USB DAQ devices do not show up in MAX

[Dave Crabbe]

 Not so much a question, as I am not sure anyone can help; but a note for others who might be having similar problems.

Environment:

iMac running BootCamp and Windows 7(64 bit). Thus, I am running Windows 7 x64 (Enterprise) natively.

I have 4 USB DAQ devices (6009 / 6210)

I installed the latest NI-DAQmx 9.1 and LabView 2009 (all 64 bit). I used the default installation on both.

I installed on 4 machines. (students actually did the installs, but I assume they were done relatively similarly.. all used the same software and installed LabView then NiDAQ)

On 3 of the machines, the USB devices do not show up in MAX. All machines report the devices properly in Windows Device Manager.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled NiDAQmx on the 'broken machines'.

I have run a diagnostic for NI-PAL and it says that NI-PAL does not find any devices.. (at least on the 3 systems that don't work)

Support said to check the BIOS, but these are iMACs that use an EFI BIOS.

The installation/uninstalls take so long, I am about to give up on using the iMACs for this and will attempt a 'normal' PC.. although they should work on these systems.

I can find no difference between the working system and the broken systems.. all report the devices in Device Manager using the same version of drivers. I can connect any of the 4 USB DAQ devices on the working iMAC and they all work. None of the DAQ devices work on the 'broken' systems.

Dave Crabbe

Faculty

Nova Scotia Community College 

[Ali M]

Hello Dave,

Did the 3 "problem" machines go through the hardware wizard at start up after installing DAQmx? Also, can you post a screenshot of Device Manager for atleast 1 or all the 3 machines (i.e. showing where these devices appear in Device Manager).

Thank you,

Regards,

Ali M

Applications Engineer

National Instruments

Message Edited by Ali M on 04-13-2010 06:42 PM

[Dave Crabbe]

I've attached the screen shot of my Device manager, showing the USB6009.

I tried deleting the MAX data folder and this did not work.

I am unsure if the wizard ran when NiDAQ was installed as students did the install.  We just installed this software (LabView & NiDAQmx on a Vista PC and it worked fine.. but no wizard popped up.. we just plugged in the USB6009 and MAX listed it)

We also get the "Your USB device could work better plugged into a USB 2.0 port" message. This is a bug in the software as it is plugged into a high speed port.. all ports on the iMac are high-speed, high-current. I am suspecting that NiDAQ doesn't quite communicate correctly with the iMac EFI BIOS.

Dave

[John_P1]

Hi Dave,

Since you have 1 working PC, one other thing to look for would be any discrepancies in services.msc.  In particular, I would double-check that Device Loader is running on the 3 PCs that do not recognize the 6009s in MAX:

If you haven't done so already, you might also consider updating the driver through Device Manager.  This will bring up the same Add New Hardware Wizard that should load the first time the device is detected.

The "USB 2.0 port" message does raise some concerns about the device's interaction with the iMac BIOS--do you get the same message on all 4 systems?

Best Regards,

John

[Dave Crabbe]

The services are all identical.. all the proper services are started and set to auto start..

I have manually started the add new hardware wizard and it says the driver is up to date and so doesn't reload the same driver.. and unlikely this is the issue.. The good machine was installed from exactly the same software distribution. The device manager driver reports exactly the same driver and version on all 4 machines (even the good one)

All 4 machines (even the good one) reports the "slow usb port" message..  

[Ali M]

Hello Dave,

From the screenshot, it appears that the DAQmx driver has installed correctly, the NI USB-6009 shows up under NI Data Acquisition Devices; this may mean that a possible bad install or corruption of Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX). If you have not already done so, please try the steps described in the Knowledgebase included below.

1. My Devices Are Not Listed in Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX), but They Show Up in Windows Device Manager

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/D1F1D3FC80E4FFDF86256B410059DE31?OpenDocument

Regards,

Ali M

Applications Engineer

National Instruments

Message Edited by Ali M on 04-15-2010 01:20 PM

Message Edited by Ali M on 04-15-2010 01:23 PM

[Dave Crabbe]

I have 11 machines that I installed this on.... 10 of them show identical issues ....  This is an NI software issue.. There is some problem between the low level software interfacing to the USB hardware via the EFI BIOS that is unique to the iMAC.. Some others are having weird USB messages that are not accurate, so there is at least some problems between some newer BIOSes on PCs and the NI NiDAQ software ..

.. I actually uninstalled/reinstalled on one machine.. and, of course, no difference..  

[Ali M]

Hello Dave,

You stated that "some are having weird USB messages that are not accurate" if these messages are not identical to the one you initially stated, can you please post a screenshot. 

Thank you

Regards,

Ali M

Applications Engineer

National Instruments

[John_P1]

Hi Dave,

Just a few points about what you're seeing:

I can find no difference between the working system and the broken systems.. all report the devices in Device Manager using the same version of drivers. I can connect any of the 4 USB DAQ devices on the working iMAC and they all work. None of the DAQ Devices work on the 'broken' systems.

There must be some difference, although if it's with the EFI BIOS configuration then I'm not really experienced enough to say what that difference could be.  It sounds like you've already verified that NI Software is identical on all systems, have you tried contacting Mac support to help verify whether or not the BIOS version/configuration could be the source of the problem?

Some others are having weird USB messages that are not accurate, so there is at least some problems between some newer BIOSes on PCs and the NI NiDAQ software

I'm assuming you're talking about this thread--the behavior that this customer is seeing sounds identical to your "good" system.  One possibility that hasn't been considered yet are the power requirements of the devices.  Both the 621x and 6008/9 are bus-powered, and if the USB port does not supply enough power to support the full bandwidth then the device could enumerate as 1.1 (or not at all).  Things to try in this scenario would be:

1.  Use a different port.  Specifically, if you are connected to a port in the front of your computer try one on the back that plugs directly into the motherboard.

2.  Use a powered USB hub.

 

I'd be interested to see the behavior on both the good and the bad systems if connecting your devices through a powered USB hub.  This is really just a theory but it's possible that this could be your problem.  The other thing to double-check is to make sure there are no differences in the BIOS version or configuration between the two systems.

Best Regards,

[Dave Crabbe]

Hi John;

One good piece of news.. The "slow USB port" issue seems to be related to power.

I connected a high-powered USB 2.0 hub (which had its own power) and connected the USB6009 to it. I no longer got the "you could get better performance by hooking this device to a high-speed USB port" message. So it appears that this device draws more current than the root hub of an iMac likes. I suspect other customers who also get this message will find that message will disappear if they use a powered hub. Although we hook many USB devices to these iMacs, I've never seen this problem before. The iMacs only have USB ports on the back and they are all 'hi-powered'. (I guess there is a port on the keyboard, but we didn't use this) It looks like the USB NiDAQ units might be real close to the max current for hi-power USB devices. Now I'm a bit surprised if this is true because the ports on the unit will even supply some +5 power. Mac Support would not be able to help.. What would I ask for? All the firmware versions are identical and so is hardware.

However, this didn't solve our main problem. The USB devices still do NOT show up in MAX.

And while I agree something is different in that one machine of 12, everything I've checked looks identical. The 12 machines were ordered from the same lot. The Firmware (BIOS) is identical in all the machines; all parts are identical, etc. I've checked the NI software and it all looks identical.. Now we are in Win7 and maybe that one machine has an update; or doesn't have an update that makes it unique, but I won't be able to find that.

Dave