PCI-6221 fails self-test in MAX but device manager says it's working

[Halden]

Hi everyone,
I bought a few PCI-6221 (37-pin) data acquisition cards and have been able to get one to work but 3 others don't work.
Device Manager sees them and says they work.  MAX sees them and when I run Self Test, they fail with error number
-50002.  Motherboards in non-working systems are PC Chips M957G and P25G.  OS is Windows XP Pro with SP2.
I already tried uninstalling SW and the board, reinstalling SW and the board...autodetect etc works fine.  I even reformatted
the HD on one of the computers and reinstalled the OS.  Anyone have any ideas?  Thanks in advance.  Halden
info@pvmeas.com

[Halden]

BTW, DAQmx version 7.5 which came with the PCI-6221 boards, is used in all computers, both non-working and working.

[Tom_W_[DE]]

Hi Halden-

This problem is usually caused by a small problem with some older versions of the NI-DAQmx driver.  The quick fix is to upgrade to NI-DAQmx 8.0.  If you are still having problems, please let us know!

[Halden]

Thanks Tom for your suggestion to try NI-DAQ 8.0.  I just saw it today.  Yesterday,
I was able to isolate 3 PCI-6221-37 boards as defective because they all wouldn't work in another computer while
one other identical model card did work in that same computer.  I called to arrange to return them to NI and learned
that for these 3, I needed NI-DAQ 8.0.  The fourth one was okay with NI-DAQ 7.5.  Apparently, this was a known problem. 
I wish NI would have simply notified me that my boards would
not work with the software sent with them and sent the NIDAQ 8.0 CD as soon as they knew rather than have me
waste a day of my engineering time trying to figure it all out.  Booo NI.
One of the boards has worked for almost a day under NIDAQ 8.0.  I was able to make some progress on the
system I am building.  But then it stopped working.  LabVIEW (version 7.0 executable) programs would not open completely
or would open slowly.  One that accessed the COM port only (no data acquisition) did work.  MAX opened very slowly or not at all and when I click on
Devices and Interfaces, the hourglass is up for a long time and finally the + icon goes away indicating that MAX is not
aware of any devices being present.  The Windows Device Manager says the board is present and working.  Windows
Task Manager lists LabVIEW Runtime and MAX when only MAX is open and indicates that MAX is Not Responding.
I shut down the computer, removed the PCI-6221 board, booted it up again, and MAX is the same way.  I uninstalled
MAX and NI-DAQ LabVIEW 7.0 support and then reinstalled them.
Now the MAX loading window is up for more than a minute and NIMAX.exe is listed in Task Manager's processes.  After
the first minute, LabVIEW Runtime appears in the Task Manager's Applications list.  After a while longer, the MAX window finally opens
and MAX is listed in the Applications.  I click on the + icon by Devices and Interfaces in MAX and the hourglass appears
and Windows Task Manager says MAX is Not Responding.  Eventually, the + icon and the hourglass go away and
the Task Manager lists LabVIEW Runtime and MAX as Running.
I shut the computer off for several minutes, started it up again, and MAX is still takes a long, long time to open. 
I haven't put the PCI-6221 card back in because MAX still isn't working.
What do you suggest I do next?
Thanks
Halden

[Halden]

Hello Tom or anyone who could help
I reformatted the hard disk and reinstalled Windows XP Pro on the computer.  Now MAX
opens in a reasonable period of time and recognizes the PCI-6221-37 card.  When I
run the self-test option, it replies with an error -50010.  "The specified offset is out of
range for read operations.  The operation could not be completed as specified"
Any ideas?
Halden

[Tom_W_[DE]]

Hi Halden-

Glad to hear we're on the way to get all of your cards up and running.  It sounds like we're running into some sort of resource conflict which is causing you to see that error.  Please give the card a try in another slot, and if that is not successful please reply and attach a screenshot of the error message you're seeing so that I can investigate further.

Thanks-