Undocumented problem solved with 16-bit pcmcia and irq error

[Willy2a]

I am having the exact same problem as described in the following post:

"Undocumented problem solved with 16-bit pcmcia and irq error."

"I'm using a DAQ Card (AI-16E-4), which didn't work properly in MAX. MAX complained that the card didn't respond to an interrupt request.
I've had this issue for a while, but dropped it, since NI support told me nothing could be done about it. Meanwhile, a seemingly unrelated problem with a wireless pcmcia network card arose. Cisco had no clue what was wrong with their card either, but I found Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q327947. It seems that Win2k (they claim SP3 and up) disables ISA to PCI routing, which is what causes this problem.
To fix it, open regedit
and navigate to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Pcmcia\Parameters"
edit or create the DWORD value "DisableIsaToPciRouting" and set the value data to 0.
See Microsoft's article for further details: http://support.microsoft.com/default. aspx?scid=kb;en-us;327947"

The difference is that I am using WinXP and the Regedit fix does not solve the problem. Does anybody know how he was able to continue to use the card before he solved the problem? The card works fine in MAX, but errors out in LabVIEW.

[rgharrison]

Hey Willy,

Here some additional suggestions that have corrected some PCMCIA difficulties in the past besides the registry edit you suggested.

1. General Troubleshooting to Verify Correct Hardware and Software Installation
Uninstall the PC Card hardware through Device Manager
Remove the PC Card from the laptop
Uninstall the NI-DAQ software
Follow the normal installation instructions (the most important step to remember for Plug-n-Play Operating Systems is to install the software first)
Try the latest service packs for Win 2000 or Win XP
Try the PC Card in a different laptop
Try a different slot in the laptop. On certain laptops PC Cards have been successfully installed in the top PCMCIA slot instead of the bottom.

2. Additional Troubleshootin
g for PC Cards that Return IRQ Conflicts
For E-Series DAQCards:
Update to NI-DAQ 6.9.3 first and then update NI-PAL to version 1.6.1 (included exe file).
Download the attached NI-PAL (ni-cdu1610.exe), and run the installer. When receiving the error "The device is not responding to the first IRQ Level" in Measurement and Automation Explorer, try this method of upgrading NI-PAL

3. Additional Troubleshooting Steps
Try disabling the 3COM adapter, and any other extraneous (for now) devices like any built in serial and parallel ports. The best way to do this is probably to disable them in the BIOS. If the PCMCIA card works properly then try to reconfigure disabled devices one at a time.
Make sure the latest BIOS is installed.
Check for any unusual PCMCIA drivers or other software that might interfere with the PCMCIA driver.

I hope this helps.

Ron
Applications Engineering
National Instruments

[Willy2a]

The NI-PAL update did the trick.

-Marcus