no value

[bobrien]

please pardon my LV and DAQ inexperience. I am trying to use an existing LV program that appears to be an 'off the shelf' temperature recording experimant setup. Unfortunately the system has stopped working: the lv program only records 0's. I have gone through the testing steps in NI's Measurment and Automation. There are no errors, but the channels all seem to be giving a constant value input. All of the software is now outdated (labview 4.0, ni 6.9) so my questions are 1. Should I bother working to fix this or upgrade to a new system?  2. How to troubleshoot the system to see what is working and not. My current system is an scb80, pci mio 16xe-50, windows 98. Also,  This experiment is used 2-3 times a year.

[Jennifer O]

Hello and welcome to the Discussion Forums.

I see two options for you.  The first would be to start fresh with a new DAQ board, a current driver and a new piece of software.  Depending on the complexity of your existing software and the number of channels and acquisition rate you require this may or may not be an option for you due to cost and/or development time.

What are you using your current set up for? With an idea of the system requirements I can advise you on a new system. An M-Series DAQ board (PCI-6220 for example) is an example of an inexpensive upgrade option for PCI.  To upgrade to an M-Series board, you will need to upgrade your operating system.  To stay with Windows 98, your options would be an E-Series board such as the one you have already, or an S-Series board (measurements are simultaneous). If your application is fairly simple, the new LabVIEW Signal Express Limited Edition which is included with the driver may suit your needs.

The second option would be to try troubleshooting your system.  This may be difficult because you are working with a piece of software which has not been supported for quite some time.  Some recommendations for troubleshooting would be to first test your hardware.  You can run Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX) to rule out or isolate the software as being the problem.  Run a test panel and connect a known voltage to one of the channels.  Verify that your connections are not loose and that no pins on your board or cable are bent.

You can also try using the Legacy Online DAQ Diagnostic Utility to test your board.

Hopefully this will help you decide what best suits your needs and get you started with troubleshooting if this it what you decide to do.  Post back if you need further suggestions.

Regards,

Jennifer O.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments