditional DAQ is trying to use a board that is in use by another driver. Here is a link to a knowledgebase that addresses this.

Chris

[ByronK]

Let try to clearify a bit.  At the moment I'm working on a machine that is operating both Labview 8.6 and 6i in developer mode.  Untill I can be both systems to work on this machine I'm not about the change anything on the production machine.

Thanks to all the assistance I've been able to turn on and off the correct drivers and can access the I/O board through both the DAQmx and Legacy DAQ.  Progress. 

I have no problem with 8.6 vis accessing and running the I/O board. 

When I bring up the 6i and it's application that used to access that same I/O board there's a problem.  In the Error list I get "SubVI 'DIO Port Write.vi':subVI is not executable"

Also when going to the function pallet in 6i developer the entire Data Acquisition pallet is gone and replaced with "DAQ name constate" .

[Chris_W.]

Got it. Thanks for the clarification. One thing that comes to mind is, what version of Traditional NI-DAQ are you using? is it 6.9.3 or before? If so, you will have some trouble running that once you install DAQmx. This is an issue that had been identified a while back. I would suggest trying to install Traditional DAQ 7.4.4, making sure to install support for LabVIEW 6i. Here is a link to that driver.

If this does not help, please post a screen shot of the error message and one of what the functions palette. 

Chris W