DACOUT buffer empties instantly for PCI-6024E but PCI-6071E is OK

[jgotal]

We have been using PCI-6024E and PCI-6071E and formerly PCI-MIO-16E series mutlifinction I/O cards in our equipment.  Recently we noticed some of the equipment with PCI-6024E cards seems to dump its DACOUT buffers without correct timing.  This problem is recent - we try to keep the drives, OS, BIOS, etc. current.  We have performed lots of compare/contrast tests and the only failures to date correlate uniquely to the use of PCI-6024E cards.

Can anybody suggest a functional difference on the PCI-6024E to refine our tests?  Are there any reported issues that might be implicated?

I'm the hardware guy - I'll need to talk to our software developer to get more specific about our app.

John G.

[devchander]

A little more description of how u are using your hardware and also a look at your software might help us answer better.

so can u attach your code as well?

regards

Dev

[jgotal]

There is an immense amount of code for this  instrument, but the problem concerns the functions listed below.

The NiDAQ is in a Dell 2-card-slot docking station with a Matrox video acquisition card.

The app uses the NiDAQ card to acquire about 100k samples, then displays it in an oscillographic window.  After acquisition & display, external control functions will start and display normally but a PCI-6024E card will finish prematurely. 

After acquisition, we initialize the card environment with the acquired data via
   err = WFM_Load(iBoard, numChans, chanVect, buffer, count, iterations, iFIFOMode);
   err = WFM_Rate(rate, iUnits, &iUpdateTB, &ulUpdateInt);
   err = WFM_ClockRate(iBoard, BPO_GROUP, iWhichClock, iUpdateTB, ulUpdateInt, iDelayMode);
   err = WFM_Group_Control(iBoard, BPO_GROUP, BPO_OPSTART);

and then we monitor buffered DACOUT progress with
   err = WFM_Check(iBoard, BPO_AO, &iWFMstopped, &ulItersDone, &ulPtsDone);

which returns error code 10843 when using the PCI-6024E cards but works fine using other DAQ cards.  It could be under-flow  or it could be over-run, but it is unique to PCI-6024E usage with our code.  There may be a problem with some other card driver (video acq maybe) but it only seems to occur when a PCI-6024E is in use.  We need some suggestions as to where to start looking.
     

[thayles]

Unlike the 6071E (and the PCI-MIO-16E-1), the PCI-6024E has no analog output FIFO. It cannot buffer analog data on the board itself, something that is necessary for the higher analog output clock speeds (> 10KSamples/sec). In addition, the PCI-6024E has only a single DMA channel. If that DMA channel is not available for analog output, your max clock speed drops further (to around 1 KSamples/sec).